Testing the Influence of Radio Programs on Climate Change Knowledge: A Pilot Experience from the Congo Basin

This project "has created a radio-based knowledge exchange platform with radio programming that will ultimately help strengthen the science-policy–practice dialogue involving several stakeholders, among which are local communities."

This 26-page report, published by the Center for International Forestry Research, discusses a pilot radio initiative in the Congo Basin which was designed to build climate change knowledge, with a view to building capacity around adaptation. Twenty-four radio programmes were produced and broadcast in Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The report outlines production and distribution processes, provides the methodology and results used for the project's impact assessment, and discusses the impact of the radio programmes on local communities' climate change knowledge.

The radio initiative was part of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)-led project, Climate Change and Forests in the Congo Basin: Synergies between Adaptation and Mitigation (COBAM). The overall objective of the 24-part pilot radio programme was to disseminate concepts, policies, and practices related to climate change responses, while creating a platform where the scientific community, policy makers, and practitioners could exchange and share knowledge using language easily understood by local communities. According to the report, as climate change is increasingly affecting sub-Saharan rural populations, "there is an urgent need to evaluate the appropriateness of traditional media such as radio programming for disseminating climate change information, and its potential benefits for adaptation and mitigation through increased knowledge."

Following a description of the background to the project in the Congo Basin, the report outlines the conceptual framework on which the project was based. The theory of change guiding the project was that if local populations have better access to adapted information, they would have improved knowledge on climate change responses, which would lead to adopting more sustainable and resilient practices. According to this framework, information, knowledge, and understanding are key factors for moving from data to actual behaviour changes. The report then outlines details about the project, which included 24 radio programmes recorded in French, Lingala, Kituba, and Pidgin English. These programmes were distributed to donors, non-governmental organisations, government representatives, and radio stations. Sixteen broadcasting agreements were signed with national and local radio stations, for a period of one year.

As stated in the report, the pilot radio initiative used a participatory approach that involved local communities in three ways: recording local communities' experiences during the production; opening channels during the broadcast for public reaction (these included a phone line, email, and postal mails); and signing contracts with local community radio stations to re-broadcast the programmes after the national broadcaster aired the series. The choice of broadcasters was based on the thinking that the national broadcaster would be more likely to reach people such as policymakers, while community radio stations are more likely to reach communities and engage people at the local levels.

The report describes the methodology of the monitoring and evaluation, which included pre- and post-broadcast assessment with 60 inhabitants of the village of Ignié in the Republic of Congo, as well as monitoring of processes, outputs, feedback, and responses. For example, in order to evaluate the outreach of the radio programmes, feedback and responses received at different levels were monitored. This included letters and emails from the public, posts on websites, press articles, and tracking web traffic. The impact of the radio programmes was also evaluated – including whether the message was phrased in the appropriate manner, if listening improved knowledge in the focus populations, and if there was added value of the programmes on the listeners' understanding.

The assessment found that there was interest in the programmes, demonstrated by press coverage, public enquiries, and some web downloads of the programmes. In terms of impact on knowledge, the evaluation found that "results from the impact assessment survey reveal an increase in knowledge of 46.5% and 46.8% for forest and climate change topics, respectively." While improvements were seen in both the control group and the study group, on average, the study group increased their knowledge by 36.0% more than did the control group for questions related to forest, and by 18.5% for climate change issues. Along with listeners, "changes in behavior were also noted for several boundary partners, including the media, government organizations and the general public, that contacted or collaborated with the team."

The report concludes that the study "highlights the importance of involving the community in climate change responses, and provides some initial reflections on best practices of how to do so." In addition, because of the lack of access to other kinds of communications technologies, "this study suggests that radio as a medium is a powerful tool for capacity building and policy impact when it comes to climate change and forests."