Soul Beat Africa
African development action with informed and engaged societies
Soul Beat Africa
After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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M-Dedications

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Community radio stations in Kenya are using mobile technology as a way to generate revenue, using an an M-Dedications system that allows listeners to record and pay for on-air radio messages via mobile phones. The four-month pilot project was launched by Internews, in partnership with the mobile banking system MobiKash and a network of community radio stations in August 2011.

Communication Strategies

The M-Dedications system uses Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and mobile banking to enable listeners to call and record a message to their local radio station, paying a nominal fee for the broadcast with one phone call. MobiKash is an mWallet service that can be linked to any bank account or mobile provider that participates in mobile banking. Stations are also considering a reward system for regular listeners in the future through a bonus system, where individuals who record messages regularly could get discounts or a certain number of free messages.

According to a presenter at Koch FM, one of 5 stations participating in the pilot, the tradition of sending out greetings, messages, or dedications over the air to family members, friends, partners, and colleagues is tremendously popular in Kenya, but stations have struggled with various systems for paid dedications. Nearly all of the participating community radio stations have sold cards on which listeners wrote their dedication, to be read on the air. But the cards require listeners to travel to the station, and the system creates bottlenecks.

As a first step, partners engaged in baseline assessments and surveys of each radio station, while MobiKash designed, built and tested the system. Through a partnership with the Nairobi-based innovation center, iHub, researchers will investigate the success of the project in the three test regions - Nairobi, Lodwar, and Kisii - in increasing revenue and audience engagement.

Development Issues

Media Development

Key Points

Radio Mobile Dedications

R@iHub, the newly launched research wing of iHub, is working with Internews to investigative the effectiveness of its pilot projects across Africa. Beginning with the first pilot to increase revenue for community radio stations in Kenya, the research will examine not just whether the new system makes money for the stations, but also if it strengthens community ties and improves the flow of information.
Internews and iHub aim to apply the knowledge from these pilots to future technology and innovation initiatives in Africa, sharing the findings and building a strong local base of support for innovation.

Sources

Internews website "On the Air, from Mobile to Radio" and Internews website "Research to Examine Changing Dynamics of Innovation in Africa" on September 30 2011.