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The post-2015 Global Goals: moving from “what” to “how” will rest on more informed societies

2015-09-24T16:05:10+00:00

Ahead of this week's UN summit in New York, �� Media Action’s Director of Policy and Learning argues for a stronger focus on the provision of information as well as resources.

"This Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity." So begins the outcome document which forms the basis of the agreement for a new set of "global goals" which are expected to be signed by 215 world leaders this week. It is a statement that encapsulates both their ambition and weakness.

Anyone who comments on the post-2015 goals does so from a particular standpoint. Let me set out mine. The new development goals that replace the MDGs provide a welcome and clear agenda, but they do not and cannot provide a comprehensive plan for poverty alleviation and human development in the 21st century.

Planning the planet to prosperity is neither feasible nor desirable. Development over the next decades will depend as much on how societies and economies adapt to the challenges they face, as on the 17 goals and 169 targets that make up the new development goals. How societies adapt in the future is - as it has been in the past - likely to depend on the trustworthiness and usefulness of information available to them.

As someone who works to support media and other strategies that lead to more informed societies, that perspective shapes my view of the goals. Government, development agencies and other development actors will be central to translating the goals from words to actions. But ultimately progress will also depend on how societies and people act and adapt. That will depend on many factors, but a central one will centre around issues of information and communication.

The agenda assessed

I have argued in the past that an important measure of human progress in the future would be to ask people whether they feel they have access to the information they need to make the decisions (political, economic and otherwise) that best enable them to make the most of their lives. This is mainly what I mean by an 'informed society'. While that measure seems unlikely to feature in the future metrics to measure the success of the goals, there is ample room in the current text to make progress.

Target 16.10 in the outcome document makes a commitment to ensuring "public access to information and to protecting fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements". Target 12.8 sets out the aim that "by 2030 people everywhere [will] have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature". And Target 3.7 is to ensure by 2030 "universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes".

Stronger focus

Ultimately, the issue is not about the text of the new declaration or whether issues of media, information and communication are highlighted in it. The arguments over what issues should or should not be included have preoccupied the energy and time of many thousands in the run up to the summit.

The issue is more about the balance between such visions and the adaptive capabilities and energies of people who have most to win or lose from the success of these goals. I believe both are needed. Too little development attention has in the past been paid to creating the best environment – including the best information environment – that enables people to determine their future.

The 2015 World Bank's World Development Report opened with this sentence: "Every person seeks to steer his or her own course, and a great deal of development policy aims to supply the resources and information people in low- and middle-income economies require in their voyage through life."

It is true that development policy has focused on providing the resources, less clear that it has provided the information. In the highly complex and dynamic information societies of the 21st century, the success of the global goals will require a stronger focus on the information available to people as well as the resources.

Related links

James Deane's blogs

The UN Sustainable Development Summit 2015

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With the grain or against the grain: a media perspective on the governance question of our time

2015-05-20T15:00:56+00:00

I was prompted to write this post by Brian Levy, the rightly respected governance guru of the World Bank, now Senior Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University. Brian is the author of Working With the Grain: integrating governance and growth in development strategies, one of the most influential books on governance right now. We met at the OECD DAC Governance Network last week, which is where donors get together to share their insights into how to better support improved governance in their development strategies. I was asked to respond to a presentation Brian made on his book.

Against the Grain

My initial reaction when I first heard of Against the Grain was, I confess, a kind of resigned frustration. I thought, “Here we go again. Another academic apologia telling us how it didn’t really matter how horrible, authoritarian or power-hungry a government was. As long as they ‘got the job done’ (in terms of reducing poverty), it was fine by the donors who supported them.”

That reaction was partly prompted by the title of Brian’s book. By coincidence, I have on my shelves at home the memoir of a hero to many in the media world, Geoffrey Nyarota, the renowned editor of Zimbabwe’s Daily News, among other newspapers. The blurb for that memoir says this: “The newspapers [Nyarota] edited were often the lone voice of dissent against a government that had betrayed its people. They chronicled the decline of the country under the Mugabe regime, and how the freedom achieved in the war of liberation was replaced by wholesale government corruption and oppression”.

Nyarota entitled his book, Against the Grain: Memoirs of a Zimbabwean newsman.

Working with the grain

Given the choice of working with the grain, which I initially understood to be fitting in with whatever a country’s government wanted - or working against the grain - which I understood to be resisting abusive and unaccountable authoritarian power, give me the latter any time.

Then I actually read Brian’s book and heard him speak and, of course, that initial reaction shifted to what I can best describe as a kind of tortured admiration for what he has achieved here. As many other reviewers have noted, the book constitutes a formidable combination of theory, research and, most usefully, decades of experience from the World Bank to provide really useful guidance on what kinds of governance approaches are most likely to achieve development results.

It argues that too many governance programmes have failed because their “good governance” departure point has been to try to foist an often idealised form of western political systems onto developing country governments, rather than to root their approach in the actual political, economic and cultural realities of the countries being supported: “There was something truly extraordinary about coming up with comprehensive government reform program for low income countries by describing the characteristics of the world’s most affluent and most open societies and then reverse engineering them.”

Instead, Levy argues for an approach that finds and then supports/catalyses “islands of effectiveness” within developing country governance systems, acknowledges that change is incremental and (as in the West) takes a long time, and, above all, allows countries to find their own pathways forward to create virtuous cycles of positive change. There is of course a great deal more to it than that and I urge you, even if you’re not a governance geek, to read the book and visit his website to find out more.

Reservations

I have three reservations about the analysis, however.

The first is that there is just a little of a straw man in Brian’s critique of the “good governance” agenda and what he describes of the overly triumphalist approach of democracy promotion in the 1990s and early parts of the 21st century. Much of this “end of century” style thinking may have been true of the World Bank and of some donors, and is certainly a criticism that has been levelled at my own area of media assistance. But for a fair number of years now, donors, scholars and certainly many governance practitioners have acknowledged political complexity as a fundamental feature of the developing country landscape. There remains a long way to go, but I’d argue �� Media Action has very different approaches to working in Burma, Afghanistan or Libya, for example, all of which are rooted in these countries’ very different political contexts.

The second is that countries should of course find their own pathways forward, but it is not only elites who should determine those pathways. One of the reasons I have worked in the field of media support for so long is that I consider the existence of an informed society to be a key determinant of a successful and inclusive society. That isn’t rooted in a naïve belief in some idealised, “bottom up” democratic system but that democracy is (to use an overquoted phrase from Churchill), the “worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”. It is born from a realisation that yes, there are, as Brian shows, different pathways to development, but some of those pathways lead not only in different directions but also to different destinations – and some of them lead to Zimbabwe. You need people to work against the grain to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Which leads to my final concern. Western donors continue to focus a great deal of attention on prioritising governance, and there is more universal acceptance of its vital role in securing a host of development outcomes (pace the likelihood of a governance Goal 16 in the post 2015 sustainable development framework). But the governance agenda is on the back foot, working to accommodate a backlash against the overly normative approaches that sometimes distorted it in the past, unclear about its way forward and uncertain in the face of the major advances of developmental states like Rwanda and Ethiopia. This area needs more energy, fresh ideas and new approaches, but one thing it does not need to do is to abandon principle for the sake of expediency.

The really great thing about Working with the Grain is that it understands and reflects that last challenge and prompts the governance community into rebooting itself. It’s a huge contribution to the field.

Related links:

Go back to the �� Media Action website
Read The power of talk: media and accountability in three African countries
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Nepal Earthquake: sharing life-saving information during a crisis

2015-04-28T11:01:00+00:00

People queue at the airport in Kathmandu after the earthquake

When Saturday’s devastating earthquake struck, I’d just finished filming with Sajha Sawal, �� Media Action’s debate programme in Nepal.

I’m now safely back at home in the UK, having negotiated the chaos at Kathmandu airport yesterday to get one of the few flights out. I was with the family of a Nepal-based colleague being pushed along with a crowd of hundreds when the second quake hit. Instinctively, I grabbed my colleague’s young son and hunkered down by a wall. As the ground buckled and flexed I watched the screws supporting the large information display above our heads pop out one by one. It somehow clung onto to the wall but the electricity was down, the control tower was abandoned, the jagged marble floor cracked open, and there was yet more panic and shouting. But the plane did eventually take off. I feel very lucky to be back here in the UK and I can’t get those left behind out of my head.

Aftershocks

The situation in Nepal will get much worse. The aftershocks keep coming, the damaged buildings and infrastructure are fragile. Water, food, shelter and medical supplies are all in short supply. The fatality and serious injury figures will continue to rise. Disease, with access to clean water and food increasingly limited, is another huge threat.

Makeshift camps

Our work using media to support people in crisis is more important than ever. Confusion and fear feed rumour and information is in short supply. In the hours that followed the first earthquake on Saturday I spoke to locals who were getting patchy news; “Another huge earthquake will hit at 6pm,” people told me categorically after hearing it on the radio. But it didn’t, the aftershocks kept coming, unsettling enough, but the next big one would come the next day.

Support �� Media Action's work in Nepal - donate today

Makeshift camps were springing up all over the city, most shops stayed shuttered or collapsed, and everyone was out in the open, like some dystopian bank holiday.

As I left the first cargo planes of international aid were landing and soldiers worked in lines to ferry supplies to waiting helicopters. In addition to this rapid mobilisation, one of the vital things people need is useful advice on what to do and what to expect during a crisis. Radio programming can help give people practical advice on how to set up camp, where to seek shelter and what support might be available or on the way.

Soldiers ferrying aid to waiting helicopters

Our �� Media Action colleagues in Nepal, once we had confirmed they were all safe, set about doing what they had been trained to deliver. They started to make contact with our local partner radio stations in Kathmandu and beyond, in the devastated rural areas. Over the past four years, we have been helping train local journalists and provide them with equipment in anticipation of just such an emergency. The goal is to get reliable, useful Lifeline radio up and running as quickly as possible in the aftermath of disaster.

Two radio stations were working with us within hours of the first earthquake to prepare information for broadcasts to update people with news and advice. In tandem with this, we are working with our colleagues on the �� World Service’s Nepali Service to provide regular updates to people. But we still need to extend the reach of our work to directly help those in remote places and currently cut off.

�� Media Action’s Nepal team members planning and coordinating our radio response just hours after the earthquake

The safest location for our team was the Country Director’s home and before I left colleagues were starting to arrive and converting her home into a makeshift office and studio. ‘Suitcase’ studios were fetched, portable radio kits to get broadcasting. A large tarpaulin was stretched across the garden to keep off the cold intermittent rain – outside still much safer. A colleague cycled off to a UN coordination meeting to ensure our communication efforts linked to and supported the wider NGO plans. I wondered if I should stay but my expertise is not in humanitarian delivery. What I can do is provide my account and endeavour to secure further funding for those struggling to first survive and then rebuild a country now on its knees. We need more help to extend the broadcasts, to replace damaged equipment and to get kit and expertise to support those in need.

Donate now

Generous individuals contributed to �� Media Action’s emergency fund to draw upon during humanitarian crises such as this. It is proving its worth as we speak but much more funding is needed urgently. Every donation counts and will directly help people in need. Please support us to get vitally needed information out there fast through an online donation or by texting “INFO15 £5” to 70070 to donate £5.

For live updates on our work, follow �� Media Action on Facebook and Twitter.

Related links:

• �� Sajha Sawal audio and images (in Nepalese)
• �� Media Action speaks to �� World News
• �� Media Action speaks to �� World Service
• �� Media Action's Lifeline programme

Ebola: audience research by mobile phone

2015-04-14T15:22:49+00:00

As we tentatively celebrate the recovery of Beatrice Yardolo, the last known Ebola patient to be discharged from a treatment centre in Liberia, �� Media Action continues working on programmes and training across the region to ensure Ebola is minimised.

Radio programmes like Kick Ebola from Liberia have played a crucial role in stemming the outbreak. But how could we measure this when the normal methods of audience research – face to face interactions with listeners – were off limits?

Human to human exchanges

The Ebola virus outbreak was at its peak when the first episodes aired. Programmes like Kick Ebola from Liberia encouraged people to avoid close physical contact – since Ebola is passed on through bodily fluids. Our usual research methods were therefore potential risk factors for contracting and spreading a highly infectious disease.

Finding solutions

In the face of this challenge, we opted to use a mobile phone survey to reach our audience in Liberia. The first round of data showed Kick Ebola from Liberia reached 85% of those surveyed. While we accepted this methodology meant we could only reach those Liberians with access to a mobile phone (estimated to be 42%), it would still provide very useful data in challenging times. Over 80% respondents found Kick Ebola from Liberia highly relevant, trustworthy and a platform to voice their concerns with 91% taking life-saving action, such as avoiding physical contact and washing hands.

Learning and ongoing conversations

As Kick Ebola from Liberia continues, we anticipate further rounds of mobile surveying along with carefully considered focus group discussions.

We’ve learnt a lot, and importantly, we’ve gained vital mobile phone survey experience, a research method to deploy in situations when human contact needs to be minimised.

Related links

More on �� Media Action Ebola work
Follow �� Media Action on Twitter and Facebook
Go back to the �� Media Action website

By bike, by bus and by boat: Our Ebola radio show’s incredible bi-weekly journey across Sierra Leone.

2015-02-26T11:23:13+00:00

Cars travel on a road just outside of Freetown, Sierra Leone

What do a priest, a boat, a bus and a bike have in common? Despite sounding like the start of a bad joke this is in fact an important part of our strategy for circulating and transmitting our life-saving Ebola information radio programmes to stations across Sierra Leone.

Brown paper packages

While most �� programmes are sent down ISDN lines or shared via storage systems backed by huge servers or cloud-based systems, we dispatch our programmes on CDs in brown paper packages.

Internet connections are too slow, too unreliable and in the smallest and most remote radio stations – non-existent. Our partner stations stretch from the island of Sherbro in the south of Sierra Leone to the rural borders of Guinea and Liberia and no single commercial courier covers the whole country. And even if it did Ebola-related travel restrictions make it logistical headache to deliver the programme safely and on time.

Though Sierra Leone has successfully emerged from the decade-long civil war and is developing its infrastructure tricky transport links and pot-holed dirt roads muddied by heavy rains mean a long and arduous journey for anything sent by post.

Canoes used for fishing

Under these difficult circumstances, ingenious ways are found on a bi-weekly basis to deliver radio shows to partner stations using every means of transport available. Our creative selection of options includes rickety motor bikes, cantankerous commercial buses, ancient jeeps supplied by a friendly NGO – and for one radio station based on an island - canoes normally used for fishing.

Father Mansaray

One marathon journey to distribute our Ebola-response radio programme Kick Ebola from Sierra Leone starts out at a lorry station in the capital, Freetown; the CD is then passed to a priest named Father Mansaray in the bustling city of Magburaka; the package then hitches a ride on a bus from the once Ebola-quarantined city of Makeni and ends up at Radio Bintumani in the far reaches of northern Sierra Leone. In total, the radio show travels over 450km over two to three days – every single week.

We encounter all sorts of obstacles. We’ve missed connections for buses which leave only every couple of days; during heavy rains, packages have been lost after delivery cars literally sank into sticky mud; and last month, we were prevented from driving into an Ebola-quarantined town by authorities. But by hook or by crook, we’ve still managed to deliver the programmes – albeit (and understandably) – sometimes a few days late.

It’s not just Ebola awareness programmes that embark on the bi-weekly tour of Sierra Leone. Through radio, �� Media Action in Sierra Leone is helping address women’s legal rights, re-build farming skills damaged by years of civil war; encourage debate and accountability before elections; and we have facilitated journalistic coverage of the Sierra Leone-based trial of former Liberian president, Charles Taylor.

So what do a priest, a boat, a bus and a bike have in common? It’s actually no laughing matter. Against the odds, they are all helping us to get life-changing radio programmes out to communities across Sierra Leone.

Related links

World Radio Day 2015

2015-02-13T07:30:00+00:00

Today (Friday 13th February) is World Radio Day and its theme is ‘youth’. Tom Baker explains how �� Media Action is using the unique power of radio to inform, connect and empower young people around the world.

There are so many development days in the calendar, why does World Radio Day stand out for �� Media Action?

We’re celebrating World Radio Day because radio plays such an important role in helping young people have a voice around the world - whether it’s to share their opinions or concerns, debate issues that matter to them or even to hold those in power to account.

Give us a flavour of the type of youth radio shows �� Media Action is producing in Africa…

In Somalia we’re reaching younger audiences through a weekly radio drama called Maalmo Dhaama Manta (Better Days than Today). Essentially it’s a soap opera following young characters as they go through life’s ups and downs.

Most excitingly, every four weeks we give listeners the opportunity to vote on the outcome of the drama and the direction the characters will take.

In Tanzania we have a national radio show called Niambie (Tell Me) which is all about giving young people the information they need ahead of the local parliamentary and presidential election.

There’s a whole generation voting for the first time. They will be voting for a new government and possibly even a new constitution so it’s really important that they get reliable and clear information.

In Nigeria we’ve also been doing a lot ahead of elections. �� Media Action’s Nigeria team are working on a really diverse set of entertaining clips that are broadcast all across the country to really capture the imagination of young people in Nigeria.

In a world full of new technology, why is radio still relevant?

What’s special about radio is its enduring popularity and that reaches more people in more places than any other medium.

More importantly it allows us to reach people in rural communities which we just wouldn’t be able to do with things like the internet.

See all �� Media Action World Radio Day social media activity

Support �� Media Action’s life-changing work using radio

Visit the �� Media Action website

Follow �� Media Action on Twitter and Facebook

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Addressing diversity in Pakistan’s media

2015-02-06T15:07:31+00:00

Sachay Sawal (True Questions), �� Media Action electoral debate show in Pakistan

For me, as a Karachi-ite, born and bred, the invitation to be a trainer on The Bigger Picture: Media, Representation and Inclusion in Pakistan, was irresistible. Here was my chance to revisit my former hometown, not for personal reasons as I often do, but as a writer hoping to engage in stimulating conversations with like-minded scriptwriters and talkshow teams from Pakistan.

When I migrated from Pakistan to London decades ago, I went from being part of a “Pakistani” majority to being seen as a member of a minority group. First, I became a “British Asian”, then a “British Pakistani” and now I’m described as a member of the “BME” (black and minority ethnic) community. Consequently, I have some understanding of the problems caused by labels.

In many countries, unless the media is sensitive to representing minorities, their perspective is often ignored or oversimplified. That strikes me as true of television in Pakistan today. Unlike the Pakistan of my memory where religious minorities seemed to be celebrated in the media (I’m thinking of Pakistani Christians such as the popular singers “The Benjamin Sisters” and the towering politician Chief Justice Alvin Cornelius or Parsis like the renowned journalist Ardeshir Cowasjee) - today’s media seems curiously devoid of personalities from our minority communities.

�� Media Action’s plan to deliver a two-pronged programme designed to address the lack of religious minority representation in Pakistan’s media seemed timely and wise. One strand of the workshops was for television drama writers while the other targeted producers and talk show hosts. Both categories of programming are significantly influential even if their audiences differ widely. An online iLearn training module specially designed by �� Media Action to induct entrants into the course, complete with a forum and face-to-face learning, supported the participants.

Developing skills

The objective of the scriptwriting workshops was to develop the skills of experienced writers to create nuanced and entertaining drama that seamlessly incorporates characters from religious minority groups in Pakistan and includes stories of discrimination and conflict in a sensitive and non-inflammatory manner.

The talk show strand aimed to develop the skills and confidence of producers and presenters in order for them to introduce balanced content on their shows. This is essential to help the media present issues affecting religious minorities in a spirit of tolerance and inclusion - and with due regard to the risks involved for journalists and contributors, which can include threats and even violent attack from extremists.

Each workshop employed a combination of instruction and creative play to help participants uncover new approaches to TV. There were debates and discussion, analysis of clips of TV content from overseas, writing exercises designed to polish their craft and practical group work and brainstorming to develop new ideas for innovative and inclusive programmes.

Fortunately, almost all the major broadcasters in Pakistan: HUM, Geo, SAMAA, AJ, Dawn and PTV nominated high-profile and emerging TV hosts, producers, writers, editors and content managers for this course. They included a mixture of young and experienced writers and TV script department professionals who wanted to broaden their interest and stimulate their writing.

Laughter and tears

As in the UK, scriptwriters in Pakistan walk a tightrope between chasing ratings in a highly commercialised sector and achieving their own creative objectives. For them, learning how to approach issues of diversity, how to polish their writing and how to pitch and sell scripts and new storylines that might include unusual characters from religious minorities became an exciting quest. It released, at various points, laughter and tears, energy and originality and a willingness to engage with the hidden diversity in their midst.

The Bigger Picture: Media, Representation and Inclusion in Pakistan is funded by the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

Related links

�� Media Action’s work in Pakistan
Follow �� Media Action on Twitter and Facebook
Go back to the �� Media Action website

Question: How is a TV show improving governance in Kenya?

2015-02-02T14:37:07+00:00

Sema Kenya audience

It’s been a significant few months for the “Any Questions” style TV and Radio show Sema Kenya. As Senior Production Manager Jackie Christie explains in her last post, after three years and over 80 episodes later, the team behind the show is handing over production to the Kenyan state broadcaster, KBC. For those of us working in �� Media Action’s Research and Learning team, this presents an opportunity to reflect the programme’s impact.

Researchers in London and Nairobi have been working since the creation of Sema Kenya not only to ensure that it remained relevant and appealing to audiences, but also to assess the programme’s impact on governance in Kenya.

Sema Kenya has had a clear purpose from its inception: to create a national conversation on democratic processes in Kenya, supporting accountability and increasing people’s knowledge of key governance issues, focusing on matters our audiences have said are most important to them, including unemployment, security, education and the high cost of living.

Our research conducted in 2013 suggests that, through its locally driven programming and a format based on constructive moderated discussion, Sema Kenya was able to make a distinct contribution at election time. This was delivered by presenting a diversity of topics, views and dialogue at a time when a majority of Kenyan media maintained a narrow election focus aimed at “keeping the peace” by avoiding sensitive issues such as ethnicity and land - key topics perceived to have contributed to the post-election violence in 2008.

Improving knowledge

Our findings show media can have a constructive and meaningful role even in challenging contexts. However there were other key questions we wanted to answer, such as the extent to which Sema Kenya contributed to increasing audiences’ knowledge on key governance issues. The same study, which included a nationally representative survey of the population aged 15 and above, showed that the vast majority (93%) who listened or watched the programme regularly (at least every other week) thought that Sema Kenya improved their understanding of key governance issues. But we wanted to go further to determine if the increase in knowledge was associated with the programme or with, for example, an already existing interest in politics amongst those audiences or level of education.

To be able to answer this question, we created a scale of knowledge based on four main governance themes that the programme tackled: unemployment, security, implications of the new constitution and implementation of the devolution. We looked at whether people who watched or listened to the programme regularly were also showing higher levels of knowledge, even when taking into account their gender, level of education, purchasing power, interest in politics or group membership amongst other factors.

Our analysis showed that regular exposure to Sema Kenya was indeed associated with an increase in knowledge of governance, while controlling for other factors. This is an important finding because it shows Sema Kenya had successfully achieved its key objective of encouraging dialogue and improving knowledge on the democratic processes affecting Kenyans, a feat especially significant in the context of constitutional changes in the way Kenya was governed from 2010.

What about accountability?

The evidence so far suggests that Sema Kenya has contributed to facilitating a national conversation about the key issues affecting Kenyans and to improving knowledge on key governance issues. But what about accountability?

The majority (94%) of Sema Kenya’s regular audiences agree that the programme has played a role in holding government to account. Our findings so far suggest that it has done so by empowering audiences to ask questions and by putting leaders’ answers and promises on the record. Jackie Christie’s latest blog post provides vivid and inspiring examples of the contribution of the show on accountability.

While we know the show’s impact on our regular audiences, how did the programme influence leaders? In Sema Kenya’s third season, the research team were busy interviewing decision-makers, government officials and local influencers. Getting access to these people isn’t an easy task but we wanted to better understand whether and how the programme may have played a role in driving demand for accountability, improving responsiveness, the transparency in decision-making and, ultimately, the service delivery to improve people’s lives.

Visit the �� Media Action website for more research on Kenya or sign-up to our newsletter to keep up to date with the latest findings from �� Media Action’s Research and Learning Team.

Related links

The politics of love

2015-01-23T16:35:03+00:00

Actress, Amran Mahad plays "Ugasso" in Maalmo Dhaama Maanta (Better Days than Today)

We are making a fun but educational drama in our Somalia office, with drama very much being the imperative word. When characters from different backgrounds come together in storylines, from Shakespearean classics like Romeo and Juliet and Othello to modern day TV shows Grey’s Anatomy and Days of Our Lives, I’ve always found it makes the drama juicier. But never could I have predicted that a Somali love affair in our fictional drama could generate a political drama in the real world.

As project coordinator in the �� Media Action Hargeisa office, I am working with our team to create the radio drama Maalmo Dhaama Manta (Better Days than Today). It’s Somalia’s first interactive programme where the listener gets to influence the fate of the characters. The weekly drama explores a variety of issues facing youth today, from jobs and relationships to migration.

With “Somali” being an ethnic term regardless of borders and regions, we hoped that a focus on “Somali youth” would avoid the politics surrounding terms such as “Somalia” or “Somaliland”, which can raise complex issues of former colonial and clan borders. As with our previous programmes, our drama is representative of the different regions. The programme includes heartbreak, humour and the trials of being a young adult and wanting to make your own way in life. Every month a key dilemma is voted upon by listeners across the different regions by phone, text message and online, with consequences for the character chosen by popular vote.

A Romeo and Juliet romance

What we did not expect was the level of discussion that would develop after a romantic situation between our main character Ugaaso from Somaliland and her partner Aweys from South Central. Ugasso is a young woman dreaming of a better life; and Aweys, who after returning from living in Europe, is taken by Ugasso’s beauty.

Our production team received a tonne of feedback on the love affair, with opinions very much divided. Some believed the romance was beautiful, since “we are all Somalis anyway”. However, others thought the story was politically controversial because it “translates to the unity of Somaliland and Somalia”.

Historical background

Historically, Somalis have used word of mouth to spread information. During the Siad Barre regime, open opposition was not permitted, so groups of people would use stories, songs, and poems – with underlying messages – to fight the good fight. Somalis have learnt to listen and interpret dramas in a different mode inherited from that time. Today, what would seem like a simple relationship between two people from different areas can still be seen by some people as an underlining story to unite the two. Somaliland declared independence in 1991 from Somalia, but to date, isn’t recognised by the majority of the international world. It is for this reason that some people may be sensitive about any message that could be interpreted as unity.

Following much discussion on the “politics of love”, our production team has decided to move forward with the romance because this is what majority of our listeners asked for.

Somalis can and do fall in love across divides despite where they come from, and since we had started this drama to reflect the real issues Somali youth face, this Romeo and Juliet love affair and all the hurdles that it will have to overcome, must be told.

Related links

Read more about Maalmo Dhaama Manta (Better Days than Today)
Follow �� Media Action Somali on Facebook
Go back to the �� Media Action website

�� Sema Kenya takes a bow

2015-01-21T10:40:30+00:00

�� Sema Kenya production team

I first met Joseph Warungu in 2012 when he handed me a report he had written on the media environment in Kenya and the possibility of a programme themed on governance. None of us knew then that not only would he become the familiar face and host of the �� Sema Kenya (Kenya Speaks) TV show, but that we would still be on air three years later.

It will be a bittersweet moment for all the team when we record the final show with Joseph and our most recent host, Bonnie Musambi in January. As we say “Kwaheri” (“goodbye” in Swahili) for the last time, I want to take a moment to reflect on what Sema Kenya has achieved.

We were on the road for the first two seasons of Sema Kenya. Our entire production entourage would pack its bags and head deep into the towns, cities and counties of Kenya. Advance teams of audience producers would already be on the ground speaking to local people about their issues and recruiting them to participate in the ‘studio’ audience. As many as 140 people would patiently gather in soaring temperatures to ask questions of their leaders or sometimes just to listen to their account of their performance.

Bucking the trend

Sema Kenya played a particularly important role during the 2013 elections. The programme bucked the trend of mainstream media, who steered clear of sensitive topics and were accused of having abdicated their watchdog responsibility. By contrast, we continued to provide a platform for dialogue, discussing issues such as land, ethnic tensions and internally displaced persons.

In our final season we have based ourselves at our partner station KBC, the Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation, and brought audiences from around the country to the capital, Nairobi. The audiences have been smaller but more representative and I am happy to report that Kenyans from all 47 counties have participated in the show.

Audience participation in Sema Kenya has been one of the highlights for me. For example, the lady from Kajiado who quoted the constitution verbatim as she berated parliamentarians on their lack of public consultation, is a perfect example of how ordinary people have used the opportunity the programme offers to speak truth to power.

Our research tells us how motivating and inspiring this can be. A member of a focus group explained: “When you watch, it kind of inspires you to want to be like this other person…it makes you ask yourself, if this person is participating, why am I not participating? Because most of the time people don’t participate because they feel the political process is for the elite.”

Holding leaders to account

Supporting accountability is something we talk a lot about at �� Media Action. For me this means insisting that elected officials and leaders are held responsible for their actions by the communities they serve. Politicians take the show seriously and now it's rare to have pull-outs or no-shows. Being asked by our Senior Producer John Byron Ohaga to come to the Sema Kenya shoot in Nairobi seems to inspire confidence and respect in politicians too used to giving the media the runaround. It has been hugely satisfying to see senior figures and decision makers, MPs, governors and senators sit before people who have probably only ever seen them on television.

Our final show will have no panel and be hosted jointly by our two presenters, reflecting on the trials and tribulations of hosting the show and airing some of the programme highlights. I asked our Editor Odhiambo Joseph what his own personal highlights have been during his tenure. He reminded me of a show where we discussed the menace of corruption in the police force. During the programme we had aired undercover filming showing traffic police taking bribes. It’s a familiar scenario to most drivers unlucky enough to be stopped at a roadblock in Kenya. As well as some penetrating and relentless questioning from Joseph Warungu keen to force the then-inspector general of police to accept responsibility for corruption in the force, he insisted that he go on record to promise the live audience that they would not be victimised or punished for speaking freely during the programme. People put their trust in us and the show became a safe space for them to air their issues.

Taking a bow

Over 80 episodes later, it is fitting we take a bow and hand over the reins to KBC to make the show their own. What is clear to me is that the appetite for dialogue, debate and discussion around issues which affect the lives of ordinary people in Kenya continues to grow.

“Kwaheri” �� Sema Kenya. “Karibu” (“welcome” in Swahili) KBC Sema Kenya?

Watch this space.

Related links:

• Read more about Sema Kenya

• Listen to Sema Kenya on �� Swahili

• Like Sema Kenya on Facebook

• Follow Sema Kenya on Twitter

• �� Media Action's work in Kenya

• �� Media Action's work on governance and rights

Mr Condom and me

2015-01-16T14:13:52+00:00

"Well, I am made of latex, and I come in lots of different brands, shapes and sizes. I am anything from small to extra-large, strawberry and banana flavoured," says Mr Condom, one of the stars of a brand new radio show in Zambia. "Sex is still sweet with me and you save yourself stress about STIs, HIV and unwanted pregnancies."

Mr Condom appears on Tikambe Natulande (Tikambe and Natulande means "Let's Talk" in Nyanja and Bemba languages respectively), a show broadcast on Radio Mkushi which aims to get young people talking about sex, STIs and how to prevent HIV/AIDS – a taboo subject in Zambia. Listen to another clip of Mr Condom on Soundcloud.

Mr Condom is only a small part of a much larger sexual and reproductive health programme in Zambia which �� Media Action is running in partnership with the youth-led development organisation, Restless Development. As well as the radio show, over the next three years we’ll be creating TV shows, broadcasting from live events and building a community on Facebook where young people can find out how they can stay healthy.

Let's talk about sex

Every week two community radio stations – Radio Mkushi in Central Province and Radio Kasama in Northern Province – and the state broadcaster Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) each make their own local version of Tikambe Natulande. The shows are a result of intensive training we've run with the stations since May this year. Through practical sessions focusing on writing, recording, editing and interviewing, our trainers helped the stations to develop the programme's format. The stations' journalists and community journalists also learned how to cover sexual and reproductive health issues.

We've been careful to make sure the shows are not just made for young Zambians, but also made by young Zambians. The presenters and producers are all aged between 16 and 22 and know how to appeal to their peer group. The resulting mix of music, entertainment and information all combine to make Tikambe Natulande one of the first radio shows in Zambia where young people can openly and freely talk about sex.

Breaking the taboo

For example, in a vox-pop with people on the streets of Mkushi town, local people talked about the stigma attached to buying condoms. As one Mkushi girl says, "I have never bought [condoms] before but I think it would be embarrassing as a lady to buy them."

We're now starting to gather audience feedback on the first episodes which we'll use to improve the show. But if the experience of the programme's staff is anything to go by, Mr Condom is already having an effect. Wisdom Lunkuntwe, one of the producers of Tikambe Natulande on Radio Mkushi told me, "The programme is opening my eyes. I am now able to walk into a hospital and collect free condoms."

Here's to hearing more from Mr Condom!

Related links

Sharing is caring: top �� radio advice for Tanzanian youth project

2015-01-06T16:34:34+00:00

Niambie Team

Last summer, as we started the mammoth task of building a national youth radio show in Tanzania from scratch, a few of us (myself included) set off on a fact-finding mission to �� Radio 1 and �� Radio 1Xtra’s London studios.

We wanted to find out “what works” at one of the UK’s most popular youth radio stations and how we could adopt – and adapt – some of their best ideas.

Household-name presenters and award-winning producers were more than willing to share tips on anything from production planning and finding the right guests, to the best way to engage listeners both on – and off-air.

We’re now putting this advice into practice in making Niambie, which means “tell me” in Kiswahili. It’s a national radio show that gives young people in Tanzania the information they need to take part in the local and national decision-making processes that affect their lives.

What’s more, it’s a really good listen.

Make it fun

During our London visit Trevor Nelson, a veteran �� Radio 1 and �� Radio 1Xtra presenter stressed the need for shows to be entertaining. "Make it a fun experience for the listener,” he said. He told us how he had invited Eminem to contribute to a slot on his show, encouraging younger people to vote in the run-up to the UK general election.

We’ve since used similar tactics by inviting Tanzanian celebrities such as the reality TV star Idris Sultan and the actress Elizabeth Michael to help reach wider audiences and bring to life important topics such as the upcoming 2015 elections in Tanzania.

Another highlight of the London visit was meeting Andy Taylor, a �� Radio 1 producer, who shared a story he was working on about youth unemployment in Britain. Tanzania faces this issue too, and we later used a similar approach to Andy’s to produce our own report. Pleasingly, we were able to return the favour by sharing insights from Niambie’s extensive audience research showing how listener reach and engagement can be improved through “edutainment” techniques such as using popular music and social media to get across important information.

Newsbeat’s reporter Jim Taylor left us with a lasting message - don’t constantly reinvent the wheel. “If the format works” he said, “use it again!” This is exactly what our trip was for, to evolve best practice from �� Radio 1 and �� Radio 1Xtra into a workable format for youth audiences in Tanzania. And work it did!

Our audience figures and social media following are soaring with each weekly episode, helping us encourage even more young people to engage in the decisions which will shape both their lives and their country’s future.

A dramatic approach to Ebola

2014-12-29T11:27:58+00:00

I recently spent a week away from my home in Bradford, in the north of England, working with a team in London on scripts for a new �� Media Action radio drama for West Africa called Mr Plan-Plan and the Pepo-oh. Our focus is Ebola and our aim is to use familiar characters and situations to help people feel confident about getting early treatment for Ebola Virus Disease (known as just “Ebola”) and ensuring safe burials when someone dies.

It was an international effort – I’m Liberian, and I worked alongside colleagues from Guinea and Sierra Leone, and a creative team from India helped us with storylines. The scripts were produced in both French and Liberian English in order to reach as many people in the region as possible.

These new mini-dramas bring together three strands in my own life: I’ve studied nutrition and public health, I’m a nurse and midwife by profession, and I’ve also been broadcasting health related programmes for sub-Saharan Africa for some years in my show Calls to My Sister.

Calls to My Sister is based on the telephone conversations I really have with my own sister in Liberia where, in addition to chatting, I share advice about nutrition and hygiene. I realised this kind of information could be helpful for others, and so turned our conversations into scripted dialogue that I record with another actor. Our weekly show is sent to radio stations across West Africa. One time I was talking to my real sister on the phone when she suddenly stopped talking and held her radio to the receiver. I could hear Calls to My Sister in the background!

I know how well drama works – it enables you to bring up topics that might be taboo and the listener isn’t being “told” what to do. So I was delighted to be invited to take part in this new �� Media Action project on Ebola response. Radio is terribly important in sub-Saharan Africa. Young people do increasingly have mobile phones but radio is how people get their information and news.

Before I got the call to help out I was getting very frustrated that I wasn’t doing enough to help tackle the problem back home (with a Guinean ancestry, a Sierra Leone name and a Liberian nationality, I’m rooted in the region). There is sometimes friction between the need to stop the spread of Ebola and observing age-old customs. For instance I heard that members of an official burial team [a team recruited by local officials to dispose of the bodies of people suspected of dying of Ebola] in Guinea had been attacked by the relatives of the deceased.

The people grieving didn’t understand what the team needed to do in order to ensure Ebola was not transmitted to anyone else. The bodily fluids of someone who has died as a result of Ebola are very infectious – but not to be able to spend time with the corpse and to touch it goes against local tradition. Without access to information people just don’t understand what to do or why to do it.

Liberia was only just starting to recover from the civil war when Ebola struck. I’m glad to be able to play a small part in helping the country beat this latest threat and to take part in these new Ebola response dramas as both an actress and scriptwriter. I thank God that my real sister and her family are ok so far and I pray that with the help of these programmes and good practices they, and many more, will stay well.

Listen to a Mr Plan-Plan and the Pepo-oh episode on Soundcloud.
Read another post about Mr Plan-Plan and the Pepo-oh on the �� Media Action Blog.
Go back to the �� Media Action website.
Follow �� Media Action on Twitter and Facebook.

A man with a plan: using drama to tackle Ebola

2014-12-19T09:57:27+00:00

In the three countries most affected by Ebola, information and communication play an important role in curtailing its spread. There is a lot of information out there, from posters displaying symptoms, to celebrity-featured public service announcements and Ebola songs. In the early phases of the crisis, communication focused on the fact that Ebola is real was important when denial was a barrier. Now, there is a much needed emphasis on providing two-way communication and highlighting survival stories to address misinformation, hopelessness, fear and stigma.

But what other gaps exist in people’s knowledge or what else can communication do? How can communication motivate people to take action? Besides advising people on hand washing, much of the communication to date hasn’t been action-oriented, especially for those who haven’t directly been affected by Ebola. We wanted to change that. It was important to us that what we communicate is practical and actionable.

Much of the communication to date has focused on what not to do: don’t come into contact with sick people’s bodily fluids, don’t wash the bodies of your deceased loved ones and so on. It’s difficult to see what action you can take if you aren’t currently facing that exact situation. What should I do if no one in my family is sick, besides washing my hands constantly whenever I’m in public? Is there anything else I can do to prevent the spread of Ebola to protect myself and my family?

Ebola has created an emergency-like situation for communities at higher risk. In the event of an emergency, what are we always told to do? Whether we are airline passengers or live near an earthquake fault line, we are told to be prepared. To be aware of what we can do should something go wrong. To have a plan. Having an emergency plan helps people deal with difficult decisions that have to be made in the heat of the moment, decisions that are often made in the presence of fear and panic.

Our task was to build a convincing case for "having a plan" that could stop the spread of Ebola. Experts currently agree that at this time, communication efforts need to focus on two broad goals: promote the need to seek treatment as soon as an individual experiences Ebola-like symptoms and practice safe funeral and burial rituals. We want to encourage our audiences to have an emergency plan for their family where they know what to do should a loved one fall ill or die. We know these are difficult and often taboo discussions. Having a plan, we hope, will encourage families to feel more prepared and in control in these scary and uncertain times.

We decided to use the power of drama, because drama can portray the conflicts and challenges people are confronting when faced with Ebola. This was the genesis of Mr Plan-Plan, our main character. Mr Plan-Plan is an itinerant trader, a wise fool, who champions "having a plan". He presents stories of what he sees around him: families torn over what to do when someone falls sick, friends misunderstanding each other, relationships being threatened, emotions boiling over, communities fighting to hold on to tradition and rituals. In Mr Plan-Plan and The People, a series of six mini dramas, we see how a plan helps people navigate their way through Ebola.

Mr Plan-Plan and The People has been produced in three languages: French (Guinea), Liberian English (Liberia) and Krio (Sierra Leone) and will be aired over our network of partner radio stations across the three countries over the Christmas and New Year period. This is a particularly salient time given Sierra Leone has cancelled holiday celebrations to avoid further spread of Ebola. The drama is part of a �� Media Action initiative to use media to reduce the spread of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and to prepare ten neighbouring countries with training on media and communications.

The work is funded by the Paul G Allen Foundation.

Go back to the �� Media Action website.

Listen to the Mr Plan-Plan radio trail.

Follow �� Media Action on Twitter and Facebook.

When fact and fiction collide

2012-03-19T17:32:26+00:00

Three days, 22 people from �� Media Action offices around the world and countless stories. The second Ignite Workshop in London found us at the Southbank Centre, which graciously hosted us for the second year running. Ignite is linked to the Southbank Centre’s Women of the World (WOW) Festival which is also in its second year and brings together inspiring women from different parts of the world for three days of music, film and debate.

Ignite is a platform where our staff can interact with the rest of the �� to soak up the creativity the mothership has to offer.

This year Ignite brought together radio producers, creative directors and programme managers from all its country programmes for three days of exercises on storytelling, pitching new ideas and making audience interactive programming. This was topped off with sessions from the producers of Being Human and Stargazing Live, two recently successful �� programmes. The first explores everyday life through the eyes of a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost who just happen to be flat mates. The second is an excellent example of how a potentially dry topic like astronomy can be made engaging.

Being Human in particular sparked off some crazy ideas in the group, like creating a TV drama based on the life of an HIV-positive vampire!

It’s been five years since I last lived in India. But it made me incredibly proud to see some of the innovations �� Media Action’s India office had pioneered. They’ve managed to make family planning a buzz word by designing a campaign around the idea of ‘fewer children being profitable’. At the same time, they’ve made talking about sputum cool by creating an oddball, pinstriped mascot of a man who goes around encouraging people to have their sputum tested for tuberculosis. Radharani Mitra, the National Creative Director from the India office reaffirmed my faith in humour as one of the best creative tools at our disposal.

I’ve worked with �� Media Action for two years, in Sierra Leone and now in South Sudan. Neither are particularly easy places to be a journalist, especially when talking about culturally sensitive issues. But hearing Amina Abdirashid, project manager for Somalia based in our Nairobi office talk about the intimidation journalists face in Somalia made me feel humble and grateful for where I am. As Senior Project Manager for a Maternal and Child Health project, I feel responsible for the safety of our producers and journalists in South Sudan. Sometimes they get pulled over for taking photos, or harassed at check points. Amina’s staff members have their lives threatened on a regular basis. One of the station managers of a partner radio station was recently murdered. I am in awe of the challenges she and her team face every single day and all the more mindful that our first responsibility is to try and keep our staff safe.

When I found out that I had been selected to be one of the speakers at WOW this year, I stared vainly at the online programme with my name of it for about a week before it sunk in that I would be representing the ��. As I said to a roomful of colleagues at Bush House, I hope I don’t sound like a complete twit. On Saturday March 10, I shared a WOW panel with some extraordinary women, in particular Erin Pizzey, who founded the first women’s shelter in the UK. She talked about the fact that she never planned to be an activist and her struggle trying to convince people to take domestic violence seriously.

As for my talk, it was called ‘Mariama, Rosaline, Freetown’ two stories of extraordinary women I met in my time in Sierra Leone. One is Mariama Khai Fornah, a courageous journalism trainer who still works for �� Media Action in Freetown. The other is Rosaline Kombo Kamara, Freetown’s only woman taxi driver. Both stories portray young women, fighting gender stereotypes in a male dominated society.

I wanted to come back from Ignite and WOW feeling inspired and proud of the work we do at �� Media Action. I do. I loved Radharani’s sign off at the end of the three day workshop. “I feel pregnant with creativity and ideas,” she said. Let ideas be born.

�������� Media Action Feed

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With the grain or against the grain: a media perspective on the governance question of our time

Nepal Earthquake: sharing life-saving information during a crisis

Ebola: audience research by mobile phone

By bike, by bus and by boat: Our Ebola radio show’s incredible bi-weekly journey across Sierra Leone.

World Radio Day 2015

Addressing diversity in Pakistan’s media

Question: How is a TV show improving governance in Kenya?

The politics of love

�������� Sema Kenya takes a bow

Mr Condom and me

Sharing is caring: top �������� radio advice for Tanzanian youth project

A dramatic approach to Ebola

A man with a plan: using drama to tackle Ebola

When fact and fiction collide

�� Media Action Feed

�� Sema Kenya takes a bow

Sharing is caring: top �� radio advice for Tanzanian youth project