Every Thursday night, Diabou Wandia and a number of women — and men — from her community gather around a radio.
They tune in to a program on Radio Djimara, broadcast from nearby in southern Senegal. The program is specifically tailored to the needs of women in the community and communities nearby. They discuss nutrition, breastfeeding, and hygiene.
After the program ends, the conversation starts.
“We listen as a community,” says Diabou. “When we listen together, we support each other, we understand better.”
In Diabou’s group they discuss how they can deal with waste as a community, or how they are starting a vegetable nursery to help with their kitchen gardens and to ensure the health of their children. They ask questions of each other, they phone in new questions to the radio station to address in the next program.
It’s a scene that is echoed in many communities across sub-Saharan Africa — though the topics of the radio programs change.
Farm Radio International is the non-profit that promotes this approach. By working with radio stations to design compelling, informative radio programs, they encourage communities to take up new practices, change attitudes and try new things — all the while knowing that the radio programs will support them as they do this.
Many ask why radio is so important, especially as the internet and smartphones grow ever more popular. For Farm Radio, the answer is evident: in rural sub-Saharan Africa, radio is widespread and inexpensive. Broadcasters speak the local language, meaning listeners get information in the language they are most comfortable in, and don’t have to be literate. Radio is also nimble — broadcasters can change the topic of the program immediately, as new events happen. Farm Radio’s partner broadcasters in Ethiopia, for example, when they learned of drought, changed the whole course of a program to directly meet the needs of farmers facing the crisis.
Radio is also interactive. Just because it’s a medium that has been around for more than 100 years, doesn’t mean it can’t adapt. Using mobile phones, even smart phones, Farm Radio works with their partner broadcasters to make sure their programs are participatory. Farmers and rural people call into the shows to ask questions; interactive voice response systems augment the programming, meaning listeners can call in and hear more tips; broadcasters can use phones to conduct polls that determine their next show.
Above all, this means that the voices that matter, those of rural people like Diabou Wandia can have a say, voice their concerns, and hear their voices amplified in a way that matters, and a way that will bring change to her own community.
Farm Radio International, alongside their partner radio stations, and stations around the world, is celebrating World Radio Day this Thursday, Feb. 13! This year’s theme is pluralism, representation and diversity. Amplifying the diverse voices of rural people like Diabou and ensuring their voices are represented on a powerful stage makes it possible to spark change across Africa and around the world.
For more information about Farm Radio International, visit them on their website at farmradio.org.
The Sisters of St. Joseph are proud supporters of Farm Radio International.
- Submission by Tara Sprickerhoff, Farm Radio International Communications Officer