Vox Radio Goes Regional
Finally it’s happened! After months of planning with our partners Amani Centre and FEBC Australia, Vox Radio is now live from their new studio in the eastern Kenyan town of Minjilla, and relaying its signal to Central Tana River County via the regional capital, Hola. John Green, the chairman of the project says the relay station is helping Vox Radio connect with new communities living in the central part of the county (Galole Region) especially at this difficult time. Many families in the region have been struggling for survival following four seasons of severe drought along with two years of pandemic and the spiralling cost of living, exacerbated by the war on Ukraine. John says the work of the radio station has always covered the different but overlapping development issues facing the communities and has been an invaluable source of information, education and encouragement. “The different ethnic groups that make up Tana River County have been very divided over the years, but we believe that by reaching the communities that live in Central Tana River County, Vox Radio will be a unifying force, helping bring together these diverse communities in conversation and collaboration.” Vox Radio Director, Fatma Mzee said: “It’s a new dawn for the communities across Tana River County as they now have a common platform where they can discuss their concerns, share their hopes and hold those in authority to account.”
Meanwhile the Minjilla station, which is solar-powered has given the team a new lease of life and has helped them become more environmentally and financially sustainable. As Fatma says: “In the old station we were on and off air, depending on if we had sufficient funds to pay the electricity bill, but now thanks to the solar power we never have to worry.”
An engineer installs the Solar Panels to provide power to Vox Radio
Alongside the radio station, plans are also progressing with the development of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) hub which will be co-located at the Vox Radio site. The Vox team has just launched an exciting new programme in partnership with the Paradigm Initiative, known as L.I.F.E, an acronym that stands for Life Skills, ICTs, Financial Readiness, and Entrepreneurship. This programme offers free ICT skills to young people and women in Tana River County to give them digital literacy skills. Twenty excited students took their place yesterday for the first 10-week course, which was such an event that it even made the evening national news bulletin. John believes this and other ICT initiatives will be crucial to reducing poverty in Tana River, while improving community access to health and education services as well as creating new sources of income and employment. “It will bridge the digital divide that has for years left the marginalised communities in Tana River and especially women and girls excluded from present-day opportunities,” he says.
Participants and Vox Radio team members at the inaugural ‘LIFE’, digital literacy skills workshop (photo: courtesy Vox Radio)