Backpack radio for Gaza

Soon after the Gaza-Israel war started in October of 2023, every radio and TV station inside Gaza was confirmed to be off the air.  In many other countries, we might not notice that our favorite station was gone, or we might quickly switch to listening online without a thought.  As I read the media listening research about Gaza before the war I saw that Gazans are radio listeners and own radios.  Their internet was very slow even before the war with 2G internet being the fastest signal you could get on a mobile phone. Also, not as many people watched TV as on the Palestinian West Bank.  So in the first week of the war I spoke with my friends from Amplifying Voices and other partners and we started to ask if there was a strong role for Humanitarian Radio?

I have been working in the humanitarian world for over 20 years now and I have never seen a room full of UN staff and humanitarian workers who were so depressed as we all felt like there was nothing we could do to help support the people in Gaza while the doors were still closed to humanitarian relief and workers coming in from outside Gaza.

One local Gazan gave me hope that we might still be able to do something to equip those in the community.    Providentially, 2 weeks before the war started, a friend of mine introduced me to Mohamed al Sabe (Sabe for short).  He is a Gazan and has studied and worked in the humanitarian world for many years.  His family home is in Gaza City and we met on a Zoom video call before the war started.  Given the history of conflict in the area, it was only a matter of time before a humanitarian radio capacity would be needed again soon, so we started talking about how to equip him for this work.

My aim has always been to connect local communities with each other and with humanitarian responders by getting a radio station on air within 72hrs of a disaster happening. In supporting teams to respond to over 40 disasters, I have seen time and again that planning ahead is key, so we equip and train local community members to be ready with our “Suitcase Radio” to get on air, in the disaster area, as quickly as possible.

Before Sabe and I could work through that equipping process, the war had started. It quickly became clear that a 72hrs response would be impossible in such a complex conflict. We also realized that the equipment needed to be even more flexible than the suitcase radio; something that would not attract too much attention, that could be packed up and carried easily in an evacuation. We designed a studio for Gaza that could be built into a backpack and sent it to Sabe thru our UN partners. 

Another challenge is that normally we would deliver equipment and hands on training all at the same time, but this time we could not do that, but only send the equipment in.  Knowing that Sabe would have to assemble the studio bit by bit, by himself we created a set of “IKEA style” instructions and a step-by-step setup video that was sent on the included laptop.

A really positive thing has been the number of really clever and very resourceful people we have encountered in Gaza.  Basheer, a medical worker at local hospital lost his job when his hospital was destroyed.   He has proved to be a very handy volunteer and helped Sabe set up and test the studio.  Sabe also found many young “bloggers” who are experienced at interviewing and bring their own mics and cameras. 

Despite the many constraints, we are now hopeful that this growing team of Gaza staff and volunteers will be ready to start broadcasting humanitarian radio content very soon.

Amplifying Voices has worked in partnership with First Response Radio – founded by Mike Adams, now operating as Rapid Response Radio – for many years. We are supporting the Gaza radio project with equipment costs and advocacy, and stand ready to support further with training if requested by the local partners. Our crisis response toolkit, Amplifying Voices in Disaster (AViD), supports community voices to play a central role in crisis responses.