Nyambura and others think harmful stereotypes have been around so long that many people in Tana River now believe them. She traces this back to the early days of Kenya’s independence, when President Jomo Kenyatta prioritised developing regions with rich agriculture, leaving drier areas like Tana River neglected. “This neglect,” Nyambura explains, “allowed damaging labels to stick—terms even used by aid groups and the media.” Over time, phrases like “unproductive and unskilled,” “conflict-prone,” “backward and isolated,” and “dependent on aid” have unfairly defined the region. Nyambura warns, “These narratives create a victim mentality, making people feel powerless to change their circumstances or challenge those in power.” 

Even journalists at Vox Radio sometimes reinforce these ideas. “It’s too easy to see Tanarians as victims instead of resilient people overcoming challenges,” says Nyambura. That’s why Vox Radio focuses on “solutions journalism,” which highlights how communities are solving their problems instead of only reporting the issues. “We need to listen to people, let them tell their stories, and showcase their strengths.”

Nyambura shared a story about Yoash, a Vox journalist whose farming show is helping change perceptions. One destructive narrative he challenges is the idea that pastoralists (from the Orma community) and farmers (from the Pokomo community) are enemies competing for resources. Yoash’s programs bring members of both groups together to discuss shared challenges and find solutions. He also highlights success stories, like a pastoralist couple (pictured above) who had set up a business of turning the parts of the animals that are usually discarded, like horns, bones and hoofs, into stunning ornaments and jewellery. After appearing on his show, they received many calls from listeners eager to learn more or buy their creations.

When Amplifying Voices initially set up Vox Radio in 2017 (formerly Amani FM), in partnership with the Amani Centre, its purpose was to build peace and disrupt the narrative of conflict that had plagued the region for many decades. With peace now taking root in Tana River County, the airwaves of Vox Radio are alive with a renewed sense of purpose and a new mission: to inspire Tana River’s communities to thrive – with a new narrative. One where farmers share sustainable practices, young entrepreneurs showcase their ideas, and elders envision a brighter future. Vox Radio has become more than a platform—it’s a symbol of hope, encouraging people to dream beyond peace and work toward lasting prosperity.

The post Tana River – a new narrative appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

The new radio station in Pemba district of Southern Province, Zambia, started airing test broadcasts on Monday 8^th April. Johnny was happy to be present at the switch-on, along with Milden Choongo from our partner organisation, Chibozu Community Trust. In the week leading up to the switch-on, an enthusiastic team of volunteers took part in a media training workshop. They used community mapping exercises to build a picture of their communities’ various resources and challenges, and to develop ideas for how media could bring out their local strengths to tackle the challenges. New media skills included reading the news, making short educational announcements (CSAs), and preparing for interviews with local dignitaries.

Volunteers give feedback on their community mapping exercise. Simooya, 2024

There was a powercut when we went to practice working with the new radio studio. But this didn’t deter the team. One person took the role of presenter, another sat at the guest microphone.

Learning to use a studio during a powercut, Simooya, 2024

As the presenter moved the faders on the mixing console and interviewed the “guest”, a third person sang along to provide music for fading in and out between the speech segments.

It was a lot of fun, and when the power came back on, the lesson progressed quickly under the tutelage of Kelvin Muzelenga, the new station manager.

However, all this happened in the context of the worst drought Zambia has experienced in many years. The Zambian government has introduced scheduled power outages (loadshedding) to cope with a reduced electricity supply capability. The country is reliant on hydro-electric power, but the rains failed between November and March, leaving rivers and dams at very low levels. This means that government needs to ration electricity supplies until the rivers have been replenished by the next rainy season.

Underground water supplies have not yet run out, so there is still water for irrigation on large farms, and for communal water tanks supplying drinking water in villages like Simooya. However, the drought has ruined maize crops in rural communities where small-scale farmers don’t have irrigation equipment. Small scale farmers grow crops for their own food supply, so lots of households face a year of hunger if they can’t find money buy food instead.

One commercial farmer I visited, on learning that I had come to help get the radio station on air, said my time would be better spent digging boreholes to provide water as that is the real need. As you read this post, you may well feel the same way. It’s the sort of dilemma we are often confronted with.

Maize crops in Simooya, destroyed by the drought conditions. April 2024

The farmer went on to say how sad it is that so many farmers are selling their cattle and goats because there is a lack of good pastureland, and farmers need to sell to get money to buy maize for their families. The flood of livestock on the market has depressed prices, making this an inefficient way to raise money. The farmer also told me that the Tonga cattle, a breed native to this area, are very hardy, adapted to the harsh climate and resistant to local pests. When the drought is over, farmers will want to replenish their stock, but will have to buy in from other regions and the new herds will not be so resistant to local livestock challenges, causing further losses. She thought it would be good if local farmers could work cooperatively to protect their breeding stock.

I realised we were having exactly the kind of conversation that works so well on community-centred radio. An idea is born, and community members talk it over on the radio and in their homes. People are drawn together to work out the details or to adapt the idea and develop a workable solution which is also shared over the radio.

This also goes for conversations about boreholes, raising awareness that boreholes don’t have an infinite supply and could dry up during drought. Water should not be wasted, so radio can help build community consensus around prioritising water use.

We don’t yet know how the people of Simooya will respond to these challenges, but we have seen how innovative the volunteers are in their first attempts at creating content, and how much they want to see their communities flourish. Another commercial farmer from the district has already provided the station manager with sample radio programmes he is making with small scale farmers in the region, discussing ways to maximise productivity despite the drought. We are confident that Simooya and the surrounding village will use the new radio station as one of their primary tools to respond to the drought together, and to ensure as many people as possible can benefit from solutions they develop.

The post Going on air in a drought appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

We were in Morobo in South Sudan, visiting the Hope Village project and providing a media training workshop for people in local villages, many of whom had recently returned from refugee camps in Uganda or Congo. Since arriving we had felt constantly confronted by the scale of challenge faced by the returnees, the oppressive background of political instability, and the smallness of the part we could play.

Yet, as we spent time with community members, we saw and heard stories in Morobo that shifted our perception from futility to sharing in the hope felt by these people, who are willing to risk so much to return and to see potential in such a fragile place.

We had arrived in Morobo following the same route as many returnees, by road via the Kaya border crossing point. The distance from Kaya to Morobo is relatively short, only 16 miles by road, but until very recently that short distance would have seemed very long to travellers because of the risk of violent robbery, or sexual assault.

Rows of buildings that were once shops are now shells. People find new places to trade from. Morobo County, South Sudan

As our vehicle made its way along the rutted and eroded road, our companions pointed out the burnt-out car of a bishop who was robbed last summer, and then to a place where they themselves had been robbed and narrowly escaped a worse fate. Many of the brick buildings lining the roads had been abandoned during South Sudan’s conflict in 2016. The valuable roofing sheets had long since been removed.

Returnees were building homes, but using traditional methods with grass roofs instead of steel sheeting. These newly built houses were harder to see, many of them further back from the roads, reflecting a preference for finding concealment in the bush.

Hope Village started about a year ago. Our partners, Community Development Centre in South Sudan (CDC), provided speakerboxes to listener groups in several villages between Morobo and the Ugandan border at Kaya. Each group consists of around 10 families. The CDC team in Yei, supported by volunteers in Morobo, have been creating and distributing monthly podcasts which the listener groups play on the speakerboxes. The podcasts include interviews, stories, and songs from community members. Our workshop was aimed at helping community members discover more ways they could use media to mobilise their communities and build for peace.

During and following the conflict, soldiers in this area have usually been posted from another part of South Sudan and belong to other tribes. This has often led to soldiers abusing or oppressing local villagers, especially on the roads, or by plundering crops at harvest time. Bravely, the Hope Village team had decided to give a speakerbox to the local army barracks and include them in the community conversations.

During our visit we attended a community meeting and heard that this has been a good decision. One person from Kimba community told us –

“The community is living together well. It [the podcast] has encouraged people to cultivate [because crops won’t be plundered]. Before the [podcasts], we couldn’t travel far. But now there is less fear of soldiers – more peace – we are even able to greet soldiers in passing on the road.”

A woman then stood up and gave her perspective –

“Before the [podcasts] there was no unity or love. Now when we meet someone on the road (even men) we greet in peace. Because men … have realised that GBV (gender-based-violence) is wrong.”

Not every story was so positive. One man told us about his village, close to a camp of opposition forces. It is currently too dangerous to give a speakerbox to soldiers in the opposition forces camp and this village continues to face robbery and plundering. But his story led to a conversation among the leaders. Something must be done. This story must be heard too.

Some young people were passing the meeting and stopped to listen. One of them, a youth leader, spoke up, saying that he likes the entertainment –

“The songs have good meaning. War has led to rape, turned people poor, but songs give hope.”

Losing the culture of greeting one another in the road may not seem like the worst effect of war, but the stories of people finding it safer to greet again symbolise the hope of people on the road to peace.

You can listen below to the Hope Village theme song (written and performed by Barnabas Samuel) …

The post Safer to greet appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

Amplifying Voices is working with Zambian NGO, Chibozu Community Trust, to set up a community radio station in Simooya. The nearest town to Simooya, Choma, is on the main road from the capital Lusaka to the tourist centres at Victoria Falls. Choma is quite accessible. Simooya is not.

In earlier conversations about logistics and resources for the project, the term “but they’re in the village” seemed to suggest limitations. However, the implications were not clear to me, coming from a UK context where the term suggests an alternative lifestyle choice from urban living. In Zambia’s Southern Province, we soon recognised that “in the village” is a euphemism for isolation and lack. Life for people “in the village” is very different to life for people in towns like Choma. People in Choma have access to reasonable healthcare, toilets and running water in homes, but it’s often not so “in the village”.

Simooya is made up of several settlements each with its own headman. I went to visit some of the headmen and their households, to get a better understanding of what they hoped for in a radio station. I also wanted to introduce myself so that when I return to do installation and training, I’m not a total stranger. Three men and two women from the local charity came with me to translate, and probably also to vouch for me. Building trust is really important in community-centred media projects.

At each place we sat around until a few members of the household gathered. Some might exchange pleasantries, and then there was, what seemed to me, an awkward silence. When I tried to break it and get the conversation going, my companions cautioned me to wait, “it’s different here in the village from the town. We don’t just dive into things.” Then eventually there would be a lift of a chin in my direction and eyes glancing to one of my companions – it’s the cue for “so what’s he got to say then?”

After asking about who lived in the compound, how old were the children etc, I could ask about the radio station. What did the community members hope it would offer them? What kind of shows were they looking forward to listening to? And what if anything should the radio station not do – what mistakes should we avoid?

And so, we came to this man who told us that radio would help him get his missing animals back. These smallholdings don’t have any fences and cattle and goats roam freely, with some teenagers or children keeping an eye on them. The man said that whenever one of his animals goes missing, he has to go to Choma, (which is difficult for villagers to get to), to put out a notice via a commercial radio station (which is expensive and not very local). He is looking forward to having a local radio station to go to place his missing animal notices.

Other families were looking forward to sports updates, to educational programmes and to farmers being able to share ideas and advice with each other. One woman warned us that we should be careful that the radio station doesn’t become a source of misinformation.

People “in the village” don’t want the phrase “in the village” to always have the connotations of poverty that it has now. Our hope is that the radio station plays a significant role in villagers experiencing “fullness of life” instead.

The post Transforming life in the village appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

“After four years of devastating drought and food insecurity, no-one was ready for this,” says Fatma. “Even the authorities were poorly prepared and only days before the flooding started, the President said that he anticipated that the rainy season would be short and not have much impact on farmers,” she added. Thankfully before the rains arrived, Vox Radio had already begun preparing communities, advising them what to do in the event of flooding.

Partnering with the county government and service providers such as the Kenya Red Cross, Vox team members have been reaching out to flood-affected communities, giving them a voice. “As we meet community members, we listen to their concerns and needs and we also engage with specialists who can answer their questions,” says Fatma.  “For example we have discovered that a lot of people have been traumatised by the floods, and so we have been helping people understand how to identify trauma and giving them ways to cope.”

Fatma Mzee accompanies the District County Commissioner and other officials during a food distribution to displaced communities.

Vox Radio Chairman, John Otunga who has also been supporting the team in their emergency response described how the Vox team responded when the scale of the disaster became apparent: “We realised the importance of reliable information and immediately took action. We rallied community leaders from the government, religious groups, and the broader network of development workers to share messages of hope, give direction, and reassure the affected communities. We also restructured our programming to address community concerns and facilitated community discussions. We placed a lot of emphasis on engagement with community leaders and health experts in our radio programmes, which has fostered a sense of connection and support. These platforms of dialogue have contributed to the unity and kindness we are witnessing in Tana River, even as people grapple with the aftermath of the floods. Leaders are showing more accountability, and slowly, hope is finding its way back into the hearts of our people.”

The authorities have also acknowledged the valuable role Vox Radio is playing, even in supporting their rescue efforts.  One family whose home had been submerged under water called the radio station to tell them of their situation, which alerted the authorities who were able to rescue them.

According to Fatma, the floods came at a terrible time for both pastoralists and crop farmers. “Most farmers had already planted their seeds, but these have been washed away,” she said.  “The pastoralists likewise had brought their livestock from the hinterlands to graze by the river, so many animals were swept away, and those remaining are now suffering from diseases caused by the Tstese Fly.”

Going forward John believes that as the flood waters start to recede, the radio station will have a critical role to play as the communities will face many challenges.  On top of the existing challenge of food insecurity, which has been exacerbated by the floods, there is now a threat of a cholera outbreak and mosquito-born diseases like Malaria.  There is also a risk to communities from wild animals, whose habitats have been washed away, which often brings them into direct contact with people.

While thousands of people are now living in temporary camps, Fatma is thankful that many people are listening to Vox Radio.   “We have found that people in these IDP camps are very vulnerable, especially young people, and so we are running special mentorship programmes for boys and girls,” she said.  “Vox teams have been moving from camp-to-camp having conversations with young people about the risks that they face and about how they can keep safe.”

Meanwhile John says that Vox Radio’s commitment to serving the public during this crisis underscores the vital role that local media plays in times of disaster. “By leveraging its influence and reach, which is now almost county-wide, Vox Radio has not only disseminated critical information, but also fostered a sense of community resilience and unity, proving that even in the darkest times, the power of community-centred media can bring people together and help them rebuild.”

Photo credits: Kevin Odit (Nation Media Group) and Kulah Nzomo (Vox Radio)

The post From Drought to Deluge: Vox Radio Becomes A Lifeline appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

“Love your enemies! Do good to them.” ~ Jesus

“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.” ~Nelson Mandela

I have been deeply troubled to see the terrible loss of life that has happened in Israel and Gaza in recent days, as violence provokes more violence, with no peaceful end in sight to what seems the world’s most intractable conflict.

All too often these days it seems our media are awash with news of an assault by this or that group against another, often driven by some flawed ideology, misguided zealotry, or ultranationalism.

Fatma Mzee is the Operations Director of the Amani Centre in Tana River

Media, especially social media, often pour fuel on the raging fire and before too long you have a conflagration. It concerns me greatly!

However I am also greatly heartened when so often, acts of savagery and brutality result in a surge of love and kindness, as people rise to help the victims of violence or vendettas and people open their homes to refugees and outcasts. As usual when systems and processes fail us, we tap into our own resources, and friendships. It’s what strong communities do. Growing up in eastern Kenya, I have seen this happen, in fact it is one of the reasons I became a journalist. I believed media and communication could help communities, especially divided ones, connect better. And it can!  I have experienced it first hand in Tana River, in the eastern part of Kenya, where I live.

I was working for Nation Media group after the 2012 massacres in Tana River  and it was really bad, there was such hatred especially between the Orma, pastoralist community and Pokomo, land farming community.  The place was rife with rumours and misinformation and the situation was tense, as one act of violence provoked reprisals which left many dead and thousands displaced. But rather than dwelling on the past, let me fast forward to today because Tana River is a very different place.  Sure there are still many problems, but the divisions that were common then, are hard to find now. Former enemies have now become friends, there is greater understanding and dialogue and people even intermarry across ethnic groups. How did it happen?  It would be naive to say there was one reason, but I have no doubt that one of the main influences has been Vox Radio, formerly Amani (which means peace) FM.   Set up as a collaborative venture between the Amani Centre, Sentinel Project and Amplifying Voices (formerly HCR) to promote peace, Vox serves as a beacon of hope and a platform for dialogue, amplifying the voices of local communities, allowing them to express themselves and engage in constructive conversations.

Orma pastoralists, Tana River County (Photo credit: Cafod)

Take the case of Yusuf for example. He was a pastoralist and hated the tribe that farmed the land. But through our farming programme ‘Sauti ya Mkulima’ (the Voice of the Farmer), which brought pastoralists and land farmers together to discuss their shared challenges, they discovered they actually had a lot of common ground, not least of all that they were all in fact farmers. Over time, Yusuf, encouraged by his new crop-growing friends, decided that he would try his hand at growing watermelons along the banks of the Tana River.  He was so successful that he is now investing in an agri business, while still rearing cattle. Together pastoralists and land-farmers are gradually realising that to overcome the enormous challenges Tana River faces, such as the effects of the climate emergency, they need to find solutions together. It will take time, and patience!

A key to Vox Radio’s success is that we have built a lot of trust.  Trust takes a long time to build but just one second to destroy, so we cannot be complacent. But I do believe we are seen as an impartial champion of well-being for all the communities of Tana River. We have done this in several ways:

• By listening – to understand the hopes, aspirations and concerns that people have and providing a space for them to be heard
• By involving all communities – literally moving from one village to another and inviting villages to meet with each other.  We have even taken politicians with us, so they see first hand what people are facing and listen to their concerns
• By fact checking and challenging rumours and misinformation head on
• Through excellent radio programmes that engage the communities – talk shows, ‘phone-ins, dramas and programmes that hold the political classes to account
• By helping the communities to find common ground, rather than focus on their differences.
• Through sport and other community events – people who have fun together, can reason together.
• By using all media-platforms that support the radio, including social media, posters, banners and campaigns.

I believe that if we want to see sustainable development come to Tana River, it must go hand-in-hand with peace-building. We therefore need development solutions that prevent conflict and extremism and promote peace and security.  For that we need to keep the communities at the centre of all that we do and involve them at every stage. We need to promote peaceful narratives and behaviour that strengthens health and mental well-being. And we need to strengthen gender equality so girls have the same opportunities as boys.

I’m convinced that in today’s interconnected world, even in more marginalised regions like Tana River, radio and the internet are emerging as powerful tools for building peace, fostering understanding and promoting unity among diverse communities. I believe that peace is possible! I pray the Israelis and Palestinians will discover this too.

****

Fatma Mzee is Director of the Amani Centre in Tana River and is a guest speaker at this year’s Build Peace Conference in Nairobi

Picture credit: Re-imagining New Communities 

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Amplifying Voices helped set up the Umoja (Unity) station in 2016 and when two of our team members visited there recently, they were blown away by the impact this station has had since then.  Visiting different communities in the region, they heard many stories of how Umoja FM has become a life-line and seen them through war, Ebola, a refugee crisis and the pandemic.

The funding will help:

• Rebuild the Umoja FM studio, which has been damaged by weather, war and termites – see below
• Develop a solar-powered FM relay station to reach more communities with little or no access to reliable information
• Purchase two motor-bikes to help the team reach inaccessible areas
• Support regular community-engagement across the region
• Conduct training and monitoring visits

If you would like to help the triathlon reach 100% of their target, please visit the team’s funding page: Triathlon for DRC

The current studio, which has been damaged by weather war and termites, will be replaced by this…

Thank you for your generosity

The post Competing for Umoja appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

There are only a few areas of Southern Zambia that don’t have their own radio station. Pemba district is one of those. Weak signals from stations in other districts can sometimes be heard, but the voices and the conversations are not the voices and conversations of Pemba district. They serve the needs of those other places. In Zambia, as in many African countries, community radio is recognised as a vital tool for communities fighting poverty, creating new opportunities and helping to sustain better health outcomes. Our Zambian partner, Chibozu Community Trust and other community members in Pemba district have been advocating for several years to be allowed to close this gap in local radio availability. At the end of June, the government of Zambia allocated a license to Chibozu Community Trust to set up and run a new community radio station for Pemba District.

The station will be located in Simooya, a village in the middle of the rural settlements south of Pemba town. People living in this area are mostly subsistence farmers. Chibozu Community Trust has supported community members to build and run a school and a clinic in Simooya.

We asked how community members were responding to the news that the community radio license had been granted:

The head teacher of the school said

“The community radio station will be a great way to preserve culture and traditions through story telling, interviews and music. Making culture and tradition as part of radio is a great way of passing it down from generation to generation and hence keeping it alive.’’

Another teacher saw the potential for extending education opportunities to those with limited or no access to school.

“the school can broadcast the lessons that can reach many learners thus increasing learning time”.

Simooya Headteacher

Teacher at Simooya School

Community members and health workers also see the potential to support the school and the clinic. These are a great benefit to those living closest, but some community members living more remotely may not be know how or when to access the facilities.

The nurse in charge at the local clinic saw the importance of the radio station when she made the following remarks: ‘’it will be possible for us to send various health information to the community relating to health activities. … For instance when we carry out what we call ‘child health week’.’’

A local mother agreed: “I am happy to be told that there will be a radio station in the area as it will help me get the information on when to take the children for under five clinic services.’’

Community radio will increase local trade opportunities, and support informal local advice networks:

“The coming of a radio station will be very helpful to farmers as it will be easy for us to market our farm products and when it comes to animals diseases, it will be possible to share information about prevention and treatment of various animal ailments.” (A farmer from Simooya)

Local government in Southern Zambia is shared between elected government and traditional chiefs. One of the chiefs said:

‘’The radio station will help us as traditional leaders to send information to our subjects like inviting them for meetings”

This is not just a tool for chiefs getting their messages out. It is a platform that creates opportunities for more local people to get involved in local decision making.

The chief also sees the value of community radio for communication between community members: “it will be easy for someone to trace something if it gets lost such as animals.”

The enthusiasm continues. There are the local businesses looking forward to staying in touch with customers and reaching new contacts, and the local pastors who look forward to better connection with congregations and reaching new people with the Gospel. There is a palpable excitement about the imminent arrival of the new station.

But there are a couple of catches. A brand-new radio station needs to be set up and ready to start broadcasting by the end of October to meet conditions set by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and ZICTA, government agencies responsible for granting the broadcasting license and a station frequency. The station needs to have suitable premises ready and equipped. The equipment needs to be purchased, shipped, cleared through customs, and installed. Some of the license conditions, e.g., for soundproofing the studio, are more stringent than we would expect (or recommend) for a community radio station, leading to unexpected costs and a larger longer term challenge for the local community to make the station sustainable. A station manager needs to be recruited and local team members trained to use and maintain the equipment, and very importantly, how to create community-centred content in collaboration with community members and local service providers.

We are not standing still, and neither are Chibozu Community Trust or the Simooya Community Members. We have already provided two sessions of online training for the board of Chibozu Community Trust so they are prepared for recruiting and providing governance for a local team. The board have visited other local stations so they understand what the finished setup could look like and what is expected of them. They have started to adapt an unused classroom at the end of the school building for the studio. Amplifying Voices has sourced most of the equipment which should be ready to send to Zambia within the next couple of weeks. We are planning to visit Simooya in the second half of October to oversee the final stages setup and provide training workshops for station staff, community volunteers, service providers and other local stakeholders.

The post A new community radio station for Southern Zambia appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

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)

The post Vox Radio Goes Regional appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

“If the radio station was not there, we would feel insecure again!”

These words from a listener to Umoja FM were one of the many powerful testimonies we heard, as Johnny and I visited different communities in the chiefdom of Watalinga in the DRC’s conflict-affected region of North Kivu.  Story after story confirmed how this humble radio station has been a life-line to local communities, seeing them through war, a refugee crisis, an Ebola outbreak and the pandemic.  One listener told us: “Before Covid arrived in the DRC, Umoja had prepared us, so we knew how to protect ourselves.”

It’s been nearly 5 years since anyone from our team has been able to visit the radio station that Amplifying Voices helped set up in 2016, as part of an initiative to promote peace and development in this region. During that time all of our contact with the team has been through WhatsApp calls and text messages.  And despite many setbacks, including equipment failure, the team managed to stay on the air, continuing the community conversations.  Even the war couldn’t stop them.  As station manager Baraka told us, “When thousands were fleeing to Uganda because the rebels attacked the town, our team decided it was important to stay.  The army felt we were providing such an important service to the community that they even sent soldiers to defend our station.”

Accompaniment

An important part of Amplifying Voices’ work is to ‘walk alongside’ our partners as they support their communities, which are often facing challenging circumstances.  We call this “accompaniment” and while a lot of it takes place on-line, nothing beats face-to-face visits. Our recent visit to the DRC was a wonderful opportunity to build on our relationships with the local team as well as support them with training, technical advice and equipment.  As the Democratic Republic of Congo gears up for elections in December, an important part of our training workshop this visit was devoted to the role of Umoja FM in the run up to, during and after the election and especially how the station can contribute to a peaceful, democratic process. While training on conventional subjects like reporting, we placed an emphasis on ‘solutions journalism‘, which takes a different approach to conventional news reporting by focusing on how communities respond to and resolve social issues and problems themselves.

After completing a community-centred media workshop, the Umoja FM team proudly display their certificates of participation

Extending the Reach

During our visit we upgraded the radio transmitter. To confirm this was having an effect, we took the opportunity to visit some remote communities who feel disconnected from the wider community as they have little access to reliable information and no mobile phone connectivity.  When we arrived in one village, Kichanga, we were ushered in to join a community meeting led by the local chief, discussing their need for a school and a medical clinic. They were delighted that they can now hear Umoja FM in the village instead of taking their radios out to the high ground. Umoja presenter Sammy interviewed the chief, telling him that his voice would be on the radio that evening to amplify the voice of his village. We are still working with Umoja team to extend the radio signal to other villages who can’t yet receive it.

Umoja FM presenter, Sammy interviews local chief for the evening programme

New Studio Building

Besides the importance of extending the reach of the station to communities that are underserved by radio, the Umoja FM studio is itself facing major challenges. This old wattle and daub building, has been in existence for more than a decade, but it has finally succumbed to damage from termites, weather and war. To that end, Amplifying Voices in partnership with FEBC Australia, has committed to helping our local partner ESADER to build a new building. Albert, the President of ESADER says: “The construction of a new studio building to replace the existing one, will enable Umoja FM to operate sustainably into the future and is part of an ongoing process to help the radio station to increase its reach to communities that have little or no access to radio or other media.”

Construction of the new building is planned to begin in October.

The current Umoja FM studio affected by years of termite, weather and war damage

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