At Amplifying Voices, we use the term "speakerbox" to talk about a digital audio player with a built in speaker, suitable for group listening for around 10 people. Speakerboxes come in various shapes and sizes and most have a variety of options for playing stored digital audio content.

Amplifying Voices partners use speakerboxes with a microSD card slot (also called TF card, flash card, or μSD), and distribute new programmes on microSD cards to listener groups. We provide two microSD cards for each speakerbox so that one card stays with the group while the other goes to the partner to get the next programme downloaded.

Several hours of digital audio content can be stored on the tiny microSD cards. Digital audio can also be stored on USB sticks, on a phone or laptop.

Most speakerboxes also have USB ports to play audio files from a USB stick and can connect to a phone, laptop or MP3 player through an "Aux" input. An Aux cable has two 3.5mm jacks, which you connect between the Aux input and the headphone socket of your other device. Some speakers have Bluetooth for playing music or content from a phone.

We now encourage partners to source speakerboxes that have an FM radio receiver built in, especially where projects have developed agreements to play programmes on local FM stations.

Why do we use Speakerboxes?

We started using speakerboxes in communities where it was not possible to set up a community radio station. However, we have since found that speakerbox projects can also offer some advantages over a radio station project.

Speakerboxes provide a very flexible way for groups of people to listen together to focussed programmes at a time of their own convenience. Groups can discuss content together, explore ideas for responding to advice or stories they've heard, and in many cases the groups also make content for future programmes.

 

Listener group gathers for a speakerbox session in Northern Uganda

Speakerbox content can be tailored to very specific audiences, and listener groups can work with producers to develop topics that are most important to the group.  It can also cover topics a radio station might not see as profitable or even too risky or taboo to handle. As the speakerbox audience is usually smaller, and often know the production team personally, there is more scope for newly trained production workers to build their skills by making speakerbox programmes until their content is good enough for broadcasting on a partner FM station.

In Pakistan and South Sudan, content which is used on speakerboxes is also broadcast on local FM stations. This allows partners to increase reach and impact without having to set up their own radio station, while still benefiting from the flexibility and focus of speakerbox listening groups.

New Dawn health worker with speakerbox for women’s listener groups.

What is Digital Audio?

For the purposes of this post, digital audio means audio content including music, and talk show recordings, that can be stored as files on a computer, phone, or memory device.  Digital audio can also be "streamed" over the internet. You might be familiar with MP3 files. MP3 is a form of digital audio.

So is a speakerbox programme rather like a podcast?

We have used the term "podcast" when talking about speakerbox programmes, because podcasts are a very close equivalent for most of our readers. However, podcasts are delivered over the internet, and speakerboxes do not have access to the internet. In the communities where we work, the term podcast is less well known, and listeners prefer to just call the programmes "radio programmes". In fact, in Northern Uganda and South Sudan, community members call speakerboxes "radios".

Is a Speakerbox basically an MP3 player?

So you remember MP3 players! They've more or less been replaced by phones now. In a sense, yes a speakerbox is a kind of MP3 player, but the term "MP3 player" usually means a small device designed for listening to with headphones. Some had small speakers on them, but they would not be suitable for group listening. MP3 players also have a lot internal storage where people could keep their music collections, and a user interface for navigating the different files. Most of the speakerboxes we use have no internal memory, no internet access, and very limited buttons for moving from file to file. This keeps the cost per speakerbox down, so more listener groups can get one. With bluetooth enabled speakerboxes, and distribution of programmes via WhatsApp (or in India, via the Adivasi Voices App), listener groups can use phones to control the speakerbox, getting the flexibility of an MP3 player and the volume and simplicity of a speakerbox.

What about power?

Solar powered radio speaker, Zambia

The early batches of speakerboxes we supplied to projects had built-in rechargeable batteries, and charged with a USB cable. However, in remote locations or refugee camps, access to power for recharging was problematic. We now work with partners to buy speakerboxes with solar panels. One partner told us they found it advisable to buy models with a removable solar panel, so that the speakerbox can be kept safely indoors while it is charging.

Read More

Find out which Amplifying Voices projects use speakerboxes

Read news updates from communities using speakerboxes

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Sharing our  learning

Our article in Footsteps explores two of the less obvious advantages of community-centred media – advocacy (amplifying the voices of those who have been disadvantaged) – and encouraging better understanding of others by promoting community conversations. We also highlighted the relative simplicity of audio as a medium, allowing people with a variety of abilities to participate in creating content.

Advocacy is highlighted in the article by Hazeen’s story about people, who were tricked by thieves into paying for a free government service, having their money restored after the thieves heard their stories on the radio and realised they had been discovered.

Amani FM is rooted in community conversations. At its outset, the radio programmes shared personal stories from people who were in conflict with each other allowing the listeners to “walk a mile in their neighbours shoes”. This promoted dialogue and understanding – foundations for peace.

Each Footsteps issue includes a Resources article designed to inspire communities to try some ideas out for themselves. This month “How to make a community podcast” is based on our partners’ experiences in Uganda and India, using speakerboxes in areas where radio is not possible or appropriate.

Learning from others

It is really encouraging to be asked to share our own learning. It is also encouraging to see the  innovation of other organisations using various participatory approaches for effective communication. In this issue, my good friend Bobby Zachariah helps corporations become more effective in their social responsibility activities by getting better at listening, using an approach called SALT. You may have heard us talk about the SALT approach when we talk about the Amplify project in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

SALT volunteers listening to community stories. Freetown. BBN, 2019

In the spirit of listening well, Roland Lubett talks about the importance of understanding non-verbal communication – and we learn that non-verbal communication isn’t limited to body language.

The World Association of Christian Communication (WACC) talks about supporting women in Delhi to build skills in using mobile phones and other modern communication methods so that their voices are included in the decisions that affect them. From WACC we learn about taking a rights-based approach to communication.

Five Talents tell Ana’s story. Ana felt she didn’t have the right skills, but her personal qualities drew many unheard people into community conversations – and encouraged her own daughter to become a facilitator and communicator.

From Tearfund we learn about Community Theatre – reflecting the power of being immersed in a story. This article resonates with us because radio drama is a popular and effective tool in the places where we work. Our partners, BBN in Freetown, are currently using a radio drama series to address fears about getting the Covid vaccination.

Insightshare uses a similar approach to Amplifying Voices, but with video. Their article shares how participatory video enabled widows in communities in Ghana to move from whispering their issues among themselves to having the attention of chiefs and politicians.

An interview with a facilitator, who has learned sign language to be able to include deaf people in her workshops, reminds us to address hidden barriers to full participation in communication. As does a final article about the risks of the “smarts” behind social media which deliver a limited and tailored view of the world to our smartphones.

Such a breadth of participatory communication activities emphasises the value of collaboration – and helps us to avoid the pitfall of thinking our way is the only best way. But we are also very encouraged to be reminded that community-centred radio (and podcasts) play such an important role in completing this tapestry of participatory communication.

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I was reminded of this recently, when a community service asked me to attend a workshop and assist with producing community media product to support a mental health project. While it had been a particularly busy time with many deadlines, I committed as we always try to say yes, and the task should have only taken 20-30 minutes. On arrival all training participants were hesitant and did not want to be involved, so instead I became involved in the workshop and spent time building relationships with those there. As the afternoon progressed all the participants felt it was a worthy project and then participated in developing community media messages to help the community with mental health. Even though it then took 2.5 hours, it was definitely worth it.

Giving time is key to building relationships which is foundational to community development.

This article originally posted in on the HCR (Australia) website.

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The phrase that springs to mind is: “who is he that despises the day of small things?” It amazes me how much can be done with so little. I think of the bible story of the woman pouring her limited oil into jars that kept overfilling. This picture seems fitting for Amplifying Voices as their resources have had impact beyond what should be possible. How can such a small charity have the sustainable impact that it does?  I believe first and foremost it is due to God’s enabling, but this also goes hand in hand with something I’m really excited about.  That is Amplifying Voices’ community-centred approach to every project.

In the international development sector, placing local people at the centre of interventions is acknowledged as ‘best practice’ . It has different names like ‘people-centred’, ‘participatory’ or ‘community-centred’. But whilst it is recognised as best practice, application is not as easy as you would think.  Coming back to Amplifying Voices after my time away, I have been genuinely impressed, and encouraged by their ability to do what many other organisations struggle with – truly adopt and practice a community-centred approach.

Early discussions between Alex, Theo and Jon, setting up Amplifying Voices (then HCR UK)

One initiative that stands out for me is the ‘Adivasi Voices Project’.  Adivasi/tribal groups are an isolated, outcaste group often facing violence and rejection from mainstream Indian society. Many are deprived of basic facilities (food, clothing, education and medicine) with a low life expectancy. They feel marginalised and rejected by mainstream Indian society. Existing programmes often try and integrate them with the majority society, rather than allowing them to maintain their distinctive way of life.  Amplifying Voices helped its local partner, Seva, to successfully go against the grain with a project that places the Adivasi people right at the centre. They provided training, resources and mentoring support that was so successful, the team has become fully self-sufficient. Using Amplifying Voices’ community-centred approach, the Seva team worked with local Adivasi people to celebrate their strengths while identifying their needs, their desires, their hopes. Out of this community-centred dialogue, the ‘Adivasi Voices’ project was born, fully led by the local community team.  And as the project has progressed, more and more local Adivasi champions have joined the Seva team, building on their learning.

Through the project, formerly media dark villages now have access to critical health information and education.  And through mobile health clinics they have access to medicine and healthcare. An evaluation of the Adivasi Voices project showed impressive improvements in health practices, and a reduction in sickness. The holistic nature of the project really came through in the evaluation as villagers shared stories of improved health practice and a sense of empowerment through increased awareness of their rights.

The Seva team continues to monitor the project through regular community dialogue and regularly report stories of empowerment and lives transformed.

I loved this quote from one of the Adivasi village leaders:

“If you came to our village two years ago, you would be amazed by the many changes that have taken place. We have toilets that work, water that’s clean and our children are attending school. We feel different and we feel like we have found our voice.”

Whilst the Adivasi project stood out to me, Amplifying Voices’ other projects follow the same community-centred approach and have tangible, evidenced-based stories of individual and community transformation, many of which transcend the lifetime of the project.  I’m excited to be a part of the adventure again.

As one of the founders of Amplifying Voices in 2013, Theo Hannides is currently an independent consultant in the development sector. She recently rejoined the Amplifying Voices team to help strengthen the monitoring, evaluation and learning of the charity’s projects.

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Working in collaboration with Stop the Child Witchcraft Accusations (SCWA) partners, we have been analysing community feedback from trusted contacts in 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Three key themes emerged:

• Misinformation about the causes of Covid-19 leads to confusion and failure to take action.
• Covid-19 restrictions have caused severe socio-economic harm to local communities’ and households’ that were already facing disadvantage.
• Fear created by the above uncertainty and insecurity is linked to increased witchcraft accusations and abuse of vulnerable children.

These themes highlight the need for communities to be able to accurately explain why life has got tougher since Covid-19, building on local conversations around reliable information.

Misinformation and confusion

Our contacts told us that there is a lot of speculation about Coronavirus in their countries and communities. Reasons given for the spread of the pandemic include Coronavirus being: ‘a punishment from God’, ‘a ruse from the devil’, ‘an outworking of biological warfare between Chinese and American superpowers’, ‘the result of 5G technology’ or ‘a highly infectious illness’. Some believe that Coronavirus doesn’t exist at all or that African people are safe from it because it cannot survive warmer climates. Blame is most frequently attributed to either the Chinese, the West or the wealthy with their international travel. Government authorities rely on media to communicate health messages to their populations. However, our partners reported that a lot of additional information is being shared on social media and that this information is frequently unreliable. This confusion causes fear and discourages people from taking action to protect themselves and their communities.

Socio-economic harm

Consistently we heard that the impact of lockdown restrictions is far more severe than the impact of the virus itself. As people have lost their livelihoods, many are starving. Food insecurity is mentioned again and again. The pandemic has done long term damage to economies and livelihoods in Sub-Saharan countries and this is putting families under significant extra pressure. We heard from Mrs G in Kananga, DR Congo:

 “My husband, who lost his job, abandoned me and our three children. I don’t know where he is. I am trying to get by now by selling leaves to meet the needs of my children. I feed the same kind of cassava leaves that I sell on their own [i.e. that is all she feeds them] to feed my children once a day. The huge anxiety that plays on my mind is that one of my children is already suffering from malnutrition. I don’t know what to do or when coronavirus is going to end.”

 Witchcraft Accusations

A rise in witchcraft accusations is noted in Nigeria, Kenya and DR Congo, and this increase often happens at times of crisis. Families are under pressure and they want explanations for their changing circumstances. Children with behavioural or physical differences to local norms become scapegoats, accused of witchcraft or of bringing a curse on their homes. They are often abandoned to live on the streets in major cities like Kinshasa. Food insecurity is particularly severe for vulnerable groups such as children living on the streets. The COVID-19 impact is compounded by lack of access to clean water and to facemasks to protect them from the virus.

Beyond confusion and fear

Many of these injustices could be avoided through local communities being equipped to develop and disseminate more accurate explanations for misfortune, and through feeling empowered to develop their own responses to the hardships.

Our partners’ feedback identifies churches and radio as highly trusted sources of information, which suggests that these are good routes to starting community conversations based on accurate information. Social dialogues are essential for identifying common local concerns, for building healthy understanding of them and for developing sustainable local responses to COVID-19 and lockdown restrictions.

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COVID19 has highlighted the vital role of communication for disseminating health and hygiene advice in a crisis, and for building cooperation across diverse populations. Although we have had to adapt working practices to observe physical distancing, community-centred media remains our primary tool in responding to Covid19.

Recording media content in Omugo Community, Feb 2021

We have also provided some emergency funding so our partners can support additional emergency relief activitiesto help their local communities to respond to this crisis.

For more information go to our COVID-19 Resources.

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“… you’re still on mute! …”

If I could have a pound for every time I hear that phrase, I could probably fund our projects many times over!

Love them or hate them, free Zoom webinars quickly established themselves in March this year as a means for organisations to contribute in the prevailing spirit of mutual cooperation we saw across the UK and in many other countries.

At HCR, we realised that we could help other community development organisations who were looking for new ways to use media to engage with their partner communities remotely. We offered free webinars to introduce community-centred media to organisations such as Tearfund, Mothers Union and World Challenge. People, who normally work in community-led development projects, told us how glad they were to hear about media strategies that would allow them to continue supporting grass-roots work without having to resort to top down, message-centred approaches.

We were by no means new to Zoom or to video-calls, but we soon learned a lot of new things about using Zoom. Conceptual Powerpoint slides that worked well in face-face workshops, seemed harder to explain when people could not clearly see your face.

It was also harder to gauge whether people were tracking with you when you could not see participants faces clearly. Group discussions struggled to flow thanks to the infamous mute-unmute delays. (And sometimes thanks to the lack of mute, with background roosters cock-a-doodle-do-ing our discussions into obscurity!).

In one case, the network connections were so poor for participants, calling in from remote locations in Liberia, Burundi, Uganda and Kenya, that we abandoned Zoom and used WhatsApp audio calling. We shared the key powerpoint slides as image files in WhatsApp.

Most of the people attending the webinars were in strategic leadership positions. Yet, we found it helpful to focus less on strategy diagrams. Instead we started to build our webinars around stories that demonstrated community-centred media in action. We took real situations and outcomes from projects in contexts similar to those where participants work and we wove them into illustrative narratives.

Despite the challenges of 2-dimensional Zoom calls, we could see a marked increase in webinar participants’ engagement, through their perseverance in maintaining discussion flow despite mute-unmute issues, and also in their feedback describing how they would community-centred media learning in their contexts.

But where does this lead? Should we continue doing webinars? After all, we can’t observe the impact this has on communities in the same way we can with face-face community consultation workshops. We exist to see communities living life in all its fullness, free from poverty, injustice, and violence. We work towards that by equipping local partners in communities facing disadvantage or crisis, to use community-centred media to bring people together, to mobilise local resources and tackle challenges identified by community members. Is any of this happening when we run webinars for people in head offices of large organisations?

Last week we heard from one organisation that their partners in Burundi had run a national radio campaign to address misinformation and education gaps around Covid-19. The leader of the campaign had attended one of our earlier webinars. He shared several observations from his teams working directly with communities to make the radio programmes. A global leader for the organisation said “this radio campaign would not have been as effective, was it not for the training you provided”.

In the partner’s evaluation, reporting on interviews in 580 communities in 11 provinces, we saw evidence of community-centred media practices and evidence that these resulted in community members and service providers working together to tackle Covid-19 misinformation and infection causes:

“Besides the messages [from experts], plays have proved to be a powerful tool in sharing hygiene messages … Burundi community has been mobilized and is also empowered to stand firm against COVID 19.”

“The community shares accurate information regarding Coronavirus, knows how to prevent and stop the spread of the Coronavirus and many have taken the right attitude against Coronavirus (wear masks, wash hands and respect social distance).”

“The program was useful to aware and mobilize the people in my county how to prevent COVID-19, and due to the program, all shops, markets, churches and mosques of the county have put buckets with taps and soaps where everyone must wash hands before to enter into them”

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One of HCR’s core values is having a community focus. We see that, within communities there is huge potential for innovating and driving sustainable transformation. During the Covid19 crisis, we have seen this in Kenya, Uganda and Pakistan.

In Nairobi, Boda Boda (motorcycle taxi) drivers still had to work and earn a living, but this put them at risk due to close proximity with their passengers. Rather than fight the reality, community health workers and Mtaani FM found the opportunity to educate people more widely, and help the improve safety for the drivers in other ways. They clubbed together to create Covid-19 infection prevention stickers which the drivers wore on their helmets. They also had some hi-viz safety vests printed with the messages. Passengers would spend their journey reading about washing their hands and protecting others from infection.

In Uganda, a number of refugee-led organisations, including our partner CDC, found that the needs in the communities were changing rapidly and urgently. They worked with an innovative software company, ListNeeds, to develop something a bit like a ‘wedding present list’ of items that their communties need. Each organisation has their own page, and could present the immediate and rapidly changing needs to international donors directly. You can view CDC’s list here.

CDC’s Soot Semee team have worked hard to ensure community voices remain at the core of the media project, even with the limitations caused by Covid19. They don’t take their portable studio into the communities as it tends to attract a crowd, putting people at risk through lack of distancing. Instead, the team take small voice recorders into the community, set them up on a stand, then invite people to come forward and tell their story. Some community members also record their opinions or other contributions on their phones, send them by Bluetooth to a friend who has internet access, who then sends it by WhatsApp to the Soot Semee team. This is so important, as the community says “we feel like we are teaching other”, rather than being told what to do by outsiders.

In Pakistan, a church youth group felt despair at the social problems in their community caused by poverty. Lockdown and loss of livelihoods only seemed to make things worse. They invited Hazeen Latif from HCR Pakistan to teach them about community-centred media. They learned a method for breaking down these seemingly insurmountable problems and identifying realistic steps to address issues. They said “We felt we had a real way to address our own problems”. Straight away they started to create community service announcements (CSAs) using local voices to distribute into the community as MP3 files to be played on social media or speakerboxes.

We see our role as HCR to be that of catalysts. We constantly seek the right balance of providing input to equip and support community partners, while leaving space for emergent agency to thrive.

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Some of the ways in which we support the SDG’s include:

• Working with partners in Tana River, Kenya, to promote peace by providing verified and reliable information through community media, reducing the conflict that in the past has developed through fake news.
• Encouraging communities in the Mid West of Western Australia to develop localised media campaigns around health and wellbeing.
• Promoting women’s equality through community radio in Pakistan.
• Empowering health services to provide critical information on water sanitation in India.
• Promoting indigenous practices that support the environment and sustainability of the land and sea.

Most importantly, partnerships are vital (goal 17) to ensure we are able to support and empower communities around the world.

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By Dr Ross James, Founder, Health Communication Resources 

Background

The communities of Magindanaon province in Mindanao, Philippines, have experienced sustained conflict, disadvantage and disempowerment. Radio Gandingan (RG) has quietly transformed minority Maguindanaon communities, severely affected by decades of armed struggle for political autonomy involving multiple state, civil, political, religious and armed actors. RG began broadcasting in 2000 as a weekly one-hour radio program with airtime purchased from a local commercial radio station but expanded in 2004 to two and a half hours of purchased airtime, spread over five evenings each week. Following the storming of Marawi City in north Mindanao by ISIS-aligned fighters who attacked key government buildings, churches and schools, RG volunteers provided evacuees with field reports, updates and information provided by government and non-government (NGO) service providers. Local communities claimed RG was more trustworthy than other sources of information, because of RG’s demonstrated compassion and credibility through community-centered activities. 

We wanted to understand the processes that led to RG being regarded in this way. We analysed reliable research data collected in the period 2005 to 2009 using realist evaluation, or RE [2].  This method analyses how people within a context respond to mechanisms, such as components or resources, that bring about change. In other words understanding the context is very important, as are the mechanisms that can influence change.

The context of the six communities associated with RG was very complex.  Communities were isolated from health and development service providers and suffered from ill health due to poor hygiene.  There was high unemployment, a poor environment and tension between neighbours and within families.  Ordinary people were further excluded from decision-making, with little access to information resulting in low self-confidence and disempowerment.

What We Found

When we looked at the data we found stories and explanations of how RG’s role had promoted dialogue, and improved livelihood and community participation. Specifically, dialogue had resolved community conflict and strengthened family bonds and relationships, and improved communication and understanding between community leaders and community members; livelihood had improved with behaviours and practices that led to better protection of the environment, livelihood, health, community cohesion and unity; and community participation was better through involvement in the RG radio program, and increased participation and communication in community meetings. 

RG trained 18 Community Radio Volunteers (CRVs), residents in the six communities, to participate in community-centered radio programming. RG programs modelled dialogue that extended into community discourse, social learning and decision-making processes of married couples. Dramas prompted family communication about values such as honesty and tolerance. One man said ‘I’ve learned from the drama that wives have a great role in the family so I should appreciate their hard work’. RG programs resolved a conflict between duck owners and rice farmers (ducks ate the farmers’ rice), and inspired leaders to reconcile two families quarrelling over land. 

People said RG made them aware of harmful practices to environmental resources, such as cutting down trees, and using dynamite or poison for fishing. A project to install community toilets was organised in one community after they had used an RG program to identify cleanliness as a problem. One lady reported that her children began washing in the evening: “I didn’t ask them, it’s RG who taught them of this health practice”.   Another person spoke of better community relationships because of RG: “Our corn used to be stolen before we were able to harvest it. But now we do not fear because no one steals them anymore. The youths who used to give us problems stopped doing bad things”. 

Community members participated in radio programs on health, livelihood or community issues. Community leaders were given opportunities to discuss issues on air with community members and for the first time women, people living with disability and those with little education were included.  

Why is this A BIG DEAL?

Radio programming is a widely recognised communication strategy for health and social development internationally. Community radio provides advocacy, education and information in a diverse range of initiatives for public health and disease, democracy and politics, peacebuilding, empowerment of women, human rights and so on. 

However, and this is a big however, such approaches rely on the skills of professional media workers and service providers, as well as wide-scale, well-funded systematic community development interventions. Participatory communication along the lines of RG does not easily fit the mindset of big funders who shy away from politics or power-dynamics in communities.  And so they limit communication to the dissemination of messages and evaluate message-related factors such as audience reach, message comprehension and recall.

This study is evidence that a local level community-centred radio and their volunteers is powerful way facilitating dialogue, livelihood and participatory communication outcomes in contexts characterised by sustained conflict, disadvantage and disempowerment. 

If you would like to learn more about this project, about Realistic Evaluation (RE) practice or take part in a webinar on RE, then please contact us via our contact page.

[1] Original Article: R James, E Romo-Murphy, M Oczon-Quirante. A Realist Evaluation of a Community-Centered Radio Initiative for Health and Development in Mindanao, Philippines. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health DOI: 10.1177/1010539519870661

[2] There is not enough space to fully explain RE in this blog. A good starting point is the classic text: Pawson R, Tilley N. Realistic Evaluation. London: SAGE Publications; 1997.

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