Since June, Pakistan has been devastated by record monsoon rains causing the worst flooding in decades.  The provinces of Sindh and Balochistan have been worst hit, but communities where our partners work, in the northern province of Khyberpakhtunkhwa (KPK), have also been badly affected by the floods.

Amplifying Voices Pakistan has responded by supporting these communities near Charsadda and near Nowshera. Hazeen from Amplifying Voices Pakistan told me that private Youtubers and TikTokers did a good job of telling people where to find food and shelter. Amplifying Voices set out to reach people not reached through these channels, to raise the voices of people not reached by aid responders, and to provide access to health advice and basic medical treatment.

Nowshera

Zafar "gets his shoes dirty" getting out and about to hear community members' stories near Nowshera, Aug 2022.

Zafar, the founder of local partner, Community Media Power, is also Amplifying Voices Pakistan's representative in Nowshera for a new disaster response arm, AViD (Amplifying Voices in Disaster). As the flood warnings started, the local military commander invited Zafar to attend disaster management briefings. This turned out to be vital for accessing up-to-the-minute official information and advice on behalf of the listeners. Zafar also interviewed local government officials including the Additional Deputy Commissioner (see image at top of page) and the Deputy Commissioner. The interviews were recorded and aired on the local station, Zalmay Fm, and also filmed for sending out via Facebook videos. This helped people hear the official advice on evacuation and later, advice on returning to homes after the worst of the flood.

A key aim of the radio response is to help community members take an active role in their own response, so Zafar also visited places where people had taken refuge after fleeing their homes, or where they had missed out on relief, so they could share their stories on air. One place that Zafar visited had had 8ft of water in the houses and 10 days had gone by with no relief arriving. He interviewed community members and made short videos of their situation which he shared on social media platforms connected to local authorities. The next day authorities sent machinery to clean the streets and also provided clean drinking water, food and sprayed the area to prevent disease. One community member said:

"No one would dare to come to our place after seeing such dirt and mud but the AViD team came to us. We will never forget their courage and care for us"

AViD volunteers also provided food packages directly to another group that had missed out on emergency relief.

AViD volunteer distributing food packages, nr Nowshera, Aug 2022

Following the initial response, Zafar recorded a series of interviews amplifying the voices of local heroes, such as local firefighters, who had done so much to help their communities.

Radio broadcasts to celebrate the local heroes in the Pakistan flood response, Nowshera 2022

Charsadda

In Charsadda district, the compound where the Naway Saher studio is located was flooded. The team leader’s family who live there managed to save a lot of their belongings by moving them, as many families do, to a room on their rooftop before the floods hit. They also managed to save the studio equipment. They then had to evacuate. On returning to the house after the worst of the flood, they found they had a huge clean up job on their hands, but most of their belongings were safe.

The Naway Saher team leader, who is also a local health worker, created radio programmes alerting people to the health risks faced by people returning to flood-damaged homes. We asked him how the children had been affected by the floods. He told us that the children found it exciting, because it was like there was a swimming pool everywhere. But this was also a huge a health risk for the children.  Swimming or walking in flood water holds increased risk of snakebites. The water is very dirty and unhygienic, with lots of submerged hazards. Boreholes had been compromised so drinking water was polluted. Amplifying Voices Pakistan provided emergency funding so that Naway Saher was able to record discussions about these challenges with local people and air them on the local radio station, Dilbar FM.

Following the radio programmes Naway Saher and Amplifying Voices Pakistan provided a pop-up health camp with emergency supplies of basic medicines to help people who had become ill because of the flood waters. The Naway Saher team leader and his wife, the ladies health worker for the area, know the people in their community well and were able to prioritise medicines and advice going to those who needed it most.

Ladies health worker provides advice and medicine, nr Charsadda, 2022

Despite this, so many people came to get medicine that the supplies ran out within 2 days. The health worker had to move the dispensary from his usual clinic to a local school which had more space for people to queue up. Hazeen encouraged Naway Saher to issue an appeal to raise local support for the medicines. This would supplement the funding given by Amplifying Voices, and followed the principle of supporting local people to take a leading role in their own response.

Medical camp in the school

Officials expect the effects of the floods to continue into October and beyond. Teams from Nowshera and Charsadda will continue to provide special radio programmes on flood recovery, with a focus on health care. There will be at least one more health camp in each location to support the need for emergency medicines. An emergency response like this falls outside the budgets and plans for Amplifying Voices Pakistan, so we are grateful to our supporters who can give a little extra to support Hazeen and his team in this time. We are also grateful to FEBC Australia for their generous support of this response.

Amplifying Voices in Disaster (AViD)

This was the first deployment of an Amplifying Voices in Disaster (AViD) response. AViD, is a concept that Amplifying Voices UK and Amplifying Voices Pakistan been working on together in preparation for such an event. AViD builds on our previous experience supporting First Response Radio, using radio programmes and other media to provide timely 2-way communication channels for local communities affected by a disaster. AViD’s goal is for community voices to play a central role in humanitarian responses, so that communities recover quickly from disaster, growing in confidence, capacity, and resilience as they do so.

We feel that Amplifying Voices can be most effective in disaster response by working with existing community-centred media projects where trust already exists between our partners and community members. This provides a strong foundation for supporting the affected community by creating media programmes with community voices at the fore.

AViD also equips community groups to liaise with the influx of humanitarian service providers who come into disaster-affected communities often with quite specialised information and advice to communicate. To equip ourselves for the task and to build understanding with humanitarian service providers, we are members of the CDAC Network. The CDAC Network is a global alliance of media development organisations, UN agencies, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, NGOs and specialist communications entities, all determined to enable and support dialogue with and between communities in preparation for, or response to disasters.

Donate to AViD Pakistan flood Response

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For Irshad, using local resources to tackle local problems comes naturally. He has developed an unusual community service. In the rural village where he lives, near Charsadda in Pakistan, there are few street lights. However, funeral processions are sometimes done at night-time. Seeing this issue, Irshad started to offer his services as a mobile streetlight – driving ahead of the procession with lamps mounted on his motorbike rickshaw.

The Urdu writing on the motorbike translates: Free IRSHAD LIGHT SERVICE

After the training workshop, Irshad told Hazeen that he loved the community-centred media approach because it brings people together to explore root causes of local issues and tackle them together. He especially loved learning how to create audio programmes that would be played on a local FM radio station. Chatting to Hazeen afterwards, he said, “this will be like bringing us from darkness into light. We had not thought that we could do these things.”

We can see that Irshad already provides light to his community during the dark times in people’s lives. We are excited to see what more can be achieved as he and the other trainees start using media to amplify local voices in their communities.

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The local partner based in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province is Naway Sahar Community Services Group (NSCSG). Amplifying Voices Pakistan supports Naway Sahar to inspire positive change through off-air and on-air initiatives, led by the community.

Breaking barriers to women’s health issues 

During community consultations, project workers often hear people voice concerns about the vulnerability of women to health issues. The primary concerns are usually related to pregnancy and childbirth.

However, in this community, women are less likely than men to have access to the radio programmes produced by NSCSG. A face-to-face workshop alternative is an effective ‘off-air’ activity to reinforce ‘on-air’ content.

This women’s health workshop and other face-to-face activities are possible as Covid-19 rules are more relaxed in Pakistan compared to Europe. The country has much lower numbers of reported coronavirus cases.

Women’s health workshop inspires relevant on-air content

Conversations in workshops like these also inspire future ‘on-air’ content production. The work of NSCSG is championed by a couple who are both community health workers. NSCSG’s on-air content often addresses local concerns about health and hygiene, enhancing the effectiveness of local face-to-face healthcare activities.

An important element of community-centred media is the way that on-air activities – such as content production, broadcast programmes on radio, or MP3 podcasts on speaker boxes – mesh with off-air activities like community events, local service provider activities.

The effect is mutually productive. Audio content both reinforces and inspires off-air activities, and community activities inspire relevant content, which reinforces the information heard on-air.

Find out what happens next

We’re excited to see the shift in health and hygiene within this community. Get the updates first-hand by subscribing to our newsletter below. Check out more stories from Pakistan here or visit our Amplifying Voices Pakistan website.

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In a major first for this community, girls were allowed to participate in the competition alongside boys. The first prize went to one of the boys and the second prize was awarded to a class 4 girl.

The student who got the first prize said,

“I did not know how important it was to wash hands for our healthy lives. From now on I will tell my family the importance of handwashing and hygiene.”

Art was previously been considered a low priority for childrens’ education but this looks set to change, as we heard from school staff members:

The school principal said:

“we did not realize how talented our children are.​ Through this painting competition, we also learned a lot. We’ve decided to start a new period in our weekly schedule to promote painting.”

Teacher #1:

This was the first time we have experienced such an activity “learning in fun”. our students also learned about competition.

Teacher#2:

We need more such activities in the future as girls and boys loved it and learned about [Covid-19 hygiene rules].

Competition entries on display

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A few years ago in Pakistan, the government started to roll out a scheme to provide healthcare assistance for people with very low incomes. Participants were to register for a ‘Sehat’ card, which could provide them with up to £1500 of healthcare insurance cover. The government gave clear criteria for providing the support to people. But because the intended recipients were poorly educated, many did not understand the criteria or how the scheme would work. Some applied but could not show how they met the criteria and their applications were rejected.

Some people took advantage of this limited awareness of the Sehat scheme. They asked villagers to give over a payment, saying they could guarantee that the villagers would be accepted on the scheme and receive a Sehat card. People gave money to the scammers who did nothing with it. As a result many low income families lost money, did not receive the promised cards, and were also not able to receive government assistance.

When speaking with community members, the New Dawn volunteers heard from several community members who had lost money to this scam. New Dawn aired interviews from the people affected as audio posts on the Zamung Radio What’sApp group which now has over 850 members. The people who organised the scam also heard the shows. They contacted New Dawn via WhatsApp and New Dawn facilitated a community-led resolution. They arranged a handover event for the scammers to give the misappropriated funds back to the affected community members. This was a partial payment and rest of the payment will be made soon. In return the community agreed not to take the issue any further.

When I asked how this could work, HCR Pakistan’s Hazeen Latif said. “The New Dawn team has a strong local Jirga influence. Once someone makes a promise to the Jirga, they are bound to keep that oath. This arrangement was agreed in Jirga and therefore held Jirga authority” (Jirga is a Pashtun tradition, whereby an assembly of leaders meet to resolve local disputes).

In many contexts where HCR partners work, advocacy can be a sensitive issue. People in power can react violently to criticism. Community-centred media often uses story-telling as an advocacy tool. Personal stories can be powerful without necessarily being directly confrontational. Those with power get to hear the real impact of policies or injustices. In many cases, on hearing these stories, people in power realise that an early positive response can ward off a more damaging exposure of their activities. In these cases, satsifactory community-led resolutions can be implemented, as happened in this case in Pakistan

The post Stories that move mountains appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

Local response in Western Australia

There are not many cases of Covid-19 in Western Australia at the time of writing this article, but the media hype has caused a lot of panic. If the virus does spread, social conditions mean that Aboriginal people living in the region may be at a high risk. Radio MAMA, our Aboriginal media partner in Western Australia, is engaging with local communities and providing information from the Australian government around ways to reduce risk. The radio station is emphasising not to panic (and especially not to panic buy) but to reduce risk primarily through handwashing. They have been sharing tips on how to correctly hand wash too.

Local response in North West Pakistan

HCR Pakistan is supporting a community-centred media project in a small village in Northwest Pakistan. Today (Friday 13th Mar) the New Dawn project will broadcast their first ever live broadcast. Meanwhile the president for Pakistan has created a Public Service Announcement for TV advising people on best handwashing and other hygiene practices to prevent spread of infection. The New Dawn team has been sharing this same advice in the local Pakhtun language. They have also been gathering information from local health authorities. During the show, community members were able to call in or send questions by WhatsApp. This will give the team opportunity to hear community concerns and address rumours.

Supporting the international response

HCR is supporting our partners, by curating and passing on information from WHO and other trusted sources.

Source: Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Centre)

(Browse Amplifying Voices COVID19 resources and communications advice)

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It can’t be done!

How often do you hear this said?

What does it stir up in you?

Disappointment?

Or determination?

“It can’t be done” is a phrase the New Dawn community services group won’t accept!

They’ve heard it said that local women can’t talk on the media about topics that are considered shameful in their culture. Determined to see women in their village able to have more control over their health, the team have come up with a solution.

Working in partnership with HCR Pakistan, New Dawn has bought a speakerbox (pictured) which can be taken into homes or places where women meet together. Women’s listener groups will use the speakerbox to play podcasts from an SD card.

At the same time, a team of women, trained in making radio programmes, are using the New Dawn recording studio to create podcasts about women’s health issues. The speakerbox gives the team freedom to get into the details of topics – details that are considered too shameful for radio broadcast. Topics for the podcasts include early marriage, women’s hygiene before, during and after giving birth, breastfeeding and post-natal childcare.

They will also be free to talk about conflict sensitive issues such as vaccination, giving people space to challenge politically motivated rumours and cultural myths.

New Dawn women’s recording team creating podcasts. KPK, Pakistan. 2020.

Compared to radio, the speakerbox reaches a relatively small number of women at any one time. However, it will open up important new spaces for dialogue. Instead of individuals suffering alone, women and girls will learn together and have freedom to talk about difficult issues with women in similar situations. The podcasts are conversation starters, containing a mix of expert advice and community opinion.

The New Dawn (known as Naway Saher locally) team works in a fairly remote village near Charsadda in Khyber Pakhtunkhwah (KPK) in Pakistan. Since 2017 Community members have been creating regular radio programmes broadcast in community slots on a local commercial station. These programmes prompt discussion about health, hygiene, social-inclusion and local infrastructure. For a long time, the local health worker and the ladies’ health worker have wanted to use media to tackle issues that severely impact women’s health but have been restricted by cultural sensitivities. Perhaps this can’t be done in these communities using a broadcast radio. But we are grateful for the perseverance of the New Dawn volunteers to insist that it “must be done”.

We hope that the combination of speakerbox and women’s production team is successful in empowering women and improving their lives in this village. We would love to see the concept used in more villages in the district.

More stories about Speakerbox projects

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“no, we do not have it”, “no one listens to us”, “no one comes to us” or “no one is willing to help us”.

A community leader told HCR’s Hazeen Latif, “we are 3000 houses and an estimated population of 15000 including children and elderly people there is not a single BHU (basic health unit) or even some private clinic. There is no public dispensary.

“We only have one primary school for boys – none for girls”.

The list goes on and on.  This is “Sunda Sar” or “skull of bull” meaning a place of prosperity and power. The name was given by someone after they found a huge skull from someone’s land while digging. Nobody knows the real story of the name, but we have seen the real story of life in Sunda Sar during our visit to there in August 2019. Living is so harsh that people’s strength and power of has been drained fighting water-borne diseases, malaria, disability, lack of education and lack of guidance for youth and much more.

 “We have found hope when you said ‘I have brought a gift for you’”.

This response to our visit tells us a new story is beginning in Sunda Sar. Everyone was stunned to see the mini collar microphone in Hazeen’s hand and to hear:

“It is a gift to the whole community. We will help you use it to raise your voice, we want you to have the power to speak and be heard”.

The community welcomed us, and beyond our expectations over two dozen men including key leaders showed up to meet with us. There was one graduate in the group and three undergraduates, but all found hope for a way forward through community media training and empowerment. Rather than being defined by what they don’t have, they are encouraged to mobilise the resources and voices that they do have – not empty like a skull, but leaders full of strength like a bull, having courage to live full and healthy lives.

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 “We can’t sleep at night as the children cry of mosquito bites and heat,” says a local resident. Because of low electricity voltage and power cuts, electric fan speed is no better than a handheld fan. The problem was caused by a 25 kVA transformer with weak and rusted links, which connected the village to the national electricity supply grid. The transformer has been repaired over two dozen times and cannot be repaired anymore.

But thanks to our partner’s community radio program “Naway Saher”, which highlighted this issue before summer reached peak temperatures, a brand new 50kVA transformer has been installed replacing the older one. The voltage is very stable and community houses are much happier places to be. Residents say “this good fan speed is much better than hand fan!”

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These community volunteers in Majukay are amazing! Despite the intense summer heat and the fasting period, they got out and sprayed mosquito hotspots in their community to prevent Dengue fever infections.

Has it made a difference? This year we heard people saying, more people are gathering together again in the places where community happens. In previous years there were too many mosquitoes and people avoided their normal meeting places in mosquito season. People meeting together is a big win for peacebuilding and the mosquito numbers are down - that’s a big win in the battle against disease.

Community volunteer sprays public areas, nr Charsadda, May 2019

Local government funded the spraying activities after hearing HCR Pakistan’s partner Naway Saher (NSCSG) talk about community concerns on local radio.

Spraying gutters to prevent Dengue

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