In a remote tribal village in Maharashtra a remarkable story is unfolding. It started with one village.  After a year, another one joined in.  Before too long there were thirty others, with new ones asking to join. None of the communities in these villages had ever met, but somehow they knew each other well, for they shared a common story – of challenge and adversity. But they were also connected through the Adivasi Voices Project, a  joint venture between local NGO, Seva and Amplifying Voices.

Sharing stories, coming together

For over a year these village communities have been listening to each other’s stories on speakerboxes, learning from each other and from experts too.  With support from the Seva team, people shared their stories, about overcoming addiction, escaping the trap of bonded labour, or how to start a kitchen garden. The communities not only inspired each other that change is possible, they also shared how.

Since before the pandemic many people from these communities had been asking Seva to set up a face-to-face meeting with other villages in the district, and so for the first time, last week, five communities came together, hosted by the village of Umburne.

“It was like meeting long-lost friends ,” said Ram, “we had so much to talk about, but most importantly we talked about the programmes we loved the most and the changes that have happened in our villages since we had the speakerboxes.”

Village-to-village transfer

Seva team leader, Shilpa described the gathering as being like a celebration of learning. As story after story was shared, Shilpa said she was so surprised to see how much faster change had come to the villages which had most recently received the speakerboxes, compared to those who had them at the beginning.  “They have adopted new ideas, attitudes and practices much more quickly than the first villages we started working in,” she said.  “Of course the communities have learned from the interviews with experts, but what has been most powerful is that the communities have been learning from each other,” she added, describing it as a “village-to-village transfer.”

Community members from five adivasi villages in Maharashtra share how stories and content on the speakerboxes have impacted their lives

The content on the speakerboxes is coordinated by the Seva team, however each programme is rooted in the heart of the village and the communities are involved in their design and creation.  Experts too are involved when important learning or information needs to be shared. The most popular programmes in all the villages, however were the dramas, which reflect village life and issues they all face. One lady, Trimbak, chuckled as she recounted how the family arguments she heard in the dramas were just like the arguments in her family.” Dattu, who was able to recite the dialogues in the dramas, said the programmes were in their language and exactly depicted their lives and situations.  Tulshi shared how the programme on early marriages had sparked a big conversation in his village, because they hadn’t allow girls to get an education above 4th standard. “But all that has changed,” he said, “Our entire village have decided that all our children should have an opportunity to have secondary education as well.”

After food and dancing the villagers said their farewells, agreeing that this should become a regular event and that more villages should be included in future.

For us, we have been reminded that lasting, sustainable change happens at the grassroots level. And that when change, no matter how small comes to one community, it can cause ripples of change in other communities.  Some of these ripples will intersect with other ripples to create waves which result in momentum and lasting impact.

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I visited the Soot Semee community-centred media project in February. Our partner Community Development Centre (CDC) took me to meet with the Council of Reference – a group of people in the Omugo 4 village who oversee and advise on the Soot Semee content. Soot Semee programmes are MP3 podcasts on digital memory cards (SD Cards) played on speakerboxes (digital audio players). The people of Omugo 4 village just call it “radio”.

The Council of Reference shared stories about the impact of Soot Semee audio programmes. As these respected community leaders talked about transformational effects of the Soot Semee radio programmes it quickly moved from theoretical to personal.

One woman started to talk about the difficulties many women have faced on arriving in Uganda from South Sudan. They often have no relatives or spouse with them to help with the children. She said that Soot Semee programmes help women in this situation with advice. But more than advice, the programmes help people realise they are not alone. She said “also they feel that they have people when they listen to the radio”.

She continued her reflection, “For me this is something that is personal, when I came here, I was just as I am, I don’t have anyone, I didn’t know people, and I would have no opportunity for standing before people like this. But now [as part of] the council of reference I have people, I can meet, and I can stand before people and do a lot of things.”

Another woman on the Council of Reference said that she felt that Soot Semee was so valuable that it needed to be available for people in the other refugee settlements. But she also recognised that with this exposure came responsibility. “Soot Semee has made me a leader, I am a role model, so I take care of how I live my life as an example.”

I am no farming expert, but as we went about in the Omugo 4 settlement I could see very clearly that it sits on a very rocky and inhospitable ridge, it doesn’t look like good land for growing crops. I was told that attempts to grow fruit trees had failed due to the harsh landscape. Back in the Council of Reference meeting, one of the men told us that Soot Semee programmes had helped people to start farming vegetables such as okra despite the harshness of the land. Before people would have travel a long way to market town to buy such vegetables.

Despite rocky and arid landscape, Omugo 4 villagers are succeeding in growing vegetables like okra. Feb 2023

These harsh living conditions take their toll in other ways. The man continued,

“I want to speak about myself. Before Soot Semee [programmes were available], I would just be, my ears, monitoring where alcohol is. If I come for a meeting like this, something like [this] soda, I would just put the alcohol in there. Through Soot Semee, I had been listening, when the chairman and some of the others, they talked to me as part of their off-air activities and brought me some programmes about alcohol [abuse] and said if I continue like this, my life will not be OK. So, from a drunkard, I was brought by the Council of Reference to leadership. Now I stand before people and now I have been elected as a block leader.”

As I had prepared for this visit, I knew I wanted to better understand reports that Soot Semee programmes had led to reductions in gender-based violence (GBV). Its hard to get a comprehensive understanding from a small sample of stories, especially when the cultural context is so different to my own. However, I heard a few stories like Joseph’s story,

“I have two women. One of them is good, and the other one is not harsh. But sometimes it starts, there is some kind of problem at home. [gestures and local language reactions indicate he meant that tensions sometimes led to violence]. But when Soot Semee came, there were a lot of things [on the radio] about how people can control their emotions. And in our families, we tried and learned how we could change. Now for me, I would tell them, look I am a community reporter, I am also a community leader. I don’t want to do anything that is very bad. So now I controlled myself during the day or at night, so that I don’t do something bad. I will take it slowly, and now if there is some issue, we solve our issues. As a reporter and community leader, I want to be a role model, that is why I am doing that. I want to make sure that what I am teaching is the thing that I am doing.”

Just as the meeting was about to close, a man stood up and summarised for us the sense of purpose and hope that Soot Semee is instilling in people from all parts of the community.

“Soot Semee brought so many good things. What we wanted … trainings that come via this Soot Semee for us as leaders, so that when we go back to our country, we can help them as well there. … If you are a leader, if don’t have many skills, then as a leader you will not be able to govern people. I, who am speaking here, I am disabled. I am walking with these crutches. But Soot Semee has done very well, has brought in us people who have disabilities. Soot Semee did not say this person is disabled, they cannot be part of us. They included me.”

Barnabas from CDC closed the meeting, thanking the Council of Reference and honouring the huge impact they are having. As he speaks, it occurs to me, Soot Semee is not something coming to these people from outside. These people are Soot Semee.

Soot Semee Council of Reference group photo. Omugo 4. Feb 2023

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If you’ve been following the Facebook page of Amplifying Voices Pakistan, you’ll have seen this story unfold over the last few weeks. But we feel it’s a story worth re-telling. It’s the story of a radio programme that dug a new borehole!

Since November last year a new partner organisation, Community Media Power, founded by Amplifying Voices Pakistan, has been making radio programmes based on conversations in two or three isolated communities outside Nowshera. In one of these programmes, community members talked about the efforts they have to go to to fetch water. A listener was moved by the story and decided to help the community do something about it.

The community lives in an informal settlement that was built about 40 years ago by people who had fled from their homes in Afghanistan. The current residents, numbering around 50-60 families, have still not been fully integrated into the wider community. However, at some point several years ago, someone did dig a couple of boreholes to provide clean water. The pipes lining the boreholes have since rusted and one of the pumps has lost its handle. With no fresh water available locally, community members had to cross a railway track and walk to another community to fetch water, where they were not always welcome and sometimes chased away.

Community Media Power created a radio programme with the community voices telling this story and a local FM station in Nowshera aired the programme. A woman, who was looking for a suitable way to give charitably in preparation for Ramadan, heard the story and decided to get in touch. She said that if the community could get the work started before Ramadan, she would pay for a new borehole and repairs to the other two.

The new borehole has been located near the mosque, with a solar powered pump, a 1000-gallon storage tank so that water is always available from the borehole via taps. This has an additional benefit of providing water for worshipers washing before prayers. The broken boreholes have had the metal lining removed and replaced with more durable plastic pipe lining, and the pump mechanism refurbished.

Community volunteers feed plastic lining into new borehole, Nowshera, March 2022

It only took a week to dig the new borehole, drilling down to 150ft to ensure a good supply of clean water. When the new borehole was ready, the community held a celebration event, to which the donor also came. She gave a radio interview via Community Media Power, encouraging others to do something similar, providing communities with means to develop themselves.

We know that a radio programme cannot actually dig a borehole, but we continue to be encouraged by the power of community-centred radio programmes to advocate for communities whilst also mobilising the community members to take action locally.

Installing borehole - Video courtesy of Community Media Power and Amplifying Voices

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These elections are held every two years so that refugee communities can govern themselves while also contributing to stability in the wider Ugandan society. This year Soot Semee podcasts helped encourage participation while also promoting peace during the process.

To encourage participation, Soot Semee programmes provided information on how the elections work. They described how people could apply to be candidates and what qualifications they would need. The podcasts provided a timeline for the elections and announced who the candidates were.

Soot Semee podcasts also encouraged community members not to become divided but to keep together in peaceful co-existence. To support this, one thing that was not allowed on the podcasts was campaigning for votes. This helped maintain impartiality.

However, we were encouraged to hear that several of the volunteers who lead listener groups or organise groups to create content, ended up being voted into community leader roles, including the roles of Omugo 4 Refugee Welfare Council leader and deputy, and the Youth Secretary. When I asked Barnabas about this, he said that people wanted leaders who would ensure that their voices would be heard – and who would also push for good services in the community. The Soot Semee volunteers were not traditional big names, but they had been nominated because people had appreciated their engagement and service to the community. Barnabas told me that some business interests had tried to inject money to push for their choice of leader, but the people had chosen to go with someone they knew cared for the good of the community.

My own community in the Scottish Borders is running council elections this month and I’ve been helping to publicise the timeline and application processes, so I’m getting a taste of how much there is to try and communicate. The Soot Semee experience has got me thinking about how we could encourage more participation here.

The Omugo elections have gone ahead peacefully. In fact based on this recording of election winners being announced, sent to us by the Soot Semee team leader, Barnabas, the elections may even have been enjoyable!

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Getting energised at the workshop, Omugo zone, Sept 2021

However, Soot Semee don’t just repeat these sayings as mantras in the workshops … For the Soot Semee team, “make your shoes dirty” is an authentic way of working. At least twice a week, Soot Semee team members make the 1.5hr (or more) trip each way to the Omugo zone refugee settlements taking recording equipment to listen to stories and feedback, to support local groups making podcast content, and of course to hand over the latest podcasts on SD Cards to the Speakerbox listening groups.

When Barnabas, the project leader first mentioned the Council of Reference to me, I was a bit curious. After all, CDC is a registered charity and has its own board, so why did they decide to have a Council of Reference … who are they and what will they do?

Barnabas, told me, “They are like the board of the Soot Semee project”.

The Council of Reference is made up of respected community members from within the refugee settlements in Rhino camp and the surrounding area along with representatives from local service providers. Members of the Soot Semee core team are also part of the Council.

The Council of Reference’s job is to review the Soot Semee podcasts and also feedback they hear from the community to ensure that the team continues to be responsive to local priorities, and also that they are inclusive of people across the community. We love that Soot Semee are going above and beyond “getting their shoes dirty” and are truly holding themselves accountable to the communities they serve. We also love that they are equipping the Council of Reference to really understand and engage with the Soot Semee work. This is a fantastic example of building local sustainability through good governance and accountability.

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Before the workshop, this church youth group had talked about their sense of marginalisation as less well educated young people in a minority group. But by the end of the two days they spoke instead about being a trigger for widespread community transformation. The audio content they create will be distributed via Facebook and shared Speakerboxes. The youth group also has aspirations to work with a local FM station.

Men complete community mapping exercise, Jauharabad, 2020

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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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• The main street leading into the village is being upgraded with a concrete surface. Until a few months ago it was a rough, soil track scarred with ditches and puddles.

• A new transformer is soon to be installed. This summer people can enjoy a cool breeze from their fans. Previously the low capacity in the electricity supply meant people suffered in the heat with fans running at tortoise speed.

• 

  Community volunteer sprays against dengue. KPK, Apr 2019

  The local administration has agreed to spray the community to prevent mosquitoes from breeding and spreading Dengue fever. Summer heat is on its way and with it the risk of Dengue increases.

Structural development like this doesn’t happen easily because of bureaucratic inertia. But something new has happened in the last year few months. Local authorities have started to release funds for development as they pay new attention to the community needs, and to the appetite for change.  Other are taking notice too. Nearby villages want to know how to bring similar changes to their own communities.

“It is all due to our radio program and WhatsApp group”

Zahid Ullah Zahid, who heads the Naway Saher Community Services Group

Naway Saher formed a small radio production team, trained by HCR Pakistan, and, since November 2018, they have been broadcasting a community radio programme in Pushto language on a local FM station. The village voice is getting louder and stronger through radio and it reached the ears of the district councillor.  He decided to support the new structural developments and even came to be interviewed in the radio studio.

“We didn’t realize that our voice was so effective and strong”

Quote from one of the newly trained production team members

So far the Majukay story has been one of gradual change. People have been coming together to discuss issues and establish unity. Less and less people have the mindset that nothing will happen and only the government should do everything. Naway Saher (New Dawn) Community Services Group, supported by HCR Pakistan, has held community workshops, village committees, and youth sports events. Village elders have given their support. Families have started boiling water for drinking to avoid illness from contaminated water sources. In 2016 HCR Pakistan supported the community to dig a well and the well has been giving clean water since. People come from far away to get the only clean drinking water and are claiming that it is a miracle as the water never stops giving odorless good water.

The Majukay story is spreading – upwards, outwards and inwards.

“More people are joining with us” says Zahid Ullah. Not only are surrounding villages wanting to see similar changes, but more people from within the community want to get involved.

HCR Pakistan is seeking funding to help Naway Saher become even more inclusive, with more media content created for and by women and girls.

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