Community radio strengthening village voices

By enabling villages to share knowledge through the airwaves, community radio in Zambia's Eastern Province has helped to strengthen people's capacity to fight disease and poverty. Aid groups, radio broadcasters and local communities have mobilised the power of radio to promote behavioural change to help curb HIV/AIDS and tackle issues such as poverty and child labour. The Zambia Community Radio Project (ZCRP), a USAID funded initiative, is reaching out to thousands of villagers through a popular radio programme called "Kumuzi Kwathu" (In Our Village) in the province's widely spoken Chewa, and "Chikaya chitu" in Tumbuka, a local dialect. The 45-minute programme is broadcast every Sunday on Breeze FM from the provincial capital, Chipata, and on Radio Chikaya from Lundazi. It profiles motivational success stories from villages aimed at benefiting other rural dwellers, by for example sharing information on skills such as fish farming, agro-forestry, beekeeping, sourcing donor finance and project management. ZCRP is reaching as many as 600,000 listeners, and several villages IRIN visited in eastern Zambia had experienced a change in attitudes because of the programme. John Mphanza, chairman of a community-based group, the Feni Development Committee in Nthobimbi village in Chipata, said: "'Our Village' has influenced behavioural change in response to HIV/AIDS. Many [people] who saw the disease as witchcraft now believe the disease is real." Even elderly people, Mphanza said, were going for voluntary counselling and testing and taking steps to prevent HIV infection. The power of community radio was also manifesting itself in the adoption of safe motherhood and reproductive healthcare practices. "Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) are taking more precautions because they have heard on the radio that safe practices will prevent infections during delivery," said Jessie Tembo, a member of a village group trained as TBAs. "People are keen on learning best practices from other villages that radio is connecting us to - there is no more rushing to hospitals in the dead of night, we know how to deliver a baby safely," she said. "What this [community response] tells me is ... we have to adopt a public service mission and operate within the confines of community broadcasting if we are to survive," noted Mike Daka, managing director of Breeze FM. Breeze had wanted to focus on the village as a central theme of its programming since its inception, he said, but the station had lacked the resources to access rural areas until ZCRP was established. Radio Chikaya had also been successful in reaching its target audience. "The needs assessment we undertook told us that villagers wanted to talk about themselves," said George Lwanja, a programme producer at Chikaya. Evaristo Banda of Zizwe village explained that the radio project had helped them to enhance their skills in managing the water and sanitation facilities installed in their village. Zizwe was profiled on "Our Village", and helped other rural dwellers learn how to manage their water and sanitation facilities. "We are amazed at the lack of information and technology, in some cases, almost in our neighbourhood. Now, radio is linking us up," Banda said. "Information is very critical - better than cash handouts. It helps to communicate change."