Executive Summary
This is a summary report of a project which was carried out by the Kenya
Community Media Network (KCOMNET) on September 2012 May 2013
through the financial support of International Programme for the Development
of Communication (IPDC). The goal of the project was to enhance the capacity
of community media in Kenya through the development and sharing of local
content.
Five community radio stations and community media groups from five counties
were engaged in the project: The community radio stations are Radio Mangelete
in Makueni County, Mugambo FM in Meru County, Sauti Hundhwe FM in Siaya
County, Mwanedu FM in TaittaTaveta County and Koch FM in Nairobi County. The
five community radio stations worked in collaboration with community theatre
groups and artists to identify the issue of priority interest in their communities
from which they developed and produced a series of drama shows which are
being presented on air at the community radio stations, at community social
centres and shared through KCOMNET and EACOMNET website and social
media platforms.
The presentation of the community drama shows is the climax of the projects
activities which commenced with a five days training and content development
workshop which was held in Nairobi on October 22 26, 2012. The workshop
was followed by on-site visits to the five locations served by the community
radio stations to monitor, evaluate and mentor local processes on content
sharing through community radio stations, community social centres and online
platforms. The ensuing radio programmes have been shared at KCOMNET and
EACOMNET websites and on social media platforms. A video documentary has
been produced to share the lessons and experiences to a wider audience.
Contact Person:
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5.0
Project Background
Summaries of the main activities
Achievements
Next Steps
Conclusion
The focus of the project was to support the collaboration between community
theatre groups/ artists and community radio stations to generate content on the
priority issues in their communities, develop the issues into radio drama shows
which can be presented on air at the community radio stations, at community
social centres and be shared at the website of KCOMNET and EACOMNET and
on social media platforms.
The project was carried out in collaboration with five community radio stations
and community theatre in five counties in Kenya. In all the five locations,
community theatre groups and artists worked in collaboration with community
radio producers to identify the top priority issue in their community from which
they developed radio theatre shows which are currently being broadcast weekly
at the community radio stations and at community social centres.
(i) To equip five community based media groups from five regions
in Kenya with professional skills in producing local relevant content
that will effectively inform, communicate and engage community
members in debates concerning issues of community and national
importance within their locality.
(ii) To provide a platform for diverse groups in Kenya to develop
and share local content that is relevant to their communities
The workshop was formally opened by Mr. Jaco Du Toit, Adviser for
Communication and Information UNESCO Regional office. In his
opening remarks, Mr. Jaco urged the participants to continue reporting
on developmental issues and to engage the participation of grassroots
communities in debates that would lead to the improvement of their
livelihoods and community development.
On-site visits were carried out to the five community radio stations. The purpose of
the visits was to mentor and guide the collaboration of community theatre groups
and community radio, guide the development and production of radio drama shows
which are currently being presented at the community radio stations, community
social centres and shared at KCOMNET and EACOMNET websites.
The following are summaries of the interventions at specific sites during the on-site
visits:
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96.1
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98.1
The community radio collaborated with a theatre artists from a community based organization
known as Community Youth Self Empowerment Group (CYSEG). The team identified ignorance
on community health as the cause of most problems in the community. The team developed
and produced episodes of ad drama series known as Sinyore, which means a reckless person.
The drama series is broadcast at the community radio station on Thursday at 8p.m.
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99.9
Koch FM is based in Korogocho slums, Nairobi County. Its broadcasting frequency is 99.9MHZ.
The mission of the station is to provide a platform for the community, issues through information
sharing, education and communication with a view to promote their social, political and
economic well-being.
Koch FM was brought on board as a partner in the project to replace Rware FM in Nyeri County
which was off-air for a long time. Representatives from the community radio station had been
taken through the purpose, objectives and goals of the project by KCOMNET staff prior to
their engagement as active project partners. This was followed up in a reflection and content
development session at the vicinity of the community radio station.
The community radio collaborated with theatre artists from the community. They identified
corruption as one of the root causes of all the problems in the community and in the country.
They developed content on the theme of corruption and produced episodes of a radio drama
show known as Mla leo. The drama series is broadcast weekly at the community radio station
on Thursdays at 7.45 a.m and on Fridays at 8.30 p.m.
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3.0 Achievements
The project has enhanced the collaboration of community radio stations and
community theatre artists which are important community media actors. Usually,
community radio express their inability to sustain on air radio drama shows
due to the high costs of supporting community artists and related production
expenses. On the other hand, community artists and groups find it difficult to
present their productions at community radio stations due to their inability to
afford costs on airtime and mobilization costs.
KCOMNET has planned follow-up engagements for the project in the following
areas:
1) Keep the groups active by following the development and production of new
programmes, the sharing of the programmes at the community radio, social media
and social media platforms of the partners, KCOMNET and EACOMNET.
2) The groups to pick other issues of priority interest in the community and
formulate various strategies and formats of sharing the content at the available
platforms.
3) Increase the number of project partners and introduce them to the message
matrix and the programme schedules processes to generate priority issues of
interest in the community and the development of radio programmes
Locating a strategic theme at each site has helped to refocus community media
actors to their core mandate of producing content that is reflective of issues of
priority interest in their communities and which are generated in a participatory
process.
The project has thus ingrained the focus on local content and community
participation that are necessary for the sustenance and furtherance of ideals,
values and pillars of community media. This has in effect furthered the endeavor
to enhance the engagements of community radio stations in the generation of
and sharing of content that is unique to their identity which is distinct from their
private and public counterparts.
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5.0 Conclusion
The engagement of community media in the development and sharing of local content is a systematic capacity
building process. This project has built the capacity of five community media groups in Kenya through five
intervention strategies:
(i) skills development; (ii) onsite visits; (iii) monitoring, evaluation and mentoring;
(iv) documentation and (v) sharing.
An integral component of the project is the monitoring and evaluation, a continuous process which takes the
form of mentoring and participatory for it to be sustained and targeted at integral community development.
This is the onus which Kenya Community Media Network (KCOMNET) has taken up in collaboration with
partners to support community media groups to collaborate in the generation of local content based on
issues of priority interest in the community and nationally, and to be able to share the content at the target
community and with partners through online platforms and at community social centres.
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