[UgaBYTES] Radio and Development in Africa: A Concept Paper

Sat Sep 5 03:43:44 GMT 2009

Thanks Rahman for this piecework,
Kindly send me the complete paper, would love to read through the
comprehensive report.

Kiringai Kamau

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Subject: [UgaBYTES] Radio and Development in Africa: A Concept Paper

Radio and Development in Africa: A Concept Paper
Summary
This 58-page paper was prepared for the International Development Research
Centre (IDRC) to guide the "Radio, Convergence, and Development in Africa"
research programme, designed to explore traditional radio and gain an
understanding of how information and communication technologies (ICTS) can
enhance the sector, as well as the current impact and potential of radio as
a development tool in Africa. According to the paper, radio is still the
dominant mass medium in Africa with the widest geographical reach and the
highest audiences compared with television (TV), newspapers, and other ICTs.
The author states that radio seems to have proven itself as a developmental
tool, particularly with the rise of community and local radios, which have
facilitated a far more participatory and horizontal type of communication.
According to the paper, there has been a re-discovery of radio in the
context of new ICTs, with technology making radio into a more two-way
medium. Radio can also help bridge the digital divide by providing a
powerful tool for information dissemination and access, especially for
hard-to-reach rural audiences.

The paper explains that one of the main challenges for developmental content
on African radio is the need to produce programmes on a tight budget. The
prevailing culture of African radio is that of the live broadcast, rather
than pre-prepared programmes (i.e. dramas, magazines, talk-shows involving
experts), although there are many excellent examples in the latter
categories. Advantages offered by the internet are still hampered mainly by
cost and infrastructure problems, but there is a definite trend towards
African broadcasters gradually getting online and using the web to network
with each other, enhance their output, get themselves known in the wider
world (websites and blogging), and to build their own capacities. There is
also still little known about the ways in which the internet is impacting on
African radio, although mobile phones have revolutionised radio reporting
and audience participation.

This report identifies and discusses some of the challenges facing radio,
including issues of gender and minority access and inclusion in radio
broadcasting; the issue of inciting violence and radio's "double-edged"
nature in vulnerable societies; questions of sustainability and whether or
not developmental - and/or 'public-service' - radio is a viable concern from
an economic standpoint. Underlying all these questions is the challenge of
how to measure the impact of radio; finding appropriate methodological tools
and forums to do so; and the problem of defining and researching behaviour
change. 

According to the author, looking at future trends, technology is changing
fast but seems to be enhancing rather than replacing radio. Future
developments involving the convergence of radio and mobile telephony are
particularly exciting but internet-based radio, pod-casting, and "any time
any place" radio-listening via mobile devices such as MP3 players are some
way off. Radio is likely to be challenged increasingly by TV, although this
is actually a slower process than may first appear. At the level of
international donor support, radio has been brought back into the ICT
family, and there is renewed interest at the policy level.

The paper suggests that systematic and reliable data on the radio sector is
underdeveloped or non-existent and this is hampering commercial and aid
investment. Thus, there is a need for "Radio, Convergence, and Development
in Africa" to conduct research to better understand the sector and the
potential impacts that can be had from enhancing the medium with the use of
ICTs. The report suggests that research be undertaken in the following
areas: 

Baseline data:

  a.. statistical information and mapping of radio stations and audiences -
particularly quantitative audience information about rural areas and
complete and up to date directories of media in Africa; 
  b.. existing patterns and trends in technology-access by radio, and more
data on how broadcasters are using new ICTs; and 
  c.. qualitative baseline data about African radio audiences and about
content providers, particularly governments. 

Impact evidence and analysis:

  a.. indicators, field methods, and analytical tools developed for rigorous
evaluations; 
  b.. socio-political analyses of how radio improves debate and what
difference debate makes to development; 
  c.. research on the impact of new ICTs and technology convergence on the
radio sector; 
  d.. evidence of ways radio broadcasting can/could reduce corruption,
influence public policy agendas, influence pro-poor policy-making and
service provision, and reach the chronically poor; 
  e.. cost-benefit analyses of radio use in development projects; 
  f.. analyses of the relative capacities of public, private, and community
radio to reach the poor; 
  g.. analyses of the real individual behaviour and social changes brought
about by radio, especially over the long-term; and 
  h.. documentation of the impacts of training, capacity-building, and
organisational development in the radio sector. 
Analysis of future trends:

  a.. how Africans are likely to use and experience radio in the future -
particularly the future of wifi radio and convergence with mobile telephony;

  b.. where public-service broadcasting is going, in the context of economic
liberalisation; and 
  c.. future revenue streams and how pro-poor radio can develop existing
sources of income, generate new ones, and develop corresponding new
business-models to help sustain itself into the future. 
Contact
International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
P.O. Box 8500

Ottawa ON 
K1G 3H9
Canada
Tel: 613 236 6163 

Fax: 613 238 7230 

IDRC website 
info at idrc.ca

Mary Myers
marysmyers at btinternet.com

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