Children in their thousands are suffering significant abuse and stigmatisation, or even being killed, due to accusations of witchcraft against them. There are tens of thousands of cases, in many nations worldwide.
‘I’m not a witch’ is a powerful, new short film produced by Congolese film maker, Tshoper Kabambi, designed to promote awareness of the problem.
After only one month, the ‘Kickout Teenage Pregnancy” campaign (Piga teke mimba za mapema in Swahili) by HCR partner-station Amani FM in eastern Kenya, has been so successful, the call-in lines are jammed. The team has been hosting talk shows, call-in programmes and getting out and about in the schools of Tana River County, to promote awareness of underage pregnancy.
In Australia, we are extremely lucky to have public education for all children, which is why it might sound surprising that in some communities, there are children missing out on years of school or even their entire schooling. This has huge ramifications for their future abilities to live a fulfilling purposeful life.
“Only 28 days until the water runs out”, says Patil Ramdas Warde, the leader of a village in Maharashtra. Such is the plight of many tribal communities across the county. The lack of rain has led to major crop failure. Eighty per cent of the rice plantations have failed to yield a harvest. As the Patil – meaning ‘village head’ – shared his worries with us, the need of the Adivasi Village Project became increasingly apparent.
HCR is back in India! It’s been six months since Jon visited, and he’s excited to see the progress that Seva Social Welfare Foundation has made. HCR is about journeying with partners as they build capacity, equipping local people to make a meaningful social impact within their communities. Just as HCR is journeying with Seva (meaning ‘service’), I am journeying with Jon.
“You have given us courage to speak and express our views in front of men!”
One female participant’s words express the exciting outcome of a recent HCR Pakistan workshop on creating community-centred radio. Five women and nine men took part in the workshop in a rural village in Pakistan.
At the start of the workshop, the participants said they wanted to raise their voices on behalf of the poor. One woman said she wanted to be a champion for those who are marginalised.
Participant and facilitator at community-centred media workshop, Pakistan, Jan 2019. (HCR Pakistan)
A health worker in the community is already using radio to include marginalised voices in community conversations. He goes around the village speaking to a variety of people, recording their opinions on health and development topics. He and the HCR Pakistan director, Mr Hazeen Latif are eager for the radio to be even more inclusive by building a team of volunteers within the community to help design and produce the programmes too.
The group learned the basic principles of community centred radio, how to make Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and how to interview people for radio. The quality of the practical work was very high, one team’s work reaching what we call ABS – Above Broadcast Standard.
Male participants prepare a PSA incommunity centred media workshop, Pakistan, Jan 2019. (HCR Pakistan)
Yet a big challenge in this traditionally male-dominated culture was how to have men and women participating in the workshop together. Sitting in the same room for a public event is not the norm.
As the practical exercises began, the women’s voices were too quiet to be heard. The women realised that if they wanted to be inclusive activists, they had to overcome their fears of speaking out. As the course continued, they found more confidence. They said later that they began to see the facilitator as a friendly, fatherly figure, making the workshop a safe environment for speaking. The men were impressed at how passionately the women would argue their points publicly.
Confidence grew within the workshop, but the trust that led to this has been growing over several years. Mr Latif and the community health worker have collaborated on the Naway Saher project for about four years, facilitating a variety of community development activities. They have patiently built trust with each other and with the community.
Trust has been essential in arriving at the point where the workshop was possible. Trust was also essential for the workshop to become truly inclusive. Trust gives hope that the new team will be successful in their goal to be champions for the poor and marginalised.
Mr Hazeen Latif and Naway Saher project coordinator, Pakistan, Jan 2019 (HCR Pakistan)
By Jon Hargreaves
HCR partner station Amani FM in eastern Kenya’s Tana River, has launched a major campaign to tackle underage pregnancy. According to Station Manager, Harriet Atyang, “Tana River County is among the four worst hit counties with this menace and is one of the major reasons it performs so poorly in the national exams.”
Over the next three months Amani FM will be promoting awareness of underage pregnancy through discussion programmes, road shows, street theatre and visiting schools across the region. In addition to this, the station is teaming up with Una Hakika to use technology to protect vulnerable children. Using Una Hakika’s SMS text reporting system, listeners will be given a short code, which they will be able to use free-of-charge, to report any incidents where they feel threatened or at risk.
“Every text will be followed up and in the case of a rescue being required, we will involve the police,” says Harriet. “I have spoken to the OCS of the area and he is ready to offer us all the support we need.”
HCR set up Amani FM in partnership with the Sentinel Project to promote peace and social development ahead of the elections in 2017 and an evaluation last year showed it had had a significant impact on promoting dialogue between different ethnic groups.
For more information contact hcruk@h-c-r.org
Harriet Atyang and Esther Dalano interview a community member during an Amani FM Road Show
“Tuanze Biashara” is Swahili for “Let's Start a Business”, a poverty alleviation project integrating a community radio station, social media, training workshops and a savings and loan association. See how this innovative micro-enterprise project is lifting people in eastern Kenya’s Tana River County out of poverty.
By Jon Hargreaves
I’d like to introduce you to Flora and Hadiya, two budding Kenyan entrepreneurs who really mean business. In the absence of finding jobs and struggling to make ends meet, these two delightful ladies never thought they’d be able to start a business. That was until HCR in collaboration with Aid For Trade launched the Tuanze Biashara (Let’s Start a Business) project, in an area of eastern Kenya’s Tana River County, where poverty is widespread. Using the newly established radio station, Amani FM, the project involves an innovative mix of radio programmes, live ‘phone-in discussions, community interaction via WhatsApp and workshops, to encourage local people, irrespective of their education, to develop their business ideas and then put them into action.
“I once tried setting up a juice business,” said Flora, “But I failed and lost all my money. Then I started attending the workshops run by Amani FM and the trainer, Mr Amara, equipped us with the tools to be successful. He taught us first to find out what people wanted and then see what we could do to meet that need. So I began selling porridge. At first I didn’t quite get the taste right, but after a few experiments, I quickly began selling out of porridge and having to make more batches. I now can’t keep up with the demand so am taking on a partner and borrowing money to buy a bigger stove and new pots. My new business puts food on my table, pays my rent and helps me buy clothes. One day I hope to have a chain of restaurants throughout Tana River County.”
Hadiya noticed that in one remote area of Tana Delta, the boda boda (motorbike taxi) drivers had to drive a long way to get fuel. So she started a small business selling petrol in discarded 2 litre plastic bottles. “I have been so successful,” says Hadiya, “That my mother is now selling the fuel full-time and I am launching a clothes line for ladies in the village. Having spoken to so many people I know exactly what they want and where i can get the fabric. The training has really showed me that even I CAN start a business.”
‘Table Banking’ has enabled community members to save and access capital
TABLE BANKING
At the end of the workshops a budding group of entrepreneurs were inspired to set up a community savings and loan association, known locally as Table Banking. “Every week this group meets to pool their savings, while one or two people are able to take a loan, which has to be paid back at 10%,” said Philip Amara, the YES project trainer. “As a result of this, we have seen new businesses launched as well as existing businesses able to make improvements.”
Philip says it is very difficult for most Kenyan citizens to access capital from banks, as the interest rates are very high and few people have any collateral. “It is for that reason that we have partnered with HCR to make larger sums available, offering much better interest rates than the bank,” said Philip. He added that the best business ideas with the best plans, will be rewarded, both with a loan and free advertising on the radio station, as Amani FM follows their progress. Philip believes that through the radio, the community will learn what ordinary people can do and begin to believe that they too can start a business. “We want to end this mindset of poverty and dependency,” he said.
Day 16 of #16DaysofActivism
By Stephanie Mooney
Gender based violence is a multi-faceted issue and can encompass physical, sexual, economic, cultural and emotional mistreatment based on a person’s gender.
Among the root causes of gender-based violence are existing social norms and the imbalance of power between men and women. Gender roles are learnt through socialisation beginning in early childhood and can limit what we think we can do, who we think we are and who we think we can be. Societies with rigid gender roles often deny women and girls the opportunities to progress in life and leave them open to mistreatment and exploitation.
To really address the issue of gender-based violence, we need to work with individuals, families, communities and societies to change societal norms and envision a different future. This includes breaking the silence around gender-based violence and hearing the stories of those who have been affected.Sharing the stories and experiences of women and girls who have been mistreated raises awareness of this deep-rootedissue, challenges the negative stereotypes that limit women and girls, and is helping to change the societal systems that keep many women trapped and isolated.
Over the last 16 days, we have tried to raise awareness of this global issue by sharing stories from around the world of women and girls that have been affected by gender-based violence. We have also looked at how individual people and communities are responding to this issue to empower women and create a different future in their communities based on dignity for all.
The stories of women and girls matter. They break the culture of silence and shame prevalent to some extent in all human societies. HCR will continue to use media rooted in local communities to provide a platform to share people’s stories, to bring groups together to address challenges and concerns, and to bring about lasting change that recognises every person’s equal and shared humanity.
Stories of women break the culture of silence and shame prevalent to some extent in all human societies.
Day 15 of #16DaysofActivism
By Stephanie Mooney
The Amplifying Voices Project was set up in 2015 as a collaborative venture between Feba UK, HCR and the Believers Broadcasting Network (BBN), a Christian radio station in Freetown. BBN forms multi-stakeholder teams with partners including churches and local health clinics to visit people in their households and local communities and listen deeply to their stories, challenges, hopes and concerns.
These conversations with people feed directly back into radio programmes developed and broadcast by BBN. There is a twice-weekly show called Amplify that uses and responds to community voices and there is also a monthly radio drama produced to deal with sensitive issues identified such as sexual violence, rape, teenage pregnancy and ‘sugar daddy’ relationships.
Listeners and those involved in the visits see themselves as agents of change. The conversations shared and issues raised in the radio broadcasts are leading the community to take practical action to protect women and girls.
Scarcity of water and the vulnerability of girls collecting water were identified as major concerns, as men targeted girls and this was linked to high levels of teenage pregnancy. Djibrillah, a team member, said: ‘Girls used to go to the streams to collect water. Water Tanks were installed so now this has reduced the need to fetch water and this has reduced teenage pregnancy.’ In another community they put in streetlights to improve the security for women and girls.
The project is also helping women and girls in relation to education and employment. A radio journalist and counsellor involved in the project said the following about *‘Patience’, a regular listener to the Amplify programme: ‘She was a lady who thought everything was lost and was intimidated by education. Now she is very engaged. We encourage them and let them know they have something inside of them. All is not lost. She is about to complete her education.’
By working with the community to improve the safety and security of women and girls and to encourage them into education and employment, this work is having a transformative impact on the lives of people in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
*Not her real name
Amplifying Voices Project team members on their way to visit a community in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
By Jon Hargreaves
“I never realised how the Orma people came to be in this region of Kenya,” said a retired teacher from Tana River, “but since I started hearing their stories on the radio, I have begun to understand them better.”
The man, from a rival community, was responding to a series of cultural programmes he had heard on a new station set up by HCR and its partners, Amani (Peace) FM, in this conflict-affected region of eastern Kenya. The programmes are made by Mole Hashako Yako, a community activist, teacher and social historian. The Orma people of Tana River don’t have a written history, so Mole has been talking to elderly people in her community who have a rich knowledge about the past, and then telling their stories on the radio.
“Telling stories about our past, not only helps young people in the Orma community understand their roots and identity, but it also helps promote empathy and understanding between the communities,” she said. “Once you hear someone else’s story, you humanise them and begin to understand them.” Although there has been conflict particularly between the pastoralist Orma and agriculturalist Pokomo communities in recent years, Mole points to the past and to a time when the two communities lived side-by-side in peace and harmony. She believes the past will help the communities connect with the future, where Tana River can be peaceful and prosperous.
Mole Hashako Yako: Telling stories promotes empathy and understanding between communities.
Amani FM was established in August ahead of Kenya’s controversial elections in an effort to promote peace and build on and complement the work of Una Hakika which has been combatting rumours and misinformation since 2013.
John Green, the Director of Una Hakika, who is also chairman of the board of Amani FM, says that without a shadow of a doubt, Amani FM has contributed to peace at a time when there were many rumours circulating, which could have resulted in violence. During focus groups conducted this week, among different communities, John says people appreciated how well Amani FM had advocated for peace and that how integrating the work of Una Hakika and the radio has produced a powerful model of using technology and relationships to foster peace and development.
HCR and Canadian-based Sentinel Project for Genocide Prevention, are about to set up a "Peace Centre" in the conflicted east Kenyan region of Tana Delta. The centre will be established in the town of Garsen and will serve as a hub to analyse misinformation and rumours, as well as disseminate reliable information and messages that promote peace through HCR partner station Tana FM. Kenya’s eastern Tana River County has frequently been affected by violent conflict between different ethnic groups, with rumours and misinformation among the key drivers of the conflict.
In April, HCR specialists joined Tana FM producers in training a team of citizen journalists from Sentinel's Una Hakika project in how to create radio programme content that builds peace. Una Hakika project coordinator John Green praised the new venture saying: “People make decisions based on information, so when they receive information that is verified and from a neutral source that has no ethnic bias, it is a milestone in the peace process”
A new team of Una Hakika citizen journalists with coleagues from Tana FM and HCR UK in Garsen
Sentinel's Executive Director, Christopher Tuckwood said that when the Una Hakika information service was set up two years ago, his team were deeply impacted by the interethnic massacres in late 2012 and early 2013 and how rumours had contributed to the atmosphere of fear, distrust and hatred that fuelled the conflict.
Una Hakika's expertise in gathering, verifying and countering the flow of misinformation will add a powerful dimension to Tana FM's broadcasts as together the teams seek to put an end to conflict in this often divided region.
HCR's Jon Hargreaves described the establishment of this new partnership as coming at a very strategic time, as Kenyan's prepare to go to the polls in August 2017. "Elections in Kenya have often been associated with violence," said Jon, "and even this week we saw a bloody crackdown on protests in Nairobi, following demonstrations against the country's electoral commission. We want to do all we can to ensure that elections in Tana River County pass peacefully and that citizens of the county are fully aware of their rights and responsibilities."
Tana FM began test broadcasts from Hola, Capital of Tana River County in May 2015
Since the nineteenth century, eastern Kenya's Tana River county has often been the scene of violent conflict, largely between two ethnic groups, the dominant Orma, who are nomadic cattle-herders and the Pokomo, who are farmers. Many of the disputes have been over land use and access to water, however the intensity of these conflicts has increased in recent decades. This has been fuelled by the easy access of weapons flooding across the nearby border with Somalia, growing poverty, the pressure caused by poorly managed resources and political interference. Add to that toxic mix, the extremist group Al Shebab, which is trying to destabilise Kenya and Tana River County, is at risk of descending into violent conflict.
The tranquil Tana River, Kenya's largest river, has often been the scene of violent conflict over many decades
Now there's a new voice in town, promoting peace and community cohesion. With the help of equipment and training from HCR UK, Tana FM is now on the air broadcasting test messages from the capital Hola. While they wait for the licensing authority to issue the licence, the community is seeking to demonstrate that it has not only the capability, but the passion to deliver a new message - one of hope and harmony. The station is already attracting the attention of a number of key stakeholders, who believe it will make a difference. Former MP and prominent anti-FGM campaigner Jebii Kilimo, believes the station will be a powerful tool for getting the message out to difficult-to-reach communities.
HCR is working with local and international partners to build local capacity and planning to extend the reach of the station, to ensure that coverage gets to the areas at greatest risk, often where rumours and misinformation fuel tensions. Shedrack Hiribae, CEO of Kenya Sustainable Health Aid (KESHA), who first had the vision for a radio station, believes this "new voice in town" will fill a gap in getting reliable and objective information to the community as well as being a voice for the community. "Tana FM will not only promote peace, it will help development and be a force for positive social change," he said.
Ancient weapons used in past conflicts are giving way to modern weaponry which come across borders from conflicts in neighbouring states, like Somalia, with devastating effect
Thirty participants from Pakistan’s major FM radio channels and representatives from INGO and NGO agencies have welcomed plans to set up a First Response Radio (FRR) network in Pakistan. Speaking at FRR’s inaugural meeting at a hotel in Islamabad, IOM (International Organisation for Migration) coordinator Naima Saeed told the audience that radio was a key medium for communicating with survivors after a disaster and that establishing First Response radio in Pakistan will be a great step forward in helping disaster affected communities.
IOM's Naima Saeed speaking at the First Response Radio inaugural event in Islamabad
The event marks the start of a plan to equip and train local teams to set up a radio station within 72 hours of a disaster anywhere in Pakistan. HCR’s Hazeen Latif who is the First Response Pakistan coordinator says, “In the last ten years, nine teams have been trained, 15 disasters responded to, and we’ve been getting closer to the 72 hour mark as witnessed in the First Response Radio deployment to Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan.”
The event in Islamabad was a collaborative venture between Pakistan-based NGO, Foundation for Better Tomorrow (FFBT), First Response and HCR.
HCR's Jon Hargreaves, Ross James and Hazeen Latif with Shaikh Wasim Ahmed, CEO of FFTB
The Tana Delta in Kenya has for decades been the scene of violent conflict between two ethnic groups, the dominant Ormo who are nomadic cattle-herders, and the Pokomo, who are farmers. This news article from last year, speaks of the violence which plagues this region.
This month Jon Hargreaves and Alex Stout (HCR UK) traveled to this violence-torn district, accompanied by a young journalist, Alex Williams, who reported on the HCR community workshops conducted. The video report provides a great insight into HCR’s involvement and the hope for a peace-building radio initiative which can help prevent violent attacks occurring in the future. View the video below:
A first consultation and workshop drew key stakeholders from local government and service providers, followed by a second which brought together members of the different tribal communities to work on plans for a community-centred radio station, which will tackle many of the region's problems.
Besides a peace agenda, the station will help promote better farming and irrigation practices, education and health as well as tackling difficult social issues such as witchcraft, female genital mutilation, early marriages, polygamy and segregation against women.
While the project will require foreign funding for the station set-up, it has a great chance of becoming completely locally sustainable within the first year.
Stay tuned for further updates from Jon and Alex as they navigate their way through a very complex situation where tribe, religion, ethnicity, family and politics make a very potent and toxic brew that could flare up in violence at any time.
Community members from Tana River County in Kenya are eager to be involved in a community-centred media strategy for peace-building and addressing social issues.
Alex (left)) and Jon (right) working with local community members on a "mapping" activity to identify community needs.
Jon, Alex and Alex with community members from Tana Delta, Kenya.
