Eastern Kenya’s Tana River County has long been affected by violent conflict. Poverty and political interference has added fuel to the fire, along with pressure from Al Shebab extremists who are trying to destabilise Kenya. It is for that reason that journalists from HCR’s partner station, Amani FM are undergoing training as “peace ambassadors.”
Yet more evidence… radio changes lives!
How a radio project dramatically improved the lives of communities in conflict… An evaluation of HCR’s community-centred radio model in an area of violent conflict, has shown that it led to significant improvements in the community. This study is evidence that a local level community-centred radio and their volunteers is powerful way facilitating dialogue, livelihood and participatory communication outcomes in contexts characterised by sustained conflict, disadvantage and disempowerment.
Two years of promoting peace
Two years ago a small team from HCR set up a community-centred radio station in the remote town of Garsen in eastern Kenya’s Tana River County, training a team of volunteers from different tribal groups. Ahead of the August 2017 elections, the station was designed to promote peace and social development in an area that had all-too-often experienced violent conflict along ethnic lines.
Today, two years on, Amani FM has become a vibrant part of the community and a powerful voice for peace
Stations collaborate to end violent extremism
HCR partner station Amani FM in eastern Kenya’s Tana River County, has joined forces with another community station to promote peace in this conflict-affected region. The project “Amani Mashinani,” which in Swahili means peace at the grassroots, involves young people in the design and creation of feature stories and talk-shows that promote peace, using the airwaves of Amani FM in Garsen and TBS (Tana Broadcasting Service), in Hola.
Radio station supports thousands fleeing attack
Umoja FM, HCR’s partner station in Nobili, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is supporting communities fleeing attacks by Islamist rebels. “Our team are doing all we can to provide essential information to displaced people as well as support to the wider population,” said Station Manager Baraka Bacweki.
Violence is never okay
In Australia, 1 in 6 women have experienced physical or sexual violence and 1 in 5 have been sexually assaulted or threatened. These statistics are even more alarming at the local level. So in response to this, the Geraldton community joined together to make a stand together to say violence is never okay.
Helping women and girls in Kenya
Day 13 of #16DaysofActivism
By Stephanie Mooney
Combatting gender-based violence can take courage, sensitivity and wisdom. I met Mary*, an ordained minister working in a rural area in Kenya, who showed all of these qualities in her work to help women and girls.
In this particular area of Kenya, the challenges facing families include limited access to food and water, and high levels of illiteracy. Conflict within families and domestic violence is rife. It is common to see women with missing teeth as they have been so badly beaten.
Women cannot own animals or land and are very dependent on men. Early marriage is common, with girls as young as eleven often married to men in their fifties and over, frequently as a second or third wife. When a girl is prepared for marriage she will have to go through the painful ritual of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Mary explains that she is ‘surrounded by this community - I could lose trust and [do more harm than good], so I interact with the families.’ Mary is notified if a marriage is likely to take place. Mary will try and talk with the family and if the wedding cannot be prevented in this way, then they will find a discreet way to get the young girl to safety and the care of the government.
After a girl is brought to safety, the government will start working with the family. The family is not informed that Mary has helped to get the girl protected and she would be at risk if her involvement was discovered:
‘I see girls, I feel angry, so sympathetic, they are very young and innocent. They don’t even know the man she will marry’.
Mary is not always able to prevent a child marriage, or stop girls being ‘cut’ before their wedding ceremonies, or women being harmed or murdered due to domestic violence. Mary helps girls to remain in their communities, providing support, fellowship and togetherness.
All of HCR’s work with partners engages with and supports people and local communities and it is from within these communities that change can and does happen.
*Not her real name
Photo credit: Olivier Asselin - UNICEF
Protecting Women - Valuing Girls in North Kivu
Day 9 of #16DaysofActivism
By Jon Hargreaves
I photographed the billboard above recently in a remote village in North Kivu in the DRC. It depicts two men molesting a woman with the words: “You wouldn’t do this if it was your mother, would you!” It is a stark reminder of the widespread use of rape and other forms of sexual violence perpetrated in this country, notably as a weapon of war and coercion. Ravaged by over twenty years of conflict, with 3.7 million internally displaced people, UNWomen estimates that over 1 million women have been raped in the DRC.
HCR’s partner station in North Kivu, Umoja FM seeks to prevent and respond to sexual violence by building community resilience and changing attitudes about the value of women and girls, especially their education. The station runs programmes which provide counselling and trauma healing for survivors as well as advice for young people. In a meeting with listeners a few weeks ago I heard many stories of how the radio station has made a huge difference since 2016, when it was launched by Feba UK in collaboration with HCR and a local NGO, Esader.
One listener said: “In Watalinga (district) there was an attitude that we had to marry our girls at a very young age and so there was no point educating them. But the radio has changed all that, and I should know, because I used to think like that.” Another said that although many NGO’s had come and gone, the radio is always with them, helping them, bringing new ideas.
Station Manager Baraka Basweki told me, “We are changing community attitudes towards the value of women and girls. As one person changes so they influence another and another - you can feel it is different now.”
'I am a resource for peace!'
Day 5 of #16DaysofActivism
By Stephanie Mooney
Radio Amani was launched in the conflict prone area of Tana Delta in the summer of 2017, ahead of the parliamentary elections in Kenya. The purpose of the radio station is to promote peace and social development in Eastern Kenya’s conflict-affected Tana River (the northern region of Tana River County).
The station is serving a young lady called Busara* and the many women and men like her, survivors of violent conflict. Jon, the Director of HCR, met Busara during a focus group in a remote village. She kept staring at the floor, shy, almost embarrassed to be there. Many of the others in the group engaged in animated conversation, eager to share their experiences and opinions. But then her voice broke through... and the room was silenced. It was a bold, passionate voice, that was determined to speak out. "I am not a victim," she said, "I am a resource for peace!"
Busara shared how she had been a victim of violence during the time of "the massacre." She and her family had been through hell, but now here she sat in a group meeting, courageously willing to speak up. She shared how, with the support of family, community and trauma counselors, she had turned a corner and was now passionate to help others who had been through similar experiences.
In the setting up of this region's first radio station, the overwhelming message was, "this station is desperately needed and will be a vital part of helping the people of Tana Delta recover and rebuild." Dr Tecla, who runs trauma workshops among the communities of the Delta, told me that peacebuilding cannot really start until people have overcome the past, with forgiveness and grace’. Amani (peace) FM is amplifying the voices that need to be heard.
*Not her real name
Ending Violence Against Women
#16DaysOfActivism
By Stephanie Mooney
Violence against women and girls is one of the most devastating and widespread human rights violations in the world today. Sadly, it usually goes unreported due to the impunity, stigma and shame surrounding it.
Sunday 25th November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The day marks the start of 16 days of ‘Activism against Gender Based Violence’, a global campaign that has run for over 25 years to galvanise action to end violence against women and girls.
At HCR, we seek to provide a media platform for women and communities to share stories and experiences in order to stimulate positive change. In honour of the brave women that we have met, over the next 16 days we will share stories from women and communities that show how they are responding to the challenges of discrimination, stigmatisation, abuse and marginalisation. We will look at how women and communities are seeking to change cultural norms and perceptions of women’s identity - how we can be and what we can do and achieve as women.
This year, as I have travelled to different parts of the world, I have met with strong and remarkable women who have been affected by violence and who are advocating for the protection of women and girls. These women are horrified at the level of abuse that is ignored by their communities – often because it is accepted as the norm and seen as ‘just the way it is’. There are numerous women trapped in violent situations and who feel unable to speak out, living in fear, shame and silence.
Progress is being made, but UN figures are still reporting that one in three women experience gender-based violence. Violence against women is a global issue and in each programme that HCR is involved with worldwide, this has been raised as an issue that needs to be talked about and addressed.
Photo Credit: Feba
Stephanie chatting with street-living children in Kinshasa
Standing up against family and domestic violence
With family and domestic violence a major issue worldwide, in Australia, and the area we work in the Mid West of Western Australia, HCR jumped at the chance to help a local women’s health organisation with a community campaign. We helped local champions to develop radio messages to speak out against family and domestic violence.
Stories Promote Peace in Eastern Kenya
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.
A Voice For Peace in Troubled Mindanao
By Ross James and Jon Hargreaves
Amidst the turmoil on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, following clashes between government forces and Islamic militants, a voice for peace continues to ring out. Radio Gandingan, an HCR-supported community-centred radio project, is providing critical information to residents and displaced people from Marawi city, where the fighting first broke out on 24th May. A number of people were killed and taken hostage by the militants who had reportedly occupied several government buildings in the city, torched others, including a church, a school and the city jail and took over a medical centre where they replaced the Philippines flag with a black, ISIS-style banner.
Community volunteers from Radio Gandingan out and about in Mindanao
Meanwhile Radio Gandingan is helping provide critical information about the situation and the martial law rules that have been imposed by the government of President Rodrigo Duterte. Community volunteers are working around the clock to provide up-to-date information and the station’s popular serial radio drama now includes the Marawi situation into its story-lines.
Since 2004 Radio Gandingan has been broadcasting in the primary language of the minority Magindanaon people, empowering them to voice their concerns and gain access to government officials and services to improve their quality of life. Preliminary results of an evaluation currently underway by HCR shows how the project has helped community cohesion by resolving family and community conflict, strengthened family bonds and relationships and improved understanding between community members and leaders. Radio Gandingan listeners have also expressed how the project has helped to improve health and develop livelihoods in their communities.
Call for peacebuilding radio station ahead of Kenya's election
By Jon Hargreaves
With just over four months until Kenya goes to the polls amidst concerns that there will be election-related violence, HCR is exploring the feasibility of a new radio station in eastern Kenya's Tana Delta.
Last year we partnered with the Sentinel Project to set up a peace centre in the town of Garsen. In this interview, John Green from Una Hakika describes how rumours and misinformation are often a key driver in the conflict between different groups and how a radio station could help build peace in the region.
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.
In June 2015, HCR, helped a Hola-based community organisation, Kenya Sustainable Health Aid to establish Tana FM which is now on the air supporting the peacebuilding process in the region in the run-up to August's critical election.
Peace centre for Kenya's troubled Tana River
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
A new voice of hope in DR Congo
In eastern DR Congo's conflicted province of North Kivu, HCR has been working with partners to establish a new community radio station, Umoja (Unity) FM. One of the architects of the project is Member of Parliament Albert Baliesima Kadukima who has great hopes for this station....
A Critical year for Tana FM in the run up to Kenya's elections
With recent warnings from Kenya's electoral commission that a rise in ethnically charged “hate speech” threatens Kenya's elections in 2017, the team at HCR partner station, Tana FM, know they have an important role - to promote peace. Elections in the past have led to violence, particularly in Tana River County. Next month, some 22.4 million people will register to vote in the 2017 poll, far more than the 14.4 million who registered for the 2013 election. Reporter Alex Williams provides an update on Tana FM's progress following it's launch last year.
A new voice for peace in Eastern Kenya's troubled Tana River County
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
VIDEO DIARY: Peacebuilding in Kenya
Broadcast journalist Alex Williams has joined HCR UK's Alex Stout to develop a community-centred radio station in Eastern Kenya's troubled Tana River County. Here's his latest video diary.
Peace Building in Tana Delta, Kenya
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.