Page 35 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2013
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THE CHANNEL
|
ISSUE 1 2013
|
35
t is six in the morning and
the fire is still burning in the
heart of Mathare slum. No‐
one quite knows how it
started, but what is known
is that a community leader
and two young children
could not escape the blaze. From
the direction of the fire, people
emerge from the darkness and the
smoke. Some of them are clutching
mobile phones and digital cameras
which they have used to capture
pictures of the charred corpses.
There is an outpouring of emotions:
shock, grief, sadness, and helplessness
that will later turn to anger.
Fires are not uncommon in the
slums and in this case, fire engines
did not come to the communities’
assistance in time. Unlike on other
occasions, however, today there is a
platform to ask questions and hear
the views of those living in the
slums. On a section of waste land
within Mathare, Radio Jambo has
set up its outside broadcast van and
is about to begin broadcasting its
four‐hour breakfast show
specifically on life in the slums.
The programme was part of
Radio Jambo’s involvement in Slum
Radio Project (SRP). The project
was funded by Amnesty
International and it was Amnesty
International who commissioned
Between the Posts Productions
(BtPP) to act as coordinators.
AWAKE-UP CALL
SRP’s brief was to create an
awareness campaign centring on
the human rights abuses suffered
by slum‐dwellers in Nairobi in
Kenya and Accra in Ghana. Using
radio, the projectʹs goal was to reach
middle class listeners – they are
seen as having the most influence
e political elite, and yet this
“
”
These
burgeoning
poor
commun-
ities were a
source of
stories
that should
be told
In 2010 when Martin Davies
coordinated the 1GOAL campaign
around the first FIFA World Cup in
Africa, he built on his experience at
BBC World Service. Having set up a
UK-based African media company,
Between the Posts Productions, he
was asked to coordinate the Slum
Radio Project for Amnesty
International
group in particular seems to largely
ignore the needs of those living in
the expanding slums nearby.
While I was leading this six‐
month project with the BtPP team, I
felt it was key that SRP formed
partnerships with some of the
largest and most influential media
players in each country: Radio
Africa, Capital Radio and Standard
Group in Kenya, GBC and Joy FM
in Ghana.
The model used in SRP was one
of value exchange: the radio
stations were offered training in
journalism, production and
reporting from a human rights
perspective, in return for their
valuable air time. The station
managers were also keen to be
involved in the project because they
recognised that these burgeoning
poor communities were a source of
stories that should be told.
CONSULTATION
SRP also needed buy‐in and
collaboration among the different
stake holders on the ground. Slum‐
dwellers and community leaders
were consulted and engaged in the
project throughout. That meant
they were effectively given a voice,
helping to close the knowledge gap
between those who live in the
slums and those who would
continue to report on their lives.
During the project, two
articulate, young slum‐dwellers ‐
one from Accra and another from
Nairobi ‐ emerged as spokesmen
for their communities. It was only
natural that we should enlist these
two aspirational young men to act
as the Masters of Ceremony at
separate launches of SRP. They
were later brought together in
Kibera slum, Nairobi. This meeting
of two men, leading parallel lives,
not only created a compelling
narrative that was carried by SRP’s
different media partners; it was also
filmed by Al Jazeera, giving
Amnesty International’s project
wider international media exposure.
HEARING THE VOICE
In total, more than 180 items went
on air, with more than 150 of those
produced by Radio Africa in
Nairobi. These ranged from short
stories and packages to nine hours
of outside broadcasts, all of which
were facilitated by BtPP and
delivered through the different
radio station partners. The media
partners also conveyed the story
via their social networking
platforms. It created a sense that
the target audience could not shirk
the issue and that, for the duration
of the project, the voice of the voice‐
less had been heard.
African media is steadily
emerging across the whole
continent. It feels great to be a part
of this – for SRP, BtPP acted as
coordinator, but we also produce
our own content, ranging from
reports on the lives of African
migrants living in the midst of
Italy’s economic down‐turn to
disability issues in Sierra Leone.
Given my sports background, our
latest project is a particularly
exciting one: BtPP is working on
delivering a new sports concept,
African Football International
(AFI), which will be made available
as a tri‐media offer on TV, radio
and online in the African market.
With contributors across Africa and
Europe, we plan to capture the
stories of African players wherever
they are, using BtPP’s expertise
gained from the BBC and through
collaborative working with
international media.
■
SLUMRADIO
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