Aya Marie-Madeleine Konan started her journey towards journalism in high school, and has been advancing her career over the past nine years, mainly focusing on radio. After appearing as a guest on the radio in 2014, she started broadcasting in 2015 and progressed from being a co-host to host, to marketing manager, and finally director of Radio Yackoi Paix & Développement in the city of Daloa, in western Côte d’Ivoire.
Mrs. Konan says her strengths are her deep commitment to training and to keeping her audience informed of the latest agricultural innovations. She combines theoretical expertise with practical experience in the field.
She is currently contributing to four programs: Agri Infos (which explores agricultural practices), Le Salon de l’Agriculture (highlighting good practices and promoting local farmers), Conscience Alimenterre (which raises awareness about the dangers of chemical inputs), and La Terre aussi a un Papier comme l’homme (Sharing stories that connecting land to humanity).
Farmers in her area were facing poor cassava sales. In response, Mrs. Konan’s station organized direct exchanges with producers, then brought experts together with growers in the field to find solutions and helped to establish an efficient and sustainable cassava value chain.
Listeners tell Mrs. Konan that they appreciate the interactivity of her programs, which makes them feel like they’re part of the program, and also appreciate that the station sometimes records programs in the villages. They like that the programs cover their real problems, and supports their search for solutions.
She includes farmers’ voices in her programs through telephone calls, vox pops, and interviews, and keeps listeners engaged and entertained by promoting local music for all ages.
Mrs. Konan says she benefited from participating in FRI’s radio campaign on COVID-19 vaccination in 2022, and also from FRI’s radio resources, which have helped her be more creative about including listeners in her programs.
Mrs. Konan was a runner-up for the George Atkins Communication Award a year ago.
Farm Radio International (FRI) is a Canadian non-profit organization specializing in ICT-enabled extension and communication for reaching rural and remote communities at scale in local languages in sub-Saharan Africa. FRI’s core expertise is collaborative, user-focused co-creation of quality information and advisory services, combining radio and mobile phones, other ICTs and face-to-face interaction