Rural Communication Services

On Air Dialogues: Listening to — and learning from — rural people
Rural Communication Services

In rural Africa, small-scale farmers are the lifeblood of their communities. They feed their country and community and contribute to local and international economies. Farmers have their finger on the pulse of local agricultural practices and weather patterns. However, rural Africans are rarely consulted when governments and other organizations develop solutions to improve food systems, mitigate and adapt to climate change, and address other global challenges. It can be difficult

From market woman to radio show host
Rural Communication Services

It’s a Monday evening, and Adja Malado Diakité sits down behind the microphone at Radio Wassoulou in Yanfolila in southern Mali. She’s about to deliver her weekly radio program, Mousso djôyôrô, or “the place of women in society.” At first glance, Adja seems like a pro behind the microphone. It’s true that she’s received plenty of training and, at this point, is used to speaking on air. But Adja hasn’t always

Raising women’s voices for food security and gender equality
Rural Communication Services

Too often, our right to information — to make informed decisions about our livelihood and to have a say in the systems that are meant to support us — is overlooked. This is especially true for women who don’t have the same access to information or the same opportunities to be heard and share their knowledge and experiences as men. We know that respecting women’s right to information is essential

Sheeko Wadaag – A radio listening program for the community by the community
Rural Communication Services

In January 2023, IOM and FAO completed the pilot phase of Sheeko Wadaag. ‘Sheeko Wadaag’ means ‘storytelling’ in Somali. It is a community radio listening program that focuses on relevant events, stories, challenges and issues shared directly through the voices of community members. The scope of this community radio project is setting up and operationalizing an integrated community feedback systems that engage beneficiary communities (IDPs and host communities) beyond project-based

The impact of COVID-19 on women in Sierra Leone and the role the media can play
Rural Communication Services

The COVID-19 pandemic hit Sierra Leone in March 2020, just like it did in Canada. The deadly disease posed a serious threat to women, who are often the primary caregiver in their home, looking after their husbands, children and other relatives.  The media drew from lessons learned during the Ebola crisis, which claimed the lives of many women and children because women were not educated on the disease’s impact on

Digital access for rural women
Rural Communication Services

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality. Read more about work in the C4D space that has been happening around digital access for women: Talking Books provide an innovative solution to reach rural communities in Ugandahttps://yenkasa.org/talking-books-provide-an-innovative-solution-to-reach-rural-communities-in-uganda/ How Bamtaare FM created a website to reach more people with local informationhttps://yenkasa.org/how-bamtaare-fm-created-a-website-to-reach-more-people-with-local-information/ Tips for engaging women in your radio programhttps://yenkasa.org/tips-for-engaging-women-in-your-radio-program/ Some resources  Gender responsive digitalizationhttps://yenkasa.org/gender-responsive-digitalization/

Sharing knowledge with family farmers across Africa through a radio awareness campaign
Rural Communication Services

The YenKasa Africa Radio Campaign for family farmers in six African countries The YenKasa Africa Radio Initiative was a game-changer in promoting family farming in Africa. The project’s success was evident in the number of listeners reached, with over 5 million tuning in through six local radios across six African countries. Across the six African countries – Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, Madagascar, Tanzania, and Togo, the radio partners broadcasted in local

Mapping digital agriculture strategies in Africa
Rural Communication Services

A national e-agriculture (or digital agriculture) strategy promotes the emergence of a common understanding of issues related to adopting digital technology for agrifood systems performance. It favours the deployment in the synergy of transformational actions. The design of these policy documents has accelerated in recent years in Africa. The first attempts started in the mid-2000s with the insertion of a chapter relating to agriculture in digital development strategies. Since the

World Radio Day 2023
Rural Communication Services

Today we celebrate World Radio Day with the theme “Radio and Peace“. To celebrate this year’s World Radio Day, FAO in Somalia is carrying out a project called “Promoting Inclusive Action in Peacebuilding Initiative” (PIAP), which aims to directly respond to the ambitious peacebuilding and sustainable development agenda of the Federal Government of Somalia as outlined in the National Development Plan (NDP) 9 and other strategic and framework policies. This

Reminder: IAMCR, FAO- Rural Communication Services Research Award
Rural Communication Services

IAMCR and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) offer four awards of 2,500 USD to authors of papers that advance our understanding of Rural Communication Services (RCS) applications. Within the context of the IAMCR 2023 conference, with the theme of “Inhabiting the planet: Challenges for media, communication and beyond”, IAMCR’s Rural Communication Working Group (RUC) has issued a call for papers that critically explore the conference