Delivering resources to our partner broadcasters

At Farm Radio International, we deliver services and resources to our partner radio stations and broadcasters that they can adapt and apply to their work. In doing so, we give African broadcasters the tools they need to provide powerful interactive radio services to their listeners, driving positive change in rural communities.

Services and resources that we offer to broadcasters include:

• A news service sharing stories about rural communities in Africa
• Radio resources like backgrounders, drama scripts and suggested interview questions — often available in local African languages
• Online and in-station training for broadcasters
• eDiscussions with broadcasters about specific topics
• Uliza Interactive suite of digital services, which enables broadcasters to poll their audience, get listeners’ voices on air and more — all using radios and mobile phones
• Uliza Log, a web-based application for storing and evaluating recordings of radio programs

In 2022, we delivered our largest project ever in terms of geographic reach — working with more than 200 radio stations in 16 countries on campaigns about COVID-19 prevention and vaccination.

For this project, we produced 34 resources, ranging from Frequently Asked Questions to radio spots about COVID-19. Broadcasters adapted this content to local realities, broadcasting in 89 local languages. We also ran 68 WhatsApp discussions, where broadcasters could ask questions to local health experts.

This approach got results: radio programs broadcast for the project reached approximately 66.2 million listeners with locally relevant, reliable information about the COVID-19 virus and vaccine.

According to our GeoPoll survey conducted in eight of the countries of implementation, 77 per cent of women and men listeners and 74 per cent of youth decided to get vaccinated against COVID-19. 82 per cent of women, 81 per cent of men and 80 per cent of youth interviewed indicated that it was the radio campaign that encouraged them to get vaccinated.

That’s the type of immediate impact that we can see in communities as a result of our projects. And it all started with delivering useful resources to our network of broadcasters.

This blog post is the fifth in a series about how Farm Radio International lives our values (respect, include, listen, amplify, deliver and learn) in our work. Read our full statement of values here.