Suchergebnisse

This research project addressed specifically the information-seeking behaviour of small scale farming households in Kenya. It focused on how farmers are informed about innovation on new methods of increasing agricultural productivity, which is one of the main challenges for Africa's agriculture and its rural population. Shortcomings in Information are presumed to be one essential element that might hinder the up-take of new methods that are made available by agricultural research. For this purpose a survey with 600 small-scale farming households was conducted, investigating the information needs and patterns. The main results of the survey point to (a) the dominating role of radio as the main media channel used by almost all farmers for receiving agricultural information – and much less the mobile phone that is thought by Western donors and NGOs to be the new information tool (b) the high credibility of Government extension services as the most trustworthy source regarding agricultural information although farmers bemoan the fact that extension officers are difficult to reach and less available than expected, and (c) the apparent gap between what farmers need and what they get in two respects: They mainly get technical information, for example on new varieties, planting methods or new crops, but they also want more information on markets, gaining more income and more basic knowledge. They prefer to receive information as a comprehensive package and not isolated bits. Secondly, they prefer another mode of getting information, not the usual top down approach with little explanation, but a comprehensive mode which provides them with various options accompanied by a lot of explanation. Surprisingly, many farmers say that they lack even basic knowledge of good agricultural practice.

Studio Tamani in Mali is a radio project initiated by Fondation Hirondelle after the 2012 rebellion conducted by various rebel groups in the North of Mali, the military coup in March 2012 and the French military intervention in early 2013 took place. It aims at providing the population with fact-based news and constructive dialogue formats. The programmes should give a reliable account of the days' events, address the causes of conflict, and add to a better understanding of different viewpoints regarding the conflict. In our study, we find out whether and how Studio Tamani achieves its objectives regarding a change in knowledge, perceptions and behaviour of different segments in society. The study has two pillars. The first pillar is a systematic description of the unique content quality of the broadcast by Studio Tamani, and the second one is identifying what the impacts of those broadcasts are. Regarding news programmes, the study will first investigate the differences between news of Studio Tamani and news of two reference radio in terms of selection of news topics, diversity of sources, background information, balance of viewpoints and different understandings of the crisis. Furthermore, a dialogue format where various stakeholders are invited daily to debate issues is assessed on its content, the background of the participants and the pattern of arguments. Based on the comparative results delivered by content analysis, the second pillar will identify the effects of the broadcasts with different segments of the audience. The study will conduct interviews with listeners from various radio stations on what they know about and how they perceive the conflict. The assumption is that Tamani provides listeners with more comprehensive content, based on larger diversity of sources and more balanced diversity of viewpoints. If that can be proven via content analysis, it can be expected that listeners of Studio Tamani understand the conflict better, and have knowledge about a wider range of facts and viewpoints. The study will test whether those effects exist. Additionally, interviews will be conducted with the participants in the dialogue, as they might have been directly involved in actual change processes, like in peace negotiations. Dialogue participants (20 to 30, depending on the results from the content analysis) political leaders, civil society, experts, conflict groups) will be interviewed on their perception of the dialogue, the feedback they got from supporters, and on their follow-up with other dialogue participants. The empirical research for this study will be carried out from March (content analysis) to May (interviews) 2016. It is seen as a pilot that should also show general opportunities of how independent radio stations can demonstrate their impacts in conflict settings.

In the last ten years local radio stations have mushroomed in many regions in Africa, as well in Tanzania. Many refer to them as community radio stations. They receive support from international donors, due to their potential to inform the local population about local issues, to broadcast their voices thus to create a democratic space to publicly debate relevant issues of local people. The paper is based on two empirical research projects on rural radio stations in Tanzania in 2014 and 2015; an exploratory case study on the status of rural radio and a structured content analysis of radio news and programmes of 14 stations. The empirical results will be assessed against a model of economic sustainability of radio stations tested earlier in Uganda. The paper shows that the lack of economic viability is major constraint for local radio stations. They cannot generate sufficient revenues from advertisers to sustain the station. This leads to high turn-over of staff due to low pay, results in low quality of content and lack of capacity to do serious programming, which in the end hinders the achievement of the radio stations' objectives. It needs to be acknowledged that the challenges of local radio are interrelated, and so are the solutions. The paper will argue that the donor community has largely overlooked the need to invest in media sustainability of rural radio stations, as it has invested mainly in journalism capacity but hardly in media management capacity. The paper concludes that a viable economic model in Africa requires to simultaneously support three different fields, (a) the development of content jointly with (b) the development of media management capacities and (c) local media research covering the extent and satisfaction of the local audience in order to develop local advertising markets that serve local media.

The study provides an overview of the concept of civil society, its history and understanding in different contexts. It elaborates an analytical framework of civil society functions derived from democracy theory, development discourse and case study knowledge, which in turn is applied to the context of peacebuilding. Peacebuilding theory and practice is analyzed in terms of its civil society functions and their validity, scope and content. The results show that the mere existence of and support for civil society does not automatically lead to peacebuilding. A good understanding of civil society?s roles and potential for peacebuilding is required. It is also important to recognize that certain roles and functions of civil society vary depending on the phases of conflict and may not all be equally relevant and effective in all conflict phases.

There is a general consensus that media are an essential element of democracy if they fulfil particular quality requirements in their reporting. Abundant literature deals with media quality from a theoretical perspective, but empirical knowledge on journalistic practice with regard to its role in democratization is rare, and this is even more so in the case of African countries. First, this article seeks to assess the quality of radio in Liberia, which is the country?s most popular medium. Second, the article tests a specific methodology in order to measure the contribution of radio to democracy. It argues that radio stations in Liberia strongly differ in their quality, each with specific shortcomings. These findings are confirmed by interviews with civil society representatives and by audience research.

This baseline study on the status quo of Zambian radio reporting quality revealed central training needs for Zambian radio reporters. The study used two methods: - Semi-structured interviews with staff of various radio stations and local media experts were held. They should render an insight into the enabling environment of the radio landscape in Zambia, the journalists' working conditions and role models and thus allow the research team to detect training needs - The status quo of radio news journalistic quality was elaborated with a content analysis tool developed by IAM. The analysed sample consisted of daily news of four different radio stations, recorded in June 2006. The tool contains a quality criteria catalogue derived both from democracy theory and the interviews mentioned above. The main results of this baseline study are: 1. Zambian radio journalists have developed role models much in line with basic 'Western' journalism values, like objectivity, balanced reporting, enabling the listener to take own decisions, analysing complex issues, supporting public debate, giving a voice to all sides 2. However, prevailing working conditions – at least those of news journalists –mostly prevent the journalists from realising basic quality criteria they have set for themselves, like including more than one source for a news report etc. 3. The quality assessment shows a number of deficiencies in Zambian radio journalism, among them: a. The diversity of sources is rather limited and does not match with standard requirements. b.Government sources are highly considered, whereby other sources are rather neglected, especially by the state broadcaster ZNBC. c. Reporting on background of events and issues is highly neglected and needs to be strengthened. d. Some broadcasters hardly cover struggle as an element of public debate, concerning political issues. e. The diversity of viewpoints in news reports is low, thus preventing the public from deriving the full scope of opinions and viewpoints around an issue. f. Soundbites are still used on a low level; sources seldom get an opportunity to be heard directly. g. The perspectives of the general public are not much considered in news reports yet. It neither appears as a source. These results lead to two main training needs: 1. Reduce the deficiencies discovered above and thus increase the quality of reporting 2. Training has to be on individual as well as on station/editorial level in order to initiate real change ; This baseline study on the status quo of Zambian radio reporting quality revealed central training needs for Zambian radio reporters. The study used two methods: - Semi-structured interviews with staff of various radio stations and local media experts were held. They should render an insight into the enabling environment of the radio landscape in Zambia, the journalists' working conditions and role models and thus allow the research team to detect training needs - The status quo of radio news journalistic quality was elaborated with a content analysis tool developed by IAM. The analysed sample consisted of daily news of four different radio stations, recorded in June 2006. The tool contains a quality criteria catalogue derived both from democracy theory and the interviews mentioned above. The main results of this baseline study are: 1. Zambian radio journalists have developed role models much in line with basic 'Western' journalism values, like objectivity, balanced reporting, enabling the listener to take own decisions, analysing complex issues, supporting public debate, giving a voice to all sides 2. However, prevailing working conditions – at least those of news journalists –mostly prevent the journalists from realising basic quality criteria they have set for themselves, like including more than one source for a news report etc. 3. The quality assessment shows a number of deficiencies in Zambian radio journalism, among them: a. The diversity of sources is rather limited and does not match with standard requirements. b.Government sources are highly considered, whereby other sources are rather neglected, especially by the state broadcaster ZNBC. c. Reporting on background of events and issues is highly neglected and needs to be strengthened. d. Some broadcasters hardly cover struggle as an element of public debate, concerning political issues. e. The diversity of viewpoints in news reports is low, thus preventing the public from deriving the full scope of opinions and viewpoints around an issue. f. Soundbites are still used on a low level; sources seldom get an opportunity to be heard directly. g. The perspectives of the general public are not much considered in news reports yet. It neither appears as a source. These results lead to two main training needs: 1. Reduce the deficiencies discovered above and thus increase the quality of reporting 2. Training has to be on individual as well as on station/editorial level in order to initiate real change

This research project addressed specifically the information‐seeking behaviour of small scale farming households in Kenya. It focused on how farmers are informed about innovation on new methods of increasing agricultural productivity, which is one of the main challenges for Africa's agriculture and its rural population. Shortcomings in information are presumed to be one essential element that might hinder the up‐take of new methods that are made available by agricultural research. For this purpose a survey with 600 small‐scale farming households was conducted, investigating the information needs and patterns. The main results of the survey point to (a) the dominating role of radio as the main media channel used by almost all farmers for receiving agricultural information ‐ and much less the mobile phone that is thought by Western donors and NGOs to be the new information tool (b) the high credibility of Government extension services as the most trustworthy source regarding agricultural Information although farmers bemoan the fact that extension officers are difficult to reach and less available than expected, and (c) the apparent gap between what farmers need and what they get in two respects: They mainly get technical information, for example on new varieties, planting methods or new crops, but they also want more information on markets, gaining more income and more basic knowledge. They prefer to receive information as a comprehensive package and not isolated bits. Secondly, they prefer another mode of getting information, not the usual top down approach with little explanation, but a comprehensive mode which provides them with various options accompanied by a lot of explanation. Surprisingly, many farmers say that they lack even basic knowledge of good agricultural practice.

This article analyses 12 cases of investigative journalism in Sub-Saharan Africa. The reporters all claimed to have contributed to change processes by influencing government policy, action by state administration, supporting the uptake of scientific solutions or provoking public debate. An assessment of these processes shows that in 10 cases, the journalists indeed helped to trigger change and in two cases they failed to do so. The cases are evaluated through an explorative approach inspired by the dynamic models for communication on public issues developed by Rucht and Peters. Different types of investigative stories in Sub-Saharan Africa are identified and hypotheses are developed on key factors that were important in investigating and publishing the stories as well as in achieving change. A decisive element of investigative journalism in Sub-Saharan Africa seems to be the involvement of and the interaction with other societal non-journalist actors.