Radio Programming

Objective: Awareness and Advocacy. Reach all local communities around the Serengeti with messages that (a) promote awareness and advocacy of conservation, and (b) provide practical information that can benefit local people in their lives.

  • SPF has developed programming for over a year in Loliondo, a Maasai area next to the Serengeti. These programs occur twice-weekly.

  • Rural radio programs provide live discussions and conservation news, as well as children’s conservation programming, such as using local folktales to teach conservation lessons.

  • An online community network (Facebook) in Kiswahili also advances awareness and advocacy and promote participation in SPF programs.
  • This is an ongoing program component that crosses all other work, and should be sustained and expanded over time as both a Community Saturation and Cross-community Program

Budget:

Monthly costs are $500. This includes: program development, participant stipends, and airtime of $350.

Evaluation:  Estimate the reach that radio broadcasts have in total listeners. Note phone-in calls. Measure web comments on each radio station site. Conduct informal surveys in each community before and after broadcasts.

More

Radio is now a highly accessible medium among Maasai and other rural communities. Not only do people own radios, with many listeners per set, but radio broadcasts can be received widely by cell phones.  As a part of both its education and advocacy work, SPF is administering this program in conjunction with a UNESCO-sponsored Maasai radio station, Loliondo FM 107.7, with the coverage to the communities around and adjacent to Serengeti Ecosystem.

Broadcasts from this station extend to the entire region of Musoma, Masai Mara, Loliondo area and some parts of Ngorongoro Conservation Area.  Programs are broadcast in both Swahili and Maa languages. The purpose of this programming is to involve communities in education and dialogue, giving them a platform to link traditional values with modern conservation, and build the role of the local community as direct and front-line actors in conservation efforts.  Jamii na Uhifadhi, which means Community and Conservation in Swahili, is broadcast weekly from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm, on an off-market day. It is then re-broadcast on another day, totaling eight hours per month.

The program has these segments

  • 20 Minutes. Elimu ya Uhifadhi  (Conservation Knowledge) This segment is pre-recorded in Arusha with support from Tanzania National Parks, and talks about conservation, why it’s important, and benefits of conservation to the community
  • 10 Minutes. Habari za Uhifadhi (Conservation News) News of the past week about conservation in Tanzania and globally.
  • 20 Minutes. Maoni, Ushauri na Changamoto  (Listener comments, questions and advice). Listeners are encouraged to be part of the program: to call, text and email their comments to be aired during the segment. Listeners will be able to address conservation challenges in their communities. Questions are answered in the next program.
  • 5 Minutes. Je Wajua (Did You Know?) This segment provides general information about wildlife, especially directed at a younger audience.
  • 5 Minutes. Wrap-up End up the session and invite listeners to the next program.

Important features of programs are:

Maasai Cultural Heritage. These broadcasts  include discussions of traditional Maasai values and ideas about nature and conservation and how these can be translated into a modern setting. Elders are  be given opportunities to discuss how attitudes toward nature have shaped Maasai life.

Radio Drama. An original radio series that helps dramatize issues and conflicts inherent in growing up as a young person in today’s Maasai world.

Live Talk, a show in which conservationists and respected community elders are invited to the station for live talks about conservation so that communities feel and become part of the conservation movement.

Future Plans:

We will extend the Radio Program to OLKONERE Radio Station which broadcasts to Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Tanga, Manyara, and Ngorongoro. The coverage of the ORS reaches where Loliondo FM Radio doesn’t and where most of the national parks and Wildlife Management Areas are located.

Excerpts from SPF Report:

Community Participation:

The program involves women, men, youth, and elders.Men like the Laigwanani- traditional leaders who have respect in the community. We have a live talk show session in which we bring the traditional leaders (Laigwanani) on board where they tell the communities how they were using the traditional modes of conservation in the past and what is happening now. The aim is to make the communities own the Radio program in order to have impact. During the live talk show, there are Morani (young men warriors) who have the responsibilities of security in the communities. We believe the Morani will change their attitudes toward wildlife and educate their communities about the important of wildlife in the Serengeti Ecosystem.

Programs are aired on every Thursday of the week from 7:00pm – 8:00pm. At this time most of women are done with home duties like milking and cooking for their families.

The journalist who hosts the program is Mathias Tooko, Masai who knows how to talk to his communities. We are training him and will expand his role in the future.

Positive Results:

We have seen the following feedback from the community:

  • The phone calls and the texts we received during the Radio program sessions, in which people were encouraged to advise and comment on the program, were very positive.
  • Morani have called during the live show and have given complements to the journalist Mathis Tooko. The Morani also have commented about stopping the killing of the wildlife.
  • There has been willingness of the traditional leaders and Morani to come to the live talks show to talk about traditional conservation.
  • Some of the calls and text messages we received from the listeners are telling the communities to protect water sources.
  • During the airing of the program at least every 7 calls we received during the program 3 are from women which makes 43% of women involvement. Most of the women comments during the calls are telling their communities to protect wildlife in order to get more tourists to visit their bomas to buy their cultural products like beads.
  • The population of women in the area is around 60% and we believe that they are receiving conservation awareness from our Jamii na Uhifadhi program. One of the program segments is conservation education where we educate the communities on the importance of protecting the wildlife to attract more tourists and get more benefit from tourism.
  • We were welcomed by the Ngorongoro District Commissioner to participate in conservation meeting in the area.

Radio Programming

Radio is now a highly accessible medium among Maasai and other rural communities. Not only do people own radios, with many listeners per set, but radio broadcasts can be received widely by cell phones.  As a part of both its education and advocacy work, SPF is administering this program in conjunction with a UNESCO-sponsored Maasai radio station, Loliondo FM 107.7, with the coverage to the communities around and adjacent to Serengeti Ecosystem.

Broadcasts from this station extend to the entire region of Musoma, Masai Mara, Loliondo area and some parts of Ngorongoro Conservation Area.  Programs are broadcast in both Swahili and Maa languages. The purpose of this programming is to involve communities in education and dialogue, giving them a platform to link traditional values with modern conservation, and build the role of the local community as direct and front-line actors in conservation efforts.  Jamii na Uhifadhi, which means Community and Conservation in Swahili, is broadcast weekly from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm, on an off-market day. It is then re-broadcast on another day, totaling eight hours per month.

The program is divided into the following segments:

  • 20 Minutes. Elimu ya Uhifadhi  (Conservation Knowledge) This segment is pre-recorded in Arusha with support from Tanzania National Parks, and talks about conservation, why it’s important, and benefits of conservation to the community
  • 10 Minutes. Habari za Uhifadhi (Conservation News) News of the past week about conservation in Tanzania and globally.
  • 20 Minutes. Maoni, Ushauri na Changamoto  (Listener comments, questions and advice). Listeners are encouraged to be part of the program: to call, text and email their comments to be aired during the segment. Listeners will be able to address conservation challenges in their communities. Questions are answered in the next program.
  • 5 Minutes. Je Wajua (Did You Know?) This segment provides general information about wildlife, especially directed at a younger audience.
  • 5 Minutes. Wrap-up End up the session and invite listeners to the next program.

Important features of programs are:

Maasai Cultural Heritage. These broadcasts  include discussions of traditional Maasai values and ideas about nature and conservation and how these can be translated into a modern setting. Elders are  be given opportunities to discuss how attitudes toward nature have shaped Maasai life.

Radio Drama. An original radio series that helps dramatize issues and conflicts inherent in growing up as a young person in today’s Maasai world.

Live Talk, a show in which conservationists and respected community elders are invited to the station for live talks about conservation so that communities feel and become part of the conservation movement.

Future Plans:

We will extend the Radio Program to OLKONERE Radio Station which broadcasts to Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Tanga, Manyara, and Ngorongoro. The coverage of the ORS reaches where Loliondo FM Radio doesn’t and where most of the national parks and Wildlife Management Areas are located.

Excerpts from Serengeti Preservation Foundation Report:

Community Participation:

The program involves women, men, youth, and elders.Men like the Laigwanani- traditional leaders who have respect in the community. We have a live talk show session in which we bring the traditional leaders (Laigwanani) on board where they tell the communities how they were using the traditional modes of conservation in the past and what is happening now. The aim is to make the communities own the Radio program in order to have impact. During the live talk show, there are Morani (young men warriors) who have the responsibilities of security in the communities. We believe the Morani will change their attitudes toward wildlife and educate their communities about the important of wildlife in the Serengeti Ecosystem.

Programs are aired on every Thursday of the week from 7:00pm – 8:00pm. At this time most of women are done with home duties like milking and cooking for their families.

The journalist who hosts the program is Mathias Tooko, Masai who knows how to talk to his communities. We are training him and will expand his role in the future.

Positive Results: We have seen the following feedback from the community:

  • The phone calls and the texts we received during the Radio program sessions, in which people were encouraged to advise and comment on the program, were very positive.
  • Morani have called during the live show and have given complements to the journalist Mathis Tooko. The Morani also have commented about stopping the killing of the wildlife.
  • There has been willingness of the traditional leaders and Morani to come to the live talks show to talk about traditional conservation.
  • Some of the calls and text messages we received from the listeners are telling the communities to protect water sources.
  • During the airing of the program at least every 7 calls we received during the program 3 are from women which makes 43% of women involvement. Most of the women comments during the calls are telling their communities to protect wildlife in order to get more tourists to visit their bomas to buy their cultural products like beads.
  • The population of women in the area is around 60% and we believe that they are receiving conservation awareness from our Jamii na Uhifadhi program. One of the program segments is conservation education where we educate the communities on the importance of protecting the wildlife to attract more tourists and get more benefit from tourism.
  • We were welcomed by the Ngorongoro District Commissioner to participate in conservation meeting in the area.