Project

Governance and Transparency through Radio in Southern Africa

Grantee: Panos Southern Africa

The project aimed to enhance dialogue between poor citizens across the Southern Africa region and policy-makers at local level. It also aimed to enhance the responsiveness and accountability of government institutions. To do this the project established Radio Listener Clubs (RLCs) and the produced interactive radio programming to bring citizens’ voices to the attention of a wider audience, and to bridge the gap between local decision-makers and poor rural and urban communities. Despite problems the project succeeded in producing and broadcasting a substantial set of programmes by both the community rural and urban radio stations. In at least three of the participating countries, the project increased awareness and knowledge of development issues and encouraged dialogue within communities to determine priorities for advocacy with local government. In Zambia the Project contributed in some way to increased engagement between the poor and local decision-makers in the rural target areas.

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Lessons from Project

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In practice, while the project did reach poor, rural communities, it failed to engage with their urban counterparts. There was little relationship between the rural and urban programming supported, and the urban programming was not aimed at the poor, but at the educated middle class.

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An example of poor integration across the project components concerns was the baseline research undertaken in the four participating countries. This baseline report did not inform the planning and needs assessment work done at the project sites.

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Given the budget, the scope of the work was too ambitious. Insufficient resources were allocated to core activities which had a negative impact on the outputs and results achieved. Scarce resources were allocated to activities which had marginal relevance for overall project outcomes

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The Project was ambitious, organizationally complex and geographically scattered. It required strong coordination and direction. For various reasons, including gaps in project planning, a weak central management role, lack of clarity on organizational roles and responsibilities, and inadequate resources allocated for monitoring and technical support, the project was not implemented in a coordinated way.

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The project made a difference, certainly in Zambia, and, in the case of some communities in Malawi, within the target areas, in improving the understanding of development issues and of the value of community organization in advocacy with local authorities in seeking support to solve local problems.

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