The Use of Rural Radio to Test and Diffuse Extension Messages Prepared for USAID/Niger September 26, 1996 Submitted by: John Lichte Henry Hamilton Ouseini Kabo HERNS Delivery Order # 20 The Human and Educational Resources Network Support 4630 Montgomery Ave, Suite 600 Bethesda, MD 20814 Acknowledgments Many people have contributed to the success of this activity. We would like to thank Commandant Saley Moussa, Curt Nissly, David Miller and George Thompson for their support and assistance. We thank INRAN for the interest, support and participation ofTanimou Daouda, Mahamane Assoumane, and Abdoulaye Tahirou on the committee supervising these pilot ventures during a period of intense activity for INRAN. We would like to thank the Ministry of Agriculture for the participation of Ousman Abdou, from the Department of Agriculture's audio visual unit, and making Ouseini Kabo available for this exercise. We appreciate the participation ofFatmata Ousmane, from the AFRJCARE Goure project, throughout the activity. Finally we would like to thank the Nigerien Association of Radio Clubs for their efforts to make this activity a success, particularly, Na Awache Tambari, Secretary General, and Hassane Balla Kieta, who produced and recorded the actual extension messages in Zarma and Haoussa. Table of contents Acknowledgments . i Table of contents . 11 Acronyms . 1v Executive Summary ........................................................... v 1. Activity background and objectives ........................................ 1 1.1 Background ..................................................... 1 1.2 Revised Objective ................................................. 2 1.3 Approach ....................................................... 2 2. The use of radio for extension purposes .................................... 3 2.1 The importance of communication in extension ....................... 3 2.2 The evolution of the relationship between researchers, extension personnel and rural populations in Niger ...................................... 4 2.3 National and regional radio systems ................................. 5 2.4 Nigerien Association of Radio Clubs ................................. 5 2.5 The rural radio experience of other organizations ...................... 6 2.5.1 CARE International .......................................... 6 2.5.2 PRSAA .................................................... 6 2.5.3 PASP/GTZ ................................................. 7 3. Organization of the activity ............................................... 7 4. Development of the message and presentation ............................... 8 4.1 Choice of topics .................................................. 8 4.2 Choice of presentation ............................................ 8 4.3 Choice of test villages .............................................. 8 4.4 Preparation of the message ......................................... 9 4.5 Tests in the village ............................................... 10 4.5.1 Zanna village tests .......................................... 10 4.5.2 Haoussa village tests ........................................ 13 11 5. Lessons learned ....................................................... 14 5.1 Format and presentation of extension messages ....................... 14 5.1.l A reading of the technical information .......................... 14 5 .1.2 The use of a skit or dramatic piece ............................. 14 5 .1.3 Length of the message . 14 5.1.4 Discussion of the topic by villagers ............................. 15 5.1.5 Adapt message to the local context ............................. 15 5.2 The capacity to assimilate technical information ...................... 16 5.3 Use of an interdisciplinary team to design extension messages ........... 16 5.4 Testing and feedback ............................................. 16 6. The potential of ARCN ................................................. 16 7. Future activities and use of the messages prepared .......................... 17 ANNEXES ................................................................. 19 Annex A: Revised Scope of Work for HERNS D.O. #20 ......................... 20 Annex B: Contacts ....................................................... 22 Annex C: Technical recommendations for the message on the treatment of cowpea plants against insects with a solution of tobacco and soap ............... 24 AnnexD: Technical recommendations for storing cowpea seed in a clay jar mixed with cinders, or cowpea pods in a grainery using the leaves of Boscia Senegalensis ............................................................... 26 1ll Acronyms ARCN Association des Radio-Clubs du Niger ASDGII Agricultural Sector Development Grant (Phase II) DA Direction de l' Agriculture fCFA Franc de la Communaute Financiere Africaine GTZ German technical assistance HERNS Human and Educational Resources Network Support INRAN Institute National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger MAGEL Ministere de !'agriculture et l'elevage NGO Non-governmental organizations NRM Natural resource management ORTN Office de Radiodiffusion et Television du Niger PASP Projet integree des resources agro-sylvo-pastorales PRA Participatory rural appraisal PRSAA Projet de renforcement des services d'appui agricole US AID United States Agency for International Development IV Executive Summary The HERNS activity described in this report is a pilot activity in the field of using rural radio to test and diffuse extension messages. The activity brings together INRAN researchers and extension personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture and NGOs to work with the Niger Association of Radio Clubs (ARCN). ARCN has a network of village level radio clubs with animateurs trained to lead a discussion of the extension messages broadcast by ARCN on the national radio network. Frequently these discussions are recorded by at least a sample of the agents and the cassettes returned to ARCN as a means of generating feedback in the form of villagers' reactions to the topics presented in the broadcasts. The activity focused on generating and testing extension messages in Zarma and Haoussa which were tested in the Tillaberi and Zinder Departments, respectively. These messages were: 1. Tested in a few rural communities to improve the quality of the messages prepared for radio diffusion by involving villagers in the preparation process. 2. Designed, and the testing supervised by, an interdisciplinary committee representing researchers, extension, NGO and radio club personnel. In the process of designing and testing these messages: 3. Committee members learned significant lessons about communicating with the rural populations and about the needs, constraints and opportunities of the rural populations which can inform the work they do in their respective institutions. 4. Committee members experimented and learned how to present an extension message in a manner which will attract a larger listening audience and increase the proportion of listeners who retain the message, thus substantially improving the potential impact of the message. Committee members found that a short dramatic piece or skit attracted and retained villagers' attention much better than just reading the message over the radio. However, it had to be combined with a summary to insure that villagers understood the technical content of the messages. Portions of recorded discussion among villagers in communities where the messages were tested were integrated into the recorded message to further increase their credibility. But the attention of listeners begins to waver after about 20 minutes and discussion by villagers must be highly focused on the principle theme or it may detract from listeners ability to remember the message. The message needs to be adapted to the local context and the villagers' frame of reference. Western units of measure like liters, grams and hectares make it very difficult for most villagers to comprehend the message. The capacity of villagers to v assimilate technical information depends in part on their previous contact with such concepts through education, extension or other rural development activities. The collaboration of a multi-disciplinary team on the design and testing of these extension messages was particularly important. Testing and feedback are a critical part of any effort to make extension messages used in radio diffusion more effective. One often has the impression that technical messages presented in radio programs "go in one ear and out the other." ARCN helps villagers retain the message and improve understanding by organizing group listening followed by discussion. The return of recorded discussions to ARCN provides a feedback mechanism which allows clients and collaborators to evaluate the impact of their message. The scale of this evaluation may potentially be as large as the 500 villages in which there are radio clubs. But the future of the ARCN is in question because they do not have government support and receive donor support only for activities in the UNICEF project zone. While ARCN needs to adapt a system of testing extension messages on a small scale before large scale diffusion, their ability to test and diffuse extension messages is a function which could be very beneficial to projects or programs such as INRAN outreach and the PRSAA extension. Radio diffusion and testing of extension messages is one way to increase the participation of rural populations in the process of technology development and transfer. It