Report on Public Campaigns: Time to Learn Radio Programs
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Report on Public Campaigns: Time To Learn Radio Programs Time To Learn developed a focused public campaign on literacy through radio programs to primarily target parents of young learners who are in their early stages of learning how to read and write. The focus of these programs was to encourage and instruct parents on how they can be more involved in their children’s education, predominately literacy in local language. These radio programs conveyed the message using short dramas, lectures and dialogues. For example, in some of the radio program episodes, a chief or a head teacher addresses a community to sensitize parents on the importance of literacy. In another radio program episode two mothers exchange ideas on how they can get involved with helping their children practice reading. Strategies were also discussed on how to support a child’s reading when parents do not know how to read themselves. A complete list and description of the 8 public campaign spots (radio episodes) were as follows: Episode 1: Two mothers discuss how they help their child read at home and recognize that it is not solely the teacher’s responsibility to teach and help with reading. Episode 2: A chief is addressing a village community and encouraging them to be more involved in their children’s education. Episode 3: Parents are listening to a child read out loud and are discussing the importance of knowing how to read at a young age. Episode 4: A child is unable to read and make proper sounds and a parent talks about how it is the parent’s responsibility to assist with reading. Episode 5: People are interviewed and questioned whether their children know how to read or not and in what ways this can be improved. Episode 6: Two mothers are talking about the books and reading materials they try to provide for their children. Episode 7: A pupil, who is trying to skip classes, is caught by his mother. She eventually decides to be more aware of her child’s attendance record. Episode 8: A head teacher is addressing parents and encouraging them to be more involved in their children’s schoolwork and he gives instructions on how to help with reading. 1 | P a g e Time to Learn broadcast these programs in all ten provinces, each translated into the seven official languages, including: Bemba, Nyanja, Tonga, Lozi, Luvale, Kaonde, and Lunda. Translating the episodes into the official seven Zambian languages allowed the programs to reach a larger audience. Purpose The foundational idea of reaching out to communities through the radio was to increase the communities’ awareness of the importance of literacy and having an extensive reach to most communities. Working with radio stations is one of the best ways to reach out to rural communities in Zambia, since radios are still more common and more easily accessible than television sets. Development and Production Radio programs were initially developed in late 2014 but were later edited and aligned with the focus of the project. After the radio programs were translated from English, TTL contacted various radio stations throughout the nation to produce and record the radio episodes in the prevalent local languages in 2016. TTL worked with smaller community radio stations within the different provinces in order to ensure the programs would be well received. A total of ten radio stations, of which nine are privately owned community stations, were able to provide their services to Time To Learn over the course of the year. After the Lozi and the Nyanja programs were produced and began airing, Time To Learn traveled to Western and Eastern Provinces to meet with community schools to receive feedback from various participants, which included head teachers, teachers, headmen, and parents of school-going children. The programs were played in the appropriate local language for participants to listen and analyze the different episodes. The overall feedback was useful leading to different discussions about literacy in private households. Without biasing the discussions, TTL was able to listen to parents give each other ideas on how they best support their children with reading. This was one way to observe how the radio programs sparked conversations about literacy in the community and how parents could come up with their own ideas on how to support their children with reading. Airing of Radio Programs Several radio stations have aired multiple emissions of the programs dependent on the completion of said programs in the various languages. Focusing on September’s International Literacy month, TTL aimed to broadcast all programs in all provinces to raise as much awareness as possible on literacy and how communities are able to 2 | P a g e support each other. Since all provinces have aired at least one language, the following section will break down each of the individual provinces and the radio stations that were used to broadcast the programs. Lusaka Province Yatsani Radio (99.1 FM), with their headquarters in Lusaka, aired three rounds of the radio programs; twice in Nyanja and once in Bemba. They have also aired TTL episodes at no extra costs once the agreed times were completed. The station’s signal covers Lusaka, Chongwe, Rufunsa, Chibombo, Mumbwa, Kafue, and parts of Mazabuka (Southern Province) and Kabwe (Central Province) reaching over 1.5 million listeners. Muchinga Province Mpika FM (89.5 FM) reaches the entire Mpika district, which is the largest district in Zambia, and some parts of neighboring districts. The radio station produced and recorded all eight programs in Bemba in an outstanding quality. This was especially important because the programs would be used for broadcasting in four other provinces outside of Muchinga. Central Province The Kabwe News Centre (KNC) agreed to air the eight Bemba programs twice a day, beginning August 29th and ending 30th September 2016. KNC is the largest commercial radio station in Central Province and the only radio station that broadcasts to the entire province. The station has a potential of reaching 1.2 million listeners, which includes Central Province and some parts of the neighboring provinces. The station operates on four transmitters: 101.7 in Kabwe, Chibombo and Chisamba, 91.9 in Kapiri and Luano, 100.7 in Mkushi and 91.5 in Serenje and Chitambo. Luapula Province Radio Bangwela Community Station (89.7 FM), with its headquarters in Samfya, began airing the Bemba programs on August 29th 2016, twice a day. The radio is able to reach the entire province of Luapula, and even in some parts of Luwingu district (Northern Province) and Mpika (Muchinga Province) reaching roughly 1 million people. Northern Province The community based station Radio Mano (89.1 FM), which is based in Kasama, covers a radius of 250 km and covers the entire Kasama and Mungwi district. Other districts include: Chinsali, Mbala, Nakonde, Mpika, Luwingu, Chilubi, Mpulungu and Mporokoso. This area has a population of roughly 600,000. The station agreed to air the programs three times a day, of which TTL was only charged for two programs a day. The program was scheduled to begin on August 29th and end September 27th 2016. 3 | P a g e Western Province Radio Lyambai (101.3 FM), based in Mongu, was the first community radio station to produce and record the programs successfully. The station began airing the programs at the end of 2015 and has continued to air the programs for three rounds. The programs were produced in Lozi and were also being broadcasted in some parts of Southern Province. Radio Lyambai has been very generous with giving Time To Learn free repeats of the programs and have aired every day for an entire month at no extra charge. Southern Province Mosi-O-Tunya Radio (106.0 FM) reaches the populations living in Sinazongwe, Kasungula, Kalomo and parts of Choma district. This radio station has been able to assist Time To Learn with producing the Tonga programs, as well as airing the Lozi programs at no extra costs. Northwestern Province Time To Learn in collaboration with Radio 1 ZNBC (102.6 FM), allowed the project to record and broadcast the three major languages in the Northwestern Province of Zambia, which are Kaonde, Luvale and Lunda. Radio 1 broadcasts to every district in Northwestern Province, covers the entire Lusaka Province and signals are received in every province across Zambia. Copperbelt Province The private radio station Ichengelo Radio (89.1 and 102.9 FM) in Kitwe broadcasted the programs throughout the entire Copperbelt province, reaching over 2 million people. The language that is broadcasted in the province is Bemba. Eastern Province Breeze FM aired the eight episodes in Nyanja in three different rounds covering a total of five months of airing.Breeze FM covers Chipata, Chadiza, Mambwe (89.3 FM), Lundazi, Nyimba, Petauke (89.7 FM), and Katete and Sinda districts (98.9 FM). Summary Time To Learn has successfully aired literacy promoting episodes in seven different languages across all ten provinces in Zambia. These public campaign messages that have taken shape over the past year of the project have made a significant contribution to one of the project’s goals of reaching and involving communities in literacy in local language. Initial feedback from listening groups indicate the value of the programs and the desire for families to be involved in literacy. Furthermore, even after the project’s completion of airing the programs, several radio stations expressed interest in keeping the programs on file with the intention of airing then again while others donated free airtime and embedded the programs in their own programming. 4 | P a g e .