There is a notable break in communication on health issues between communities, leaders and health workers in many areas of South Africa. This breakdown is fuelled by the complexity of some health issues, the enormity of the health problems facing the country and the disastrous lack of resources and skills in the health sector.The consequences of this breakdown are that people often don’t know how to access available health services and programmes, and are unable to articulate their needs to the community at large. Communication breakdowns can also lead to a fragmenting of the community itself.

Somehow, this communication barrier needs to be overcome. Communities must find a way for their voices to be heard, as well as for health messages to be passed on to them in a way that they can understand and with which they can identify.

Enter Community Radio.

• Why Community Radio?
• Health Programming
• Community Radio Tackles HIV and AIDS
• Case Study: Radio Zibonele, Khayelitsha, Cape Town
• How to Get Involved?
• Useful Online Resources
• Bibliography

Why Community Radio?

Community Radio is a powerful medium that brings information directly to a community, in the language and style of that community. But community radio can do much than that: “Community Radio has the ability to connect with its listeners and to build community among those who listen to it”, says,Tanja Bosch, Station Manager of Bush Radio 95.5. In other words, community radio can help to re-create communities where they have begun to fragment.

It is exactly the community aspect that make this medium such a successful two-way exchange. Community radio stations are owned, managed and programmed by members of the community (often on a volunteer basis). As non-profit organisations they can focus on community needs and issues. This is what makes them such powerful tools for sharing information, involving the community and mobilising people.

Researchers and media experts have identified why Community Radio is so effective:

Trust: Because community members run the radio station, the station and the information it delivers tends to be trusted. Radio is a friendly and personal medium and so it is easy to relate to the presenters.

Language: The presenters speak the language/s of the station’s community. This is particularly important in a multilingual society like South Africa.

Relevance: The station knows which issues are being talked about on the streets, in taxis, in homes, and constantly receiveletters and telephone calls on pertinent issues.

Responsiveness: Because of the limited number of listeners and the closeness with the community, these radio stations are more likely to air opinions from the community and more likely to act on community suggestions.

Cost: Community Radio is cost-efficient both for those that run the station and for the listeners. With the help of community volunteers, a community station can quite easily become sustainable.

Accessibility: For people who cannot read or write (about 15% of adults in South Africa are illiterate), community radio stations provide an opportunity to get information and to contribute to the media. It is also available to people who do not have access to electricity or television and to people who live in remote areas.

From a health point of view, Community Radio is a fabulous opportunity to disseminate information, encourage discussion and involve all health role-players in the community together in discussion, a kind of community hub. It offers an unusual combination of personal connection and anonymity that makes it the perfect platform for speaking about potentially embarrassing and taboo subjects, like sexually transmitted diseases.

South Africa has the largest and most vibrant community radio sector on the African continent (Nell and Shapiro, 2001) and full advantage should be taken of this medium to help address the many health concerns facing our populace.

Health Programming

Most Community Radio Stations have recognised that health issues are key concerns in their communities and so regularly incorporate health programming into their line-ups. Some have specific slots to discuss these issues; others run regular health programmes during their weekly schedules. Another approach is to incorporate health discussions and messages into all programming, like Bush Radio 95.5 who, according to Tanja Bosch, “integrate issues of gender based violence, human rights and health throughout [their] programming”.

Health programmes can take on innovative forms. There are the usual talk shows and panel discussions, but as John Thomas, author of Using Community Radio for Non-Formal Education, points out, “The opportunities to use community radio for non-formal education can only be limited by the educator’s imagination.” Some examples:

• Interviews with medical professionals and health oriented NGO’s are an excellent place to start, especially if listeners are able to call-in and pose questions to the experts on air.
• Dramatisations (for example, radio soaps) can also be an excellent way to convey health messages in an appealing way.
• Songs and poetry provide a fresh, upbeat approach, especially if the target audience consists of young people or the style adopted resonates with the community’s culture.
• Original News pieces and investigative journalism are also important tools that Community Radio Stations often don’t fully utilise because of lack of skills, technology and confidence.
• Opinion polls and field reporting (where people on the streets are asked for an opinion which is recorded as a sound-bite) are also vitally important ways of creating awareness about issues and find out what the community is thinking. They also provide crucial opportunities for community members to speak to society at large, and to leaders in particular.
• Public service announcements (PSA’s) sponsored by government or NGO’s are important ways of transferring knowledge about particular health problems, especially in times of crisis. For example, during the cholera outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal towards the end of 1999, health authorities used community radio to tell people, particularly in remote rural areas, where to go for help and what steps to take when caring for an ill person. By distributing public service announcements and information sheets for presenters to read on air, public health authorities and NGO’s can share life-saving information with thousands of hard-to-reach people.

Community Radio Tackles HIV and AIDS

Almost all South African Community Radio Stations have included programmes on HIV and AIDS in their line-ups. This programming often consists of guest appearances by health workers, social workers, HIV positive people or Non-Profit Organisations working with HIV and AIDS. Outside parties are also encouraging Community Radio Stations to increase programming on HIV and AIDS and also to improve the quality of the programming. For example, the Media Programme of the Open Society Foundation has undertaken an HIV/AIDS and Community Radio Project to help Community Radio Stations develop top-notch HIV/AIDS Programming.

Community Radio Stations are also encouraged to share their ideas and programmes with other stations around the country and indeed the world, through, for example, the African Community Radio AIDS Network, co-ordinated by the National Community Radio Forum (NCRF). This Network was formed in 2000, to encourage South African Community Radio producers to increase their production of HIV/AIDS programming at their stations and to share their script and audio programming with other stations via fax, cassette, post and e-mail. Another example is OneWorld Radio AIDS Network, from which users can download copyright free programming from the website in a variety of languages. These programmes can then be rebroadcast or adapted.

As important as the provision of HIV/AIDS information, is the discussion and debate that programmes on HIV and AIDS can stimulate in the community. Talking about HIV and AIDS automatically helps address the problem of stigma surrounding the disease and encourages communities to be more open about it. This in turn can lead to greater mobilisation around the disease and improved services to the community.

Case Study: Radio Zibonele - “Take care of yourself”

Zibonele Radio Station operating in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, is an excellent example of how community radio can play a key role in the community

This station developed, when a local community health initiative decided it needed more avenues for delivering health messages. Operating illegally, the station initially aired for only 2 hours a day, providing health-related information to the community, Today, it is a self-sustaining, legal broadcaster that includes a mix of music and informative programming in its daily 19 hour line-up.

Primary Health Care remains a key element of the programs offered by Zibonele. Monday to Friday, there are morning health programmes that often involve the direct input of health workers at the local Community Health Centre. The range of health programmes includes health songs, role-plays, storytelling and poetry that combine to encourage precautions and healthy practices, as well as information on the activities of the Community Health Centre.

Zibonele has also played a role in the Prevention-of-Mother-To-Child-Transmission and the government Access to Treatment programmes that were piloted in Khayelitsha, advertising the initiatives and providing airtime for debate and discussion. In 2000 the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) ran a weekly one-hour treatment literacy slot on the station.

“Radio Zibonele is integral to the development of the community as it enables a greater number of individuals to receive messages about health and other important aspects of life from the people to the people,” says Mabee Mdlalosi, Zibonele Project Manager.

How Can You Get Involved?

“Community involvement and participation are at the heart of Community Radio” - Community Radio Manual, Open Society Foundation.

Because Community Radio is radio by the people, for the people, it is possible for all members of the community to get involved, whether as active volunteers for the station or as participatory listeners. It is important for everyone to contribute in order to ensure that health issues are placed firmly on the agenda.

If you are a community member you can:

• Lobby the community radio sector (for example the NCRF)
• Call you local radio and suggest health topics for discussion.
• Participate in call-in shows.
• Offer to share your experiences on air.

If you work for a community radio station you can:

• Organise a regular health programme for your station.
• Network with other community radio stations to share information and programming. For example you can join the African Community Radio AIDS Network or download programming from OneWorld Radio.

If you are a health worker you can:

• Volunteer to present a regular health programme.
• Phone in and contribute information and advice.

Useful Online Resources

National Community Radio Forum

OneWorld Radio AIDS Network

Open Society Foundation, South Africa - Media Programme

Open Society Foundation, South Africa -
Community Radio Manual
Bush Radio - Training

Bibliography

Sheila Onkaetse Mmusi “Impact of Community Broadcasting on Rural Development in South Africa” Paper Prepared for CODESRIA’s 10TH General Assembly on “Africa in the New Millennium”, Kampala, Uganda, 8-12 December 2002.
Alfonso Gumucio Dagron “Making Waves: Stories of Participatory Communication for Social Change” A Report to the Rockefeller Foundation, New York, 2001
“Zibonele” Information obtained through an interview with Mabee Mdlalosi, Project Manager of Zibonele. Urban Health and Development Bulletin - Vol. 3, No. 1, March 2000

Anthony A. Olorunnisola “Community radio as participatory communication in post-apartheid South Africa”
Nell M & Shapiro J “First footprints of the African renaissance: An evaluation of training provision in the community radio sector in South Africa 1997-2001″ Cape Town: OSF-SA. 2001

John Thomas, “Using Community Radio for Non-Formal Education“.