��̳ Media Action Feed

World Press Freedom Day 2019: Our youth delegates take Addis Ababa by storm!

2019-05-23T15:37:42+00:00

Bwale Mutanuka and Kefa Hussein at WPFD2019

For 20 years, ��̳ Media Action has been supporting media freedom and providing training and mentoring to journalists in developing countries to produce free, independent journalism that provides space for constructive public debate.

For the recent UNESCO World Press Freedom Day conference (WPFD2019) in Ethiopia, we sponsored two youth delegates – Bwale Mutanuka from Zambia and Kefa Hussein from Tanzania – to take part in the Youth Newsroom initiative, which gives young journalists from around the world the chance to report on the conference and improve their journalism skills.

Bwale (left), from Zambia, is currently Chief Producer of a youth-focussed radio show called Ishiwi, supported by ��̳ Media Action. Kefa (right) is a Film and Television student from Tanzania who works as a ‘Young Professional’ for our vibrant youth radio programme, Niambie. They both kindly spoke to me about their experiences in Addis, what they learned whilst there, and why media freedom is important to them. Read on to find out more!

So, when did you both first know that you wanted to be journalists?

Bwale: For me, I’ve known since I was very young – maybe since fourth grade in school. I always thought I should be on TV reading the news or reporting from the field! I used to go around my school pretending to interview students, and took part in both press and debate club. My dad actually wanted me to study something completely different, but my mum and I convinced him that journalism was the course for me.

Kefa: My dream started when I was around 11 years old watching a Tanzanian kids’ news show on Independent TV – I wanted to be just like the young presenters! I auditioned for the show but sadly didn’t get through – however it sparked a passion in me and I took on every presenting opportunity I could find at school until I chose to study film and TV at university.

Bwale recording segments for youth radio show Ishiwi with Kokoliko FM, Zambia

What’s the best story you’ve reported on?

Bwale: Where I’m based in Chingola, we’re right in the middle of the Zambian copperbelt – so I find that I cover a lot of stories about the mining sector. Recently we had some peaceful demos by citizens who felt their water was becoming polluted due to mining activity, and some of their houses were getting cracks. The government had promised to support these communities – so it was interesting reporting on both sides to see how the citizens’ concerns were being handled by their leaders.

Kefa: My best story was when I shared the experience of a young girl living just outside of Dar Es Salaam and the difficult journey she faces every day to get to school. We followed her from the moment she wakes up (at 4am) and gets ready, through to her dangerous journey walking to school all alone along a very dark and busy road. The road is full of drunkards and ‘fataki’ (sugar daddies) who try to talk to the girls. There is a bus, but the conductors often refuse to let too many students board as they have to charge a lower fare. We also interviewed her teacher, and the piece really opened my eyes to the extra challenges girls in my country face just to get to school.

Kefa recording content for radio show, Niambie, in Tanzania

How did you get involved with ��̳ Media Action?

Bwale: I first heard about Media Action when I worked for Radio Icengelo, as the charity had previously helped the station run some audience debate shows. Then I started at Kokoliko FM and heard that we were starting a partnership with Media Action – I was really happy! Now I’m the Chief Producer of a youth radio show called Ishiwi, supported by the charity, which broadcasts every Saturday. I work with fellow young people to discuss and debate the important governance issues affecting young Zambians so they can know what’s going on and hold leaders to account. Media Action’s mentor, Vanessa, travels out to us from Lusaka to deliver all kinds of training – from editorial and production through to responsible social media usage, to make sure we’re properly verifying all our sources. She’s really helped me when it comes to objectivity, impartiality and transparency – and has helped me ensure I’m striking a good balance between female and male voices on the show.

Kefa: Well firstly, I was aware of ��̳ News and World Service. ��̳ Swahili is very popular here in Tanzania. I remember one day in my first year of studies, a friend ran up to me with an advert for Niambie he’d seen on Instagram. I’d never heard of the charity before but was curious to learn more, so did some research and applied! I was quite nervous at first that my English wouldn’t be good enough, as it’s my second language, but I got accepted! I started as a ‘Young Professional’ with Niambie in July 2017. My job is to help gather content from the field to include on the show, including creating some digital content for Niambie’s social media channels. When I started with Niambie I had no editing skills, but they’ve really grown a lot from working on the show. I enjoy it very much – more than university! When it comes to Niambie, this is the reality of what I want to do, you know? Meet real people, tell real stories, put my training into action.

Kefa arriving at the conference in Addis Ababa (can you tell he was excited?)

Tell us about your experiences at World Press Freedom Day!

Bwale: There was so much! I was so grateful and humbled to be there. I learned a lot about development and the media reform process Ethiopia is currently going through – it made me think a lot about the state of media reforms in my own country. A big theme of the conference was ‘elections in times of disinformation’ – and with Zambia’s elections coming up in 2021, it reinforced how important it is for me to report in a responsible manner. Zambia has been a beacon of peace in Africa since its independence, and I want this to continue. So I need to report factually and recognise, and be sensitive to, the potential influence I have over my listeners. I also learned a lot from Kefa and really enjoyed hearing about his work with youth radio in Tanzania and the political situation there.

Kefa: Going to Addis was my first ever international visit! I have to say I initially found little things very confusing – such as the currency and the language – but the trip really exposed me to new people and new cultures. My favourite session was with the organisation Cartooning for Peace who produce satirical cartoons with political messages. It’s rare to find this kind of cartoon in Tanzania – not many people have the courage to draw cartoons that go beyond making people laugh to help people learn or address sensitive issues. I also really enjoyed the session on how to spot real versus fake news, and learnt useful techniques such as checking the author’s background and finding alternative sources. I learnt a lot of things for sure, and it was great to meet Bwale and discover the work she is doing with Media Action in Zambia.

When the tables were turned! Kefa being interviewed about the importance of media freedom

Why do you both think media freedom is important?

Bwale: For me, media freedom is important because it means I can dig into a story without any interference from the government. I have no fear – I know I have the freedom to report and write what is right. I was really inspired at the conference by the journalists from Myanmar who won the Press Freedom prize – they encouraged me to be fearless in my reporting.

Kefa: I think media freedom is important in Tanzania so that people can consume news from lots of different sources and in lots of different ways – be it newspapers, radio or social media. We’re heading towards an election next year, and I think media freedom plays an important role in informing people and helping them to figure out for themselves which candidate is right for them. As a developing country, free media is also something we really need to be an informed society – media plays an important role in the development of my country.

What did you learn at the conference that will help you in your career? And what is your dream job in media?

Bwale: This whole experience has really encouraged me to have confidence in my ability as a journalist and to persevere in my career, even in the face of challenges. I always have more to learn! And my dream? I would love to be a news anchor on TV – I’m confident that if I continue working as a reporter I will get there one day!

Kefa: Well, I really now want to encourage all of my friends studying graphics and design to try including important messages into their cartoons! My dream? I want to be an influential person in my country – in fact, just like Salim Kikeke from ��̳ Swahili! He’s one of the most influential people in Tanzania and young people really appreciate what he is doing – the way he presents the show, his social media activity. He stands out from other journalists. And I want to keep supporting young people to participate in society through media. Young people make up almost 60% of Tanzania’s population. If you exclude them, you have no nation.

Bwale and Kefa posing up a storm at WPFD2019 (in coordinated colours, no less!)

To find out more about our work supporting media freedom and strengthening the capacity of journalists like Bwale and Kefa around the world, check out the media development section of our website.

Flying solo after training with ��̳ Question Time

2017-10-04T14:18:48+00:00

Ali Sharif, 27, wanted to be an airline pilot but after joining ��̳ Media Action’s training programme in North Africa - and with help from ��̳ Question Time director Rob Hopkin - he is now the director of Hiwar Mushtarak, a TV debate show increasing people’s knowledge of current affairs and holding power to account in Libya.

Ali:

When I was growing up I really wanted to be an airline pilot like my Dad. Flying fascinates me – so I gravitated towards studying aviation. But it just wasn’t meant to be. Money was tight and I couldn’t afford to complete my private pilot’s licence.

In high school I taught myself camera angles from movies and during the revolution I started working as a host on the first English language radio station in Benghazi. That was my first experience in media. I then joined ��̳ Media Action three years ago as a trainee – doing everything from script writing to translation but I aspired to be a director.

It paid off. Now instead of a cockpit, I have a gallery.

Learning from well-known directors, who help train young Libyan journalists made all the difference.

Shadowing Rob Hopkin on a Question Time recording in the UK helped me understand production from A-Z. He gave me training and directed episodes of Hiwar Musharak so I could learn from his methods and style of directing.

Whilst I worked as the vision mixer for the programme under another experienced director, I continued to study. And in 2016, I took the big step– directing my first episode.

It was nerve-wracking, but it was a lot of fun and I think it went well!

Now I’m very chilled when I direct, I don’t think I could be strict. I listen a lot. I learnt that being a director is not about controlling people; it’s just leading the team and trying to bring out the best in them.

We don’t record every day but I love it when we do. What I like about Hiwar Mushtarak is that it is an audience show, not a panel show. All of the questions come from the audience – really they are the stars – not the panelists.

I try to pick up every reaction, every clap, every facial expression from the audience. It’s a challenge. With about 70 people in the audience, it can be difficult to capture everything with just seven cameras.

But seeing the audience ask whatever they like and that we’re able to give them that freedom makes me proud. Just to watch Libyans debating normally with other Libyans is something – it’s a very special format.

What’s next? I do training myself now. I like mentoring people so I’m thinking of giving directing classes in Libya. But I haven’t given up on aviation. I met a professional camera operator who came to give us a class in Tunis and he is also a co-pilot with British Airways.

So maybe I can manage to do both, why not?

Rob:

Hiwar Mushtarak is based on the tried and tested formula of the ��̳'s own Question Time and as such it is dependent on the power of the audience to confidently confront people with power and ask searching and difficult questions. It has a crucial role to play in the evolution of a democratic system where free speech can prosper.

In my day to day work I am usually working with a team of people who know as much about TV, if not more, than me so there are lots of things that you expect to be done that are just done without having to ask or explain. Working with trainees you have to explain everything and take nothing for granted and presume nothing.

So I began with the basics. Not so much the technical details but more about team management and motivation; how long things take to organise, the importance of planning and the communication across the whole team – it’s imperative that everyone knows what is expected and required and when. The teams were enthusiastic and keen to learn.

Ali was an excellent pupil and understood why things were being asked of him and when he began to have faith in his ability, he was able to step up and lead the team confidently.

He is an able leader and it is satisfying to see Ali directing the show and now being a trainer himself.

Skiing in Afghanistan

2016-06-07T13:17:33+00:00

Ilyas Tahiri, a presenter at Radio Bamyan, skiing in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s Bamyan province is best known for its ancient statues of Buddha, destroyed 15 years ago by the Taliban government. Today, its relative security and freezing winters are aiding the growth of a fledgling skiing industry. Mukhtar Yadgar explains how a radio station is helping local people discuss its potential for growth.

A five minute drive from the site where the ancient Buddhas of Bamyan once stood, a radio mast sprouts from the ground. It belongs to Radio Bamyan, a local radio station in one of Afghanistan’s most mountainous regions. It’s summer now and wisps of brown dust rise up with the heat, yet in the winter months, Radio Bamyan’s roof is covered with snow.

Radio Bamyan, Bamyan Province, Afghanistan

Bamyan’s frosty winter weather, steep slopes and relative security have popularised skiing in the province. However, there are no ski-lifts, no chalets and certainly no après-ski. In the absence of sporting infrastructure, it was recently announced that two skiers from Bamyan will be representing Afghanistan at the 2018 Pyeongchang‎ Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Bamyan is also the venue for the annual Afghan Ski Challenge – which counts ‘no weapons allowed’ amongst its rules. Yet despite these successes suggesting a potential new ski-tourism destination, most of the local population, a relatively poor community, has had little opportunity to discuss what the growth of the skiing industry would mean for them.

Over the past year, Radio Bamyan received ��̳ Media Action training to boost its editorial, business development and programme making skills. Training is part of a wider project to help Afghan media become more sustainable and independent – so that it can play an important role in helping people hold their leaders to account.

It was this ongoing support which inspired the station to produce a special show to discuss the government's plans for the sport and its potential economic and cultural benefits.

Members of the audience prepare for a debate on Bamyan's ski industry at Radio Bamyan

Crowded into a small studio, people passionate about the sport – including sportsmen and women, a politician and the director of the Bamyan Ski Federation – discussed the future of skiing in the region.

On the topic of female representation, Arifa Akbari, a female skier, told listeners that an “increasing number of women are now skiing in Bamyan’s ski parks.”

On the development of infrastructure, the Director of Bamyan’s Ski Federation, Afzal Noori announced that “six new ski parks were planned in Bamyan province” while local authorities were trying to organise direct flights from Dubai to Bamyan to facilitate ski-tourism. Soon “Bamyan will be Afghanistan’s skiing centre” he declared.

Later on in the discussion, another contributor suggested that future tournaments could have a “significantly positive impact on the small businesses of Bamyan” as visitors arrived.

Like everyone in that studio, I’m looking forward to seeing what skiing can do for Bamyan. It’s peaceful here, but the community is still poor. Attracting more visitors to its historic sites and a fledgling ski-industry – could have a major economic impact on the local community.

Participants of an international skiing tournament trek up a hill in Bamyan

The broadcast enabled communities to hear what the government has planned and helped raise awareness about the potential of the sport to bring business to the area.

I also hope this episode, along with an increase in ski-tourism and Bamyan’s Olympic hopefuls, will inspire a few more local residents to don their goggles, strap on their skis and take to the slopes this winter.

The 15km road to accountability

2015-06-17T11:27:13+00:00

A lady asks a question during a community debate in Zambia

A sea of serious faces looked to the front of the local council chambers. Shuffling in anticipation, the crowd exchanged excited whispers.

Looking like they were attending the start of a high-profile court case, over 100 residents of Katete District in Eastern province of Zambia turned out for Mphangwe Community radio’s first ever live, public debate to question local leaders – including the local MP.

As the floor opened for questions, the key community concern was clear.

Last year, the community had been allocated K1,000 (around £90,000) from a local development fund for the construction of a much needed 15km road – a project which would make it easier for children to get to school and patients to get to hospital.

Despite the selection of a contractor, the road had yet to materialise and the community was losing its patience.

Hard questions

As the microphone was passed around, the audience’s frustrations were made clear.

“You are aware that the contractor working on the roads is taking his time but why haven’t you pulled them off the contract? Have they corrupted you?” said a local hospital worker.

His colleague weighed in, complaining that the state of the roads around the hospital “is not conducive for our patients during emergencies, there are no alternative routes and it becomes very difficult at night to drive”.

Sighing in exasperation, a head teacher added that his school had no roads to get in or out easily – ending with a simple plea, “please help.”

The MP apologised and assured the audience that he was also “concerned with the slow pace of works.” He vowed to pull the contractors off the project and replace them with a more competent alternative.

Sugar coated promises

It was clear that residents of Katete weren’t interested in sugar-coated promises, they wanted action. As the radio debate went on, the audience became more confident and vocal, expressing their needs and sharing their experiences. The possibilities of what could be discussed started to seem limitless.

Overwhelmed by the number of issues raised, the MP assured the audience that he would work on all concerns raised.

With each person having an opportunity to speak, residents took away more than the novelty of being on radio. They went home knowing that their voice, among others, might actually cause change.

Challenges

Located at the foot of the Mphangwe hills, Mphangwe community radio station is the only one of its kind in the small Katete district. The station faces many challenges – lack of equipment, power outages and limited internet among them – but the remote and rural setting mean its programmes provide essential information for the community. Sometimes the broadcasts provide the only way of reaching key leaders and decision makers.

My role as project officer and community station mentor means I will work on many more transformative projects like this. I gain huge satisfaction that my training in financial and production know-how is helping community radio – a vibrant part of life in Zambia – to flourish.

The road through Katete may not yet be finished but I’m hopeful that the power of radio and public debate has shone a light on the issue, that promises will be kept - and that the community’s businesses, schools and hospitals will benefit from a new road soon.

Radio Waves is funded by SIDA (Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency).

South Sudan: making PSAs that matter

2014-06-20T12:03:07+00:00

Voice of Hope radio station in the South Sudanese town of Wau lies in a green and peaceful compound, overlooked by an impressive red brick cathedral built in the 1900s.

I had the chance to visit this friendly station last month while training eight partner radio stations to produce Public Service Announcements (PSAs).

Voice of Hope has been on air since 2010 and is one of eight radio stations in the Catholic Radio Network. It is staffed by a small but dedicated group of journalists – some are paid, but most are volunteers.

While Wau town has largely escaped the conflict affecting much of South Sudan, Voice of Hope still faces constant challenges. Earlier that month, for example, it had been forced off air for days when lightning struck the transmitter.

Building capacity

With me on the training course was Nick Miles, a ��̳ journalist and experienced radio producer, who has worked on our health and radio programmes.

Our goal was to leave the training sessions with at least four completed 45- to 60-second PSAs; two for our project on maternal and child health and two for our project on girls education, funded by the UK government’s Department for International Development.

But more importantly, we wanted to leave the participants with the skills to make their own PSAs, or to make PSAs for NGOs for which they could then charge a fee. As well as helping radio stations to generate income, these PSAs would provide key information on health and education issues affecting South Sudan.

Already one of the world’s poorest countries when it gained independence from Sudan in 2011, the last six months of conflict have devastated the lives of South Sudanese.

More than 1.3 million people have fled their homes, most now living in cramped and squalid conditions in UN camps, or isolated and inaccessible in the bush - ideal conditions for the spread of water-borne diseases.

Unable to cultivate food, get access to food stocks or migrate with livestock, four million people are now at risk of starvation. And now that the rains have started, malaria is rife. Cholera has also spread, leaving (at the time of writing) 37 dead and more than 1,700 infected.

Cutting through the noise

So how do you make an effective PSA?

Nick brought a range of examples with him, both TV and radio. One of the most effective exercises was when he asked the participants to talk among themselves while he played a very long and rather monotonous public information message about mental health among the elderly in South Sudan. Nick then asked: How many of you can tell me what that message was about? None could.

“It is very difficult to cut through the chatter of everyday life and get your message across. Especially with radio where you rely on only one sense – hearing – and people are usually doing something else as they listen to the radio,” Nick told them.

In South Sudan this is especially true. While radio is the most trusted source of information according to a survey carried out by Internews last year, the ways in which people listen to the radio is not always taken into account by programme-makers.

Most people listen in groups – perhaps at home with their families, under trees, at street-side tea stalls or even while shopping in the market. Women rarely have control over what is listened to, and sometimes say they only hear the radio when their neighbour turns theirs on.

We explored a range of techniques for capturing the audience’s attention, using natural sounds such as a tea spoon tinkling in a glass to paint a picture of being at a tea stand, or speaking directly to the audience, asking them “What can you do?”

One Core Message

So once you have your audience’s attention, what then?

PSAs that try to say too much, or try to be too clever are confusing. In our malaria PSAs, our participants were asked to choose “one core message” that would resonate with our audience for the project; new mothers.

Some focused on prevention, such as keeping babies under mosquito nets, while others focused on treatment, getting your baby to a hospital, not a faith healer, if you think s/he has malaria.

In Juba, we switched from malaria to cholera but the key learning point was the same: one core message.

So we focused on one method of prevention: boil your water for five minutes before drinking it; wash your hands with soap or ash; eat only hot foods and don’t drink local brew or anything that could have been made with untreated water. (Listen to one of the team’s PSAs.)

Our girls’ education PSAs were a bit trickier.

We wanted to make communities aware of grants to improve the learning environment for both girls and boys. But there was a lot of information and creating one core message was not easy.

In the end, we decided to address different messages to different audiences and to provide a helpline number that would answer any further questions. (Listen to one PSA which focused on how schools can apply for grants.)

Call to action

Every PSA also needs a call to action.

Often this means thinking through the likely obstacles and providing realistic, practical suggestions. So while the WHO advice for cholera prevention is to wash your hands with soap, many people in South Sudan don’t have access to soap. So it was important to provide them with a realistic alternative, such as washing hands with ash (listen to the PSA here).

In our girls’ education PSAs, we told schools they could apply for grants to fix leaky roofs or build fences. The call to action was simply to pick up the phone and call the hotline.

For all 16 participants, the four-day training was an opportunity to learn new skills, but also to produce something that could have impact in their own lives and communities.

"At first it was difficult for me to make a PSA but on the second day I got the message and I enjoyed [it],” one participant told us.

“I am very confident because now I am able to grab the attention of the audience by putting sound effects, simple language and by using one repeated core message."

Related links

��̳ Media Action's work in South Sudan

Listen to three of the teams’ PSAs from South Sudan on SoundCloud

Follow ��̳ Media Action on Twitter and Facebook

Go back to ��̳ Media Action

Training tips: how to inform and inspire journalists

2014-04-10T15:04:30+00:00

Journalists the world over aren't exactly known for their lack of cynicism. And in Nigeria it's often extremely hard to break through a journalist's hardened shell with training that convinces them they can address corruption, help people become aware of their rights and make a difference.

But as a trainer for ��̳ Media Action in Nigeria, I know it's possible - and the results can be remarkable.

Here are my practical tips on creating training sessions for radio journalists that can inform and inspire:

1. Make sure you do your own research first

Before you do anything, it's vital to pinpoint your trainees' gaps in knowledge and the areas where they need help - otherwise how else will you know where to start?

This can be done in a variety of ways. Before our training sessions, we ask all our trainees to fill in forms identifying their needs and interests, and to send us their programmes so we can listen to them for ourselves.

We also make a point to simply tune in to listen to our trainees on air – often without their knowledge! That way, we can hear them as they naturally broadcast and identify the areas where they need guidance.

2. Keep it all interactive – and fun

It may sound obvious but sessions that don't get trainees to actively take part are all too common – and will never have great results.

What's more, interactivity isn't just about setting exercises for trainees to put into action what they've just learned. Interactive exercise can also help trainees identify the gaps in their knowledge themselves.

For example, at a recent training session, I came up with a fun way to test what is essential knowledge for a journalist who wants to effect change: in-depth understanding of citizens' rights.

I first asked the trainees to write down all the rights and responsibilities that they knew – and then score themselves by drawing a different body part of a cartoon person for every correct answer. So they drew an arm for writing down 'right to life', a leg for 'freedom of expression' and so on.

If they got all the answers correct, the cartoon person would be whole – if not, he wouldn’t be quite so healthy!

The exercise worked not only because it was good fun. It was also a non-confrontational way to get people to identify – and admit – where they didn't know as much as they thought they did.

It's also a method that I've used again and again too, adapting it to test trainees' knowledge of many other subjects.

3. Remember: everyone learns differently

It's obvious that as human beings, we're all very different – different personalities, upbringings, lifestyles and much more. But training can often not recognise this.

Remember that some people learn best through visual aids, some by listening, while others have to sketch, draw or take notes to make something really sink in.

For my session on citizens' rights, for example, I made sure that it used visual aids and the practical exercise mentioned above, as well as a presentation and group discussion to get everyone involved.

4. Feedback is essential

Always, always allot time during your sessions to ask for feedback.

Make sure you ask your trainees how useful the session has been to them and don't be afraid to dig for more responses - just in case they're just being polite! Ask them what they'll do differently because of the training, which practical thing was most useful, and what they’re going to do as soon as they get back to their desks.

Feedback will help you to stay inspired too. For example, one trainee in my citizen rights course was Maxwell Nashion from Fombina FM station in Yola, Adamawa state in northern Nigeria.

He told me, "Before the training, I used to think that I know my rights, but the training proved me wrong. After the practical exercise, I realised how ignorant I was in some aspects of human rights. The training has further broadened my knowledge on how to apply human rights in my reports so that my listeners and target audience can also know and apply their rights, when they want any of their problems to be solved."

5. Keep communicating

Don't ever think once the training finishes that the job's done! Always try to keep in contact with your trainees so you can measure the impact of all your hard work.

I made sure to keep in touch with Maxwell, for example, and he told me how, after the training, he decided to focus on rights and responsibilities of citizens in the interior villages of his state.

One of his reports focused on a village called Bille in Adamawa state, where villagers were only able to source drinking water from two dirty streams behind the village where they also washed themselves and their clothes.

The villagers had never thought about demanding basic rights, like clean water, from the government.

But after Maxwell's report on Bille community, things actually started to change.

"The report received a positive response," he told me, "The councillor representing the area started mobilising the local government authorities to drill a borehole in the area." Maxwell is following up to ensure the authorities keep to their promise.

Such a positive change may not happen because of every report a journalist makes.

But it can all start with a memorable, useful and inspiring training session.

Related links

��̳ Media Action's work in Nigeria

��̳ Media Action's work in governance and rights

Follow ��̳ Media Action on Twitter and Facebook

Go back to ��̳ Media Action

The challenges of reporting in Ukraine

2014-03-18T13:58:17+00:00

Tracking the latest news on Ukraine from my kitchen in Scarborough has been a nerve-racking experience.

My son was in Kyiv working as a volunteer for the International Red Cross. Under sniper fire he was ferrying out casualties from the city’s Independence Square last month as the clashes between protestors and police intensified.

He had told me his Red Cross arm-band would protect him. Then we heard that he and a colleague were targeted as they were lifting out a casualty. His friend was shot in the back.

News was a vital link for my wife and me. She is Ukrainian, desperate to know what was happening and how family were coping.

Through the internet we were able to access Ukrainian TV channels and news services. It gave me a chance to see how some of the journalists I had worked with over the years were coping.

��̳ Media Action is currently working on a journalism mentoring project in Ukraine, the latest in a number of large-scale activities carried out since 1996.

One of our trainers, Valentina Samar caught my attention as she delivered a live report from Crimea. I watched as she described the tense events on the Peninsula, now controlled by pro-Russian troops.

I was impressed by her careful language and use of local knowledge to create a picture of what was happening. I first met Valentina in the late 90s when we worked on a ��̳ World Service Training Overseas project designed to counter hate speech against Crimean Tatars.

Our paths crossed again when she became one of our local trainers as we worked on transforming the university journalism curriculum, in particular with the main university in Kyiv, but also in Uzhhorod and Crimea’s Simferopol.

The tensions around that time, fuelled by coming elections and rows over land, in many ways feed into the current crisis.

There have long been challenges and surprises working in the region, with the underlying political tensions sporadically bubbling to the surface. In 2003 ��̳ Media Action set up Top Media in Odessa, a media support project offering legal advice and training. When the EU-funded project closed two and half years later, a journalism student burst into tears in my office, apologising for spying on us for the SBU – the former KGB.

It was a sensitive time; we were being monitored as a result of the scandal following the kidnap and murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze. There were concerns that, as a ��̳ entity, we might encourage coverage of the story in ways the then authorities would not like.

Back in the current crisis, Andriy Kulykov, another trainer we worked with, a former ��̳ journalist and now one of Ukraine’s leading talk-show presenters, has also been at the heart of events.

He took a brave step of broadcasting his programme Svoboda Slova (Freedom of Speech) not in Ukrainian, but in Russian – an attempt to reach out to all sides.

He has also used his ��̳ journalism training and experience as a trainer with Media Action, to maintain balance during his on air interviewing..

And for me, as a listener eager to know the latest, I am grateful to those who worked on projects with me over the years, who maintain the editorial standards we have promoted and kept me in touch with how my family’s life is being affected – now and in the uncertain future Ukraine is facing.

Media Neighbourhood project

Tackling bonded labour in India

2014-02-19T17:45:01+00:00

The road wound, seemingly endlessly, through scrubby wasteland. Other than the track we were on, there was no sign of human habitation for about 4km. But this was Madhya Pradesh in India, a country of 1.2 billion people. My colleagues were even more surprised than I: where were the people?

We were on the outskirts of the Panna tiger reserve, on the way to a village that is engaging weekly with our radio programme called Majboor Kiska Bola! (Who are you calling helpless!).

Funded by the Google Foundation, the programme provides listeners with information and inspiration about labour rights and bonded labour.

Indian legislation bans bondage and provides schemes to support the very poor. However, lack of information and unsympathetic gatekeepers mean that many of those most in need do not know their labour and land rights, or are unable to access their entitlements.

Village debate

Suddenly, as we drove around a corner, we spotted the village, a collection of small houses. Passing the one-room school, the village also seemed fairly empty, but as we reached the top of the road we discovered why: most of the villagers were gathered on mats to listen to the latest episode of Majboor Kiska Bola!

'Listener groups' are a fairly well known way to deepen a project's engagement, by bringing a group of people together to listen to a programme and then discuss it. Plus, of course, it's the only way to reach audiences in ‘media dark’ places like this in Madhya Pradesh, where there is no radio and TV.

In this project, however, we have taken the concept a step further, expanding it to 'listener villages'.

Working with local non-governmental organisations, we have trained facilitators in each village, and provide them with a new programme each week on a memory stick, for playing through battery powered radio.

The facilitators aim to play the programme to at least half of the village each week, and in group discussions, encourage them to relate the content to their own experiences.

Real-life storylines

In this weekly session, we heard a drama, based on a real story, of a distraught woman whose husband had recently died. As she had no money to live on, she was considering suicide. I was relieved to hear she didn't take her own life, as she learned that she was entitled to a state pension.

As the story ended, one of the women spoke up to say that she had been widowed over a year previously, but still hadn't received her pension.

Then another woman, widowed a year and a half, and then another, alone for five years, were encouraged by their neighbours to speak up.

Gyanendra Tiwari, from our partner NGO Samarthan, wrote down their details to take with them to district secretariat.

Life-changing information

Now, enlivened by learning that their elderly neighbours' lives didn't have to be so difficult, the villagers told us other stories.

From listening to Majboor Kiska Bola! they had learned about self-help groups, and organised one themselves, collecting a small amount of money from each member each month. These savings were distributed to whomever was most in need that month.

One family told us proudly that this money had enabled them to pay back a moneylender and get their land back, so they were no longer bonded to this man.

Another woman whose young teenager lay on a blanket outside her house told us that her child was disabled. After hearing a programming about the entitlements for disabled people, the NGO had helped her to apply for the monthly payment of 500 rupees, thus improving their quality of life.

Emotional connection

As we prepared to leave the village, Gyanendra told me that his NGO Samarthan had previously come to the village to tell people about their rights.

But until they heard the radio programme, villagers hadn't connected with the issues emotionally, and recognised that there were 'people like me' who had both experienced bonded labour and escaped it.

They hadn't known about the minimum wage, so had worked for less than 100 rupees a day. Now they earn the national minimum of 146 rupees, because they demanded it.

Gyanendra told me that Majboor Kiska Bola! had given them knowledge, evidence that it works, and the confidence to work together to demand their rights.

Encouraging accountability

But the day didn't end there. We then drove on to the Shrota Samvad or Listener Dialogue, organised by our team with the NGO in the town of Panna.

We're running a series of these listener dialogues across the three states in which we work, to bring listeners and government representatives together.

A panel of government officials sat on stage listening to the stories of their constituents, and advising or committing to action.

Listeners from the surrounding villages arrived on trailers drawn by tractors, some with bags sewn from cement sacks, some on crutches, others barefoot.

Attending the event meant a day out, but it also meant a day without income, as most are day labourers.

We had set out chairs for 400 people, but had to take two more deliveries of chairs to seat the growing crowds. I was later told that 1000 people attended this listener dialogue.

Direct impact

Villager after villager spoke directly to the officials, watched avidly by their colleagues and a considerable contingent of local media.

One of them was the woman from the tiger reserve village who had been widowed for five years. An official told her he would send his staff to the village tomorrow.

I've since heard from our team in India the applications for widow pension cards have indeed been filed for all of the widows whom we met that morning. They should receive them, and a new bank account (if they don’t have one already) in 30 to 60 days.

The widow's story was also featured in two newspaper articles on the day following the Listener Dialogue.

It was incredible to see such direct impact from listening to a story on our radio programme a few hours earlier.

My ��̳ Media Action colleagues were clear that we could not do this alone; our partnerships with Samarthan and other NGOs is fundamental to the success of the project. A radio programme alone would not have inspired people to take action, nor did an NGO working directly with the villagers.

Together, we are providing information and inspiration that enables and convinces the poorest people of Madhya Pradesh to take action to improve their own lives. Who are we calling helpless?!

Related links

��̳ Media Action's work in India

��̳ Media Action's work on governance and rights

Majboor Kisko Bola! slideshow

Follow ��̳ Media Action on Twitter and Facebook

Go back to ��̳ Media Action

How to create PSAs in emergencies

2014-01-24T11:11:29+00:00

Pre-testing our audio announcements in Odisha, India.

The ��̳ Media Action team in India are used to tight deadlines. But last October, we faced a deadline with a difference: after cyclone Phailin hit the eastern state of Odisha, we had 72 hours to script, produce and broadcast three radio public service announcements to provide life-saving information to those affected.

The key issues that we needed to communicate immediately to those reeling from the cyclone were: how to make drinking water safe, how to avoid diarrhoea and avoid danger in flood water.

Then in the two months after the cyclone we produced a further eight PSAs, which were played on loudspeakers on auto-rickshaws in remote areas of Odisha where there’s no radio reception.

Here’s what our team learned about how to use radio/audio to help save lives in such an emergency:

1. Get the brief right

When it comes to lifeline communications, the one luxury you don’t have is time so there is very little margin for error or delay.

That means the most important thing is to get the brief – how you’re going to plan the outputs – right. And to do it quickly.

Unsurprisingly, communication here is key: our team in the Bhubanswar office in Odisha were constantly on the phone, keeping our Delhi team aware of every single development on the ground. This was invaluable in fine-tuning our technical brief.

2. Choose the right platform – and change if necessary

It sounds obvious but it’s worth repeating: know the platforms which are right for your audience.

Immediately after the cyclone, our announcements went on air on the most popular radio stations in the state: commercial FM stations in Odisha, AIR (All India Radio) and community radio stations.

And when incessant rain and electricity cuts continued for days after the cyclone hit, we changed our approach by playing the messages on loudspeakers on rickshaws.

3. Hit on a powerful central idea

This is perhaps the most crucial thing to get right.

While brainstorming our central idea, we examined the devastating super cyclone which hit Odisha in 1999 and had claimed thousands of lives.

We remembered the mayhem didn’t stop the day after the cyclone hit but instead continued for months as people struggled to get information. And while we talked, it became obvious that knowledge is key.

This insight led us to the popular Odia proverb "Janile Kariba, Janile Jiniba" which means “When you know you will do, when you know you will win.” And that became the campaign tagline.

Recording the PSA: Sandeep Kumar Sahu playing the dholak.

4. Know your local idiom and local nuances

In the aftermath of any disaster, it’s important to strike a balance between communicating the correct information and using the right tone and format for your audience.

It’s got to be both full of correct information and strike a popular chord.

Recognising this, we decided to use the dahuk sangeet format for the eight PSAs we broadcast after the first few days of the emergency had passed.

Dahuks are street performers who compose instant couplets in their sangeets - ‘songs’ - which keep crowds enthralled at the famous Rath Yatra festival (Chariot Festival) held each year at Puri in Odisha.

This format allowed us to communicate the correct information in a way that we knew would be popular with our audience.

5. Test quickly

Even in such a short timeframe, rapid pre-testing is crucial. Before we embarked on producing all the PSAs, we tested two of them in one of the worst-affected areas, checking how much information people recalled after listening, how much they liked them and how much they understood.

6. Network!

We had less than 10 hours to modify our content after pre-testing.

And this is where contacts come into play. We tapped into contacts among the local film, TV and music industry and persuaded some famous Odia singers and voiceover artists to feature in our PSAs.

Singer Mr Karunakar and voiceover artist Hriyandit Mohanty in action.

There will be cyclones again in Odisha. We cannot stop them. But the last two months have taught me an invaluable lesson. If you communicate the right things at the right time, you can save a lot of lives and help a lot of people.

This Post-Phailin Lifeline Communication Programme was made with funding from the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO).

Related links

��̳ Media Action's work in India

��̳ Media Action's resilience and humanitarian response

Follow ��̳ Media Action on Twitter and Facebook

Go back to ��̳ Media Action

Local partnerships: a key to lasting change

2014-01-10T17:24:25+00:00

At ��̳ Media Action we’ve been talking a lot about sustainability and our commitment to supporting change that lasts beyond the lifetime of an individual project.

One of the best ways we can contribute to lasting change is by working with local media partners to improve the quality and sustainability of their programming and of their organisations.

Powerful partnerships

So for example, we’ve recently been working with community radio stations in Zambia to strengthen their ability to produce political discussion programmes. The result has been low-cost programmes, editorially steered by our partners which meet the needs of local audiences. These programmes have become part of the stations’ schedules and continue to be broadcast after donor support has ended.

Looking back further, in 2005-6 we worked in Russian prisons developing radio programming on rights and health. Radio stations were established in six prisons and prisoners and prison officers were trained in programme-making. Three of these stations are still operating today and four more have been set up in other prisons.

And our work can also have an influence beyond the partners we work with directly.

Since Open Jirga, the debate programme we make with Radio Television Afghanistan, went on air, other networks are now producing more political programmes and altered the formats of existing debate shows, giving audiences additional opportunities to question panel members. We’ll be watching to see whether these changes take hold and what impact they have on accountability in the country.

Long-term funding

Often though, it can be difficult for partners to sustain high-quality media programming once project funding ends.

Our team in Nepal, for example, explain that “stations do try to continue running the programmes, but they are expensive due to the cost of travel, salaries and fuel for the generator. Once the partnership ceases and without proper funding from other agencies, the stations can’t maintain the programmes up to standard or serve as many locations.”

So to address such challenges we also provide business development support to many of our partners, working with them to grow audiences and advertising revenue and to secure additional funding.

In Sierra Leone, for example, we’ve been working closely with the board and management team at Radio Bankasoka in the north of the country to help them develop a business plan.

An agreement has now been signed between the station and their district council, providing funding while also protecting the station’s public service remit and editorial independence. This is a first in the country.

Building local support

For other partners, supporting the development of relationships with local leaders has been very important. This can involve building awareness among local government officials to build their awareness of how public service broadcasting functions.

In Tanzania we have supported partner radio stations to hold open days bringing together different stakeholders.

Robust debates about editorial standards, corruption and independence have ensued and our partner stations have reported improved relationships with local government as a result.

In Angola we convened meetings where media practitioners, civil society organisations and donors could meet government officials responsible for media policy. This enabled them to express their needs and opinions and give feedback on changes to media regulation.

The sustainability challenge

Despite these positive stories, we recognise that financial and institutional sustainability remain a very real challenge for many of our partners.

Whilst capacity strengthening efforts can make an important contribution, media independence can be compromised by political interference unless closely protected.

And economic underdevelopment, weak advertising markets and limited opportunities for apolitical public funding make financial sustainability problematic.

In these difficult circumstances, we remain committed to supporting our partners while also recognising the importance of continued public or donor subsidy if media is to meet important public needs in the long term.

We’re pursuing other promising ways to prolong the impact of our work – for instance by working to develop skills within government agencies such as health or disaster preparedness ministries. And I’ll be blogging more about that work soon.

Related links

Follow @carolinesugg

Follow ��̳ Media Action on Twitter and Facebook

Go back to ��̳ Media Action

Bringing creativity to the table

2013-12-06T16:18:05+00:00

Recording radio programme Lin Lat Kyair Sin (Bright Young Stars) in a Rangoon park, Burma.

A professor of mine used to say that storytelling is like getting a child to eat something they don’t like, such as spinach. In order to get an audience to learn something, you must cook the most delicious dishes. This is how good journalists make us care about places we’ve never been to and people we’ve never met. The analogy is never truer than with ��̳ Media Action’s work where the ‘spinach’ we serve up is measured to see if we’re reaching our donor’s often ambitious and difficult goals.

Our recent creativity and innovation workshop Ignite Asia was all about sharing the tastiest recipes from ��̳ Media Action teams in India, Afghanistan, Burma, Cambodia, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Deep Gauchan from our Phnom Penh office in Cambodia told us one of his simplest recipes. “It is to put an ordinary person into extraordinary circumstances.” He said. “Or, to take someone extraordinary and put them somewhere ordinary.” Along the way, he argued, your audience is taken out of their own experience and problems to learn something new.

Surprising storytelling

We also had a fantastic line-up of guest speakers to inspire us. The Times of India blew us away with their campaign films: A Day in the Life of India, India vs. India to ILead India. When asked how they nurture such creativity in an organisation with 175 years of heritage and tradition, their answer was “You must be willing to fail. You must reward people for trying and only punish people if they don’t try.”

Abhijit Chauhuri and Arindam Mitra from QED Films are certainly trying. By subverting convention and searching for a unique tone of voice, they told us, you can find drama, suspense, a beginning, middle and end and along the way surprises, twists, the delight of new settings, new journeys and universal themes.

Bollywood song-writer, journalist and radio host Neelesh Misra also came to share his tips. He described the difference between sharing experiences and sharing information. “Be as visual as possible,” he explained. “Take me on a journey.” In other words, people learn not from being told something, but by being shown it, by emotionally connecting to an experience, a character or a moment.

From idea to reality?

It was then the turn of my colleague Yan Htaik Seng and I to flex our collective creative muscles and build on what we’d learned. Our challenge was to come up with a way to promote economic development in Burma. (I told you our goals were ambitious.)

And after a lot of brainstorming, what took shape was a reality TV show called Myanma Bandai (Myanmar’s Goal), .

Our idea was that it could be a nationwide competition to find three young wannabe teams of entrepreneurs from Burma’s countryside and help them bring their product to market. Each episode would begin with a team challenge that would teach audiences about new business regulations, how to write business plans and most importantly inspire confidence.

Tasty new recipe

Just as I was getting excited about how rural audiences would vote for their favourite team, Yan interrupted. He said couldn’t visualise it. He said he’d only ever seen reality shows in the form of singing competitions. “Big Brother? The Apprentice? The Amazing Race?” I asked. He shook his head.

It reminded me of something Yvonne McPherson, who heads up ��̳ Media Action’s New York office, said in her discussion about how innovation happens.

“If you had asked people what they wanted,” said Henry Ford on the invention of the car, “they would have said faster horses." Our audiences are at the heart of everything we do, so research to understand them and to test our product works is vital and is always part of our work. But, this has to work alongside truly innovative thinking.

After an initiation into the ‘reality TV’ format, Yan agreed that this show might work in Burma.

We are currently pitching it to donors and after much sharing of experiences, ideas and lessons from each of our respective countries, my colleagues and I have returned with some tasty new recipes.

Related links

��̳ Media Action in Burma

Making it stick: training that works

2013-11-06T11:34:50+00:00

Listen to a PSA about antenatal care from Ethiopia, the result of a workshop earlier this year.

Building the capacity of production staff within the organisation - and in other organisations - is a key activity for ��̳ Media Action. But when the workshop is over, will the training stick? What can happen all too often is what I call ‘teflon training’. It provides a pleasant break from work but slides away as soon as the trainees are back at the grindstone, leaving no mark.

But a well-timed, well-planned workshop, aimed at producing media output, can be a powerful and inspiring jolt to busy producers. It gets people off the treadmill and provides time and head space to reflect on how to make our media output more logical, creative and powerful.

Here are my tips to make training stick.

Two trainers are better than one

Quite apart from the logistics of getting the projector to work, two trainers can spark off each other.

On a production workshop in Addis Ababa earlier this year, I was extremely lucky to work with the charismatic and sharp-witted Radharani Mitra, National Creative Director and Executive Producer of ��̳ Media Action India.

Radharani works in film, while my roots are in radio. Radharani cut her teeth in advertising, and went on to flourish as a senior creative person in two of the world's top agencies; while I more modestly worked in and out of ��̳ World Service and media for development projects.

But what we share is a passion for ideas, stories and communication, and we are never happier than arguing and debating strategies for producing top quality communications.

Our mission in the workshop was to train producers to make creative, well-researched and powerful Public Service Announcements (sometimes called spots) in the area of maternal and child health.

The trainees included ��̳ Media Action staff from Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, along with staff from ��̳ Media Action’s partners in Ethiopia: the Ministry of Health, ORTO (Oromia Radio and Television) and ERTA (Ethiopia Radio and Television) – all coming with different production experience, cultural backgrounds and different project needs.

We had just three days to cover the principles of PSA production and come up with the basic concepts for four different PSAs, in two languages, which were to be pre-tested and broadcast a month later.

Break it down

As Radharani explained, the challenge is to combine science (know your audience inside out, barriers, triggers, culture and media landscape to mine for insights), art (think laterally to come up with brilliant yet relevant ideas), and finally, craft (the devil being in the technical detail: in radio, this means making that fade half a second longer, kicking off with a crisp sound or musical phrase, moving, adding and losing words).

Teach techniques that can be used again and again

For the first day and a half, we talked about being a ‘sponge’, soaking up experiences, stories, and theories - deconstructing and re-arranging them. Then we played with idea-generation techniques, including exercises to tease the left and right parts of our brain. And then finally got down to creating - no, not ideas, but the creative briefs!

Once the briefs were ready after much discussion and some arguing, the groups got down to cracking the ideas. The proof of the pudding is indeed in the eating because we came away with at least four ideas that we acted out to make sure they would work for radio.

As my colleague here in Addis, Seble Tewelderbirhan, told me after the workshop, "I used to think that ideas just pop up – something you have or don’t have. I now realise with this workshop that ideas develop, and there are techniques for making them develop."

Learn from each other

But I think we gained more than just knowing how to make PSAs. In the best workshop tradition, we all got to know each other - both during and outside training.

Amina Kato from Nigeria taught me that “assumption is the mother of frustration”, and dazzled me with her acting abilities.

Daniel Realkuy Awad Barnaba and Gerry Allan from South Sudan taught me what it’s like to live in a recently established nation state and astounded me with their linguistic abilities. (Daniel was speaking bits of Amharic fluently by the time he left).

And of course there was for me the joy of working with some of my Ethiopian team outside the daily routine, and seeing them conjure up new and witty ideas.

Put it into practice quickly

But of course, it’s the application of such new and witty ideas that’s the real test of a good workshop.

A month on from the training, we had scripted, recorded and produced a number of PSAs ready to pre-test with our audiences – and the reaction was a warm and thoughtful one.

A focus group give their feedback to the PSAs.

Our focus group's favourite PSA featured a curious child whose mother has just returned from the health centre for her first antenatal check-up.

What was fascinating was that the focus group perceived a secondary idea about family planning in the PSA which we had not picked up on. They calculated the age difference between the foetus and the child and saw this as a cue to think about how best to space your children’s births!

Follow ��̳ Media Action on Twitter and Facebook

Go back to ��̳ Media Action

Success through social media in Nigeria

2013-09-17T10:02:17+00:00

"Isn't Facebook just for dating?" That was the response I got at the beginning of a social media training session I was running for staff at our partner radio stations in Nigeria. And it's a common response – particularly from older journalists. So let me tell you a story of success which I use to convince them otherwise.

It's the story of Rita Egwujovbo, who produces and presents a programme on one of our partner stations, Hot FM. Called Dateline Abuja, the programme was started by Rita five years ago and sets out to give local people a voice in how their country is run.

Rita Eghujuvbo, Hot FM, Abuja

At first, Rita didn't use any social media platforms at all. But after taking part in ��̳ Media Action training, she created a Facebook page and group in 2011, mainly to get feedback and encourage her audience to interact with the programme. What she got was something even better than that.

Through Facebook, her audience has contacted her with stories such as the poor state of sanitation in their towns or how housing developers are exploiting tenants and potential housebuyers.

Dateline Abuja Facebook page

Driving change

Stories like these that that started online have also seen positive action happen offline.

One farmer got in touch with Rita on Facebook to take part in a programme about how the government could help people like him.

And after the programme, he also used Facebook to tell her the long-lasting impact of taking part in the show. Using the information he had learned from the programme, he and his fellow farmers created a cooperative so they could access government funds and succeeded in getting money for a new tractor.

Another listener used Facebook to ask Dateline Abuja to highlight the condition of a cemetery in Nyanya, a suburb of Abuja.

It wasn't just overgrown with weeds and choked with rubbish but also a dangerous place to visit Thieves used the cemetery as a hide-out and ritualists dug up graves to remove body parts and even attempted to kidnap people.

After the programme featured the story, the cemetery was cleaned and security improved in the area by Abuja’s Environmental Protection Board.

Social possibilities

So what was the response at the end of the social media training session?

Two female senior journalists from stations in Enugu, south east Nigeria, couldn’t hold back their excitement. "I thought social media is just for boyfriends and girlfriends," they told me. "I didn’t know that we could use social media for such amazing things as improving our programmes and to generate revenue."

Related links

��̳ Media Action's work in Nigeria

Follow Aveseh on twitter

Dateline Abuja on Facebook

Follow ��̳ Media Action on Twitter and Facebook

Go back to ��̳ Media Action

Visualising voting in rural Cambodia

2013-07-25T09:49:34+00:00

This Sunday, Cambodians will vote in elections to their parliament, the National Assembly. Cambodia has the largest youth population in South East Asia and low levels of formal education. Lots of young people will be of voting age for the first time this year but they are a quiet majority, discouraged from speaking up in public and taking part in civic life.

��̳ Media Action's multimedia youth engagement initiative, Loy9, aims to address that by giving young Cambodians information and ideas to help them get involved in life outside their homes and school.

Young Cambodians take place in an event organised by Loy9 in Phnom Penh.

One of the current aims of Loy9 is to explain what their National Assembly is, and this is where I come in. I lead the visual journalism editorial design team that creates information graphics for ��̳ News on mobile, tablet and PC, and earlier this year, I was invited to mentor the Loy9 team in producing infographics.

Before I knew it I was in Phnom Penh armed with post-it notes, marker pens, and mosquito repellent.

It was an incredible experience to arrive in the searing heat, and swap my normal London commute for a speedy £1 tuktuk ride and my cheese baguette lunch for an amok trey, a delicious fish curry.

But why infographics?

Well, they're great for getting around low literacy which is important for a rural Cambodian audience, who typically watch Loy9 on a small TV that runs off car batteries, and is shared between a few village homes.

They are visually stimulating and can bring order and simplicity even to huge, complex amounts of information – crucial when politics and government are not familiar concepts. They can make that information less threatening and more human in tone. And they're not expensive to produce.

Tutoring by YouTube

When I arrived, I was surprised at the technical ability of the team. While some had formal design training, many of them had taught themselves advanced techniques from YouTube tutorials.

I realised that the most useful thing I could share with the team was my knowledge of the creative process. Among all the YouTube tutorials, you can't really find guidance on the best process to follow to get from a design problem to an effective design.

I explained to the team that I wanted to follow a problem-solving process commonly used in design that draws on what we call "divergent and convergent thinking".

"Divergent thinking" means generating and exploring as many solutions as possible. So the team began by gathering dozens of facts about the National Assembly.

They then "converged" – ie agreed the single best solution – by selecting the few key facts that we would include in the infographic.

The team diverged again by each creating their versions of the graphic, and then converged by deciding on the strongest version.

The team discuss the most important facts to show in the infographic.

We spent two days working very hard on the production of three different graphics, during which I spent a lot of time directing the team in maintaining visual simplicity and consistency.

Our graphics relied on a range of icons to represent things like school, voters, representatives and the National Assembly. We wanted to be confident the audience understood these icons, so decided to run some user testing.

Testing under trees

The team set off in pairs, managing to interview 30 people despite the legendary wet season rain forcing them to shelter under trees during parts of the interviews.

Now that we had the guidance from the audience, we could converge our design thinking.

We worked up one final sketch of the structure of the graphic and then a final sketch for each of the icons. This formed the basis for the digital version of our graphic that appeared in three TV episodes of Loy9, each of which were viewed by at least 2 million people.

The finished product: part of the infographic as it appeared on screen.

It was great to get the chance to show everyone the process of divergent and convergent thinking, as this process can be applied to help solve any creative challenge; from designing Loy9 T-shirts, to deciding what merchandising campaign to run.

My two weeks with the team were just the first step in the training process. I have continued to make myself available to them, and have kept them up to date with all the important developments in the ��̳ design teams, and wider infographic design community.

And I enjoyed the experience so much that I returned in February for a couple of weeks, but this time it was a holiday – the post it notes stayed in London!

A very proud team: (from left) Sorthy, Sopheak, me, Chantraboth, Lyna, Sothea, Sonina.

Looking back on my time with the team, I am optimistic the infographics we created can help young Cambodians understand what the National Assembly is and why it matters.

A visually engaging, clear and simple presentation of the key facts, which can be understood even by people who cannot read, has to be one of the best ways to reach this audience.

A picture tells a thousand words no matter where you are in the world!

Related links

��̳ Media Action's work in Cambodia

Visit the Loy9 YouTube channel.

Follow ��̳ Media Action on Twitter and Facebook

Go back to ��̳ Media Action

Singing a different tune

2013-06-27T09:23:43+00:00

"Hee-hee," giggles my colleague Matthew at an email that's just arrived in his inbox. It's an email inviting Matthew and the rest of our training team in ��̳ Media Action's Nigeria office to a team-building karaoke night - and he's not the only one that’s excited.

Let me explain why. I love karaoke. And not just because I love music.

It's because karaoke takes you seamlessly from the known to the unknown - from the familiar beat of a song to the unknown, the lyrics on the screen.

This has become my strategy when I go out to train journalists around the country: taking trainees from what they already know to what they don't quite know. This is how I help them to make an impact.

'Karaoke strategy'

I've worked as a trainer on a number of ��̳ Media Action projects in Nigeria which aim to improve governance and help people to hold their leaders to account. And since I joined ��̳ Media Action three years ago, I've adopted my 'karaoke strategy' to make my courses as fun and creative as possible.

I use teasers, exercises and icebreakers to inspire my trainees to think differently. For example, if I’m doing a session on conflict mitigation, I do an exercise with the trainees that demonstrates how easily conflicts can erupt from simple statements that might at first sight appear harmless, but can spark unexpected reactions in unforeseen circumstances.

The beat of the story

The trainees I meet know the beat of their story. They know the issues that face Nigeria – corruption, unemployment and electricity shortages, to name but a few. And of course, they're more than aware of the challenges journalists and their employers face in Nigeria.

They all know a fellow journalist who has been suspended or even sacked from their job and their employer heavily fined or shut down for daring to publish a story critical of the government.

But without training, journalists don't know how best to be able to tell their stories in the face of such pressure.

Singing the lyrics

In the same way karaoke guides you to sing a song's lyrics, I lead my trainees through the rudiments of good journalism - truth, accuracy, impartiality and the importance of reflecting a diversity of opinions, for example. I also teach them techniques for avoiding censorship and the importance of keeping editorial values in mind and referring up to editors to seek advice.

This kind of training has enabled the journalists I've taught in Nigeria to successfully "sing the lyrics" of their stories.

Journalists like Aliyu Misau from the state of Bauchi in north-east Nigeria. He used his training to produce a radio package about the appalling condition of the 98km road between Misau and Gamawa. What should be an hour-long journey between the two towns takes two and a half hours because of the huge pot holes which slow cars to a crawl.

But after Aliyu's package was aired, the state government committed to repair the road and have allocated budget for the work.

Journalist Aliyu Misau showing his colleague the skills he learned during ��̳ Media Action training.

"Proud to be a digital journalist"

Ifeoma Udechukwu is another journalist who's used her skills to help her fellow Nigerians.

As well as learning how to digitally record and edit, Ifeoma was awarded a bursary as part of the ��̳ Media Action MESSAGE project in 2011 to deliver an investigative story. She chose to focus on sanitation in her home state of Anambra in south-east Nigeria.

Her package focused on a notorious dump which had been left to fester for ten years beside the Onitsa-Owerri road, scattering rubbish across the road which led to a number of fatal accidents. The result of her package? The dump was closed.

Ifeoma shows colleagues how digital audio editing works.

Ifeoma says, "The training helped me to know where to get the right kind of information, the right people to talk to and how best to package my programmes. I am proud to be a digital broadcaster now.”

If this is what my love for karaoke can bring, then play me some more music and pass me the mic!

Related links

��̳ Media Action's work in Nigeria

Follow ��̳ Media Action on Twitter and Facebook

Go back to ��̳ Media Action

������̳ Media Action Feed

World Press Freedom Day 2019: Our youth delegates take Addis Ababa by storm!

Flying solo after training with ������̳ Question Time

Skiing in Afghanistan

The 15km road to accountability

South Sudan: making PSAs that matter

Training tips: how to inform and inspire journalists

The challenges of reporting in Ukraine

Tackling bonded labour in India

How to create PSAs in emergencies

Local partnerships: a key to lasting change

Bringing creativity to the table

Making it stick: training that works

Success through social media in Nigeria

Visualising voting in rural Cambodia

Singing a different tune

��̳ Media Action Feed

Flying solo after training with ��̳ Question Time