UNICEF SOMALIA

YOUTH BROADCASTING INITIATIVE

Tiffany,

Please visit the UNICEF Somalia website for more information on the Youth Broadcasting Initiative

Regards,

Robert Kihara,
Communication and External Relations Section,
UNICEF Somalia.

For more information on UNICEF Somalia

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For Every Child
Health, Education, Equality, Protection
ADVANCE HUMANITY”

Here are some excerpts from a document Mr. Kihara sent me about background history and future goals of the UNICEF Somalia Youth Broadcasting Initiative.

Background

“Somali youth are fast becoming leaders in their devastated society by giving voice to their concerns in the production and broadcast of radio programmes and video productions. More than 200 youth groups have been formed throughout Somalia and in many respects, these youth groups are the same as others around the world— they are the forum where youth get together to play sports, make music or just simply hang out with friends.”

“However, they are unique in their focus on community development. Through UNICEF support in leadership and organizational development, non-formal education, and life skills youth from these groups are given tools to carry out awareness about development issues and training for their peers….In the past elders were the voices of Somali leadership; these days, it is increasingly the youth who are being heard on a local level, especially when it comes to community development.”

“The development of better broadcasting and access to information is an essential means for providing people with the tools they need to understand and develop solutions to local development issues…In Somalia the youth broadcasting initiative was developed to broaden the scope and reach of media for youth in Somalia…. giving them a clearer, louder and more informed voice on issues that are of interest to them. The information they provide through their programmes provides also provides a critical link between local experts and the general public.”

“The youth broadcasting initiative is a network of 20 youth groups around the country. Local media professionals provide hands-on training working with the youth to produce programmes. UNICEF supports the initiative through the provision of equipment and technical information about the programme topics.”

“The youth broadcasting initiative is designed to empower youth as agents of change, lead to productions that represent local people and provide information for their community information needs. UNICEF has the greatest on the ground presence of any single agency operating in Somalia…During the season when malaria is a greater threat the youth broadcast programmes about prevention measures, on International Children’s Day they broadcast programmes about child rights. Youth determine the plans for programmes, the persons they will interview and questions they will ask.”

“Youth have demonstrated incredible access to even the most controversial figures and issues: warlords have been interviewed about the threat of landmines, sheikhs have been interviewed about the importance of girls’ education and child soldiers have sadly spoken on camera about their desire to have a family.”

Why radio and video?

“Somalia remains a strongly oral culture so the importance of mass media as a conduit of the spoken word by radio or video is fundamental. Drama, debate, traditional songs and poetry are still a means of entertainment that Somali people enjoy at community events, weddings and during a night out. Radio and video are increasingly becoming forums for people to enjoy these traditional forms. Broadcast media is widely watched and listened to in Somalia, yet the country posses a typically underdeveloped media infrastructure.”

“At 5:30pm daily Somali’s across the country stop what they are doing and gather to listen to the daily British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) news short-wave broadcast. But despite such apparent demand, there is little funding available to increase the reach of locally produced radio. The popularity of radio in Somalia is palpable opening up the opportunities to reach eager audiences, produce in new formats and interest audiences with more professionally produced programmes.

“Good production of youth radio programmes will be influential and afford the public access to information on critical human rights, health and development issues….”

“Recently the media landscape in Somalia has seen the proliferation of a new kind of media that requires less investment and gets less attention from authorities but has spread to towns throughout the landscape where other mass media has not reached.  Video centres are private businesses where audiences pay about $.05 to watch a movie on a television screen with other customers. Largely attended by audiences from 14-28 in age, video centres provide an opportunity to reach youth of Somalia that no development agency has accessed. Video centres offer low operating costs, are able to withstand political influences, and primarily serve under-privileged youth audiences, making them a good way to bring media into villages and to audiences that radio doesn’t reach. The youth broadcasting initiative utilizes this media outlet for broadcast of video productions.”

Future for the Youth

“The youth broadcasting initiative engages youth broadcasters to build a local media that better addresses community information needs and strengthens the voice of youth in Somalia. It has been through a conceptualization phase in 2002, a pilot phase in 2003 and now in 2004 it is becoming a strong network whereby the youth groups involved are producing 20 programmes each month.”

“The 80 youth who are involved in the initiative continue to work with UNICEF and on behalf of their communities throughout Somalia in a variety of capacities. Just in the last year some of the youth who were trained as part of the initiative have gone on to work with the BBC, produce local programmes on children’s issues, produce local news and take part in polio eradication campaigns.”

“Through the youth broadcasting initiative and ongoing UNICEF support to youth in Somalia, the future is brighter for youth and their communities.”