The Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA) and the Ford Foundation have awarded their latest round of funding to strengthen community media on the continent.
Five organizations in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa will receive grants from the BMIA Community Media Fund (BMIA-CMF) to improve training and support the production of independent, reliable news content on issues impacting local communities.
Additional COVID-19 emergency response grants have also been awarded to two organizations in Kenya and South Africa to directly address misinformation around the coronavirus pandemic.
Independent, local journalism has a critical role to play in providing accurate information about preventing and managing COVID-19 in communities.
Local media, particularly radio, played a similar role during the recent Ebola epidemics in West Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, helping to counter disinformation and overcoming the stigma associated with the disease.
In Kenya, the BMIA-CMF grants have been awarded to the Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK), Friends of Lake Turkana (FoLT), and Mtaani Community-Based Organization.
The Kenya Community Media Network and The Conversation Africa in South Africa received emergency funding to support the creation of evidence-based content, including fact-checking around the impact of the pandemic in Kenya and South Africa. The five BMIA-CMF grantees will also use a portion of their grants to create a COVID-19 public service campaign.
“The BMIA Community Media Fund was created to improve citizens’ access to reliable news, to elevate marginalized voices, and to advance reporting on socio-economic issues that impact regional communities across Africa. As we confront economic insecurity in the midst of this pandemic, access to reliable local news and information has never been more important, or more under threat due to false and misleading information. We hope that our support will help secure the viability of vital community media organizations to protect the communities they serve,” Erana Stennett, Director, Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa.
Innocent Chukwuma, Regional Director, Office for West Africa, Ford Foundation, said: “Community media systems are essential to our democracy as they provide a voice to voiceless communities and present life-saving information to their audience. Yet the COVID-19 global pandemic is threatening the continued existence of these stations. This support from the BMIA Community Media Fund will provide a much-needed reprieve to some of these media outlets and help them continue doing their amazing work and impacting lives in the communities in which they operate.”
Ikal Ang’elei, Director, Friends of Lake Turkana, said: “In marginalized communities like the Turkana, the enthusiastic adoption of new media technologies is reshaping public discourse. Doubly marginalized groups in the community, such as young women, are actively exploring opportunities, skills, and support to make their own voices heard through new media. This prompted our project “Giving voice through Citizen Journalism. Through this intriguing partnership project, we will train 20 young women and adolescent girls in media and facilitate their access to safe spaces, networks, mentorships, and community stories.”
Marceline Nyambala, Executive Director, Association of Media Women in Kenya, said: “AMWIK is grateful to the CMF for the opportunity to partner in the second phase of this project. We reached 7 million people with our first CMF grant which enhanced the skills of our community of radio journalists. The stations they work within, continue to benefit to this day. We are encouraged to see communities take action in response to the critical accountability, transparency, and social justice stories produced by community radio journalists and citizen journalists supported by the CMF grant.”
Bonface Opany, Station Manager, Radio Domus FM, said: “Mtaani CBO seeks to use its two radios to enlighten communities in Nairobi and Kajiado Counties on issues within the County Integrated Development plans (CIDPs). We will engage with the community members, involving them in focus group discussions and public forums, to identify gaps that community radio journalists will address through in-depth programs on Mtaani Radio and Radio Domus. This will in turn help to build a community that is able to ensure social accountability and engage in building structures necessary for meaningful citizen engagement.”