"This book is about the many ways in which mobile phones are being appropriated by Africans and how they are transforming and are being transformed by society in Africa. A case study from Karthoum (Sudan) shows, how mobile phones are reshaping relationships in a Muslim society, where they enable wom
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en to organize their lives more independently. In Cameroon, the mobile allows traditional healers to assist sick people who are originally from their area but are now far away, sometimes even in Europe or the USA. Another study from Burkina Faso highlights the growing importance of text messaging - as contrary to the overstated orality both of African societies and of the mobile phone. The nine chapters in this volume all show aspects of an emerging mobile culture, be it the linkage between the rural and the urban in Burkina Faso, the youth in Ghana or traders in Tanzania. In all of these, the authors observe a reshaping of social and economic hierarchies in society. Based on the illustrative case studies and its multi-dimensional approach this book is highly recommended reading." (CAMECO Update 3-2009)
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"In August 2007, the Government of Tanzania committed to doubling the number of training places for skilled midwives following a five-year campaign by the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood in Tanzania (WRATZ), which culminated in the first television screening of a participatory film, ‘Pla
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y Your Part’. With contributions from a range of health professionals, communities, a pop singer, and the Minister of Health, the message was that everyone at every level has a part to play in saving mothers’ lives. WRATZ was successful because it was able to champion its message in a way that provides a model for advocacy, combining the reactive creativity of journalism and the methodological rigour of participatory video that to bring about a tangible impact." (Abstract)
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"This study reviews and analyses what has already been documented on the links between radio-based communication strategies and rural development outcomes, particularly with regards to smallholder farming and food security outcomes. The report explores best radio practices, including issues related
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to optimal formats, schedules, production qualities, and station management, based on 17 case studies from India, the Philippines, Tanzania, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana, and South Africa. The key findings include: testimonials and jingles facilitate the best recall and comprehension of messages (Philippines); radio forums strengthen rural decision-making structures (Tanzania); radio programmes created by communities attract high listenership (Malawi); and farm radio is more effective when linked with new information and communication technologies (Ghana). The research also identified some knowledge gaps: the lack of evaluation as an integrated element in radio campaign planning; the need to conduct regular audience surveys; the limited use of non-participatory effectiveness studies and the limited scope of evaluations focusing on the impact of just one or two programmes." (CAMECO Update 5-2008)
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"This study claims to be one of the first attempts to explore the field of radio economics in rural Africa. Based on in-depth questionnaires filled in by 15 radio stations in Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Ghana and Mali, it found that the costs vary widely according to the type of ownership, i.e. public
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, commercial or community radio. The average start-up costs fluctuate between $50,000 and 100,000. The annual operating costs range between $20,000 to $540,000 for public broadcasters, $2,500 to $930,000 for commercial stations and $2,500 to $286,000 for community stations. The costs of programming are largely dependant on the level of interactivity of the programme format, the accessibility of additional resources to produce specialised programmes, and the type of station producing the programme. The study found that community stations tended to invest more resources in interactive programming with community involvement and less on in-studio formats. The sale of airtime is important revenue for most stations. There is no shortage of investment for starting up radio stations (in particular community radios), but the common challenge remains the sustainability beyond the initial investment." (CAMECO Update 1-2009)
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"This book offers a view of the cultural, family, and interpersonal consequences of mobile communication across the globe. Scholars analyze the effect of mobile communication on all parts of life, from the relationship between literacy and the textual features of mobile phones to the use of ringtone
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s as a form of social exchange, from the “aspirational consumption” of middle-class families in India to the belief in parts of Africa and Asia that mobile phones can communicate with the dead. The contributors explore the ways mobile communication profoundly affects the tempo, structure, and process of daily life around the world. The book discusses the impact of mobile communication on social networks, other communication strategies, traditional forms of social organization, and political activities. It considers how quickly miraculous technologies come to seem ordinary and even necessary; and how ordinary technology comes to seem mysterious and even miraculous. The chapters cut across social issues and geographical regions; they highlight use by the elite and the masses, utilitarian and expressive functions, and political and operational consequences. Taken together, the chapters demonstrate how mobile communication has affected the quality of life in both exotic and humdrum settings, and how it increasingly occupies center stage in people’s lives around the world." (Publisher description)
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"This World Bank study discusses secondary textbook and school library availability in Africa, its cost and financing, and its distribution and publishing. The study’s objective was to analyze the issues and provide some options and strategies for improvement. Reforms are urgently required in the
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secondary school systems of most African countries in order to: (i) reduce the number of textbooks and reference books required by secondary education curricula; (ii) reduce the unit costs of textbooks; (iii) increase the target book life thus increasing cost amortization and reducing annual textbook fees/budgets; (iv) increase the financing allocated to textbook provision from either government or parents, and (v) ensure that curricula change does not make expensive materials redundant too early or too often. The authors of the study believe that if a reliable market exists local publishing can develop to service it, even in direct competition with multinationals; and that the market does not necessarily have to be large, but that the critical factor is predictability. If publishers are confident that funding will be available, from whatever source, year after year, then local publishing will emerge to serve that market. This, it is argued, is perhaps most clearly demonstrated in Botswana where a tiny but reliable and reasonably predictable secondary school sector has five competing approved textbooks in some secondary subjects." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 2556)
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"Stock taking of organisational forms, methodologies, intentions, themes and aesthetic form of Theatre for Development in Tanzania 1980 to 2002. In spite of the widely criticized dependency on funding organisations, Theatre for Development is still a vibrant form of theatre in Tanzania. The aestheti
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c forms of expression and dramaturgical characteristic make it a genuine artistic genre of its own, while the inherent contradictions of ideal form and pragmatics form part of its dynamic." (Publisher description)
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"The authors present six local and independent radio stations from Africa - community radio stations, and commercial and NGO run radio stations with strong community participation - showcasing good practices for sustainability, defined as "ability of a radio station to maintain a good quality develo
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pmental broadcasting service over a period of time." Asking the question, what is it that needs to be sustained? they offer a holistic view on sustainability by examining how a radio station is embedded in its geographic, economic, infrastructural, social, linguistic and cultural context. Furthermore, the case studies consider the broadcasting environment, programme schedules, management structures and sources of income of the radio stations. Particular attention is paid to the community engagement of the radio stations and to the causes for active community involvement." (commbox)
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"Laura Edmondson examines how politics, social values, and gender are expressed on stage. Now a disappearing tradition, Tanzanian popular theatre integrates comic sketches, acrobatics, melodrama, song, and dance to produce lively commentaries on what it means to be Tanzanian. These dynamic shows inv
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ite improvisation and spontaneous and raucous audience participation as they explore popular sentiments. Edmondson asserts that these performances overturn the boundary between official and popular art and offer a new way of thinking about African popular culture. She discusses how the blurring of state agendas and local desires presents a charged environment for the exploration of Tanzanian political and social realities: What is the meaning of democracy and who gets to define it? Who is in power, and how is power exposed or concealed? What is the role of tradition in a postsocialist state? How will the future of the nation be negotiated?" (Publisher description)
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