"This paper presents results from a three-arm randomized controlled trial in Zambia with a sample of nearly 1200 adolescent girls enrolled in Grade 7. Selected primary schools (N=36) were randomly assigned within each of three districts to one of three arms: 1) e-readers, which girls could take home
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, provided within a safe space group platform plus community engagement activities; 2) safe space groups plus community engagement activities; and 3) control. The intent-to-treat estimates indicate that girls in the e-reader arm scored significantly better on two basic literacy assessments as well as non-verbal reasoning compared with girls in the control arm." (Abstract)
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"The Government of Kenya recognizes Irish potato as one of the food security and nutrition crops together with maize and rice (GoK, 2017). This study sought to investigate the influence of radio programmes in promoting Irish potato farming as a contributor to food security in Nakuru County. The stud
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y looked at the period between 2012 and 2015 when most radio stations started programmes on agriculture. Purposive sampling method was used to identify four sub-counties in Nakuru County namely: Kuresoi South, Kuresoi North, Molo and Naivasha. A census of forty-eight farmers registered with the National Potato Council of Kenya between 2012 and 2015 were interviewed. Eleven agricultural extension officers from the sampled sub-counties were interviewed as key informants. The study established that Irish potato farmers listened and applied skills acquired from agricultural radio programmes to improve their farming leading to food security in Nakuru County. Information inaccuracy was revealed as one of the challenges during the study. Radio should, therefore, provide accurate information on specific varieties for specific regions so that Irish potato farming flourishes and nourishes Nakuru people." (Abstract)
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"Food security is a global concern, as all international and local agencies are putting various efforts to attain the Sustainable Development Goal number 2 of ending hunger by 2030. Nevertheless, achieving food security in the face of climate change seems to be unachievable in the foreseeable future
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. The study sought to investigate the coverage by newspapers in Zimbabwe on food security issues related to climate-smart agriculture. Quantitative data on food security issues were collected by reviewing newspapers namely The Herald, Newsday, The Standard and The Sunday Mail in 123 days. The main objective was to analyse quantitative coverage of climate-smart agricultural news. The study analysed newspaper coverage of crop production, animal production, fisheries, postharvest management, food safety, value addition, marketing and administration as they relate to climate change. Results of 469 food security articles revealed that 22.6% coverage was related to climate change whilst 77.4% covered food security issues not related to climate change. The study concluded that there was a significant variance in the coverage of various food security issues related to climate change with climate change issues related to postharvest management, food safety and fishery management not being covered during the period of study. It is recommended that stakeholders in the agriculture sector and the media industry should work towards improving the publication of climate change adaptation and mitigation in agriculture." (Abstract)
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"What are the impacts of expanding mobile broadband coverage on poverty, household consumption and labor market outcomes in developing countries? Who benefits from improved coverage of mobile internet? To respond to these questions, this paper applies a difference-in-differences estimation using pan
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el household survey data combined with geospatial information on the rollout of mobile broadband coverage in Tanzania. The results reveal that being covered by 3G networks has a large positive effect on total household consumption and poverty reduction, driven by positive impacts on labor market outcomes. Working age individuals living in areas covered by mobile internet witnessed an increase in labor force participation, wage employment, and non-farm self-employment, and a decline in farm employment. These effects vary by age, gender and skill level. Younger and more skilled men benefit the most through higher labor force participation and wage employment, while high-skilled women benefit from transitions from self-employed farm work into non-farm employment." (Abstract)
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"Das Werk bietet, nach Ländern bzw. Regionen aufgeschlüsselt, einen kompakten und aktuellen Überblick über geschichtliche Herkunft, weitere Entwicklungen und aktuelle Herausforderungen der afrikanischen Kirche aus katholischer Sicht. Dabei liegt ein Akzent auf den Beziehungen der Ortskirche zu a
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nderen Konfessionen und Religionen. Experten aus den jeweiligen Ländern bzw. Kenner der jeweiligen Situation vor Ort ermöglichen einen raschen und gründlichen Zugang zu den Besonderheiten der Kirchen und ihrer jeweiligen Rolle in den afrikanischen Gesellschaften heute. Dabei werden die Komplexität und die Vielfalt der verschiedenen Situationen innerhalb Afrikas deutlich." (Klappentext)
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"Conclusions and actionable recommendations to media stakeholders and Internews including: improving access to radio and television in Unity State would likely produce a substantial increase in overall media consumption in Unity State; improving access to smartphones in Warrap State would potentiall
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y produce a major increase in internet access/use in Warrap State; women have far more limited phone access and ownership than men, so for Internews access to information interventions, equipping more women with phones could shift women’s access to information and the internet, as well as potentially shifting gender power dynamics in important ways; radio stations across South Sudan can charge the most for advertisements from 4-8 pm in the evening. This is also prime time for television usage; depending on the region, the next most popular radio use time is in the early morning from 5-8 am, and most stations broadcasting in most states can also charge more to advertisers and sponsors for this timeslot than the others." (Publisher description)
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"How can sound be utilized as a tool for political conscientization? COVID-19 has disrupted face-to-face organizing tactics for progressive movements globally, making it necessary to branch out to more mediated forms of grassroots political organizing. In this article, we explore how sound might be
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employed to invoke an imagined working-class community across ethnic, gender and generational divides against a backdrop of crisis and corruption on the structural level. Through a close listening of a South African radio drama, 'Plague in the Time of King Kapital and Queen Corona' (KKQC), we find that the use of sound enables a worldmaking that is both attuned to structural inequities and imagines a utopian, solidaristic working-class community. KKQC offers a case of worldbuilding and political conscientization through radio drama that is relevant to understanding the possibilities of the genre in the contemporary South African context." (Abstract)
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"This article provides a case study of an information campaign directed at people of Somali decent living in the worst hit district of Oslo, the capital of Norway. The Somalis were the immigrant group most affected by the COVID-19 in Norway during the first wave of the pandemic. The campaign used se
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lected Somali-speaking ‘ambassadors’ as well as videos and network methodology to reach those within the Somali population who are least integrated into Norwegian society. The lessons learned from this case may both inform the theory of information campaigns and provide practical lessons learned for other groups in later high-risk information-need situations." (Abstract)
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"The book goes beyond critiques of the marginality of African approaches in media and communication studies to offer scholars the theoretical and empirical toolkit needed to start building critical corpora of African scholarship and theory that places the everyday worlds, needs and uses of Africans
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first. Decoloniality demands new epistemological interventions in African media, culture and communication, and this book is an important interlocutor in this space. In a globally interconnected world, changing patterns of authority and power pose new challenges to the ways in which media institutions are constituted and managed, as well as how communication and media policy is negotiated and the manner in which citizens engage with increasing media opportunities. The handbook focuses on the interrelationships of the local and the global and the concomitant consequences for media practice, education and citizen engagement in today’s Africa." (Publisher description)
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"When questioning the relationship between media, development, and democracy, especially in the ill-defined “Global South,” it’s important to go beyond the commonly held meta-narratives that frame these concepts as common sense. In a quest to investigate alternative characterizations of these
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terms, this chapter uses Ghanaian political economist Lord Mawuko-Yevugah’s (2014) theoretical framework of “developmentality” to explain how development has been used as an ideological instrument to promote the Western liberal media model in the “Global South.” Using a case study of Malawi, which is heavily dependent on foreign aid from the same countries who have defined and promoted this liberal media model aboard, raises important questions about a media model that is characterized by high objectivity and political neutrality on one side, but subjects countries to high levels of competition and free market principles on the other. By outlining the temporal sequence of events that have unfolded since the arrival of missionary media in the 1800s, the presence of international donors and the rise in non-governmental organizations, this chapter reveals how certain ideologies and practices have been legitimized through development to preserve the unequal balance of power between the “Global South” and their former colonial powers." (Abstract)
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"This article focuses on state-media relations and the shifts in the overall media landscape in Kenya. Drawing on a political economy approach to media operations in Kenya, it argues that while there are competing meanings over what constitutes "news values", "editorial independence", and "critical
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media", changes in political regimes and unclear media regulations contribute to political and/or corporate interference on media coverage of corruption and political impunity. This renders media operations problematic at the normative and operational levels. The discussion situates these arguments within the contexts of "policy laundering" and "critical junctures", seeking to establish whether the shifting media landscape is a function of increased information and communication affordability or, instead, an indication that critical media are on the decline. Overall, the article provides an assessment of key temporal periods that have shaped media regulatory frameworks to show how political and/or corporate interests have influenced journalistic practices and editorial independence over time and space." (Abstract)
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"As the most widespread and popular form of communication in the country, radio occupies an essential space in the deliberation and the construction of public opinion in South Africa. From just a few state-controlled stations during the apartheid era, there are now more than 100 radio stations, reac
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hing vast swathes of the population and providing an important space for citizens to air their views and take part in significant socio-economic and political issues of the country. The various contributors to this book demonstrate that whilst print and television media often serve elite interests and audiences, the low cost and flexibility of radio has helped it to create a ‘common’ space for national dialogue and deliberation. The book also investigates the ways in which digital technologies have enhanced the consumption of radio and produced a sense of imagined community for citizens, including those in marginalised communities and rural areas." (Publisher description)
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"This book places television in Africa in the digital context. It addresses the onslaught of multimedia platforms, digital migration and implication of this technology for society. The discussions in the chapters contained in this book encompass a wide range of issues such as digital disruption of t
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elevision news, internet television and video on demand platforms, adaptations, digital migration, business strategies and management approaches, PBS, consumption patterns, scheduling and programming, evangelical television, and many others." (Publisher description)
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"The objective of this case study is to analyse the current institutional and regulatory framework of Tanzania to understand how it reflects the principles and nature of collaborative regulation. The case study also highlights areas of strength and possible improvements as Tanzania journeys towards
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digital transformation and collaborative regulation, enabling it to seize opportunities and address challenges. The analysis and results are based on publicly available information (reports, legal acts, studies) and information obtained during interviews with stakeholders from Tanzania (see Box below on the methodology of the ITU Collaborative Regulation Case Studies). Gathering information from different perspectives spotlights strengths and opportunities for the country, while identifying areas for further consideration that could bring Tanzania into the group of G5 countries." (Page 2)
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"[...] this book explores the complex construction of democratic public dialogue in developing countries. Case studies examine national environments defined not only by state censorship and commercial pressure, but also language differences, international influence, social divisions, and distinct va
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lue systems. With fresh portraits of new and traditional media throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia, authors delve into the essential role of the media in developing countries. Case studies illuminate the relationship between the State and the media in Russia, as well as the challenges faced by journalists working in Kurdistan. Further cases reveal bureaucratic censorship of books in Brazil, regulatory dilemmas in Australia, state policies in post-colonial Malawi, and the potential of oral culture for the strengthening of democratic conversation. Media, Development and Democracy brings the liberal democratic media model into new terrains where some of its core assumptions do not hold. In doing so, the authors' collective voices illuminate pressing issues facing our current global dialogue and our liberal and democratic expectations concerning communications and the media." (Publisher description)
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"The study aims to gather information and develop a better understanding of the community radio landscapes in different parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, in order to identify needs, opportunities and potential partners for developing a programme of support for community radio on the continent. The envisa
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ged programme of support should be based on a productive model that takes into account the range of circumstances in Sub-Saharan Africa, its subregions as well as the selected countries. This report presents a descriptive analysis of the community radio landscape in 11 francophone, lusophone and anglophone countries from West, East and Southern Africa." (Purpose of the study, page 12)
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"This editorial introduces the theoretical framework, methodological approach and comparative themes of the Special Issue on 'Somali Diaspora and Digital Practices: Gender, Media and Belonging'. The Special Issue proposes to connect the notion of the Somali diaspora to recent advancements in communi
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cation technologies, exploring the ways in which the Somali, specifically Somali women, keep in touch locally, nationally and transnationally through different forms of everyday digital practices. In particular for Somali migrant women, the use of digital media is highly embedded in their gendered roles as mothers, daughters, reunited wives, students and professionals, who keep the ties with the homeland and diaspora communities in diversified as well as collective ways. The close analysis of empirical findings across different sites in Europe shows multi-sitedness, generation and urban belonging as central features. These issues emerge as findings from a large ethnographic fieldwork carried out across European cities (Amsterdam, London and Rome).1 Ethnography offers an essential contribution in understanding social media practices as situated in specific social, geographical and political contexts, taking into account the intersectional dynamic of factors including gender, race, ethnicity, generation, religion and sexual orientation." (Abstract)
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"In this book, Leah Komen explores the impact of mobile telephony on the lives of people in rural Kenya. The book analyses the outcomes of complex intersections and interactions between mobile phones, individuals, and the broader society as distinct from the traditional cause-effect relationships in
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the discourse of development in the changing world. It subverts the traditional notion of synchronic development that ignores target populations' involvement in decision-making and sees development from the lens of developed economies where information and communication technologies like mobile telephones have originated. Komen's analysis advances a diachronic type of development that focuses on human technology's interrelationships instead of the synchronic model that privileges technology as engendering social transformations and development. The diachronic model is fundamentally Maendeleo, a Swahili term denoting process, participation, progress, and growth, and views social transformations and development as an interaction between mobile telephony users and their specific contexts. The book argues that the mobile phone has become an increasingly personalised device. It encourages a sense of community through the sharing of the device by multiple users, promotes co-presence and interpersonal communication, enhances kinship ties and social connectedness, and creates new ways of organising and conducting everyday socioeconomic activities. However, it also can disintegrate relationships and remodel some." (Publisher description)
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