commbox East & Southern Africa

Can the TV Makeover Format of Edutainment Lead to Widespread Changes in Farmer Behaviour and Influence Innovation Systems? Shamba Shape Up in Kenya

Graham Clarkson, Chris Garforth, Peter Dorward, George Mose, Carlos Barahona, Francisco Areal, MacKenzie Dove

Land Use Policy, volume 76 (2018), pp. 338-351

"Edutainment, the combination of education with entertainment through various media such as television, radio, mobile phone applications and games, is increasingly being used as an approach to stimulate innovation and increase agricultural productivity amongst smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Afri ... ca. Shamba Shape Up, a widely publicised makeover reality TV programme, is an example of edutainment that has received considerable attention, and airs in three countries in East Africa where it is estimated to be watched by millions of viewers. There is no published academic research on the influence of makeover television formats on innovation systems and processes in smallholder agriculture. Using an Agricultural Innovation Systems approach, this paper explores how makeover edutainment is influencing smallholder farmer innovation systems together with the effect this is having on smallholder farms. In the absence of previous research, it articulates a Theory of Change which draws on research traditions from mass communication, agricultural extension and innovation systems. Data came from two large scale quantitative (n=9885 and n=1572) surveys and in-depth participatory qualitative research comprising focus group discussions, participatory budgets, agricultural timelines, case studies and key information interviews in Kenya. An estimated 430,000 farmers in the study area were benefiting from their interaction with the programme through increased income and / or a range of related social benefits including food security, improving household health, diversification of livelihood choices, paying school fees for children and increasing their community standing / social capital. Participatory research showed SSU enhanced an already rich communication environment and strengthened existing processes of innovation. It helped set the agenda for discussions within farming communities about opportunities for improving smallholder farms, while also giving specific ideas, information and knowledge, all in the context of featured farm families carefully selected so that a wide range of viewers would identify with them and their challenges. Broadcasts motivated and inspired farmers to improve their own farms through a range of influences including entertainment, strong empathy with the featured host farm families, the way ideas emerged through interaction with credible experts, and importantly through stimulating widespread discussion and interaction amongst and between farmers and communities of experts on agricultural problems, solutions and opportunities. The fact that local extension workers also watched the programmes further enhanced the influence on local innovation systems. The findings indicate that well designed makeover edutainment can strongly influence agricultural innovation processes and systems resulting in impact on the agricultural production and behaviours of large numbers of smallholder farmers." (Abstract) more

Public Engagement in Malawi Through a Health-Talk Radio Programme ‘Umoyo Nkukambirana’: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation

Deborah Nyirenda, Tamara Chipasula Makawa, Chapita, Greyson, Chisomo Mdalla, Nkolokosa, Mzati et al.

Public Understanding of Science, volume 27, issue 2 (2018), pp. 229-242

"Radio is an effective source of health information in many resource poor countries. In Malawi, 53% of households own radios however few radio programmes in Malawi focus on health issues in the context of medical research. An interactive health-talk radio programme ‘Umoyo nkukambirana’ was intro ... more

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Chinese Media Engagement in South Africa

Dani Madrid-Morales, Herman Wasserman

Journalism Studies, volume 19, issue 8 (2018), pp. 1218-1235

"China’s footprint in Africa’s media sector over the last decade has reached dimensions that make it impossible to go unnoticed. In South Africa, one of the countries where this imprint is most diversified, Chinese media have been engaged in a varied range of activities, including content produc ... more

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Digital Inclusion: An International Comparative Analysis

Massimo Ragnedda, Bruce Mutsvairo, Gerard Goggin (eds.)

Lanham: Lexington Books (2018), xx, 223 pp.

"The volume examines the risks and opportunities of a digital society characterized by the increasing importance of knowledge and by the incessant rise and pervasiveness of information and communication technologies (ICTs). At a global level, the pivotal role of ICTs has made it necessary to rethink ... more

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Speech and Society in Turbulent Times: Freedom of Expression in Comparative Perspective

Monroe Price, Nicole Stremlau (eds.)

Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press (2018), xix, 334 pp.

"This volume explores how societies are addressing challenging questions about the relationship between expression, traditional and societal values, and the transformations introduced by new information communications technologies. It seeks to identify alternative approaches to the role of speech an ... more

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Participatory Communication, Theatre and Peace: Performance as a Tool for Change at the End of Conflict

Valentina Baú

Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, volume 44, issue 1 (2018), pp. 34-54

"This article presents insights on a participatory theatre initiative implemented in Kenya, with the aim of understanding the changes that were initiated towards the re-establishment of peace between communities. The project was carried out in the aftermath of the post-election violence that took pl ... more

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Ugandan Women Online: A Quantitative Survey on Digital Literacy in Uganda

Pollicy;Internews (2018), 21 pp.

"We found that knowledge around digital security amongst women in Kampala is quite low. A high proportion of women have been victims of cyberbullying without any obvious routes to seeking justice against perpetrators. There is an urgency for law enforcement and government to hand down stricter penal ... more

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The Plight of the Private Press During the Zimbabwe Crisis (2010–18)

Pedzisai Ruhanya

Journal of African Media Studies, volume 10, issue 2 (2018), pp. 201-214

"This study critically examines how the private press in Zimbabwe survived during periods of economic and political crises. In year 2010, the Zimbabwe media fraternity saw the re-opening of Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) after closure in 2003 and the emergence of the NewsDay, published by t ... more

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Les civic tech en Afrique: Citoyens et technologies pour dynamiser la démocratie. Premier bilan au Bénin, au Kenya, au Sénégal et en Tunisie

Philippe Couve, Edem Gbetoglo et al.

CFI (2018), 62, 25 pp.

"Dans ces quatre pays africains (Bénin, Kenya, Sénégal, Tunisie) où l’étude a été réalisée, il apparaît qu’à l’origine des civic tech se trouvent le plus souvent des citoyens et des citoyennes engagés, désireux de traduire leur frustration, et parfois leur colère, devant le déca ... lage observé entre l’affirmation officielle de principes démocratiques et une réalité de terrain assez éloignée des discours. Pour la grande majorité d’entre eux, les initiateurs de ces actions ont suivi des parcours universitaires exigeants et connu des expériences à l’étranger. Les hommes sont très largement majoritaires, à l’exception du Kenya où les femmes sont presque aussi nombreuses que les hommes. Elles considèrent toutefois qu’elles ne se trouvent pas sur un pied d’égalité, notamment lorsqu’il s’agit pour elles de prendre la parole publiquement ou de se lancer dans l’entrepreneuriat. Les difficultés d’une mobilisation à grande échelle Les jeunes adultes (20-25 ans) qui s’investissent dans les civic tech s’engagent généralement pour exprimer une forme d’irritation face aux dérives liées à la corruption ou au manque de prise en compte de l’avis des citoyens dans les décisions politiques. De l’avis général des « doyens » (activistes des civic tech ayant plus de 6 ou 7 ans d’expérience) que nous avons interrogés, la jeune génération est très prometteuse, car mieux formée sur les nouvelles technologies et très mobilisée sur les objectifs de bonne gouvernance et de participation citoyenne. En termes d’audience et de développement, l’étude montre que, dans les quatre pays concernés, les acteurs des civic tech rencontrent le plus souvent des difficultés à mobiliser de larges communautés de citoyens. Ils peinent à faire entendre leur message dans des pays où l’illettrisme au sens littéral et au sens numérique sont importants. Il en résulte des actions qui mobilisent essentiellement un petit nombre de citoyens, à la fois très engagés et très motivés. En général, le système d’organisation des initiatives civic tech varie selon les projets : le degré de structuration est plus ou moins formel et dépend surtout de l’ancienneté des initiatives, de l’ampleur des financements collectés et, in fine, du nombre de participants actifs impliqués à temps plein. Lorsqu’une forme de professionnalisation de l’action est évoquée, beaucoup de nos interlocuteurs mentionnent la difficulté à recruter et à fidéliser des profils combinant sensibilité aux questions de redevabilité et de transparence, savoir-faire en matière de gestion de projet, capacités technologiques et maîtrise des techniques de communication, notamment sur les réseaux sociaux." (Résumé analytique) more

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Media, Conflict, and the State in Africa

Nicole Stremlau

New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (2018), xiii, 175 pp.

"Countries emerging from violent conflict face difficult challenges about what the role of media should be in political transitions, particularly when attempting to build a new state and balance a difficult legacy. Media, Conflict, and the State in Africa discusses how ideas, institutions and intere ... more

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In Media We Trust: Journalists and Institutional Trust Perceptions in Post-Authoritarian and Post-Totalitarian Countries

Alice N. Tejkalová et al.

Journalism Studies, volume 18, issue 5 (2017), pp. 629-644

"Trust is a societal value that is difficult to gain and easy to lose. This article deals with the levels of trust that journalists working in eight post-authoritarian and post-totalitarian countries (Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Latvia, South Africa and Tanzania) have i ... more

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Makutano Junction: A Village Soap Opera for Kenyan TV. An Interview with Producer and Mediae.org Director and Co-Founder David Campbell

Ben Stringer, David Campbell

Architecture and Culture, volume 5, issue 1 (2017), pp. 99-113

"Makutano Junction is an ‘edutainment’ soap opera made for local TV stations in Kenya and other East African countries. The show is about a fictional peri-urban village and the people who live in it. The program is made in Kenya, but was devised and is produced by Mediae, a UK based company that ... more

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Tabloid Journalism in Africa

Brian Chama

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2017), x, 216 pp.

"This book provides a timely and important summary of tabloid journalism in Africa, which clearly shows how tabloids in the African context play a unique role in the democratization process. Prior to this book, very little was known about how tabloid journalists operate in Africa. The book first exp ... more

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The Political Economy of the Media in Malawi: News Coverage of Agricultural Input Subsidies

Anthony Mavuto Gunde

African Journalism Studies, volume 38, issue 1 (2017), pp. 19-39

"In this article, media coverage of the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) in Malawi as was reported in the Weekend Nation newspaper between 2005 and 2012 is examined from a critical political economy perspective. The FISP aimed at subsidising inputs for low income rural farmers. The Weekend Nation ... more

Sauti za Wananchi formative study: Understanding the Kenyan public opinion polling landscape

Kampala: Twaweza East Africa (2017), 6 pp.

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"Not Worth the Risk": Threats to Free Expression Ahead of Kenya’s 2017 Elections

Human Rights Watch (2017), 76 pp.

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Mobile Phone Usage in Turkana, Kenya

Ichiyo Habuchi

In: The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media

Gerard Goggin; Larissa Hjorth (eds.)

New York; London: Routledge (2017), pp. 475-487

Digital Environments: Ethnographic Perspectives Across Global Online and Offline Spaces

Urte Undine Frömming, Steffen Köhn, Samantha Fox, Mike Terry (eds.)

Bielefeld: transcript (2017), 267 pp.

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Voice or Chatter? Country Overview South Africa

Kathleen Diga

IT for Change (2017), 22 pp.