With a coverage of 270Km Sq., Wajir Community radio has emerged as an effective platform for promoting grassroot accountability by airing local issues, providing an alternative source of information to official channels, and reflecting ethnic and linguistic diversity, primarily to marginalized pastoral communities.
Wajir community radio broadcasts to marginalized and nomadic communities, who lead a mobile lifestyle, conventional education and schooling is a challenge. This limits their access to information resulting in the region having one of the highest illiteracy levels. Radio plays a key role in delivering essential and effective information, especially to these communities who have insufficient access to vital, lifesaving information.
Through the DigiRedio platform, the station airs Makala Ya Tumaini every Thursday between 4-6pm. According to Halima Kahiya the Station Manager, the program has contributed to duty bearers and community members taking action to respond to the emerging issues arising from the prolonged drought.
“We managed to raise funds through contributions from the professional community in the county and received food donations from the shops in town and were able to provide 400 families”
O ne of her major success stories on accountability to affected populations, is when Wajir Sisters Group, a women’s group visited the radio station after listening to Makala Ya Tumaini and agreed to partner with them in a plan to mobilize donations for 400 needy households in the community.
“We managed to raise funds through contributions from the professional community in the county and received food donations from the shops in town and were able to provide 400 families”, says Halima.
One of the radio’s major contributions through the program is supporting the Ministry of Education in providing information to the community, especially children.
“Our motto is we are the Voice of the Voiceless,” states Halima. She further underlines the significant empowering role of the radio in the community. “Wajir Community Radio is strongly perceived by the community as a ‘teacher’ of sorts. The teacher that accompanies you,” she says.
To give voices to the voiceless Wajir Community radio that operates in a highly patriarchal community, realized that women least participated in the program since most of them do not own radios. They then adopted the Digiredio model of Makala Ya Tumaini Mtaani where they identified groups of women and take the radio to them on ground to allow them to participate in conversations that concern them.
