BY DAYO ADESULU
In its quest to strengthen regional journalism, Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa has empowered financially some community media organizations in Africa to boost news reporting in the face of COVID-19.
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 Nigeria, Kenya 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.
Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA) and the Ford Foundation believe that independent, local journalism has a critical role to play in providing accurate information about preventing and managing COVID-19 in communities.
They pointed out that 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 this regard, the BMIA-CMF has awarded the Institute for Media and Society in Nigeria a grant. The Conversation Africa in South Africa and the Kenya Community Media Network 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 COVID-19 public service campaign.
Speaking in this regard, Erana Stennett, Director, Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa, said: “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.”
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Also speaking, Innocent Chukwuma, the 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.”
On his part, Dr Akin Akingbulu, Executive Director, Institute for Media and Society, said: “At such a time as this when a pandemic challenges individual and collective capacity, this initiative helps to uplift national institutions and processes.
”Developing and activating the capacity of community journalists to engage natural resources management will refuel the media and re-energize governance far into the post – Covid-19 era.”
The five organizations that will receive BMIA Community Media Fund grants are:
Nigeria
- The Institute for Media and Society
The Institute for Media and Society project focuses on promoting better governance, transparency, and accountability in natural resources management at the grassroots level in six local government areas in five states in Nigeria, through training, reporting, production, and dissemination of content. The project will be implemented in collaboration with Nigeria Community Radio Coalition and five community radio stations.
Kenya
- The Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK)
The Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) is a national association for women journalists committed to enhancing the status of women in Kenya and Africa. AMWIK’s project seeks to build upon their previous grant to strengthen the capacity of citizens and community media journalists to produce and distribute radio documentaries covering local development in Kenyan counties.
.Friends of Lake Turkana (FoLT)
Friends of Lake Turkana (FoLT) is a community trust focused on rights, resources, and environmental advocacy, working to foster social, economic, and ecological justice in Turkana. Through their grant, FoLT will train young women in four sub-counties of Turkana, focusing on citizen journalism. The training will enable young women to produce and facilitate interactive radio programs on three radio stations and take part in radio listening clubs.
- Mtaani Community Based Organization
Mtaani Community Based Organization is a non-profit organization supported by volunteers. Mtaani will use its two radio community radio stations (Radio Domus FM and Mtaani Radio) to promote transparency and accountability by providing relevant information to communities to improve public participation and understanding of the county development planning process. Mtaani CBO will build upon an earlier BMIA-CMF grant and produce radio programs and facilitate public forums to enable the community to participate and provide feedback on development in Kajiado and Nairobi counties.
South Africa
- Bush Radio
Bush Radio is a pioneering community radio station in South Africa, renowned for its active role in fighting the apartheid regime and promoting democracy. Through the grant, Bush Radio will train reporters from the ten largest community radio stations in the Western Cape Province on financial reporting and local government budgetary processes. Bush Radio will also support the production of programs including news bulletins, reports and analysis.
Recipients of the BMIA-CMF COVID-19 Emergency Response grants are:
Kenya
- Kenya Community Media Network (KCOMNET)
Kenya Community Media Network specializes in the development of community media, focusing on community radio, resource centers and newsletters. Through their grant, KCOMNET proposes to work with community radio stations to broadcast content on local issues around COVID-19. In addition, they will set up fact-checking desks in six radio stations.
South Africa
- The Conversation Africa
The Conversation Africa is an independent source of news and views from the academic and research community, delivered directly to the public. The Conversation Africa project will focus on disseminating evidence-based content to communities across South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria through WhatsApp in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The BMIA Community Media Fund was established in 2015. The fund’s grants, awarded over two years, aim to elevate voices from local communities and further the development of citizen journalism and community reporting on financial and economic issues. To date, 12 community media organizations in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa have received grants through the fund.