Aug 14, 2008
Posted by Caitlin Cohen
Radio Sigida Joli (Building communities,
beautiful communities)
Imagine no
newspapers. Imagine your daily TV broadcasts
are all in German. You’ve never used the
internet, have no email account, and cannot
afford phone credit. One of the biggest
challenges to grassroots action in Mali is
simply communication! This summer MHOP
has started research for a program to bring the
voices of slum neighborhood residents into the
public arena by radio! With funding from
the Huntington Public Service Award this
project will help people discuss the problems
in their communities, innovative local
solutions, and concrete steps for getting
involved.
Adama Kouyate, a student at
the University of Bamako, is the principle
Malian intern on this project. He has
started a series of 10 focus groups in slum
neighborhoods of Bamako to figure out what
stations people are listening to, what stories
they want to tell, and the solutions they have
to share with each other. So far the idea
of radio has been incredibly well received by
these focus groups, and we look forward to
reaching as listening area of over 1 million
people next March!
