From 30 June to 1 July, Media for Community Empowerment delivered media training to staff at Tanzania League of the Blind (TLB) in Morogoro. TLB is a registered non-governmental organisation committed to improving quality of life for people with visual impairment in Tanzania through lobbying, research, education, awareness raising, vocational training and economic empowerment.
The training was organised by Mohammed Hammie and Godfrey Omari, TLB chairperson, and funded by End Water Poverty as part of the Claim Your Water Rights campaign, which aims to inform people of their rights and how to claim them. The objective was to teach TLB how to produce interactive content that enables people to express themselves and demand their rights.
The training sessions covered:
- Preparing topics radio programs
- Preparing strategic questions
- Recording 10-minute topical sound clips
- Documenting the radio shows
- Reflecting on the radio shows
- The objective of #ClaimYourWaterRights
- #ClaimYourWaterRights interview guidelines
Preparing topics for radio programs
In this session staff learned how to prepare an interactive radio program by analysing:
- The water issues in their area
- How many people are affected
- What impact does this have on the local community?
Preparing strategic questions
Staff learned how to prepare strategic questions that enable citizens express themselves confidently. The following interview guidelines were formulated by Media for Community Empowerment and End Water Poverty:
- How does the water/sanitation crisis affect your life?
- How does the water/sanitation crisis affect your family or community’s lives? Ask follow-up questions.
- Do you know that access to safe water and sanitation is one your human rights?
- Do you know that it’s the government’s responsibility to realize your human rights to safe water and sanitation?
- What action has the government taken to address these issues?
- What action have you or your community taken to resolve these issues?
Recording 10-minute topical sound clips
In this session staff learned how to prepare a 10-minute topical sound clip with communities facing water and sanitation challenges. This included:
- How to utilise different sources of information
- Professional recording technique
Documenting the radio shows
In this session staff learned how to document important information during the radio show, such as:
- How many calls received?
- How many text messages received?
- Names of texters/callers?
- Location of texters/callers?
- Key points from the calls and texts
Reflecting on the radio shows
- What went well?
- What did not go so well?
- Why did it not go so well?
- What helped?
- What hindered?
- What to improve?
After two days of training, we practiced airing a radio show so TLB can broadcast further programs without supervision. The following show aired on 2 July:
- Topic: ‘Water accessibility challenges for people with disabilities and how they can protect themselves against COVID-19’
- Radio Station: MUM FM Radio.
- Location: Morogoro
We received the following texts in response to the program:
Learning from participants
On the last day of the session we asked the participants what they learnt from the training:
Mr. Athumani Mohammed Kiambwe: “I never knew that water is my right, I will use the skills acquired here to educate others. Many people know that water scarcity is a common problem but they should also know to claim their rights from government officials.”
Mr. Fadhili Selemani: “I am really excited to learn new skills on how to produce radio shows that attract a wide audience. I loved the exercise of recording citizens’ voices as the reality is that their voices are often not heard by government officials.”
Mr. Christopher Mkumbi: “I have learnt so many things over these two days of training.”
Ms. Nemanja Kizungu: “Today is the first time I heard that water is a human right. I’m sure most people don’t know that water is their right, but through this training we will educate them. People are suffering a lot from the water crisis.”
