By Ryan Kelley

“Thank You!” a villager exclaims to the Andrew Lees Trust (ALT) team. He points over to his concrete house, “I built that from money I earned growing tomatoes! ALT Projet Radio taught me how to grow tomatoes!” The ALT team had never before met this man, but their encounter was a powerful reminder of the linkages between education, information, and empowerment that their radio network reinforces.

In 1999, ALT initiated a pilot-study to identify the informational needs of isolated rural communities in southern Madagascar. Their findings, along with widespread public appeal, led to the design of Projet Radio, a rural communications project utilizing radio as a means to improve the rural population’s access to information and education. The ensuing flood of broadcasted information and instruction has empowered these people to improve their lives.

Through nine years of donor funding, Projet Radio has established a radio network transforming communication throughout southern Madagascar, producing countless success stories similar to the one mentioned above. Now, ALT is revisiting the Projet Radio model, exploring new enterprise options in the hope of making it self-sustainable through generation of its own income.

Projet Radio was initially launched in Toliara, Madagascar’s largest and poorest province characterized by drought, poor transportation infrastructure, and limited health care and education for its people. In the past, Toliara has relied on traditional means of oral communication for the spread of information, particularly in market settings. When Projet Radio began, less than 10% of the population had a radio¹, and even fewer owned televisions and cell phones. This combination of geographic and informational isolation has dramatically inhibited regional development.

Projet Radio recognized the need for information communication, and furthermore, the benefits that multiple stakeholders would receive through increased informational flow into the Toliara region. In an effort to create synergy between stakeholders, ALT founded the Projet Radio “Rural Radio Network” with a three-pronged strategy combining the interested of stakeholders including rural communities, local NGOs (non-governmental organizations), service providers and government agencies, and FM radio stations. Projet Radio has devised this network in the interest of guiding members towards mutually beneficial action.

Three-Step Integration

The three prongs of ALT’s broadcast endeavor work in unison to bring about effective and comprehensive exposure to the Projet Radio system. Each group involved provides cohesive support to the broadcasting system, bringing together the powers of audience feedback and evaluation, equipment management, and airwave reliability to produce a seamlessly integrated economic catalyst.

In collaboration with broadcast efforts underway, 3,370 Village Listening Groups (VNG) in rural communities have 10-15 members listening regularly to broadcasts, identifying any lacking informational needs, assisting with program production, and providing feedback during evaluations. In exchange for their support and evaluation, VNGs receive solar-powered/hand-crank radios along with access to the information provided within the radio programs broadcasted. In addition to the focus and support groups spread across the province, 48 local “Partners for Communication and Information for Development” (PCID), comprised of NGOs, radio service providers, and government agencies, identify the informational needs and criteria for rural populations, produce educational radio broadcasts, and distribute the solar-powered and hand-crank radios to communities. PCIDs monitor the impact of the programs on the population, as well.

Beyond the studio, PCID members provide ongoing personal contact, training, and services essential for villagers to adopt the new behaviors and practices broadcasted in the programs. Twenty-two FM Community Radio Stations provide airtime for the project’s educational broadcasts in exchange for equipment enabling them to increase broadcast range and technical training.

Reciprocally, the radio network enhances the ability of PCID members to connect with their respective communities. Given the vast geographic and logistical challenges of physically visiting the communities within Madagascar, radio programs enable PCID partners to deliver and reinforce information within their target communities without the drawback of costly travel.

Economic Catalyst

This network has had significant impacts on communities throughout southern Madagascar and PCID member projects featured in the programs. There has been consistent evidence that communities with access to Projet Radio programming understand key development messages better than those without radio access.

The progress can be seen through evaluation of the results of various PCID partner projects in villages with radios. Among Projet Radio beneficiaries the impact has been significant: 89% of respondents cited radio as their main source of HIV/AIDS education²; 59% of adults enrolled in literacy classes cited radio as their main reason for enrolling³; 68% of women in villages with radios could name at least one birth control method, compared to 27% of women in villages without radios⁴; 39% of tree nursery customers were prompted to visit them by Projet Radio programming⁵; 28% more families in villages with radios make use of fuel-efficient cook stoves than in those without radios⁶; 14% more women in villages with radios reported that their children had been vaccinated for diseases such as malaria than those in villages without radios⁷; and finally, there was a 50% reduction in agent field-time cited by the PHBM project due to the efficiency and effectiveness of radio communication⁸.

These results, in conjunction with the involvement and effectiveness of partner projects, have increased public awareness of the Projet Radio endeavor. To date, Projet Radio educational and informational services reach approximately 700,000 listeners at less than one-dollar per-day, per-year, rendering the project cost effective and highly advantageous economically.

Having established the rural communications network with proven results, Projet Radio is now focusing on financial sustainability through revenue generating activities. The goal is to align the Radio Network with a business model and transition leadership to a Malagasy management team by 2011.

The financial and social benefits Radio Network partners received during Projet Radio’s first nine years have created an opportunity for the venture to be financially sustainable. Projet Radio is developing a business model in which PCID members will be charged annual fees based on the expected financial benefit they receive through the network’s programs and activities.

In addition, opportunities have arisen for Project Radio to offer a broader range of services to its audience. ALT is building expertise in communications campaigns and radio dramas, which stand to offer organizations more targeted and intensive communication techniques. These new services allow the PCIDs to work alongside Projet Radio’s expert staff, tailoring their communication methods to suit their specific business needs.

ALT Project Radio facilitates an effective and cost efficient network reaching hundreds of thousands of listeners and empowering local populations to improve their lives. The propensity of affordable, accessible information at hand through the Projet Radio mechanism has acted as an incredible economic catalyst for the regions and people within southern Madagascar. Its initiative, and subsequent demand for pertinent economic, health care, and educational services, will allow the network to generate its own income, whereby sustaining its flow of information far into the future. Through the power of efficient and effective communication, millions of lives are tuning in to progress and economic-activation.

Student editor: Justin Wheeler is an undergraduate at Cornell University and a member of the Class of 2011. Aside from editing articles for the Johnson School of Management's Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, Justin studies Communication and Applied Economics and Management. Justin hopes to pursue a career in the media or advertising worlds.

References:

1. World Bank. 1996 Madagascar Poverty Report
2. Metcalf, L., 2005 Assessment of Phase II of Project ‘Radio SIDA’ ALT: London & Madagascar
3. Lellelid, S., 2006 Literacy Evaluation Study Report ALT: London & Madagascar
4. Metcalf, L., 2005 Assessment of Phase II of Project ‘Radio SIDA’ ALT: London & Madagascar
5. Metcalf, L., 2006 d. Planting Trees And Sowing Sorghum: The Use of Radio by the Andrew Lees Trust’s Tree Nursery ALT: London & Madagascar
6. Metcalf, L., 2006 Improved Stoves Evaluation : London & Madagascar
7. Metcalf, L., 2005 Assessment of Phase II of Project ‘Radio SIDA’ ALT: London & Madagascar
8. Metcalf, L., Nicola Harford and Mary Myers., 2007 The Contribution of Radio Broadcasting to the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in Southern Madagascar. London.