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Radio for Peacebuilding Africa

2013 rfpa awards held in kigali


The Master of Ceremonies welcoming participants

Kigali, 19th November 2013: Search for Common Ground, an international non-governmental organisation,  recognized today for the fourth time African journalists for their high quality radio programmes that contributed to promoting peace and tolerance on the Africa continent.  The Awards Ceremony were hosted in Kigali, Rwanda at the Umubano Hotel on November 19, 2013. The Ceremony brings together the three award-winning journalists, who are coming from Burundi, Ghana, and South Africa. The competition, which was open to all radio journalists in Africa, was organised as part of Search for Common Ground’s Radio for Peacebuilding Africa Project (RFPA). This project aims to strengthen the professionalisation of African media practitioners to provide accurate, credible, balanced and useful information to the populations.

For this edition of the RFPA Awards, three categories were awarded: Youth, Gender, and the Jury’s Special Award.

For more on the winners, and to listen to their programs, click here.

Latest RFPA Evaluation Released

In January 2010, Search for Common Ground (SFCG) launched the third phase of the Radio for Peacebuilding Africa (RFPA) project, which has been running since 2003, with support from the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project is a combination of a web-based resource (www.radiopeaceafrica.org) for journalists, which provides guidebooks, sample programs, bi-weekly updates and annual awards competitions with in-country programming in eight countries where SFCG runs national programs. The objectives of this phase were to further strengthen the professionalization of African media practitioners to provide accurate, credible, balanced and useful information to the populations they serve and also to reinforce the skills and motivation of government authorities to effectively communicate on key policies to their constituents. The final evaluation was conducted externally and data collection consisted of an extensive desk review, an online survey, measuring web-based resources, interviews with SFCG headquarters staff, and interviews key stakeholders on two field missions which took place in May and June 2013 in Guinea and Burundi, respectively.

Click here to read the final report.


RFPA

Search for Common Ground launched RFPA in January 2003 aiming to provide a resource for African journalists to produce radio programming that furthers peacebuilding.  To this end, RFPA created a project website (hyperlink: www.radiopeaceafrica.org), guidebooks, trainings, and other resources for African radio journalists.

Beginning in 2007, SFCG shifted the RFPA approach to complement these continent-wide resources with targeted programming in eight countries where SFCG has operational presence, namely: Angola, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone. 

RFPA is now in its third three-year phase, working towards an overall goal of improving the population’s access to and understanding of information about policies and decisions that affect their lives. It has three primary objectives:

  • To further strengthen the professionalisation of African media practitioners to provide accurate, credible, balanced, and useful information to the populations that they serve; 

  • To reinforce the skills and motivation of government authorities to effectively communicate on key policies to both the media and their constituents; and

  • To promote the production of and access to programmes that engage media and civil society around conflict and peacebuilding issues

Our History of Success

RFPA has more than 3,000 members representing 100 countries, across Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. Having produced 7 guidebooks with over 4,800 downloads, carried out more than 90 workshops, and provided coaching and technical assistance to local radio station personnel, RFPA has contributed to significant improvements in the media landscape. Achievements made over the last seven years include having:

  • Built constructive relationships and reached new levels of cooperation between the government, media, and civil society.

  • Increased the capacity of radio stations to accurately cover reforms addressing the underlying causes of war

  • Raised targeted governments’ commitment to using strategic communication

  • Achieved an increase in the general public’s access to policy information, especially policies related to poverty-reduction and development

RFPA has made significant strides in using media to foster communication between policy makers and civil society. During this time, these relationships have transformed, with civil society organizations in targeted sectors taking on roles not only as funding recipients and watchdogs but in direct partnership with government officials.  As a result, the population has reported feeling more ownership over policies, having greater confidence in the government and in its reforms, and finding better socially contextualised outcomes. 

SFCG greatly appreciates the generous support of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for this project.