Development Broadcasting Unit - Malawi

Development Broadcasting Unit (DBU) has established a network of Radio Listening Clubs (RLCs) who are supported through training and mobilisation activities to generate content for a 50-part radio series called 'Kanthu N'Khama'. The 30-minute weekly programme consists of three main segments:

1. "Village Voice" - in which the RLC presents through drama, music, poetry and prose, a priority problem the members have identified after community consultations: the village voice is an invitation to a service provider to fill the gap; this is played to the appropriate service provider who is then invited to visit the community.
2. "Dialogue" - which takes place between the service provider and the community, facilitated by the DBU facilitators, where a plan of action is agreed upon.
3. "Action Update" - recorded by the RLC of progress made to date: lack of progress (and steps taken to get action) as well as successful project outcomes are broadcast. This process is then edited for a national audience with a message that is meant to increase the practice of good governance and accountability by communities and service providers.

The project has also implemented a number of additional activities, including training in rural animation techniques and communication planning models to strengthen capacity within Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) for development concerned programming and community access. Thus the creation of the DBU as a repository for such capacity within the institution.

The idea was to create democratised structures at three levels:

• Institutionally - within the MBC (the unit is part of the MBC structure), by providing the broadcaster with capacity for locally generated material
• At the community-level - through the RLCs and their organisation by providing them with hardware and opportunities to participate in national information flows. Access to and management of their own information and communication technology (ICT) has also been an important catalyst for increasing the assertiveness of the community.
• Nationally - by broadcasting case studies for other service providers and communities to emulate and so agitate for policy change. In this way, using ICT for a multitiered impact.

Rights, Political Development, Technology.

The rationale for the project lay in the ratification of the Communications Bill in 1998, which paved the way for the state broadcaster, MBC, to operate in accordance with democratic principles, including the participation of civil society in determining the content of broadcast material. RfD aims, therefore, to work with MBC to democratise their communication structures. The structures will provide the corporation with a sustainable resource through which community-generated programmes will be produced. This will encourage a participatory, needs-based approach to communication and support democratic development through creating effective dialogue between civil society, the media and politicians.

Through its first project (the Civic Education programme), the DBU has provided 30 communities with leadership and participation management skills, basic rights training and basic radio production skills which has led to more than 200 dialogues between these communities and about 60 service providers drawn from the public and private sector and civil society at large. In approximately 60% of cases these dialogues have resulted in the extension of service or an amendment in policy. The more than 100 radio programmes produced and broadcast by the DBU so far has also led to the establishment of a further 35 self-initiated RLCs across the country.