Well Women Media Project

Based in Hargeisa, Somaliland, the national production team of the project mixes and edits programme materials after gathering information from audience groups throughout the regions, using surveys and interviews in order to provide a full picture of the issue in their programmes. The organisers say that, while the project's focus is on women's health and well being, it also incorporates issues affecting the whole community. Issues addressed in the programme so far include girls' rights to education, orphans' rights to inheritance, young peoples' sexuality, HIV/AIDS, malaria, animal husbandry, and income generation for women.

HIV/AIDS, Domestic Violence, Female Genital Mutilation, Birth Spacing.

In the Somali-speaking Horn of Africa region Saxan Saxo or 'Fresh Breeze' has produced 2 series for broadcast on the BBC Somali Service. Saxan Saxo first went on air in June 1999, broadcasting twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays and reaching a potential audience of 11 million in Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, and Eastern Kenya. The first series of 20 programmes explored the issue of female genital mutilation and the second series of 5 programmes explored HIV/AIDS. The series used drama, songs, poems, educational interviews, vox pop, and studio discussions to address these issues. In January 2004 Saxan Saxo II began its second series of weekly broadcasts on the BBC Somali Service and on other regional networks.

In the Great Lakes region, organisers produced a radio programme called Urunana or 'Hand in Hand', which is written and produced in Kigali, Rwanda. The programme consists of a 10-minute drama, followed by a 5-minute agony-aunt slot (Umahoza) that highlights the issues raised by the drama. The production team is supported by audience researchers, who regularly gather information through surveys and focus groups to ensure that the programme is driven by the needs of the audience.