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2006 USAID Summer Seminar Series

August 3: Radio: A Post Nine-Eleven Strategy for Reaching the World's Poor
Panel: Joe Carney, Moderator
Speakers: Stephen Sposato, William Smith, Joan Mower
Presentation Materials: Radio: A Post Nine-Eleven Strategy for Reaching the World’s Poor (pdf,890kb)

Session Summary

Moderator, Joe Carney, Director EGAT Education introduced the session. Dr. Carney said a few words about the history of mass-communication from the early days of radio in which he was involved with several of the panelists and audience members, tracing the history of communications from radio to the cell phone and internet. He highlighted the topicality of the subject with several articles from the Washington Post that he had brought along.

Stephen Sposato, panel organizer and co-author of Radio: A Post Nine-Eleven Strategy for Reaching The World's Poor, also the title of today's Summer Seminar posed the questions "Why Radio," "Why Now." To better answer that question he read the following excerpts from Radio:… "from the Foreword…Over eight hundred million people go to bed hungry. Every day more than forty- thousand children around the world die of hunger and easily curable childhood diseases. Every five days more children die unnecessarily than in the terrible "tsunami" disaster. With the exception of Communist China, which continues to make great progress against hunger, more people are added to the list of hungry and malnourished each day. ……Some 4 billion people, or two-thirds of the world's population, survive on less than two dollars a day. ……Confronted by the daunting challenges of poverty and the alienation it breeds, international bureaucrats continue their ministry to the world's poor with technologies more often reminiscent of the 19th century than our own era of mass communications. Radio is yesterday's or even yesteryear's fad. … … The four- wheel drive vehicle is the delivery mechanism of choice for foreign assistance, costing upward of one hundred thousand dollars for select vehicles outfitted since nine-eleven with tinted bulletproof glass and armor, marrying 19th century locomotion with 20th century security."

The author/economist asks listeners to imagine they were in one of these donor purchased SUV vehicles. Your SUV arrives in the village after farmers have gone to the fields. The only people remaining are the elderly and children who greet your team with warm smiles and considerable excitement. Unfortunately you will have to return to the capitol before nightfall as the Ambassador has ordered all aid vehicles off the dangerous roads after dark. You are forced to return before the technical assistance mission can begin.

To further illustrate the problem of reach in donor funded activities Sposato points to chapter 3 of Radio where a hypothetical doubling of USAIDs agricultural budget to $400 million in 2002 is dissected. The authors of Radio want listeners to understand the purchasing power involved with traditional recommended training and visitation methods in agricultural extension as compared with the radio. Sposato analyses the costs assigning hypothetical per farmer costs to "reach" a farmer. At $1 per farmer 400 million farmers can be reached. Not a bad number but still a small percent of the world's poor. At $10 per farmer 40 million would be reached. But "get real" he challenges the listeners. At an only slightly more realistic $100 per farmer only 4 million farmers worldwide could be reached. But actual costs are still much higher. An agricultural extension project funded by USAID REAP considered highly successful spent $3000 for each farmer reached. For this amount only 133,000 farmers would be helped.

Compare this to radio. With a budget only slightly more than all of USAIDs agricultural expenditures the BBC reaches 65 million African listeners weekly with messages not only on agriculture but news, health, entertainment, civil society, business and other topics. BBC shortwave reaches 17 million Nigerians listeners with significant numbers of additional AM and FM listeners. The VOA reaches 94 million listeners worldwide in 53 languages with a budget less than half of USAIDs agricultural expenditures, 14 million in Nigeria alone. VOA broadcasts 22 hours a day, seven days a week.

Why radio? In addition to its low cost, a constant supply of electricity is not necessary to listen to the radio as with TV or the internet nor is literacy required. With electricity intermittent or unavailable in much of the developing world, costly TV production can result in missed shows and wasted money when the broadcast occurs while the grid is down.

Sposato than pointed to the general failure of the development project, a project which began in the optimism of the post-colonial era and the birth of a new international institutional framework the IMF, World Bank and other multi-lateral banks to finance development. It is ending in debt forgiveness, war and stagnation according to him. Sposato suggests that listeners unconvinced by their own observations turn to the documentation from such establishment figures as Noble laureate and former Chief Economist of the World Bank, Josef Stiglitz in his book Globalization and Its Discontents or William Easterly a Senior Economist in White Man's Burden for their very similar views on the world development situation and the ample documentation they provide.

Sposato goes on to emphasize a second factor in addition to a failure of reach in explaining the unrealized development project, a failure of engagement. He talks about the famous 1973 Tanzanian mass health campaign "Mtu Ni Afya" (Man is Health). The campaign not only provided scientific health information to villagers who knew little more than traditional superstitious explanations for adverse health outcomes but gave them simple measures they could accomplish on their own: air bedding, cover food, use individual drinking cups, among others. It also was a call to collective action on health. Villagers built 750,000 latrines as a direct result of the campaign, rid villages of stagnant water and disposed of waste. Improved health outcomes were documented. The author/economist suggests that Mtu Ni Afya should be interesting to us for reasons beyond its documented success using the radio. The campaign's success hinged in large part on the confidence the people had in the ruling party "Tanu" which had led the country through the independence struggle.

Without confidence in the broadcaster radio listening becomes an exercise in distraction not one of communication. People will not change complex and pleasurable behaviors like smoking or unprotected sex on the simple word of someone that it is bad for them. A great deal of trust along with other factors is necessary to bring people to this point. It is this trust which the donors have lost and which public diplomacy must address if the development project is to progress with our assistance. But propaganda can not win trust. For public diplomacy to succeed useful information with the welfare of the poor as its sole motive must be at the core of our development efforts: produced in conjunction with local communities, where possible, or with local input when not, disseminated through local channels as well as international broadcasters, clearly neutral and clearly without ulterior motivation.

We have put together a panel of representatives of USAID today to discuss USAIDs communication efforts. You will hear of efforts to promote media friendly policy reforms and to extend the internet, "the last mile." While we can praise the excellence of USAID's efforts and they are often times heroic we should ask the question are these efforts able to produce the type of programming and the reach of programming necessary to change the course of the development project?

Dr. William Smith - AED - see Session Materials

Joan Mower - International Broadcast Board of Governors, Training Director

Joan described the unique organizational structure governing the VOA, Radio Free Europe, Middle East Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia and Radio/TV Marti. The broadcasters are all under the Broadcasting Board of Governors (www.bbg.gov), an independent federal agency that oversees all U.S. nonmilitary international broadcasting and serves as the "firewall" between the USG-paid journalists and government agencies. The BBG is made up of four Democratic appointees, four Republicans and the Secretary of State, as an ex-officio member. The structure is further complicated by the fact that the Voice of America and Radio/TV Martis are under the federal civil service, but Radio Free Europe, Middle East Broadcasting, which runs Radio Sawa and Alhurra Television, and Radio Free Asia are non-profit corporations funded by the BBG. The BBG's mission is to promote freedom and democracy by providing accurate news and information to audiences around the world. The BBG also has a mandate to train international journalists. BBG has worked closely through the years with many agencies, including USAID which has given BBG millions of dollars to cover health, among other things.

Joan discussed the listening audience reached by of the U.S. broadcasters. VOA alone reaches more than 100 million people with 1,000 hours of programming weekly in over 40 languages. Joan went on to describe some of the fascinating developmental programming done by the VOA with USAID over the years. For example, USAID is currently supporting a popular youth-oriented health radio show in Nigeria, along with reporting centers in Kano and Abuja that focus on health reporting. USAID also funds broadcasting into Zimbabwe -- and VOA is the only independent source of news in that country. Other federal agencies, such as the State Department, also support enhanced broadcasting programs within the context of VOA's mission to deliver news and information. State provides money for special anti-narcotics coverage in Afghanistan, and special broadcasting to refugee camps in Tanzania. Over the years, VOA has creatively reached diverse populations on essential developmental topics. A sample of recent VOA programs can be found at (www.voanews.com).

QUESTIONS

Question: Could you expand on what we need to do, go get beyond confirmation bias and get the message through?

Response (Bill): One paper suggests that polarization in America is polarizing the media; Americans are deciding which stations to listen to. The only suggestion I can think of is to do research - not long studies - to figure it out. What does work is to get groups together. How to do this on a larger scale?

Response (Joan): I can reply with a couple of anecdotes. In the case of our Arabic TV going into the Middle East, we believe we are performing a valuable function. Judged by the reduced bias of Aljazeera, we think we have played a role in moving the Arab journalistic community along. Also, in Brussels, a new series is bringing Muslims together to discuss common problems. The motto "We listen to you. You listen to us" is a good one. We are trying to find a middle ground. Take a look at the U.S. Institute of Peace's paper on getting people together and broadcasting that.

Response (Steve): There's also the example of the program, "My Boss is a Woman," with a goal of sensitizing Middle Eastern audiences. While the program itself might not change the confirmation bias of all listeners towards women in the work place, it certainly introduces new ideas and begins a discussion. I recommend emphasizing creative engagement.

Response (Bill): It's possible to get the media more local. Finding: Credibility of stations.

Question: What about the format of the show itself, for example a talk show?

Response (Joan): We love call-in shows and we do them in virtually every language.

Response (Steve): Call-in is quite powerful. It doesn't have to be done at the actual time of the calls. You could have a call-in where the questions are dropped off at the local clinic and then addressed on radio. It can be very interactive. The possibilities are extraordinary.

Question: How do you stay independent of politics and keep on the cutting edge?

Response (Joan): BBG is a most unique agency, run by a balance of Democrats and Republicans, and we monitor very closely. We have a separate tech unit and received earmarked money from Congress to support efforts to work around the firewalls being set up in China. BBG is a very open agency. Anyone who'd like a tour is welcome.

Comment: Al Jazeera's development and their improved journalism are due to the fact that they are maturing, growing up.

Comment: You brought back the paradigm well, going from information to development. The problem is, information creates or generates demand for services. In one way, this is great. If we remember that, can expand the role of radio.

Question (Bill): I googled "strategic communications" and got a lot of information. Does anyone do this in the USG?

Response (Joan): Perhaps I should amend what I said. We do news and information, but depending on how "strategic communications" is defined, maybe we do it.

Response (Bill): Strategic communications is communications to achieve a specific objective. It's strategic because it influences a particular process.

Comment: This is an open question, which should be kept in mind.

Panel 2: Joe Carney, Moderator
Speakers: Mark Koenig, Nancy Lowenthal, Richard Martin, Dana Fischer, Noreen Janus, and Meg Gaydosik

Mark Koenig, DCHA/DG

Mark Koenig began his talk by making distinctions among three types of media development strategies: (1) developing independent media as an end; (2) using media as a means to communicate diverse development-related messages; and/or (3) combining these first two approaches to develop media campaigns that address specific issues - while concurrently developing local media capacities address those selected issues on a self-sustained basis.

In earlier decades, the second strategy of "media as a means" reflected perhaps the more broadly and traditionally understood media tactic within USAID, since many development programs have included communications components that employ media or other mechanisms to get messages to populations. For example, health programs have effectively devoted resources to use media or other communications channels to educate populations about prevention measures against HIV-AIDS, avian flu, water-borne diseases, and other health problems. Media campaigns have also been used to educate populations about such issues as environmental protection, election procedures, women's issues, legal and human rights, and many other issues.

Since the 1980s in Latin America, during the post-Communist transitions in Eastern Europe and Eurasia during the 1990s, and also in Africa, Asia, and more recently in the Middle East, USAID has also increasingly promoted the development of independent media and media enabling environments. This "media as an end" approach enhances the professionalism, editorial autonomy, breadth of coverage, production and distribution capacities, legal grounding, and financial self-sustainability of media outlets and mass communications systems.

USAID "media as an end" programs are tailored by country missions (within available budget constraints) to address the key needs of transitional media systems. The mix of assistance activities can be quite focused or alternatively more comprehensive, depending on the needs and "windows of development opportunity" presented by media systems in each assisted country. The general subcategories of assistance can be roughly summarized under the following four areas:

Raising the professional level of journalists, editors, and other media production workers through: undergraduate and especially mid-career training, consulting, building capacities of local media training institutions, and work with diverse sub-specialties, such as info-graphics, formatting, specialty reporting, talk show hosting, investigative journalism, etc., etc. (the list is long);

Media business development to help media become financially viable (thus enabling greater editorial independence). Business building activities include media management training, consulting, advertising sector development and capacity building of outlet ad departments, improved broadcast ratings services, print circulation audits, business planning, facilitation of needed loans or capital infusions, and cost cutting / fund-raising techniques in the case of public service or community media. Dr. Koenig noted well-documented statistical correlations found by the World Bank and other researchers between indices of independent media development and media advertising growth on the one hand -- and broadly diverse indicators of good governance as well as stronger economic growth that appear to result from more independent media systems.

Promotion of enabling environments for free(r) media through such as activities as training of media law experts, legislative drafting and advocacy for laws that better protect independent media, technical assistance to enable the privatization of previously state-owned media or their conversion to public service systems, etc. Association building of media sector CSOs and media industry lobbying groups to encourage development of domestic civil society organizations and training institutions to accomplish tasks 1-3 above during the assistance period and after the end of donor assistance.

Finally, Dr. Koenig noted an increased trend among different parts of USAID (Health, EGAT, Democracy & Governance) to add self-sustainability and capacity-building elements to media campaigns, so that country media systems will enjoy greater local capacities to engage in long-term reporting and public service attention to the pertinent health, education, democracy, governance, and other development issues, even after finite media campaign support from donors comes to an end. In effect, assistance approach #3 is becoming more prevalent.

Nancy Lowenthal, GH - see Power Point

Richard Martin, EGAT/I&E - Institutionalizing Development Radio in USAID

When I began in USAID, the center of gravity in USAID's support for radio had moved from the agriculture sector (that used radio to support ag-extension) to our education sector. In education, we had a strong core program testing and developing instructional radio services. The breakthrough success of the Nicaragua radio math project made us think that we were on to something that would really change the world and we thought that USAID should take the lead in advancing educational radio worldwide.

Since then, what has happened to radio in AID? I'd like to mention 8 events or trends that I have noticed:

1. AID closed its education sector and reassigned or eliminated the education officers who were a core "critical mass" in terms of advocating large scale, scientifically-designed educational radio interventions.
2. With the decline of AID resources in the agriculture and education sectors, health and population became the biggest users of radio.
3. As U.S. foreign policy changed from administration-to-administration, new sectors and programs appeared that made use of radio - democracy and governance and HIV/AIDS are examples.
4. Recently, branding and public diplomacy have become new priorities, staffed in many field missions by "communicators." This trend has confused mission staff (and Embassy public affairs officers) about the nature and importance of non-political development communication.
5. In projects using radio, the radio component is usually an ancillary activity (an afterthought), not a principal core activity. As a result, implementation of radio is often done by local in-country ad agencies, NGOs, or host governments and is substandard. Professional, scientific, state-of-the-art techniques are not used and experience is not accumulated or disseminated.
6. Since radio (or development communication in general) is now "cross-cutting", it does not have a home in one of our stovepipes. There is not a critical mass with staff, budget, and objectives to advance the state-of-the-art of development radio and advocate for more and better use of radio.
7. Agency programming has increasingly been driven by earmarks that require quick results measured by detailed indicators and benchmarks. As a result, radio interventions concentrate on very limited short term objectives. There has been little interest in building the capacity of indigenous radio broadcasting.
8. A gradual thinning of specialized technical personnel in the Agency has reduced our ability to design serious radio projects, which tend to be innovative, complex, and evidence-based.

One other recent development I have noticed in two different places in AID (which may or may not be a trend) is development communication resource centers with top flight communication professionals, housed in a single large sector program but open to buy-ins from other projects and partners.

In summary, my experience is that AID uses radio a lot, but we have a scattershot approach that reduces the quality and impact of our radio interventions. Even so, the fact that AID has made extensive use of radio throughout my 30 years demonstrates the power and coverage of radio in our countries. We wouldn't use it if it didn't work. Hopefully in the future we will be able to use radio in more concerted and professional ways to support development.

Dana Fischer, USAID/ India

Dana Fischer reported on the Technology Tools for Teaching and Training (T4) project implemented by EDC to improve the quality of primary education in India. The profile of Indian primary education remains grim, despite the omnipresent hype about India, the emerging regional powerhouse. The T4 project uses three tools: 1. interactive radio instruction(IRI); 2. group learning software and 3. video films. IRI is the most important component of the project. Working closely with State Departments of Education and teachers, programs were produced on "hard spots" -- concepts difficult to learn and teach in Science, Math and the Social Sciences (Karnataka) and a series of English is Fun programs in Chattisgarth and Jharkhand. . Evidence based research counts in India, and. rigorous monitoring and evaluation have been key to the success of the project. About 85,000 students in selected grades in around 900 schools were reached in the pilot phase of the effort across three states. When the results of the first impact evaluation of the pilot phase showed significant learning gains, the programs were scaled up the in the following school year to reach over 13 million Indian students. The radio broadcast lessons combined with teacher support have made instruction more interesting and effective for students. School enrollment has significantly increased in areas where broadcasts take place. Further scale-up by additional states is expected over the next two years.

Noreen Janus, EGAT/I&E - see Session Materials

Meg Gaydosik, E&E

Meg's presentation details how USAID supported media and social sector development programs worked together to stem trafficking problems in Ukraine. Ukraine had been identified as a source country, and local media were often instrumental in soliciting young women into the system. In the early to mid 1990's, advertising was a relatively new phenomena. Local newspapers often advertised jobs abroad - as house servants, dancers, waitresses or similar low skill employment opportunities. In economically depressed Ukraine, young women often saw these jobs as their only means to escape poverty.

IOM and other social transition organizations had researched and tracked these solicitations and determined that education was desperately needed - and that the media itself could also be used as the solution. USAID supported media development and social transition organizations jointly created television programming that profiled cases of real women and their stories. Large public service campaigns were created for print, television and radio warning young women about what they might face if they responded to these ads. The campaigns were designed to reach all demographics. Materials were widely distributed on a local, regional and national basis. The media supported the campaigns at no cost as nearly every community had someone who had been victimized. Public awareness about the trafficking system and how it worked dramatically increased.

Questions

Question: For Meg: Did you pay the local media in Ukraine?

Response: To the best of my knowledge, no. On the other hand, I wouldn't put every public service program or ad on the air for free.

Question: For Dana: I have concerns about the sustainability component. What ideas do you have about effective strategies to hand over, at local, state, or national level?

Response (Dana): A strategy to gain acceptance by the public education system should be built into an IRI progect from day one. In the case of T4, involvement of State Departments of Education and teachers was an intregal part of the development and testing of the learning modules. Rigorous monitoring and evaluation demonstrated their impact on learning and directly led to the decisians to scale-up the program with public funding covering all recurring costs.` But, that is not the end of the story. Next comes the challenge of ensuring that improved quality is not lost in what has become a massive scale-up now in four states.

Response (Bill): Indians do value data.

Comment (Bill): There is a difference between advertising (decision about a product choice) and communications. Advertising is effective because, in general, a product like Pepsi is available and it doesn't cost much. We've tried to look at development issues, learning as much as we can.

Response (Meg): In the world of communicating a message, we're also planting the idea of purchasing something no one could afford - different stages. There is a difference.

Response (Mark): USAID is working for economic self-sustainability. Media enables programming.

Response (Steve): In thinking about this, AID's media efforts first seemed to be like "Alice in Wonderland." But Dick brought me back to earth.

I appreciate all of you, the work you're doing, and the enthusiasm. We need to put the figures spent on communications in the context of the USAID budget, to look at total picture. Of the approximately $10-20 billion being spent annually (various years) for U.S. development assistance (DAC reported figures), only $100-300 million is going into communications. USAID is losing its communications vocation. What to do? Let's get active, show the value of what's being done.

Question: What are the next steps?

Response (Steve): We all need to help get things going, to continue this dialogue.

Back to listing of this year's seminars.

To view descriptions for the 2004 seminars, please click here. For 2003, click here.

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