Agenda Radio Programme

The project objectives are to:

• provide information to women in South Africa in an accessible form, using their mothertongue and plain language, on issues of interest to them;
• repackage information being compiled and disseminated to Agenda journal readers and subscribers for a broader audience who are currently not being reached by the journal;
• help develop the capacity of community radio stations to broadcast issues of interest to women in their constituencies;
• provide a conduit for information to be channelled through this programme from other agencies which will inform women of their rights in terms of the new constitution; and
• provide an opportunity for Agenda to develop capacity to produce relevant educational and informative material for women to develop their capacity to advance gender equality - an objective contained in the mission statement of the organisation.

The project produces a weekly 15-minute pre-production news programme on gender, including:

• the repackaging of information and articles published in the Agenda journal into short news items;
• providing translations of the copy from English into Zulu, Sotho, and Xhosa;
• sourcing of additional current relevant information from other media;
• inviting other information players and agencies with a commitment to gender equality to provide information for inclusion in the news dispatches; and
• the distribution of the materials to the community radio stations that form part of the gender programme.

In order to enhance the programme, Agenda has developed community outreach projects to give community radio stations an opportunity to interact directly with the gender related non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, and government departments in their areas. The outreach also aims to assist community radio stations to use the Agenda material effectively. In addition, annual workshops are held for community radio gender producers to be trained on gender issues. The participants are trained in the following: using Agenda material; strengthening the relationship Agenda has with radio stations; developing a gender policy for their stations; and sharing experiences of working with Agenda copy and the problems they encounter.

A manual, which was produced after the first workshop, is given to the participants. The manual includes information on gender and women's issues for community radio - how women are represented, best practices as to how the Agenda material can be used, localising the information, generating debate, and talking about taboo issues. The manual is designed to act as a reference source after the workshop.

According to the Agenda, they have never advocated exclusive use of audio CDs as a distribution strategy for gender programming as they feel that it is important that community radio stations have ownership of the information that they receive. This means that the stations are better able to localise the content so that it is a true reflection of their local communities. However, they have begun to develop CDs for distribution to add information and sound bites to support the written information, providing stations with audio that can be used to add value to their broadcasts.

Click here to read transcripts in English, Zulu, Sotho, and Xhosa

Women, Gender.

The following are examples of Agenda’s work with radio stations:

• Maputaland Community Radio: Agenda, together with Maputaland Radio, held a Community Outreach Project (COR) themed Domestic Violence which took the format of an open forum. During the discussions it was realised that domestic violence continues to be a huge problem in their areas, which has led to child prostitution and drug abuse. Agenda encouraged the communities to use resources, such as radio stations that are available to them to tackle issues that affect their communities.
• Radio Maritzburg: Agenda, together with Maritzburg Radio, held a workshop, themed HIV, Gender, and Treatment, which took the format of a panel discussion. The event was attended by women's organisations who revealed that the organisations had similar problems. They decided amongst themselves to come together and form one body that would address their problems. In addition, this initiative opened the way for the women working in this field to network.