Guinea

Radio Programs - Talking Drum Studio

In recognition of the key role radio can play in managing and mitigating conflict, and informed from its extensive experience in the region, Search for Common Ground (SFCG) seeks to develop the capacity of local media organizations to contribute peace-building efforts through professional and reliable programming in cooperation with the Ministry of Information and local and international NGO partners. SFCG’s Talking Drum Studio in Conakry provides this support through a coordinated effort utilizing journalism training, technical support and the production of quality radio programming.

Professional Radio Journalism Training and Technical Support

SFCG capacity-building activities target community radio stations in the rural areas of Guinea. Journalists and producers from these stations acquire new knowledge and skills to create informative and balanced programming. The trainings also include a heavy focus on the causes to conflict, and the role of journalists during conflict. In addition, SFCG also facilitates technical training for radio station staff so that Guinean radio stations can offer high-quality and professional programmes to their listeners. As part of these trainings journalists have been prepared to begin broadcast of radio call-in shows around the electoral process. SFCG supports its partner radio stations throughout Guinea with programs to air, equipment and technical support. These materials aid smaller community radio stations that may otherwise lack the ability to upgrade their own capacity.

Radio Programming: Promoting Democracy and Good Governance

Guinea is arriving at a critical point, with recent incidences of political and social unrest creating a new urgency to address the issues of democracy and good governance. SFCG has been at the forefront of these efforts, using its radio production capacity to inform the population and support a peaceful transition.

SFCG produces short skits and a one soap opera directed at addressing democracy and governance issues. SFCG has negotiated broadcast on the state national radio station as well as private stations in Conakry and rural radio stations in six locations around the country. As elections preparations progress, SFCG will extend its governance-related activities to produce voter education spots and jingles as well as join efforts with CRS to enhance public participation in local and national debates.

To inform its democracy and governance programming, Talking Drum Studio organizes regular focus groups from key members of Guinean civil society and local leaders, where they are asked to discuss the issues that are current and most pressing in their own lives. These issues are then woven into the soap opera storylines by SFCG scriptwriters.

The program Wontanara focuses on supporting democracy and good governance. Wontanara is a Sousou word, used by people from all backgrounds, meaning 'We are on the same side' or 'We are United.' Accompanying Wontanara is a fifteen-minute weekly soap Kissidougou Feu N'est Pas Incendie (A Fire is not Always Destructive), addressing human rights, corruption, governance, and HIV/AIDS.

Radio Soap Opera: Feu N'est Pas Incendie

Our new Soap Opera is called "Feu N'est Pas Incendie, " which translates as "fire isn't always destructive" in the Manlike language, one of the local languages spoken in the Kissidougou region of the country.

The radio drama focuses on issues that are relevant within the communities of people who are reached by the broadcasts. For example, it addresses the importance of educating girls, who have long been victims of discrimination. It also addresses HIV/AIDS awareness and contributes to reducing tensions in families, created because of the discrimination and stigmatization of infected people in their own communities. Another example is the public health crisis caused by the large number of deaths from malaria, which in turn contributes to social conflicts between families in the community.

"Feu N'est Pas Incendie" has 10 main characters, who appear in the dramas, and address these key themes areas - sometimes in humorous and sometimes in dramatic ways - to stimulate positive behavior change and to provide positive role models.

The radio program is funded by UNICEF and is produced by SFCG-Guinea, in collaboration with a local drama group in Kissidougou that assists in contextualizing the themes, and the rural radio station in Kissidougou.

The programs are broadcast twice a week in two languages, French and Manlike. The series will have 39 episodes, 4 of which will be broadcast in both languages. The launch ceremony took place at the rural radio in Kissidougou town with the presence of local authorities (the prefet and the mayor), UNICEF representatives from Conakry in Kissidougou, and other members of different local organizations.