• Source: Radio for Peacebuilding Africa

Radio for Peacebuilding Africa (RFPA) was a program founded in 2003 by the international non-profit organization Search for Common Ground. Working on the assumption that radio is the most accessible form of mass communication in Africa, RFPA trained journalists in peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and acting on commonalities.
The countries served by RFPA were Angola, Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Somalia, Rwanda, Nigeria, Niger, Liberia, Kenya, Chad, the Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, and Cameroon.
RFPA was created by SFCG and was supported in part by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.




Mission


The founders of RFPA believed that radio broadcasters can affect some of the conflict and civil unrest that have affected African countries. However, they found that radio broadcasters exaggerated the violence facing African societies on a daily basis instead of working to temper strife.
By promoting a discussion of the "middle ground" in debates, as well as tempering extreme outlying opinions played on their air, RFPA hoped to show that common ground is possible and that conflicts do not have to be solved by violence.
To support its mission, Radio for Peacebuilding Africa aimed to broaden the skills of broadcasters working in Africa. RFPA supported youth radio broadcasters and encouraged the diversifying of viewpoints on the air.
RFPA worked with politicians to increase the flow of communications between governments and the civil society, as well as encouraging the SFCG mission of acting on the commonalities between different societies and ethnicities. Specifically, RFPA targeted broadcasters, governmental officials and members of the civil society in each state.
To address their mission, RFPA developed a multilingual training guide and module for broadcasters and journalists. They also organized fora and regional conferences to discuss challenges and issues facing projects. They organized two competitions to reward the top programs structured around the themes in the training guides.




Peacebuilding techniques


The founders of RFPA believed that news reporting isn't the only way to promote common ground. Forms of communication such as "soap-opera" style programming, music, theater, and talkshows were designed to promote open discussion of issues and foster ties between communities.
As a part of its mission, RFPA worked to develop a series of guidebooks about peace building techniques through radio. These books were the foundation for the RFPA annual awards. These guidebooks can be applied to all forms of communication worldwide, not just for radio in Africa.
These techniques included inviting all sides of an issue into dialogue, identifying and examining assumptions, challenging stereotypes, sharing hopes, dreams and future visions, giving ordinary people a chance to tell their story, using precise words, clarifying opinions and finding and presenting alternative solutions, among other techniques.




Achievements


As of the summer of 2010, RFPA had more than 3,000 members representing 100 countries, across Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. The organization produced seven guidebooks that have been downloaded over 4,800 times. They carried out over 90 workshops and trained local radio station personnel.
RFPA claimed that it had reached new levels of cooperation between the government, media and civil society, increased the ability of radio stations to identify the underlying causes of war and conflict, increased the public's access to policy information, and used media to foster communication between policy makers and the civil society within that state, among other achievements.




Countries


Of the countries in which RFPA had programs or participating stations, eleven (Burundi, Central African Republic, Kenya, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda) had "partially free" status under Freedom House's 2010 Freedom in the World annual report, which ranked the degree of democracy and political freedom in each country in the world; levels of political freedom and civil rights were ranked on a scale of 1 through 7, and each country was assigned a status of "free", "partially free" or "not free". Nine countries in which RFPA had programs or participating stations (Cameroon, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, DR Congo, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe) had "not free" status under the same ranking systems.




= Participating stations

=

Africa:

Africa N°1
Burundi

Bonesha FM
Radio Isanganiro
Radio Publique Africaine
Cameroon

Cameroon Radio Television
Equinoxe
Radio Siantou
Real Time Music
Venus FM
Central African Republic

Radio Ndeke Luka
Chad

Radio nationale tchadienne
Congo Brazzaville

Radio Congo
Radio Liberté
Democratic Republic of the Congo

Canal Revelation
Radio Maendeleo
Radio Okapi
Radio Télévision Nationale Congolaise
Ivory Coast

Onuci-FM
Radio Bonne Santé
Radio Côte d'Ivoire
Radio Espoir
Radio Femmes Solidarité
Radio Yopougon
Kenya

Citizen FM
Hope FM
Kameme FM
Kenya Broadcasting Company
Nation FM
Liberia

Kiss FM
Radio Veritas
Niger

Voix du Sahel ORTN
Nigeria

Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria
Radio RayPower
Rhythm FM
Voice of Nigeria
Rwanda

Radio Izuba
Radio Rwanda
Sénégal

Afia FM
Sierra Leone

Kiss
Radio Democracy
Somalia

Radio Galkayo
Radio HornAfrik
Radio Voice of Peace
Sudan

Sudan Radio Service
Tanzania

Radio Kwizera
Togo

Nana FM
Uganda

Capital Radio
Mega FM
Paidha FM
West Nile/Pacis
Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation




References






External links


Official website

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Somaliland
• Perang Saudara Somalia
• Radio for Peacebuilding Africa
• United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs
• Ibrahim Elgarhi
• Apartheid
• Central African Republic
• South African Border War
• Emmanuel Bombande
• Central African Republic Civil War
• Sino-African relations
• United Nations peacekeeping