Christine Nambi, a 36-year-old teacher and mother of four residing in Kikaaya zone, Kisaasi meets me with a beaming smile that instantly gives me an impression of a happy being. Front of her house is a grocery stall that the oldest daughter, perhaps aged 17years is tending to two clients. Arrested off attention, Nambi at once says;
“What you see of my family is owed to Papa Mama program on Mama FM that I have listened to since 2010. My marriage hit rocks around 2011 as my husband was a heavy alcoholic, abusive and neglected his family responsibilities that I almost left my children. However, counselling through that program once caught my husband’s attention as I would tune loud. His change was gradual and how I noticed, he related one of the show advise to me, a gesture that led us to amends and resolutions,” reflected Nambi.
Nambi is but a portrait of two million listeners that Mama covers across four districts in central Uganda: Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono, Mpigi.
Tales of an engendered representation told above are but a reflection of a towering giant, Mama FM that traverses over a 21 years of pausing platform for the marginalized voices of women and other disadvantaged groups in community.
Pioneering a new categorical in the decade of media growth in Uganda, Mama was the first community broadcaster and unique to its nature, a women-focused radio in the country, Africa and second globally.
On August 24th, 2001, melodious talks of “Women’s voices, the missing melody in the tune of sustainable development” welcomed airwaves of the women community radio station. The processes which started two years earlier were financially and technically supported by the Norwegian Government through FOKUS and the Norwegian Council for Africa, NCA.
Dr. Patricia Litho, a co-founder of Mama FM who equally now 8chairs the Board of Uganda Media Women’s Association (UMWA), the proprietor of the radio station delights in the impact the station has created in Uganda.
“Through its Rural Radio Outreach Program (ROP), UMWA was able to appreciate the urgent need for its own radio, a platform that would enhance, sustain and abridge women voices into development issues, a fact that the mainstream media ignored. We are proud to have created a space for women inclusive of youth and men to dialogue on issues given little attention or unfairly treated by other media,” says Dr. Litho
In witness to the positivity acquired from the content and community outreaches of the station, over 3000 listeners formed a listeners’ club to solidify and amplify the relevance of the women’s voice.
Abu Mukiibi, the Chairperson, Mama Radio Development Club (MADEC) says that the club was formed voluntarily by listeners. This was aimed at popularizing the station’s content while utilizing similar knowledge to empower members and disadvantaged groups in community social-economically.
Existing for over 15 years, MADEC has since grown in membership, capacity strengthening activities and mutually grown the listenership of Mama FM.
Beyond 1994, the wave of liberalizing media in Uganda met an equally evolving social atmosphere where citizens categorically yearned for information prioritization amidst the business sense of media owners. Informed by a patriarchal social structuring, women maintained a passive role as far as access to information and development participation was concerned. Topics, Talk, debate and decisions were literally a reservation of the elite, urban and with male dominance, thus creating a gender gap in media that sought immediacy and intentionality.
Doubling as the current Head Communications Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Dr. Litho recalls that information gender gap informed pre-recordings that UMWA undertook of mainstream programs and played them among Women Radio Listeners’ Clubs across numerous districts. Women conversations derived there in, informed further engagements with media on opinions from the female gender.
Unmeasurable to the wide-neccesity of inclusion, the concept of a radio for marginalized voices-women, was therefore a home-coming intervention that met good will and support from civil society, government agencies, women activists and Development Partners. Henceforth, with two microphones, a radio cassette, CD and tape player stationed along an 18 line console in a reasonably spacious studio, sixteen youthful volunteering presenters, some with little experience, were recruited into a whole new media art; communication for development broadcasting.
Amon Mulyoowa, a pioneer presenter, described the first five years of the women platform as a period of fruitful blind trial. Staff, with little or no prior broadcast experience, were hastily trained in reporting, presenting and production as well as Project development, and facilitation skills. These skills later defined Mulyoowa into now a phenomenal Development Communications Consultant. Other pioneer staff included: Hon. Judith Nabakooba, Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development; Sarah Nakibuuka, former employee of Private Sector Foundation; and Rachael Akidi, now working with BBC. Robert Mugumya, ad Elizabeth Nabukeera are Managers at Airtel.
“Crossing from a UGX 71,000 professional job of being a secondary teacher to a newly opened community radio station calling for volunteerism to amplify voices of marginalized people(women), was the craziest yet a very fulfilling decision I woke up to on 1st June 2001,” says Mulyoowa.
Passion, commitment and optimism describe the non-monetary service dedication of media practitioners under community broadcasting. With only a 2000 Uganda shillings daily transport facilitation by 2003 and years later, not half to the commercial colleagues’ earnings, volunteers at Mama FM pride in the positive changes among disadvantaged derived from their unwavering efforts.
Betty Miiro, a sports presenter of “Leero mu nsi yebyemizaanyo” program on the women-focused station says that the past twelve years of her service are owed to passion that relates strongly to women marginalization in development areas. As one presenting in a field largely defined as male, Miiro asserts that Mama FM has given her career opportunity for knowledge and skills strengthening as a journalist, diversity in knowledge through the gender empowerment training programs, among others. Miiro is one of the over 30 volunteers that the station currently offers platform for career nurturing but also room to serve.
Within the programs was a diversity of issues from; Business, Human Rights, Edutainment, Youth, Children Talk, Politics, Sports and PWDs segment. This growth and system equally empowered the 12 pioneers into multidisciplinary resources we witness today as profound politicians, social development consultants, media professionals, among others.
Rebecca Birungi, is a Social Behavioral Change Communication Consultant. Her career journey traces back to being a reporter of Mama FM between 2005-2013, owes her career abilities to the women platform as her mentoring ‘school’. “I joined Mama FM in 2005, I used to work with Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, UBC and I must say, it was one of my best decisions. All of us that passed through this station were trained and extended to opportunities for capacity building on media and gender, development communication. The Norwegian Peace Corps Exchange Program is one that Mama redefined me in. All that I learned then, empowered all that I am today”, says Birungi,
She says she witnessed the platform grow from analogue production and operations under limited resources into a station currently holding over 30 volunteers, improved programming, digitalized studio and a felt community impact resultant of the broadcast.
Programming of Mama FM is strongly tailored on development issues that identify with women, persons living with disabilities, youth and children. The audience targeted is largely in semi-urban and rural areas and thus, content is broadcast in 90% Luganda and 10% English.
With a 150 kilometers reach around Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono, Gomba, Mityana, Jinja, and Mpigi, the women focused platform transmits under a 1000 watts output with a 60 metre owned Mast and home and in Kisaasi, Kampala district, central region.
Whereas Mama FM came to own a Mast in 2003 thereby reducing operational cost, its first two years of broadcast came with a fee for transmission dependence on a shared Mast of Ministry of Information in Naguru.
Margaret B. Sentamu, the Executive Director of UMWA and Mama FM highlights that the issue of operational and maintenance costs for community media, at least Mama FM, is a daily struggle of concern.
“As part of needs, Mama FM has been struggling through high operational costs among with a monthly 2.8 million shillings for electricity bills, about UGX 10 million annual license fee, equipment wear and tear fixtures, facilitation of volunteers, name it. Understanding that we are non-profiting making and yet with minimal donor support, it becomes challenging and threatening to sustainability”, says Sentamu. The most unfortunate thing, though, is that the Regulator does not seem to appreciate that Community Radios are developmental and not-for-profit in nature. We complement Government efforts. I find it really strange that Mama FM has to pay close to UGX 10 million in licence fees, but we are also expected to have automated doors, etc. Government forgets that our audience is the poor of the poorest!! It also becomes embarrassing to request a Donor to pay for licence fees for a Radio that complements Government’s efforts.
On October 22nd, 2021, the Kisaasi-based station was privileged with resourceful support from Missio Austria, who offered a solar installation as an electricity consumption cost cut. Indeed, Mama FM now pays about one million shillings for power, a cost that still remains high but reduced. Similarly, the same group donated a new advanced studio Console and transmitter, to help the platform hold a stable signal but also retire from what was turning constant fixtures of the old transmitter acquired at the radio inception 20 years ago!
In appreciation of the cause and impact that Mama FM has created among the marginalized people in community, scores of Development Partners (World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), Stem van Afrika (SvA), UNESCO, Ford Foundation, DANIDA, Radio Robin Hood, and Farm Radio International, in the recent ten years donated computers, facilitated skills strengthening in development issue reporting and small programming grants. This has been all in bid of improving the content output of the station to enhance livelihoods of the listeners.
Influencing Community Media Development
Studies highlight that the development of community media, the likes of Mama FM and Audio Towers was an interest-based effort of addressing the information gaps that had been created by main stream media of excluding local communities from the news agenda.
Therefore, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Council categorized as such, that the above media would be Low Power FMs and thus, the Operational and Broadcasting Standards for Low Power FMs under the Uganda Communications Commission required of community media to be non-profiting, interest based serving and under specific reach.
Consequent of Mama FM inception, other like-minded stations with support from community foundations and UNESCO were established for common cause: information platform for marginalized groups in community.
In 2002, Kagadi Kibaale Community Radio was founded, and Buwama FM (2004) being launched. Other stations were equally formed by 2010 among which; Nakaseke FM, Nabweru FM, Speak FM, and Ngora CMC FM. Radio Apac and Oyam FM have since transformed into Social Enterprises.
The nature of operation in this media category is largely dependent on non-paid volunteerism, management is by passion rather than skill, programming is development issue focused, non-profiting from service and are resourcefully sustained by founding community/donors.
Experientially, the operational nature has prooved unreliable and a threat to sustainability of these community information pillars, as it comes with daily challenges for the stations to struggle through.
Community Media are characterize by Challenges like:
- Unreliable human resource due to volunteer dependence: Most of them quickly move on despite having been heavily trained by Community Radios.
- Short-term funding yet focuses on capacity building only as opposed to structural development and sustainability
- Unfair policies and high license fees from Uganda Communications Commission, UCC, an operational oppression and threat to community media thriving.
- High operational and maintenance costs to non-profiting platforms
Whereas community media compliments government efforts by enhancing grassroot knowledge on development concepts, providing access to information for all and thereby enabling participatory governance and decision making, the government of Uganda in similar context with East Africa has least resourceful support to this category.
Margaret Sentamu, urges that Government decentralized programs like the recent Parish Development Model (PDM) would be a sensitization campaign prioritized to community media. “The PDM is a government initiative that targets grassroots economic enhancement, grassroots of which, we community media directly hold loyal listenership. Media campaigns through us would be a direct way of government supporting us but instead, mainstream colleagues are prioritized”, observes Sentamu.
Unlike South and West Africa where community media has met an equal growth financial and technical support from government with South Africa having an estimated 150 Community Radios, in East Africa particularly, Uganda has had a slow-paced community media development with least support from Government whose officials, however, expect free airtime on these platforms.
In 2018, Mama FM in collective with other Community Radios formed a Network, Community Media Network of Uganda (COMNETU). This network targets strengthening capacity needs, mobilization and lobbying for the alternative media given the recognized threat of high dependence on charity.
Despite UNESCO supporting some of the COMNETU activities, there hasn’t been a sustained plan on its further resourceful development. This reality opens up the key asks from UN agencies and other stakeholders to prioritize and appreciate the role community platforms play in the democratization processes of the country. The Managers and the Leadership too, of Community Radios should equally acknowledge that bills can be offset through hard work, innovations, but not by passions alone.
