How to Produce Educative Radio Programs on Biodiversity Conservation (2015)
Objective: To pre-empt over-exploitation of forest plant-based food resources through Information, Education, and Communication (IEC), among forest-dependent communities along the newly-constructed Pan-African Highway which from Nigeria runs through the tropical rainforest zone of the SW region of Cameroon.
Partner: WWF Russel E-Train Education for Nature Program, (EFN) US, Washington DC.
Work realized:
- Trained 16 community radio broadcasters on intra-linguistic translation, that is techniques of collecting and breaking down scientific and complex climate change concepts and terminologies into easy-to-understand broadcast language for the production of educative programs in the native languages of the listeners.
- Formed a Regional Association of Community Radio Journalists for Biodiversity Reporting.
- Published handbook: Community Radio Handbook on the Production of programs on Biodiversity published.
- Produced a 26 minutes video documentary: Deeds and Misdeeds in the Forests of Cameroon projected at the workshop.
Impact spotlight
Increased knowledge and skills
Obi Joseph, Voice of Manyu Community Radio, (VOM): At first this whole thing about biodiversity was really vague in my mind, you know. I used to see it in terms of wild animals in the forest, eco-guards tracking down poachers and city market women trading in bush meat, and so on. Now I understand that biodiversity is about us, about our lives, our survival you know. We destroy it, we destroy ourselves and we are gone.
Amban Costela of Dangore Community Radio: There is nothing strange to me about forest food products. We have been eating them since childhood. But, Dr. Ayuk (trainer) asked us a question which has really frightened me. She asked: What will happen if tomorrow, you no longer have any "eru", bush mango, bush pepper to eat? In fact, if that were really to happen, that will be terrible, simply catastrophic to our people! As journalists, we really need to do something.
George Atabong of Lebialem Community Radio: Biodiversity is too complex an issue and we find ourselves lifting some difficult jargon from press kits or interviews and kind of pasting the stuff in our news reports without quite understanding it. Fortunately, this workshop has offered us the tools to crack down terminologies and concepts into language forms that our listeners can easily understand.