Programme broadcasting in synergy for six Central African Republic radio stations

After a week spent in Bayanga - the home city of the Njoku station - in December 2017 to support the production in synergy of a programme devoted to nature, a team of trainers visited Bouar in February 2018 followed by Nola in March 2018.Since the start of the project, eight programmes have been made, produced and broadcast in Sango (national language) by each station.

The trainers provided support to the Bouar-based Maïgaro station from preparing through to hosting a programme involving several formats, with an emphasis on the need for teamwork. Following five days of work and five production meetings in which the other stations also took part, they recorded and edited a programme on site entitled "The return of judicial services: more mutual respect among citizens".

"We have learned a lot in the space of just one week. It's the first time we've made a show like this, as a team, with several guests and different programmes!"
Léa Firmine Badou, station director.

A participatory methodology

The seven people making up the small team of the Kuli Ndunga station in Nola decided to address “the involvement of women in forest resource management" with jingles sent in from the partner stations and support from the trainers. Throughout the week, they were given refreshers on different journalistic formats (micro-programmes, packages, reporting, print), as well as advice and comments on how to improve editorial organisation and run meetings.

The trainers - Richard Goutia and Arsène-Jonathan Mosseavo - note the many benefits of this in situ participatory methodology:
" Very quickly there were changes in how programmes are produced in different formats, and also in how editorial meetings are run. The journalists on the ground are in active mode! On site, we're also able to check that what we have conveyed to the journalists during the training sessions is being effectively implemented and offer them personalised support based on their needs."

Every month, the trainers will continue to visit one of the six cities of the project's partner stations. Security conditions permitting, the next synergy will be run from N'délé, in north-central CAR.

The initiative is part of the media component of the Recovery and Stabilisation in CAR pilot project, funded by the Fonds fiduciaire Bêkou [Bêkou Trust Fund] with co-financing from the European Union, and run by Expertise France in partnership with Avocats sans frontières Belgique (ASF) and CFI.