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Publication date: July 2016

Summary

´óÏó´«Ã½ Media Action’s  (meaning desire or aspirations for life) provides Somali youth with a platform for discussion, and this has prompted dialogue and interaction across divides, created understanding and acceptance between youth from different parts of the country, improved how youth are viewed (by themselves and adults), given young people hope and motivation for the future and helped them to believe they can positively contribute to their country.

The project 

The second phase of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Media Action’s Somalia Stability Fund funded ‘Youth and Media’ project has aimed to increase engagement of youth in discussion on the future of Somalia and to contribute to an audience-responsive media sector

The core component of the project has been the Hiigsiga Nolosha radio programme focusing on social issues affecting young people in Somalia. It has been broadcast via the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Somali Service and three partner community radio stations and included both a drama Maalmo Dhaama Maanta (A Better Life than Today) produced in ´óÏó´«Ã½ Media Action’s Somali Office and discussion segments produced by each partner radio station. 

The project has also sought to contribute to an audience-responsive media sector by improving the capacity of local Somali partner radio stations to deliver audience-driven, and particularly youth-focused, media programming.

Research approach

A final qualitative impact evaluation of Phase II of the project was conducted in December 2015. The research was conducted in three regions of Somalia where the partner community radio stations broadcast, and included focus groups with youth (15-24) listeners to the programme and with adults, and in-depth interviews with youth leaders, media experts and staff from each of the partner radio stations.

Key findings

• Hiigsiga Nolosha resonated highly with the target youth audience because it focussed on youth issues and the combination of drama and discussion helped to increase the impact of the programme and was new to many listeners
• Hiigsiga Nolosha provided young Somalis with a platform to discuss issues which they felt were relevant to them and prompted dialogue and debate across divides
• It enabled youth from different parts of the country to hear from each other and interact (via both discussion programmes and social media)
• This helped them to see the social and cultural commonalities and joint challenges that Somali youth face, and encouraged positive attitudes among young Somalis to each other
• The programme also helped youth to become more aware of the social and economic opportunities available to them and encouraged youth to make use of these opportunities
• Hiigsiga Nolosha positively changed perceptions of youth, both among youths and older people
• These factors motivated youth to take action to improve their situation, encouraged them to take control of their own lives, gave them hope and motivation for the future and helped them to believe that they can contribute positively to their country
• The project also improved the capacity of local Somali partner radio stations to deliver audience-driven, and particularly youth-focused media programming
• It improved the way in which partner stations conducted research on potential stories, gathered audience feedback on programmes and included audience voices in programmes
• It also improved the editorial, production and interviewing skills of station staff and the editorial processes at the partner stations
• The commercialisation training provided to partner radio stations improved their skills and planning in this area, and as a result they increased their income through sold advertising, air time and show sponsorship – helping to make stations more financially stable and sustainable
• The success of Hiigsiga Nolosha encouraged other media organisations to increase their youth orientated programming and audience interaction in programmes

Project context

Somalia’s media has the potential to play a critical role at a time of significant changes in the political structures and processes of Somalia, however while the quantity of Somali media outlets is on the rise, the quality of programming generally remains low, as most media organisations are staffed by under-trained journalists, lack the necessary equipment and exist on a fragile financial footing. Formative research in Phase I of this showed that there were currently few (if any) programmes providing platforms where young people could exchange ideas and experiences and come up with solutions to the challenges they face. The impact evaluation at the end of Phase I found that ´óÏó´«Ã½ Media Action’s Hiigisiga Nolosha programme had given Somali youth an opportunity to interact and express their ideas, had helped to highlighted commonalities of young people, had positively shifted how young Somalis viewed themselves and contributed to youth empowerment. 

A number of improvements were suggested for Phase II of the project, including that the programme could exert wider influence on other related parties such as parents, that it should continue raising awareness of other societal issues, that it should increase levels of youth engagement in social media and that increasing commercial initiatives could help to make the partner stations more commercially viable.

Implications 

The findings from this research show that the media can play a significant role in fragile states, helping to increase understanding of and tolerance towards different sections of society (e.g. between people from different regions, but also inter-generationally), providing people with information about opportunities and encouraging them to make use of these opportunities, and giving people hope and motivation for the future.