大象传媒

The radio show, targeted at young people aged 17-22, reaches 1.6 million listeners across the country. It inspires young people by connecting them with role models who demonstrate why it鈥檚 important to understand and act upon their rights and responsibilities.

The show covers issues that matter to young Tanzanians, including gender equality, employment, cultural traditions and dating. And it challenges them to think about how they can contribute to their communities. Listeners say the programme has made them more confident in asking questions of their leaders and accessing important information.

Continuing the conversation online

We produce engaging social media content on a range of digital platforms to connect young people and nurture our community of Niambie listeners. Digital producer Mariam Kungwe said: 鈥�Niambie鈥檚 online platforms are more than just places where young people connect; they help them to educate and inspire each other. We often see contributors get into conversations with each other to discuss topics like disability and menstrual hygiene 鈥� sometimes we even see people change their attitude to the topic based on a response from another user.鈥�

By young people, for young people

Alongside radio and social media content, we鈥檙e providing training and mentoring for Niambie 鈥榊oung Professionals鈥� 鈥� a group of aspiring young journalists, radio producers, reporters, and presenters from across the country.

Our Young Professionals are at the heart of our programmes 鈥� contributing to planning sessions, suggesting topics and brainstorming ideas for interviews and features. They also record and edit content for radio and social media, working as journalists contributing to a nationally broadcast 大象传媒 radio programme to build the skills they need to forge careers in media.

A sister programme 

Tuyajenge (Let Us Build) is our new weekly radio show linked to Niambie! which aims to address issues in the lives of people aged 25 -35 - covering issues including gender-based violence, female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage and early pregnancy, girls' access to education, access to paid work, sexual and reproductive health and services, mental health, and women and girls in leadership and political participation. Read more about the programme.

Leaving no one behind

In 2019, as part of the Disability Inclusive Development project led by Sightsavers, we recruited two new Young Professionals with disabilities 鈥� Miriam, who is blind, and Malick, who has limited mobility 鈥� to ensure that our shows are inclusive and reflect the issues young persons with disabilities face in Tanzania.

With input from local Disabled People鈥檚 Organisations, we ran a season of content tackling the social stigma and abuse directed at people with disabilities. Each episode either focused on a disability-related topic (such as dating with a disability) or contained a segment exploring a topic from the perspective of people with disabilities, and featured people with disabilities prominently as contributors, experts and interviewees.

Evidence shows that the season helped our audiences to think about people with disabilities differently, including realising it was wrong to 鈥渇ear鈥� disabled people as they did prior to listening to the show. One male listener explained how he now swaps his football shirt with an opposing player with albinism after their matches, something he wouldn鈥檛 have done before.

Besides their immensely valuable programme contributions, Miriam and Malick have helped our staff to become more aware and inclusive. We plan to continue including disability issues and perspectives in Niambie for years to come.

Project information