Building a successful community radio station

building community radio

What do you do if you are a community radio station in rural Uganda and you are too successful?

The answer is in the first photograph. Kagadi Kibaale Community Radio (KKCR) in western Uganda has outgrown its old building and with the help of some money from Farm Radio International they are building a new radio station and branching out into television too!

Listeners are contributing as well, bringing bricks, mortar and helping hands to aid in the construction.

I am Louise Atkins from Canada travelling with my husband, Duncan Bury. We are volunteers on a study tour to see Farm Radio International’s impact on the ground in East Africa.

KKCR radio station is a long-time partner of FRI. Listeners in the district showed us how much the FRI materials have helped them grow more abundant and more nutritious crops. The mothers tell us they and their children are healthier and they now have money for school fees.

In the second photo posted here are Margaret, Mary, Rosemary, Judith and Ginger of the Abagambakamu Agahikaine community listening group. Their name means “joining together.”

In the background is their new intercropping project of banana and coffee trees. These co-planting techniques they learned through a FRI project combining food and cash crop production — a real win-win!

So how will KKCR raise the money to complete their new radio and television stations? Equipment is the biggest cost item — $18,000 CDN for the radio station and $150,000 for the television equipment.

These are the questions Duncan and I will be bringing back to Canada along with our memories of Ginger, Mary and friends.

community listening group

About the author  
Louise Atkins is the daughter of George Atkins, long-time CBC farm radio broadcaster and founder of Farm Radio International. Louise is an avid supporter of FRI’s work. She is sharing stories of her travels to see FRI’s impact in the field.

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2 Comments

  1. Mweruka Pascal on December 7, 2015 at 8:06 am

    This is a good gesture to show how important community stations are embraced in society. This is evident by farmers contributing to the construction of the studio building. Indeed Radio is a big too used by farmers to disseminating information.



  2. AJUNA TADEO on December 23, 2015 at 8:20 am

    hy,my name is Ajuna tadeo,i just want to volunteer with you,how should we link up.am in uganda makerere university doing my degree in agribusiness .thanks



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