| dc.description.abstract | This study explored the effects that a community radio, Pamoja FM, has had on women audiences in Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya since inception to date. The main objectives of this study was to determine key and priority information needs of women audiences of Pamoja FM community radio as well as to investigate the extent the community station has addressed women's information needs with the ultimate goal of entrenching more women responsive programmes at the station. This was done by critically analyzing the array of Pam oj a FM's programming from which it was established that too few programmes at the station specifically target the myriad of issues as pertains to marginalized women from Kibera slums. On the other hand, the information needs of women audiences were drawn out during group discussions with ardent fans of the station and key informant interviews to compare whether the programmes offered largely satisfied their social, economic, cultural and political needs.
The study hypothesized that issues of women in Kibera slums are not adequately covered at Pamoja FM community radio and that women audiences have not fully utilized the community radio for their social, economic, cultural and political improvement. To investigate these issues, a list of pertinent questions relating to the uses women audiences make of Pamoja FM's programmes as well as the gratifications they get from these programmes were posed. To determine effects, changes in knowledge, attitude and behaviour since beginning to listen to Pamoja FM's programmes and especially the programmes specifically dedicated to them as women were analyzed.
The results indicate that indeed the Pamoja FM community radio has not been adequately responsive to the information needs of women audiences from Kibera and that the women audiences themselves do not fully utilize the community radio for their empowerment objectives mainly due to ignorance of the special role of community radio in society. What can be concluded is that a huge gap exists as far as community radio programming for women audiences is concerned. As a new tier of broadcasting in Kenya, the community radio sector is poised for rapid growth, but it still remains to be seen whether the community radio practitioners and audiences alike take up the challenge of fulfilling the crucial mandate of community radio in society. | en_US |
