How to Foster Constructive Dialogue as Part of Media Development? Lessons from a Case Study on Interactive Radio Formats in Niger

"Promoting constructive dialogue is an important endeavor in international media development. In hostile environments however, this goal comes with special challenges."

This mixed-methods study by Deutsche Welle (DW) Akademie investigates the case of an interactive community radio project in Niger to identify factors that can support or inhibit constructive dialogue, especially in hostile environments. The report shares key findings and take-aways in order to inform other similar efforts working to strengthen constructive dialogue through radio. In particular, it looks at what to consider when dialogical formats are intended to give internally displaced persons (IDPs)/refugees and women a voice.  

The research was undertaken as part of the "Promoting peace and social cohesion through community dialogue" project in Niger, which is being implemented by DW Akademie in partnership with Réseaux des Journalistes sensibles aux Conflicts (Ré-JsC), a network that advocates for conflict-sensitive journalism. As explained in the report, the emphasis of the project was on promoting the voices of IDPs and refugees. The participating community radios are situated in villages and towns that have seen an influx of people fleeing their homes and seeking safety. The large-scale displacement in the tri-border region between Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso is increasingly jeopardising social cohesion, as natural resources are already scarce and basic services quite poor. According to the project partner Ré-JsC, poor communication and a lack of dialogue between the displaced and host communities have the potential to aggravate conflicts.

With the radio project, Ré-JsC's goal was therefore to create opportunities for conflicts to be discussed and solutions to be developed directly between affected groups, such as IDPs, representatives of the host communities, and representatives of local authorities. For this purpose, the network's five community radio stations were teamed up with so-called "dialogue and concertation committees" who meet regularly to prepare interactive radio formats during which issues can be addressed in a conflict-sensitive manner. The committees consist of various - often conflicting - actors (such as members of local listeners' clubs, refugees/IDPs, municipal representatives, and non-governmental organisation (NGO) workers) who are in charge of both selecting the topic and the guests for the radio programme and helping to disseminate their self-elaborated approaches to possible solutions.

Data collection took place from September 2022 to March 2023 and used a mixed-methods approach that encompassed focus group discussions with the "dialogue and concertation committees" of the participating stations, in-depth interviews, a questionnaire, a document analysis, and a quantitative content analysis.

Overall, the study found that constructive dialogue was fostered as part of the interactive radio formats and that conflict solutions were developed as well as implemented. While this study did not use any experimental methods to test for the effects of the dialogical radio formats, it did find clear evidence in the interviews and focus group discussions of the project's positive impact: Interactive radio formats offer important spaces for constructive dialogue and the development of concrete solutions that would otherwise not necessarily have emerged.

Following a discussion of the research findings, the report highlights the following key takeaways for media development actors:  

• Bringing together different social groups and ensuring equal participation is worth every effort. It enables exchange between people who, otherwise, would likely remain wary of one another.
• It is crucial to ensure broad participation and to have participants agree on ground rules for their exchanges to create a productive setting for dialogue. A highly participatory and inclusive project set-up like the one in Niger (involving listeners' clubs and dialogue committees, working with radio stations that broadcast in local languages and are embedded in the local community, holding a kick-off workshop on conflict-sensitive journalism, etc.) proved conducive to fostering constructive dialogue in this specific context.
• As part of these interactive programmes, the job of radio hosts is crucial for fostering dialogue. It is also very demanding. Radio hosts deserve special support, for example, in the form of peer-to-peer exchange within a network.
• Dialogical radio projects must stay flexible with regard to format: While interactive live formats are most participatory, they also make participants more vulnerable. The safety concerns of guests participating in dialogue formats must be taken seriously, as they can have limiting - or, in the worst-case scenario, harmful - effects.
• In hostile environments, certain topics, despite being highly relevant, cannot be addressed in a dialogical radio format. There will most likely be issues that are too risky for people to talk about, not because of any taboos, but due to immediate security concerns.
• A highly participatory and inclusive project set-up, like the one in Niger, was valuable for giving refugees a voice and for fostering mutual understanding between the displaced and the host communities. In particular, opportunities to work on something together (like the dialogue committees) strengthen a sense of human connection and self-reliance.
• Stigmatisation of refugees can be a major concern. It is advisable to ensure that dialogical radio programmes deal with it in a sensitive manner and do not, even if unintentionally, contribute to aggravating the situation. In the project under study, this goal was achieved through training in conflict-sensitive journalism.
• Refugees have most likely experienced traumatic events. While choosing to talk about their grievances during interactive radio programmes can be a salutary experience for them and sensitise others, it may also revive traumatic memories. Thus, it is advisable to offer special training to radio producers in how to handle such situations responsibly.
• It seems promising to look for women's associations and try to get them on board. If these do not (yet) exist, women should be supported in forming or joining associations, clubs, or networks that strengthen their expert status regarding issues that specifically affect them.
• In addition to aiming for gender-balanced participation, it is important to pay special attention to increasing women's speaking time in radio formats. Here, it is crucial to find out what kind of support or conditions the women in question require to engage in public dialogue safely and confidently.