Generation Grands Lacs

This 60-minute live phone-in talk show for youth is simulcast on five radio stations in Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo every Saturday afternoon. Each week the show addresses a different theme, such as identity, manipulation by leaders, gender, violence, youth participation in political life, and issues of ethnicity and nationality.

The format includes invited studio guests, pre-recorded interviews, voice-on-the-street interviews, music, and audience call-ins. Listeners participate by calling in, sending short message service (SMS)/text messages, or by sending emails. In collaboration with the Great Lakes Inter-University and Youth Forum, listening sessions are organised in universities and secondary schools each week during the broadcasts, followed by a facilitated discussion. Forum members then gather ideas and concerns from the listeners and feed these into joint planning sessions with the programme journalists from the partner radio stations.

Each week the place of broadcast rotates between Kigali, Bujumbura, and Kinshasa. The radio station webstreams the live broadcast, which is then picked up by the other four stations who broadcast it on FM. Young journalists from the partner radio stations host the programme, and invite callers to phone in - in any of the six major languages of the region.

Peace, Youth, Reconciliation

According to a recent SFCG survey, the programme is listened to by more than 90% of university students in Kigali, Butare, Ngozi (Burundi), and 86% of students in Bujumbura, as well as 57% of students in Bukavu (DRC). Of these listeners, 20% listen regularly in Bukavu, 36% listen regularly in Kigali, and 60% listen "every week" or "almost every week" in Butare, Ngozi, and Bujumbura. Similarly, the programme reaches between 30% and 60% of non-university youth at the survey sites. Survey findings show a strong correlation between listenership and reduced prejudices and positive attitudes.