Malawi Community Radio Project

The Malawi Community Radio Project operates in two parts:

1. It produces and broadcasts community-based M'mudzi Mwathu radio programmes, which feature local music and history of Mchinji District villages, combined with community-initiated strategies to prevent HIV/AIDS, support orphans and others affected by HIV/AIDS, and reduce the economic impact of AIDS.
2. Establishment of the Mchinji Community Radio Station (known locally as "Mudzi Wathu Radio"): This included the development of 42 radio groups in various parts of Mchinji, which serve as conduits for further information dissemination and community mobilisation. The listening clubs also serve as hubs for community-based initiatives such as fundraising activities and irrigation farming to raise food and funds to support OVCs and PLWHAs.

In particular, the Mchinji Community Radio Station was established to:

• promote dialogue in local languages about development issues that are meaningful to the local people;
• create ownership of the radio station among local people in the district and its neighbouring areas;
• attract increased listenership through its proximity and popularity; and
• create new district-level capacity in Mchinji for radio production and broadcast.

According to the organisers, as a result of local interest and support of Mchinji Community Radio and its programme, M'mudzi Mwathu, local residents have taken ownership of strategies to prevent HIV/AIDS and created local ways to respond to the impact of HIV/AIDS. This has included the following activities:

• 42 listening clubs with trained local mentors were set up to help communities shift from listening to action - including finding needed resources.
• 1,600 village residents were trained in OVC care and support through listening clubs.
• The listening clubs raise resources and support OVCs' education with food, clothes, etc.
• Mponda Village started fish farming and beekeeping to raise money for OVC education and nutrition.
• 15 club members from Kaphande listening club, including their village chief, went for voluntary counselling and testing (VCT).
• The National AIDS Commission (NAC) informed station management that Mchinji District had the highest VCT turnout during National VCT Week due to radio.
• Matutu Village opened a nursery school to relieve children who are heading households as a result of HIV/AIDS so that the older children could return to school.
• A mobilised Kambuwe community constructed pit latrines and classroom shelters for their school, which did not have anything for the past 6 years.
• Kalulu Private Secondary School, led by its club, introduced carpentry skill lessons to encourage youth to avoid high-risk behaviour for HIV transmission. 15 students at the same school also terminated their love affairs in order to practice abstinence.

HIV/AIDS

According to the organisers, within two months after commencing broadcasting, residents of Mchinji and parts of Lilongwe, Dowa, Ntchisi, Kasungu, as well as parts of Mozambique and Zambia, provided feedback that they had learned quite a lot about HIV/AIDS issues from the station and the project's radio programme. At least 7 communities established their own listening clubs with their own resources after hearing on the station what listeners were able to do.