With the support of Vikes, over 60 rural radio stations publish news through the radio portal. In Kenya, 67 journalists participated in the mentoring program.
In Vikes' partner countries Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, the majority of the population lives in rural areas and earns their living by farming. Basic services such as electricity or running water are often not available. Radio is the most important media and source of information in rural areas.
Thanks to radio portals built in Tanzania and Uganda with Vikes support, local community radio stations in rural areas have been able to go online, and therefore reaching a broader audience and new partners and funders beyond their local coverage area.
In Tanzania and Uganda, rural radio stations have over ten million listeners. In 2024, community radio web portals had approximately 200,000 active users—161,000 in Tanzania and 39,000 in Uganda.
During 2024, Vikes trained and supported a total of 343 journalists in the East Africa project, 39 percent of whom were women.
Tanzania's Jamii FM promoted the visibility of women and environmental themes in the media
In 2024, 40 community radio stations in Tanzania published news or streamed their broadcasts through a radio portal. The programs were also broadcast locally.
In Tanzania, 186 journalists and other staff from rural radio stations were trained. The training covered news work, professional ethics, online publishing through a radio portal, and social media marketing. 40 percent of the participants were women.
In addition, support was provided to the radio station Jamii FM and its ten young journalists and volunteers, half of whom are women. In 2024, the radio station Jamii FM, operating in the Mtwara region of Tanzania, produced and broadcast 36 thematic documentaries in addition to its daily program stream, which dealt with women and girls, people with disabilities, climate change and other local environmental issues.
Ugandas' radio portal growed and the self-financing strengthened
Uganda’s new radio portal featured 20 rural radio stations. In July 2024, the Radio Comnetu radio portal received an official license to provide online media services. Seventy-three percent of the radio stations participating in the Ugandan portal reported that their fundraising improved significantly thanks to the online visibility provided by the radio portal.
In Uganda, 90 journalists participated in Vikes’ radio portal training sessions, 26 percent of whom were women.
Rural journalists were trained in Kenya
In Kenya, young journalists trained by Vike’s partner organization, Development Through Media, produced and published 54 reportages from rural areas. The audio stories were also compiled into radio magazines for the online media outlet Radio Baraza and its social media channels.
In Kenya, journalists from the slums of Nairobi were also trained, and rural journalists from across the country who had been trained in previous years were mentored. In 2024, the mentoring program included 67 journalists from rural Kenya and the slums of Nairobi. Fifty-four percent of the journalists who participated in the training in Kenya are women.
