Presented by Lucy Mathai during the workshop on “Media, Empowering and Democracy in E.A” Held on 3 rd -5 th December in Dar-es-salaam

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3 Nairobi is inhabited by a diverse population comprising peoples from different ethnic communities and therefore any community radio station will strive to be as inclusive as possible both in content and language. There is however an emerging need to distinguish community radio from commercial vernacular radio stations.

4 Provides community produced content that is immediately relevant to daily issues that affect that community. The aim of Ghetto FM is to serve as a tool to empower the community with informative messages from SIDAREC’s social activities that fall under four pillars: Community Media & Information Communication Technology, Reproductive Health and Sexuality, Early Childhood Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood.

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6 Ghetto FM is an Amplified voice for the voiceless. It is geared towards creating story- tellers about their village the best way they know it. Community radios provide an indigenous ground for the locals to document their own histories, as well as map-out strategies for the future.

7 To foster a community radio station and a network of communication centres in the slums of Nairobi that promote participation in development, educational activities and psycho-social integration of slum communities. To establish a permanent training structure specific to social communication journalism for “barefoot” reporters and producers

8  To consolidate a community radio station run by slum people, that satisfies their information needs.  To produce development and educational programs for social change.  To disseminate information that will enable people to identify and utilize local resources for individual and community development.  To encourage and build youth leadership for community service.

9  Ghetto FM 99.9 covers a radius of 4 (four kilometers) from its central transmission point. The Station reaches an estimated population of 700,000 people across Eastern part of Nairobi

10 Education  Awareness programmes on importance of education  Inform community on available educational opportunities e.g bursaries  ICT training on how to use internet resourcefully i.e scholarship

11 Economic issues  Address business minded youths on existing yet under- utilized skills and ideas which they can use to start own businesses.  demystify formal employment as the only access to a decent means of livelihood by motivating listeners to become self-reliant business-people.

12 Political participation  In the past general elections, Ghetto FM played a significant role in educating the community on voting consciously for a reformer and a people’s leader  Engaged the public with peace messages to avoid conflicts with fellow neighbors due to political differences

13  Being the voice of the voiceless, Ghetto FM endeavors to amplify the concerns, fears and aspirations of the slum dwellers giving them a voice and hope  Bridging the information gap between the slum dwellers and the elites helps in empowerment and thus reduce marginalization for information is power. THANK YOU