Peace Messaging Through University Community Media

All the universities successfully conducted the in-campus peace/ MDH event. The events are of various types- street drama, public lecture, and competition amongst volunteer student journalists. All universities have sent their report with photos and videos, below is the summary of the MDH events from each university.

Bahir Dar: Bahir Dar University Community Radio in collaboration with Peace and Security Studies, and Film and Performing Arts Department conducted a Street Theatre on June 29, 2023. The event was conducted outdoor with comedic element in it that prompts audience participation. The focus of the theatre was social media usage, and it aims to raise awareness levels of the audience through satirical critics. Photos and Videos are attached.

Debre Markos: Debre Markos University Community Radio in collaboration with the Students Union and Theatrical Arts Department conducted an outdoor event composed of Public Lecture and Street Performance on June 28, 2023. The event was attended by senior leadership of the university- the Academic Vice President, and two papers were presented by two senior lecturers of the University on the damages MDH cause, and leisure time social media usage. The event was concluded with a drama performed by theatrical art and student union members. Photos and Video attached.

Haromaya: Haromaya University Community Radio conducted a competition amongst volunteer student journalists to create contents that tackle MDH. A total of 20 students took part in the competition in two languages- Amharic and Affan Oromo. At a concluding event on July 7, 2023, a public lecture was given on the topic of MDH by Head of Journalism Department, a Prize Award Money  was given to the winners and a and a recognition certificate to the participants by the Vice President of the University. Audio files, photos, video and social media post is included.

Jimma: Jimma University Community Radio conducted a public lecture and follow up discussion on the issue of Hate Speech and its solutions on July 7, 2023. Member of Faculty from the School of Journalism and Peace Studies presented a paper, with social media posts as examples that sparked intense discussion and debates. Photos attached.

Metu: Metu University Community Radio conducted the MDH event on June 27, 2023 focusing on Causes of Conflict and its Solutions with members of the Peace Forum at the University. The event was opened by Head of the President’s Office, and attended by members of the Forum as well all batches of the Journalism students with heated discussions following presentations. Photos attached.

 Wollega: Wollega University Community Radio was the first to conduct the MDH event on June 13, 2023. The event solely focused on Fake News and it was a discussion with Journalism Students. The interactive event tried to gather information from students on the issue of mis and dis information. Well edited video attached.

The MDH and Peace Event was a challenging activity for some of the University Community Radios, as they are more of experienced in studio based content creation. This activity led them to work with other divisions within the campus such as Schools of Journalism, Theatrical and Performing Arts Departments, Peace and Security Studies, as well as Student bodies, such as student unions and peace forums. The events were as diverse as the universities. Some brought the attention of senior leadership such as Debre Markos and Haromya. Some had student-centered activities like Wollega. Some tried to be creative with street theatre such as Bahir Dar and Debre Markos. Some sparked competition like Haromaya, and the others stayed in comfortable zones of lectures and discussions such as Metu and Jimma.

In all respects this is a worthy activity, as it prompted the community channels to go a step further from their usual activities, and form partnerships and collaborations with others.

 Report of one-man show creative performances

As reported in the previous activity milestone (6^th) The One-Man show encountered significant challenges and faced difficulties during the planning phase. It was initially conceived based on the success of another activity, the Festival of Ideas held at Sheraton Addis. During the training, the universities with flight connections, namely Jimma, Bahir Dar, and Haromaya, were informed about the plan to bring the Firash Adash One-Man show to their campuses. Debre Markos and Metu also expressed interest, committing to cover the additional transportation costs from Bahir Dar and Gambella, respectively, as their nearest airports.

Unfortunately, confirming the schedule for the event posed a major problem for both the One-Man show presenter and the universities. The universities were unable to provide a confirmed date for the event, and more significantly, Tesfahun, the presenter of the One-Man show, has been abroad on a tour in the US since mid-May 2023. Although he was scheduled to return in late June, as of early July, he has not yet returned. As a result, it seems highly unlikely that the One-Man show will take place.

In spite of his absence, we tried to come up with alternative ideas to execute the One-Man show event. The Firash Adash team proposed a two-person show in place of Tesfahun to be performed by a young artist Letarik and her musician, the Masinqo player. But we thought that is not really “one-man/ woman”, and as the proposed performance was a wordless act, we assumed it won’t produce that much of a result. The second alternative we planned was to use another one-man performer- Eyayu Fenges, a very famous stage show a couple of years ago performed by the popular artist Girum Zenebe. But discussing the idea with a couple of universities- Haromaya and Jimma, the community media heads were a bit hesitant to host him, as he at times makes very sensitive political satirical remarks. The third alternative was to conduct the one-man event, may be a few months later- in September or October at the beginning of the academic year, but that will be way beyond the project period. At any rate, the absence of the performer we planned to have on the one-man show, Tesfahun, because of his US tour even till mid-July, made it absolutely impossible to have him on board on this activity.

Broadcast report from each university community radio channel

 All university community radio channels have broadcasted the Omni-produced Amharic show- the Voice of Peace, as well as locally produced peace shows. As reported previously, on the 6^th activity milestone, to avoid redundancy and  boring the audience with similar contents, they first aired the Voice of Peace and then transitioned to their own contents. The total amount of radio shows broadcasted composed of the 5 Voice of Peace show, and the additional 10 local shows reach up to 65 episodes of contents promoting peace and dialogue, while tackling MDH. As a final note, the shows produced and broadcasted under this activity are listed below

• Omni Com- Voice of Peace- 5 episodes, aired on 6 university channels (30 times)
• Metu- Gaddissa Marii (10 times)
• Bahir Dar– Sile Selam (literally About Peace)- (10 times)
• Jimma– Nagaaf Jalala (Peace and Love)- (10 times)
• Wollega– Nagan Jiregnaa (Peace is Life)- (10 times)
• Debre Markos- Ene le Selam (I for Peace)- (10 times)
• Haromaya- ስለሰላም (About Peace or For the Sake of Peace)- (10 times)
• TOTAL- 90 times broadcast period, with the rerun double that amount, about 180 times

The broadcast reports and sample local show products are attached/ submitted separately.

Final activity report

Below are brief reports on implementation highlight, stories of positive change linked with the activity, lessons learned, photographs, and challenges encountered

Implementation Highlight

 This activity has gone through a lot of processes. It is recalled that this activity was first planned to be executed with Ethio Check, until they bow out of the partnerships, mainly for not registering the organization in Ethiopia. When our two proposals came together, there was a focus on journalism students. In the processes of implementing the project however, it rather went from journalism students to bringing the journalism school on board on some kind of partnerships with the community radio stations based at the universities. To add weight to the project, we also included board members of the university community radio mainly to get support to carry out the events and other demanding activities outlined in the project.

The results of bringing these various groups together- namely, the university community radio, the board and the journalism schools, produced a synergy within the universities, at least so far this project is concerned. The need to form some kind of formal relationships or partnerships between the school of journalism and the community media was raised as a very important issue for all stake holders from all attending universities.

Major Challenges

 Routine activities of broadcasting the contents Omni produced or producing and airing their own local shows are somewhat regular activities of each university community channel, and therefore went ahead without much difficulty. Forming the partnerships with various entities such as journalism school, peace studies, performing arts et. , and especially in practical terms conducting the in-campus MDH event was a real challenge for many, and required us to extend the project end-date. We needed to do lots of follow up calls and support especially in design stages. Even providing a specific date for the event was a challenge for many them. Nevertheless, to our delight, all the universities conducted the MDH events in their own ways.

Failing to complete the One-Man show is one major weakness of this activity. For the reasons stated above; however, it was almost impossible to do so under the circumstances. Other than that, we can fairly say all went well and as planned.

 Stories of Positive Change

 In addition to the partnerships formed between various entities with in the university, especially between the community radio channels and journalism schools, probably one remarkable achievement worth to mention here is the involvement of volunteers, particularly those belonging to the journalism departments. Most of the activities of this project, from producing the local shows to conducting the in-campus MDH events was primarily carried out by volunteer students. Majority of the attendees of the events belong to all batches of journalism students. This is very important as they aspire to be content creators in the future, this activity clearly informed them how important it is to verify information and to refrain from spreading mis leading and hateful contents. Ultimately, such is a claim to be tested in the future, but at least it can be raised as a good start.

 Lessons Learned

 The biggest lesson, we as implementors of this activity took out of the project is that university community media houses are uniquely positioned to play a very important role not only in tackling MDH, and promoting peace but in other areas of social issues. The accumulation of knowledge and expertise in each university is almost not used in content creation by the community media houses. Had they used the knowledge, wisdom, skills of their faculty members including key research results with the energy of the youth they have at their disposal, they could have formed a really competitive media houses not only for their regions but nation-wide as well. These groups can be a target for future other similar activities- such as public health campaigns, job creation/ entrepreneurships movements, and other similar undertakings.

Conclusion

 In conclusion, the Peace Messaging Through University Community Media project has successfully achieved its objectives by promoting peace, dialogue, and addressing MDH through various in-campus events and radio shows. The collaboration between community radio stations, university divisions, and student volunteers has demonstrated the power of partnership and the potential for positive change. Although challenges were encountered, the dedication and determination of the project team and participating universities have been commendable. The project’s outcomes have not only raised awareness about MDH but also fostered a deeper understanding among journalism students and the university community about the significance of responsible content creation and media literacy. Moving forward, the lessons learned and experiences gained from this project can serve as a foundation for future endeavours in utilizing university community media as a powerful tool for social impact.