Authorities were quick to condemn the killing and promptly opened an investigation. However there has been no progress in identifying the killers, and a government official connected to the investigation told Human Rights Watch he doubted they would be found.

Since South Sudan became independent in July 2011, its security forces have regularly intimidated, arrested and detained journalists and editors in connection with the content of their reporting. Local and international human rights groups have documented multiple cases, including many at the hands of South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS), a security organ whose mandate and functions have never been established by law and which does not have any authority to arrest and detain people.

This legal vacuum is leaving journalists without protection. South Sudan has no state body mandated to regulate the media. Although three bills are before parliament, the country has yet to enact media laws. Editors and journalists say they are especially vulnerable to harassment, arbitrary arrest and censorship in the absence of laws establishing a legal mechanism to protect media freedom and safeguard the media in carrying out their reporting.

International standards could play a helpful role. Key human rights treaties including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights could reinforce protection of free speech and other basic rights. But although Article 24(2) of the country’s constitution guarantees freedom of the press, South Sudan has yet to ratify these treaties.

Meanwhile, security forces engage in de facto censorship through harassment and illegal detentions. Many journalists say they choose not to report on contentious issues for example, corruption and the internal politics of South Sudan’s ruling party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). Either they have been told not to cover those subjects by members of security forces and/or they or their colleagues have been recently intimidated or detained for producing similar stories.

South Sudan dropped 12 places in the Reporters Without Borders 2013 World Press Freedom Index – to 124th out of 180 countries ranked – due to the heavy handedness by the security forces in dealing with journalists, and after the murder of Abraham. On World Press Freedom Day, four international organizations together called upon South Sudan to cease its harassment of journalists. The groups – Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the Agency for Independent Media – urged the government of South Sudan to prosecute all those responsible for threats and attacks against journalists. “The South Sudanese authorities have done far too little to end unlawful detention of media workers in recent years,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

Carroll Bogert, Human Rights Watch, member of the Board of Directors of Hirondelle USA

Photo: A student at Juba University participates in a live Radio Miraya forum from campus. Anne Bennett/Hirondelle USA

The story of STAR radio is not unique to the developing world. In the US, the rapid, radical and constant changes in how we get and use information have profoundly disrupted traditional media models. Consumers expect to be able to choose their platforms, while media develop new products such as multimedia, interactive features and specialized content in order to attract new consumers, some of whom are willing to pay for premium content.

Technology is altering the media landscape in post-conflict African countries where Hirondelle operates. In some cases, choices in technology are leapfrogging other parts of the world, as we have seen with the M-Pesa money and credit system, or peer-to-peer sharing of audio files over Bluetooth in West Africa. The challenge for public service media operators in Africa is to use new technology, tools and methods to create efficient broadcasting models with diverse revenue streams.

Radio Ndeke Luka in Central African Republic was the first of Fondation Hirondelle media to benefit from the lessons learned at STAR radio. Sonia Mackotous leads the team of the advertising agency at Fondation Ndeke Luka in Bangui. Established in 2010, the agency is a separate entity from the radio, ensuring that editorial and commercial lines are clearly respected. Sonia’s approach is based on market research and preparation and in many ways she represents a new breed of radio entrepreneurs that herald a shift from donor dependence to innovation, entrepreneurship, and ownership.

Successful private and community radio will no doubt have a multitude of revenue sources: paid announcements from listeners (obituaries, for example), institutional press-releases, sponsored programming from NGOs and international organizations around health, human rights, agriculture and other public interest topics. An important asset in communities that are off the grid is the power sources these stations need to operate, which in turn can be sold or used to power additional services, such as internet cafés, secretarial work, or even restaurants and bars.

In the precarious post-conflict setting, many factors contribute to sustainability. In Matching the Market to the Model: the Business of Independent News Media media expert Michelle Foster explores the numerous factors that can undermine a news organization’s ability to be self-supporting. Corruption, licensing restrictions or government regulations in the advertising market ensure that “sustainable is not interchangeable with profitable”. While much of the attention of media development organizations in post-conflict environments is focused on preserving important speech freedoms and protecting the rights of journalists, Foster offers compelling reasons why equal attention must be paid to establishing a level and transparent playing field for media as business entities. Without those protections, news media may thrive editorially but be starved financially.

In fact STAR radio taught us financial and social viability depends on more than simply putting in place a commercial department and creating a local Board, however accomplished and renowned its membership or how robust the radio’s popularity. Michel Colin, radio-advertising guru who has worked with several of Hirondelle’s media, is quick to point out that the commercial success of a radio depends on its management. All too often, radio management undermines ad sales by not providing adequate resources to the sales team, or by failing to broadcast and track ads once they are sold and produced. Hirondelle learned it needed to invest in understanding the dimension of revenue generation, and to create systems for translating these new skills into revenue.

One can argue that in a post-conflict setting, where “normal” developing world challenges such as infrastructure, corruption and security are amplified, successful media operations require excellent management teams that can operate well-run businesses on multiple platforms. And with that comes the need for greater safeguards to maintain editorial integrity. As Nicci Mele and John Wihbey wrote recently in “The end of big media: when news orgs move from brands to platforms for talent” the solution lies perhaps in not dismissing outright these new models but in finding new ways to safeguard editorial standards.

Anne Bennett, Hirondelle USA

Photo: Lâm Duc Hiên, RDC

Fondation Hirondelle arrived in Tunisia a few weeks after the popular uprising that led to the exile of Ben Ali in January, 2011. One of our mandates was to assess the conditions of support for the country’s media. Tunisian public radio, with nine channels broadcasting in five regions, was an ideal partner. As the largest radio operator in the country they were, however, the most problematic. Indeed, its role as ‘propaganda radio’ under the old regime had given many of the 1200 employees an unspoken sense of guilt.

Our initial focus was on pre-election support for the first electoral referendum in Tunisia on October, 2011. The first act was to write an editorial charter that applied to the entire Radio Tunisia network. Today, two years after the revolution, it remains the only charter written by a news source in Tunisia.

At the same time we set about to develop the capacity and reach of the radio in the region of Gafsa. In the poor southwest of Tunisia, Fondation Hirondelle helped install five regional offices. We hired and trained ten journalists in the cities of Sidi Bouzid, Kasserine, Tozeur and Kebili Métlaoui, creating a network that is working today under the umbrella of Radio Tunisia.

We assisted Radio Gafsa, the regional public service radio, in the construction of its first program schedule. As a result, since October 2012 the station is on air 18 hours a day with programming that meets international standards. Listenership rating are high, an indication this model might be scaled up to other networks of Radio Tunisian.

Finally, we are working with the national radio to develop a studio or pool or journalists for ongoing coverage of the National Assembly Pool’. The goal is to be operational for the next general elections scheduled for later this year (but likely in early 2014).

The greatest difficulty and surprise in our work with the journalists at Radio Tunisian was the absence of critical journalistic practice. For more than twenty-three years these men and women have been denied the right to report freely. Under Ben Ali, understanding and weighing an argument was completely banned. Their job was to share reports from the Presidential Palace, to flatter those in power, to read imposed commentary, and to broadcast a pre-selection of music. Which makes journalists accomplices, or zealots of some kind. But what would we have been in their place? Our work therefore consisted of clearing the past, not as judges but as journalists who bring methodological support to colleagues placed in a difficult situation for too long.

So we are working to create a culture of inquisitiveness, of questioning others, of the freedom to speak amongst colleagues and to communicate with the hierarchy. All that seems both simple and necessary in our democracies, but is still very difficult today in Tunisia. It would require a ‘cultural revolution’ to permanently break the unspoken taboos, the censorship and the informants. But little by little the talent is freeing up.

Increasingly however, journalists find themselves face to face with a public administration anchored in the former regime. Thus, there is a real struggle for democratic rights on the part of Tunisian journalists against the changing powers and unmoving administrative regulations of the state. Things are changing slowly, but they are changing.

Tunisia is a modern nation, where gender equality, universal suffrage, and secular schools have been enshrined in law since 1959. The culture of this country is shaped by tolerance, intelligence and diplomacy. The country’s bases are particularly conducive to restoring a democracy in the southern Mediterranean. We must respect this country and its people by providing the technical tools they need today.

Michel Codaccioni, Fondation Hirondelle Country Representative, Tunis

The media has a key role to play in informing the population on what is happening in the country, as well as acting as a platform for dialogue between the various actors. Yet while there are numerous media outlets in Mali, quality is poor and corruption is endemic. This weakness is compounded by external pressure, notably from political and military authorities.

Fondation Hirondelle, in partnership with Interpeace and supported by the European Union, is launching a project in Mali that aims to promote national dialogue and reconciliation in the country. By working with existing Malian organizations, notably the largest radio network URTEL, the project aims to produce and broadcast impartial, fact-based, and balanced news and programming nationally in five languages so as to reach the entire population, an offer not currently available in Mali. A team from Fondation Hirondelle is on the ground in Bamako now, and will shortly begin recruiting and training journalists, with the start of content production scheduled for July 2013.

In addition to Mali, new media projects are in the works for Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, and Madagascar.

Guinea: independent Radio Nafa

After more than 50 years of dictatorship and poor governance, in 2010 Guineans participated in their first “democratic” elections. However, tensions remain high today and the transition to democracy is fragile. Legislative elections, having been delayed several times, are now set for June 30, 2013. In this context, the media, and particularly radio, has a key role to play in consolidating peace and national development by informing and giving Guineans a voice. According to a study carried out in 2011, radio is the best media to reach Guineans throughout the country; however, local radios are concentrated in the capital Conakry, and most of the rural population does not have access to independent media.

Following a request from the Radio Rurales de Guinée (RRG), a semi-autonomous network, Fondation Hirondelle is preparing to begin the project “Giving Guineans a Voice,” which will create an independent radio station in Conakry with Forum IDEAL, a local NGO, strengthen the capacities of radio stations from the RRG network through technical and training support to staff, and support the academic training of Guinean journalists studying at the Institut Supérieur de l’Information et de la Communication. Fondation Hirondelle has launched the project in Conakry, and is currently waiting for final approval from the Guinean government for the broadcasting license to begin setting up Guinea’s new, independent radio station, Radio Nafa.

Cote d’Ivoire: Studio-school Mozaik

Following a decade of internal conflict and economic decline that culminated in the post-election violence in the Spring of 2011, Cote d’Ivoire is today attempting to turn the page on this period and once again become the regional power in West Africa. Despite some promising signs, the road to national reconciliation will be long and unpredictable. The economic and social situation of most Ivoirians has yet to improve and tensions between communities or political clans remain, along with the risk for renewed violence. There is a clear need for a new independent media, led and hosted by Ivorian professionals, and offering professional and balanced programming that would allow all communities to be informed and understand each other.

In 2012, Fondation Hirondelle was approached by the Fondation Dr. Peter Graze, a local organization that works to use media to promote peace. Out of several working sessions and missions to Cote d’Ivoire, the Mozaik FM project was born: an independent radio station for news, dialogue and exchanges between all populations, cultures and opinions in Côte d’Ivoire. While searching for financing, Fondation Hirondelle and the Fondation Dr. Peter Graze have in the meantime initiated a precursor program with the Culture Counts Foundation, a German NGO that works to promote journalism that identifies and highlights solutions to global problems. Culture Counts Foundation, Fondation Dr. Peter Graze and Fondation Hirondelle are setting up the Studio-école Mozaik that will work to improve the professional capacities of Ivoirian radio stations and young journalists, support them in creating radio programs that contribute to national dialogue and reconciliation, and ensure the broadcast of these shows through a network of radio partners across the country. Mozaik FM is planned to be created during the implementation of this project and will contribute to the broadcasting of the programs created by the Studio-école Mozaik.

Madagascar: broadcast information for Madagascan citizens in the run up to elections

Madagascar, politically unstable since the 2009 coup d’état that saw Andry Rajoelina installed as president, has planned a first round of presidential elections for July 24, 2013. A second round, along with legislative elections, is planned for September 25, followed by communal elections on October 23. These form part of a roadmap agreed to by the main political factions in the country and mediated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to put an end to the crisis.

In the context of these elections, the Fondation Hirondelle was approached by the Office de Radio Télévision publique de Madagascar (ORTM) to initiate a project that will support the ORTM and the National Independent Transitional Electoral Commission (CENI-T) in preparing to broadcast information for Madagascan electors. The Fondation Hirondelle will act as advisor to ORTM in order to improve the quality of programming throughout the electoral process, and will support ORTM in improving its technical, human and managerial resources.

Independent reporting and programming on the elections will allow voters to better understand the issues and positions of candidates, and to therefore make more informed decisions in the voting booth. The project would include the drafting of a charter to ensure equal airtime for all candidates on national radio and television, the training of Madagascan journalists, the creation of electoral programming, and the monitoring of Election Day, the vote count and the announcement of election results.

Fondation Hirondelle will also support the reconstruction and consolidation of the ORTM in the post-election period and will improve journalist training and support in Madagascar. This project will form an integral part of Madagascar’s and the international community’s efforts to ensure a peaceful transition to democratic rule through free and fair elections.

In one of the poorest countries in the world, nothing works anymore: the health system is blocked for lack of medicines and staff, the public administration was looted and officials have not taken up their posts again, salaries are not being paid, banks are not fully open, and telecommunications in the country’s interior were cut following looting. Vital routes for the delivery of essential goods are deserted and dangerous, market prices have tripled, the number of IDPs continues to increase and international NGOs, the majority of which have been looted, are unable to meet the overwhelming needs of the population.

The security system is also chaotic: the police and the armed forces from Bozizé’s regime are absent. Seleka’s forces appear to respond to disparate commands and the new government is not able to impose discipline on these ad hoc troops who engage in looting and extortion. Resistance loyal to the previous regime, those engaged in criminal activity and some individuals have taken advantage the confusion, by looting and settling personal scores. The military forces sent by countries in the sub-region are weak and insufficient to maintain order.

At the political level, the recent formation of the National Transitional Council will function both as a parliament and as a constitutional assembly for a period of 18 months. The Council inducted Michel Ndotoja as President of the Republic but this recognition appears to be insufficient for the international community. Negotiations with countries belonging to the Economic Community of Central African States are in progress but the political future of the CAR is full of challenges.

The media has not been spared by the crisis: the majority of community radio stations were looted and are off the air. The state radio and television stations were quickly converted into mouthpieces for the new regime and play the same partisan role that they did under Bozizé’s regime. The religious radio stations, also affected by the looting, remain cautious. Only Radio Ndeke Luka strives to continue its work in providing independent news in spite of daily challenges to freedom of movement (the radio’s vehicles were stolen) and the precarious security of the journalists. For the moment, the role of Radio Ndeke Luka has not been challenged by the new government.

Dario Baroni | Fondation Hirondelle

By Anne Bennett 

Harvard Business School professor Alnoor Ebrahim has called measuring impact the “mantra for creating social change.” We know intuitively that access to independent, verifiable information enables us to make informed decisions. Providing evidence for the relationship between information and peace, or better family health, or more transparent governance, however, remains an uncertain science.

Fondation Hirondelle, together with four partners, Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication’s Center for Global Communication Studies, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, Internews Network, and the United States Institute of Peace started talking about shared practices of monitoring and evaluation in 2011. Together we have defined some common principles that can be used to evaluate media projects in crisis zones.

Monitoring and evaluation skills and tools are an important part of our project management. We measure immediate outputs (for instance, number and kind of programs, or number training sessions) everyday. Our “primary social metric” is the number of people reached by our broadcasts, and this is measured by independent, and costly, quantitative surveys.

In the post-conflict context where our journalists report on topics as varied as tribal conflict, dowries, polio vaccination or soccer we can also track impact through success stories: a juvenile released from Juba prison, a college applicant navigating the opaque scholarship process, rumor of a coup countered with facts. Measuring individual outcomes can be approximated through qualitative survey work using focus groups. This also helps us better understand perception: Does our audience believe we are credible? Independent? Relevant to their lives?

When it comes to establishing a broader impact on society such as a reduction in corruption, or greater respect for human rights, we must be both cautious and realistic.  With so many factors contributing to levels of corruption, or civic engagement, causality is difficult to establish.

At a gathering in DC in March, the “Caux” partners all agreed to the need for a long-term commitment to evaluation by donors, practitioners and academics, with greater collaboration and data sharing. This is not without its problems, as survey companies rely on the sale of data to finance their work.

Any sound approach to measuring impact must start with a clear idea of what we really want to measure.  Working in countries coming out of conflict means sometimes we are breaking a news blackout. It is still important to ask How many people are we reaching?  But as our audience increasingly navigates between radio and social media, especially in DRC and Tunisia, we are reframing the question to include How do people use our media to achieve their goals?  

Measuring the impact of media in post-conflict settings is a challenge that will no doubt preoccupy us for some time. As Bill Siemering of Developing Radio Partners reminded me recently (borrowing from Albert Einstein): Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.

Women and girls are uniquely and disproportionately affected by armed conflict. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Democratic Republic of Congo. An assessment in late 2012 by Action Aid, the American NGO, found that the recent conflict between M23 and FARDC led to an increase in human rights violations, and in particular sexual and gender based violence targeting women and girls.

Radio Okapi has been an important source of information on human rights, and specifically on gender based violence, for the population of DRC. Recent polls place Radio Okapi in the forefront of the media in Congo in terms of audience figures across the whole country, estimated at 14 million listeners daily, and more than 20 million “regular” listeners (at least once a week), by the IMMAR polling institute.

News and programs on the topic and related issues are produced and aired on Radio Okapi and shared with partner media.  The programs range in subject; special guests and interviews, live dialogue between listeners and informative content about sexual violence and laws against rape.

A sampling of recent news and reports aired on sexual violence include:

Ituri: more than 1,500 cases of sexual violence recorded in 2012. Summary: During a visit to the DRC, Ban Ki-moon’s special representative was informed that rape was even a concern to infants. She promised to report to the Secretary General of the UN.

North Kivu: over 2,500 women raped in a month. Summary: Beginning September 2012, the NGO Heal Africa published a report which lists 2,500 rapes in North Kivu, increasingly by civilians. 70% of victims treated in the NGO’s hospital are minors.

Kinshasa: a 40 year old man accused of raping a girl of 3 years. In the suburbs of Kinshasa, the rapist then offered an arrangement to the victim’s family if they agreed not to sue – a mobile phone and two (2) U.S. dollars.

Guest of the day: Georgette Biebie: “Victims of sexual violence must break the silence and speak out.”  An interview on International Day against Sexual Exploitation.

Guest of the day: Colette Braeckman talks about her book “Sexual violence in Congo: the battle of Mukwege.” Belgian journalist Colette Braeckman speaks about the book she dedicated to Mukwege, renowned worldwide for the free care it administers to female victims of sexual violence in eastern DRC . The book was published when Dr. Mukwenge was exiled to Brussels after escaping an assassination attempt at his home in Bukavu.

Dialogue between Congolese. The United States condemned the mass rape of women in eastern DRC. A professor of criminal law, a women’s rights activist in South Kivu and local NGOs discussed in light of the political program on Radio Okapi condemnation by the United States of mass rape in eastern DRC in July 2011

Okapi service. Discussing the sanctions under Congolese law in the case of the rape of a minor. The show popularized the law against rape in the DRC.

Increase in cases of sexual abuse of minors in the DRC. In its 2010 report published in April 2011 League Africa region for the defense of the rights of children, pupils and students (Lizadeel) released statistics that almost 68% of victims of sexual violence medically supported the Democratic Republic of Congo are children. Listeners called to comment on this disturbing fact.

Anne Bennett: What does the partnership with Fondation Hirondelle bring to the UN?

Hervé Ladsous: We define UN peacekeeping as a global partnership in many ways. UN peacekeeping currently works with Fondation Hirondelle in our missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, on two of our largest radio stations. Hirondelle brings specialist capacity in media development work that is not necessarily the core role of peacekeeping communications teams. This is an important added value. Hirondelle is also well placed to look over the horizon, beyond the life of a peacekeeping mission, and help us plan to ensure that our large radio stations make a meaningful contribution to longer term independent media culture in countries where this is a vital component of strengthening democratic development.

AB : What are the difficulties?

HL: It is natural that a peacekeeping mission and a media development organization may at times have different priorities. UN peacekeeping radio stations are established pursuant to Security Council resolutions and agreements with host governments for the UN to broadcast on matters related to its mandate in support of peace processes.

At the same time we, the UN and its partners, including Fondation Hirondelle, agree that the best way to do this in radio is to pursue a journalistic model of broadcasting, not simply “UN propaganda”. But getting the balance right in all circumstances is not always easy. These radio stations are a critical element in a UN mission’s capacity to fulfil its mandate to help stabilize countries and contribute to peace. We know from experience that there must be constant close collaboration between UN and Hirondelle managers to continually manage the character and editorial focus of these radio stations.We must also, together, try and define the modalities of enabling those radio ton continue their work in a sustained way beyond the lifespan of any peacekeeping operation.

AB: What concrete results from the partnership stand out for you?

HL: Radio Okapi in DR Congo and Radio Miraya in South Sudan, and before in Sudan leading up to the referendum, have made very solid, real contributions to the ability of the UN peacekeeping missions to fulfil their respective mandates, as well as to media development in each country. Hirondelle has been a critical partner in meeting the considerable challenge of standing up and managing these large national radio operations. Hirondelle brings a strong ethos of journalistic values and freedom of the press, as well as valuable media development experience and skills to the relationship.

AB: Looking ahead, how do you see the partnership evolving?

HL: We often say in UN peacekeeping that there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all solutions. In each context, each mission and potential new mission, such as in Mali, we need to consider what is needed and what will work best. This may not always be large UN radio stations, but other ways to strengthen national broadcasters and promote public broadcasting models, or working in production-broadcast partnerships with community and other national radio networks. Hirondelle can bring its significant post-conflict media development experience to these efforts to ensure we have the capacity to be flexible and able to adapt to different needs in different circumstances.

Photo courtesy of the United Nations

The creation of media by the United Nations can derive a basis from three principles. First, the promotion of human rights, and particularly the right to information enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Indeed, at its first session in 1946, the UN General Assembly said that this right is “the touchstone of all the freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated” and “an essential factor in any serious effort to promote the peace and progress of the world ”. More recently, the 3 May, 2004 Declaration of Belgrade, sponsored by UNESCO, reaffirmed the importance of protecting this right in contexts of crisis.

Then there are the powers invested in the UN to keep the peace, including by using coercive measures. UN Security Council Resolutions setting up peacekeeping missions have specifically made creating radio stations part of their mandate, as is the case in the DR Congo and South Sudan, for example.

Finally there is the requirement for consent of host states, often enshrined in a Status of Forces Agreement, which also lays down the immunities and privileges that UN radios enjoy.        

Photo: UNSG Dag Hammarskjold with Under Secretary General Ralph Bunche. Bunche has been called the original practical architect of UN peacekeeping. Photo courtesy of UN Archives.