"This paper is based on a qualitative study of couples living in SASA communities and secondary analysis of endline quantitative data collected as part of a cluster randomised control trial designed to evaluate the impact of the SASA! intervention. The primary trial was conducted in eight communitie
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s in Kampala, Uganda between 2007 and 2012. The secondary analysis of follow up survey data used multivariate logistic regression to examine associations between intervention exposure and interpersonal communication, and relationship change (n = 928). The qualitative study used in-depth interviews (n = 20) and framework analysis methods to explore the intervention attributes that facilitated engagement with the intervention and uptake of new ideas and behaviours in intimate relationships. We found communication materials and mid media channels generated awareness and knowledge, while the concurrent influence from interpersonal communication with community-based change agents and social network members more frequently facilitated changes in behaviour. The results indicate combining community mobilisation components, programme content that reflects peoples’ lives and direct support through local change agents can facilitate diffusion and powerful collective change processes in communities." (Abstract)
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"It is a certainty that the proliferation of ICTs (mobile phones in particular) has opened up a range of possibilities and new avenues for individuals, aid agencies, and NGOs. However, overviews of communication supposedly for development reveal a field based on economic understandings of developmen
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t biased toward techno-determinism. Moreover, these understandings lack sufficient critique and do not take larger contextual factors into account. Therefore, it is argued that empowerment is a better concept to draw upon in the critical study of ICTs and social change. However, empowerment is not an easy concept to define, and no analytical outline of the concept has been found in the existing body of literature. Addressing this lack, this chapter will trace the roots of empowerment in community psychology and in feminist and black power movements as well as explore different understandings of the concept from various disciplines. From this overview, the chapter suggests that empowerment should be studied on a) an intersectional level, b) a contextual level, c) an agency level, and d) a technological level. It further argues that these four levels intersect and must be studied in tandem to understand whether processes of empowerment are taking place, and if so, in what ways? The chapter ends by shortly applying these levels to a study involving market women’s use of mobile phones in Kampala." (Abstract)
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"We found that knowledge around digital security amongst women in Kampala is quite low. A high proportion of women have been victims of cyberbullying without any obvious routes to seeking justice against perpetrators. There is an urgency for law enforcement and government to hand down stricter penal
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ties for offenders and to provide measures that protect women from online gender-based violence. Furthermore, there is a large role for service providers and civil society to play in building the capacity of women to take precautionary steps to protect their online identities as well as to advocate for regulations and policies that can readily address the growing and changing threats to digital safety and security. As more women continue to access the internet, we must focus on keeping the internet a safe space where these women can benefit rather than become victims of violence and fraud." (Conclusions)
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"Governments around the world have dramatically increased their efforts to manipulate information on social media over the past year. The Chinese and Russian regimes pioneered the use of surreptitious methods to distort online discussions and suppress dissent more than a decade ago, but the practice
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has since gone global. Such state-led interventions present a major threat to the notion of the internet as a liberating technology. Online content manipulation contributed to a seventh consecutive year of overall decline in internet freedom, along with a rise in disruptions to mobile internet service and increases in physical and technical attacks on human rights defenders and independent media. Nearly half of the 65 countries assessed in Freedom on the Net 2017 experienced declines during the coverage period, while just 13 made gains, most of them minor. Less than one-quarter of users reside in countries where the internet is designated Free, meaning there are no major obstacles to access, onerous restrictions on content, or serious violations of user rights in the form of unchecked surveillance or unjust repercussions for legitimate speech." (Page 1)
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"The main task of the study was to evaluate, from the perspective of Burundian (n=58) and Ugandan (n=183) journalists the feasibility of making operational the normative frames of peace reporting as expounded by peace journalism scholars against the more entrenched news frames that favour conflict o
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r violence [...] The findings discussed in this chapter show that, overall, Burundian and Ugandan journalists still emphasise the frames of conflict or violence as viable news values. The survey results confirm the claim by scholars who have observed that conventional journalism frames that favour conflict or violence are well-entrenched and routinely influence media content. The rootedness of the frames of conflict or violence is evident across gender and years of journalism experience. This rootedness is most likely due to the training which is still dependent on literature and models of what Galtung and Ruge identified as favouring the conflict or violence framing of news." (Conclusion, page 231-232)
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"This report outlines the methodology and processes of the Radio Content Analysis Tool, a prototype developed by Pulse Lab Kampala to analyse public radio content in Uganda and explore its value for informing development of UN projects and programmes on the ground. It distills the technology behind
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the creation of the Radio Content Analysis Tool and presents the lessons learned along the way. The report also details the results of several pilot studies that were conducted together with partners from the Government, UN agencies and academia to understand the validity and value of unfiltered public radio discussions for development [...] By sampling different indigenous languages, types of broadcasters, and locations within Uganda, the pilot studies assess the potential uses of radio talk across five topics: perceptions towards refugees in Uganda, the impact of small-scale disasters on livelihoods, perceptions around the delivery of healthcare services, understanding the spread of infectious diseases, and monitoring the effectiveness of awareness raising radio campaigns." (Executive summary)
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"Musana FM has done a good job in fighting against poverty in Nakaseke district [Uganda] because of its effective and resourceful programs such as income generation programs. Additionally most of advertisements are for local produce, health and medicine which encourages use of local medicines for tr
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eating people, agriculture program which intents to give information about farming especially when to plant and harvest crops, entertainment, social issues, that aim at bringing peace and many others." (Conclusions, page 42)
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"The paper summarizes evidence on food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa and strategies to provide information on innovative agricultural practices to smallholder farmers. The research in this paper is then discussed within the context of research on information and communication technologies (ICTS)
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for development. Next, the paper presents the ICT-enhanced participatory radio campaign approach and ICT innovations introduced by Farm Radio International, a Canadian nongovernmental organization. The paper analyzes two participatory radio campaigns that use both listening groups and ICTs to engage African farmers. Research on these radio campaigns in six African countries is reported to examine how the participatory approach impacted listenership, knowledge and initial adoption of agricultural techniques and practices presented in the radio campaigns. The authors conclude that the findings of research on these projects could be highly relevant for increasing awareness and adoption of agricultural practices in Sub-Saharan Africa." (Abstract)
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"In this study I set out to investigate whether non-profit journalism models, particularly URN, provide an effective bulwark against the challenges associated with market-driven journalism in Uganda's hostile socio-economic and political landscape. The study further sought to establish whether URN c
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an be considered a viable and sustainable journalism model that can be replicated. The unfolding collapse of traditional media models has given rise to outside-the-box innovations as the industry bids to not only survive but also safeguard journalism, and this has partly inspired the proliferation of non-profit outfits. While the US leads the way, non-profit organisations are becoming popular across the world.
Uganda's URN, founded in 2005, is credited for providing affordable and quality news to 85 radio stations and a couple of newspapers. The news agency is also recognised for raising the standard of journalism with its independence from advertising pressure and motivated journalists, as well as functioning as a de facto public broadcaster. URN's non-profit status has enabled it to stand out from the Ugandan media scene described in Chapter One where market-driven journalism impinges on the quality of media content. However, over-dependence on a single external funder, DGF, has exposed the model as fragile and unsustainable. With the current grant due to lapse in 2017, albeit the possibility of renewal, and URN unsure of what to do next, the model's precariousness has been laid bare. Nevertheless URN’s sustainability should be understood within its proper context. To its funders the news agency is not a journalism model but rather part of a media development programme seeking to promote good governance and accountability in Uganda. It is therefore difficult to replicate." (Conclusion, page 26)
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"International trade in creative industries showed sustained growth in the last decade. The global market for traded creative goods and services totaled a record $547billion in 2012, as compared to $302 billion in 2003. Exports from developing countries, led by Asian countries, were growing faster t
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han exports from developed countries. Among developed country regions, Europe is the largest exporter of creative goods. In 2012, the top 5 creative goods exporters included Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium. Exports of creative goods from developed economies grew during the period 2003 to 2012, with export earnings rising from $134 billion to $197 billion. Among developing countries, China is the largest exporter of creative goods. In 2012, the top 5 exporters were China, Hong Kong, China, India, Turkey and South Korea. Exports of creative goods from developing economies grew during the period 2003 to 2012, with export earnings rising from $87 billion to $272 billion. Developing countries are playing an increasingly important role in international trade in creative industries." (Executive summary)
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"For several years, local radio stations in Uganda have broadcast “come home” messages that encourage the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army to demobilize. Since the rebels began carrying out attacks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Central African Republic, several international actors h
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ave introduced the same messages to these regions. This new effort has internationalized radio programming, benefited local radio stations, provided new forms of messaging, and functioned in collaboration with military actors. This article provides an overview of how “come home” messaging functions in different contexts, examines the effects of these actions, and calls for research into an important shift in military–humanitarian relations." (Abstract)
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"Now in paperback for the first time, the Handbook is an academic adaptation of information contained in the Global Report on the Status of Women in News Media, a study commissioned by the International Women's Media Foundation. The book's editor was the principal investigator of the original study.
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This text draws together the most robust data from that original study, presenting it in 29 chapters on individual nations and three additional theoretical chapters. The book is the most expansive effort to date to consider women's standing in the journalism profession across the world. Contents organize nations in relation to their progress within newsrooms, with those most advanced in gender equality representing diversity in terms of region and national development. Contributing authors are, in most cases, the original researchers for their respective nations in the Global Report study." (Publisher description)
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"This book probes the vitality, potentiality and ability of new communication and technological changes to drive online-based civil action across Africa. In a continent booming with mobile innovation and a plethora of social networking sites, the Internet is considered a powerful platform used by pr
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o-democracy activists to negotiate and sometimes push for reform-based political and social changes in Africa. The book discusses and theorizes digital activism within social and geo-political realms, analysing cases such as the #FeesMustFall and #BringBackOurGirls campaigns in South Africa and Nigeria respectively to question the extent to which they have changed the dynamics of digital activism in sub-Saharan Africa. Comparative case study reflections in eight African countries identify and critique digital concepts questioning what impact they have had on the civil society. Cases also explore the African LGBT community as a social movement while discussing opportunities and challenges faced by online activists fighting for LGBT equality. Finally, gender-based activists using digital tools to gain attention and facilitate social changes are also appraised." (Publisher description)
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"The markets we do include are a very diverse bunch, from the very closed and politically tightly controlled such as Laos; through a large number of nations on the African continent which have seen a sudden improvement in digital infrastructure thanks to the landing of several new submarine intercon
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tinental fibre optic cables over the past few years; and not forgetting markets like Trinidad & Tobago, which seems to enjoy a large choice of TV channels to serve a relatively modest population; or indeed Iran, fresh from its welcome back into the international fold following the suspension of UN sanctions in January 2016. For each market, we give some economic data sourced from the IMF, as well as our estimates and forecasts for advertising expenditure and growth in its ad market to 2018. We also provide a short commentary setting out an overview of the media market in question." (Page 1)
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"The aim of the present book is to provide both empirical and theoretical input to the discussions of the role of journalism and media in conflict and post-conflict situations and in the often rather muddy waters between them. Together, the contributions to this book from different parts of the worl
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d emphasise that discussions about post-conflict situations will gain from including the media. At the same time, the contributions problematise the concept of post-conflict and powerfully illustrate that the phase between war/conflict and peace is neither unidirectional nor linear, as the use of the concept sometimes seems to imply. Reaching a peace agreement or arranging for the termination of hostilities is, in itself, no guarantee that peace can be secured. The examples from Afghanistan, Colombia and South Sudan in this book show this up clearly. Remaining post-conflict societal friction may even be as threatening to long-lasting peace as the war itself. Hence, post-conflict may be seen as a “conflict situation in which open warfare has come to an end. However, such situations remain tense for years or decades and can easily relapse into large-scale violence” (Junne and Verkoren 2005)." (Introduction, pages 16-17)
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