The Young Woman on a Bicycle Wields the Power of Radio

Mavis Muchiya gets comfortable on a bicycle, her usual method to cross a rough dirt road with huge potholes that is no longer accessible to cars or trucks. That bicycle is her ride for two months as she goes back and forth to Kabanje, a community located in the heart of Mazabuka District, in the Southern Province of Zambia.

While not the most comfortable ride, she endures the blazing sun on the flood-damaged road because that road is “the story.”

As a young radio journalist for Mazabuka FM, she is determined to give the people of Kabanje a voice. Her tools — a phone, a recorder, and a microphone — help her tell this story. With the phone, she communicates with her sources, with her recorder she records high-quality audio products, and her portable microphone guarantees high-quality sound.

Yes, a road!

It’s not just a damaged dirt road. Due to heavy floods, this road has been damaged for more than 10 months.

“When I arrived and met the people, they told me how the extensive damage to the road hinders pregnant women from reaching the hospital on time. Some deliver their babies before they reach the hospital or choose to stay put and deliver at home, without the right medical equipment and expertise. The road has cut the community off from services such as electricity and water, and farmlands are now bare, farmers are no longer as productive and are unable to make money from farm produce,” Mavis says.

For Mavis, this road was her story. And through this story she helps the community hold the local authorities accountable.

“I wanted the residents to speak truth to power, express their feelings and experiences, ask their leaders questions, and ask them to act,” she explains.

Mavis’ story highlighting how the poor road conditions are cutting off community members from essential services influenced local authorities in Mazabuka to fundraise for resources to construct a tarred road.

“As we speak,” she says, “a local non-governmental organization came on board and worked with the community members to patch the road while providing food for their families, through a food-for-work program. As well, a huge international organization has selected a contractor that will work on the road before the onset of the rains.”

Mavis felt proud of how her story is changing an entire community: “This is why I love being a journalist, it gives me zeal to work with people in my community. I see myself as the voice of the voiceless.”

Mavis is one of over 250 journalists from community radio stations supported by the USAID Opens Spaces project.

“Selected journalists from almost 20 community radio stations pursued stories of public interest to increase accountability, open conversation, and citizen engagement in government, which are all critical for a functioning democracy,” said USAID/Zambia Mission Director Peter Weibler.

Zambia’s Southern Province has 11 community radio stations and 10 commercial radio stations. An Audience/Listenership survey conducted in 2018 found that the Mazabuka FM Community Radio has an approximately 150-kilometer broadcast radius and gives information to approximately 1 to 1.8 million people. Community radio stations are important as they are owned by the community. The community defines the content and programs aired on radio, as such these stations have become a platform for freedom of expression for many communities in Zambia.

“Given the growing popularity of community radio and digital media outlets, these information sources are a positive and effective tool for improving dialogue and supporting freedom of information and expression in Zambia,” the mission director adds.

A prophecy fulfilled.

“At a tender age, my teachers always said I would one day become a newscaster because I was very talkative, and I still am. So, since childhood I wanted to appear on radio and television,” Mavis says with a chuckle.

She has been a radio journalist and newscaster since 2013, and is committed to developing and sharing stories that change people’s lives.

“People do not always come out openly with their opinions,” she explains, “but if I go to them, they tell me what they are facing, and I amplify it using radio.”

“After finishing my grade 12, I jumped at the opportunity to volunteer as a journalist at Mazabuka Community Radio Station, without any formal media training. My new skills have enabled me to produce a series of nine-minute radio documentaries as part of the news,” she said.

As part of her work with the USAID Open Spaces project, Mavis also featured a story about how price increases of mealie-meal, a cornmeal staple of the Zambian diet, have negatively affected the health and nutrition of children under 5. Her reports reached officials in the Government of Zambia.

A passion for giving people a voice.

Kelvin Muzelenga has been working around the clock reading the news and hosting discussions in one of Zambia’s local languages — Tonga.

The 26-year-old journalist works for Byta Community Radio in Choma District, also in the Southern Province of Zambia. “I grew up with my grandfather who loved listening to radio programs. Because of him, I wanted people to listen to my voice through a radio-set, like the one my grandfather had.”

It’s all about medicines and vaccinations!

After the USAID Open Spaces project selected Kelvin to receive a small grant to produce three public-interest stories, he pursued the stories that mattered to his community. Kelvin’s story focused on how members of the public were not able to access medicines from hospitals and clinics.

“I put to test the new skills I had acquired from the investigative journalism training and approached the right leaders and talked to several residents. As a result of my story, the local authorities in Choma, disbursed the essential medicines to hospitals and clinics within a month. I produced and aired the story on radio in December 2022, by January 2023, people had access to medicines,” Kelvin says.

These medicines are important for the elderly and low-income earners who are already struggling financially and rely on affordable or free medicines from public hospitals.

COVID-19 vaccinations and the myths around the vaccines were also another critical story for Kelvin. “There was a belief that COVID-19 vaccinations were associated with the ‘mark of the beast’, and this biblical reference made people fear vaccinations. I remember that at the time I wrote the story, the District Health Office here in Choma had rolled out a campaign to vaccinate people, however very few people showed up.”

Kelvin was vigilant. He interviewed rural and urban people and involved the village leaders. As a result, his stories helped increase the number of people who accepted vaccinations and got vaccinated. “This gave me immense joy, to see my work make a difference, he said.

A phone, recorder, microphone, and newly found skills in digital reporting, changed the quality of Kelvin’s work. The USAID Open Spaces training that Internews delivered helped improve his reporting, how he approached sources for information, and how he developed his scripts.

“Now I can explore different angles for a story. I did not go to college to pursue a journalism career; hence, I did not know how to write a full script for radio. I would always ask a Senior Reporter to write and edit the sound bites I collected. Now I can explore many sources and independently write and edit my scripts and recordings,” said Kelvin.

Through the work with Mavis, Kelvin, and other Zambian journalists, USAID Open Spaces strengthens the democratic foundations of freedom of speech and assembly; facilitates independent and new media; and safeguards a space for independent media, civil society, free speech advocates, and diverse voices in Zambia.

According to the Media Institute of Southern Africa — Zambia, radio is the most frequently used and most trusted source of news and information in Zambia — in part because access to radio is inexpensive, it reaches remote areas, and is often broadcast in local languages.

About the Project

USAID Open Spaces trains journalists in the basics of journalism, using social media and new technologies, digital safety, packaging stories for radio, artificial intelligence use in the newsroom, and provides mentors who assist trainees to improve the quality of reporting. In addition to the training provided, USAID Open Spaces has also provided new equipment worth over ZMW2,5-million (US$145 000) for community radio stations including broadcast equipment, portable microphones, transmitters, solar kits, and recorders for the stations and journalists to produce high-quality audio products.

About the Author

Doreen Hove is the Development Outreach and Communications Specialist at USAID’s Mission in Zimbabwe, and produced this story as a Fellow for USAID’s Mission in Zambia.