Kenya Meterological Department Distributes Lifelines to Community Radio Stations

July 2007

In July 2007, Lifeline Energy conducted training and distribution for more than 150 wind-up and solar-powered Lifeline radios with the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) in Kangema and Suswa districts of Kenya. Part of KMD’s Radio Internet (RANET) project, the radios were among the 2,000 funded by the Vodafone Group Foundation and Safaricom Foundation and distributed to schools, tea farmers and women-led households to increase sustainable access to community radio stations.

KMD, in partnership with the community, local administration and NGOs on the ground, is in the process of setting up rural community FM stations across the country. The stations in Kangema and Suswa are already on air, and can broadcast at a radius of 25 kilometres or more. The broadcasts are in the local dialect, and are managed by the communityitself to ensure that the information transmitted is received and understood by everyone.

In Kangema, for example, the FM radio station broadcasts information on agriculture, HIV/AIDS and the weather to alert tea farmers in the region to new crop growing techniques and landslide warnings. In an area where tea farming is one of the main economic activities, the distribution of the radios to farmers, schools and women’s groups was organised through the Kanyenyaini Tea Factory. Both the tea factories and the farmers in the region were pleased with the Lifeline radios, as they would greatly help the factories communicate with the farmers through the radio programmes and their SMS feedback service, as well as provide them agriculture and weather-related information to help them pluck the tea shoots on time.

KMD staff hand Lifeline radios to teachers

                                                

KMD’s OLMAA RANET station in Suswa also broadcasts information on agriculture, the weather and socio-economic activities in the region, but it caters to a different target audience. Aimed at a mixed Kikuyu and Maasai pastoralist community, the accurate and timely information received through the Lifeline radios helps improve the quality of their lives.