Report 5 (of 5): Radio Active - Ghana

Introduction

Deforestation is the deliberate removal of natural forest and grassland plants by human activities. Logging, land clearing, bush burning, mining and quarrying, and settlements have all contributed to the deforestation in Ghana. The adoption of non-sustainable practices of exploitation of natural resources mean that Ghana’s rich forest reserves are dwindling by the day.

Environmentalists have responded by becoming more active, leading to the reawakening of environmental consciousness where it once existed, or introducing it where it has never existed before. Techniques that preserve the resources, protect the environment and favour economic development need to be implemented to stop the ecological degradation as well as guaranteeing self sufficiency and food safety for the local communities.

Efforts have been made in recent years to control environmental degradation by developing management plans aimed at protecting biological diversity and encouraging the sustainable use of natural resources. Unfortunately, in most cases, serious problems of implementation have been encountered. Apart from inadequate financial resources, the main cause has been the inability to communicate effectively the potential benefits of the new initiatives in order to ensure active cooperation of the people concerned.

PACIPE in West Africa

The Regional Technical Assistance Programme for Awareness and Information on the Protection of the Environment (PACIPE) was set up by a group of six countries in West Africa - Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau and Togo - with the financial assistance of the European Union. It was designed to stop environmental degradation by filling the communication vacuum which has hindered the initiatives of sustainable development for protection of the environment.

PACIPE supports the production of radio programmes, most notably in rural areas, which are designed with special attention to local languages. The radio programmes illustrate major threats on the environment and encourage the participation of individuals and communities to deal with these threats.

PACIPE targets decision makers and their agents, entrepreneurs, grassroot communities in rural and urban areas, students and other social groups, for example, women and youths. By increasing the level of awareness on environmental challenges these people are able to identify more with objectives for protecting the environment.

PACIPE in Ghana

PACIPE, in Ghana, offers support to the Information Department of the Environmental Protection Agency; rural communication on environmental problems in the Northern Region; national media coverage on priority environmental matters and promotion of environmental awareness within the Greater Accra Region.

Radio Communication and Environmental Education

In Bolgetanga, one of the bases for the PACIPE project in Ghana, some local farming practices have taken their toll on the environment. As part of an environmental awareness programme, PACIPE is working with local branches of the state broadcaster to put a message out across the radio: "bush burning is out, tree planting is in".

In order for messages to reach rural people and even some urban people, a good communication channel is essential. In areas where few people have access to television and many cannot read and write, radio is the natural choice for sending out information because it reaches a lot of people at the same time.

Under PACIPE, environmental practices are also taught through role play. Other features of the PACIPE project in Bolgetanga are awareness lessons which are given by the field officers. The lessons are about farming practices and how to use techniques that will conserve the environment and improve economic development. Local communities cannot be expected to radically change their way of life without being given the means to develop a new lifestyle.

The local radio producer interviews the students taking part in the lessons and finds out about the differences the new farming practices will make to their work. The radio feature is then inserted into a half hour programme which will be broadcast once a week in different local languages.

Due to the message given out by PACIPE on environmental awareness, people have started to realise that tree planting and allowing the trees to reach maturity are very important issues. There are communities who have not been bush burning for a number of years which shows that the message is getting across effectively.
 

For further information, please contact:

Intermediate Technology would like to thank PACIPE, in particular, Calistus Tang, for providing the original material on radio communication and environmental awareness in Ghana.
 

Further reading available from ITDG Development Bookshop

Communicating for Development: Human Change for Survival
Fraser & Estrada
The authors show how communication has been used to mobilise new societies, to facilitate democratic participation and to help people acquire new knowledge and skills. They describe how communication strategies, techniques and media resources might be used to help societies adapt, change and develop in the next century.
£16.95 (Tauris) ISBN 1860642381

Measuring the Impact of Information on Development
Michael J.Menou
With progressively less funds available for collecting and managing information, particularly in the developing world, we must now be able to prove its value. For the first time, key information specialists from around the world analysed this issue - through face to face discussion and the first ever computer conference on information science. This book documents the discussions of these experts and their suggested approaches for proving that information does have an impact, whether it be to save money, save lives, or empower people. It offers the first ever comprehensive review of all the issues associated with measuring the impact of information on development.
£15.95 202pp pb (IDRC) ISBN 0889367086
 

TVE/ Practical Action gratefully acknowledge support for the HANDS ON programmes from the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), the European Commission (EC), the UN Foundation and UNDP/The Equator Initiative in collaboration with the Government of Canada, IDRC, IUCN, BrasilConnects and the Nature Conservancy.