School of Journalism and Mass Communication

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Browsing School of Journalism and Mass Communication by Author "Zacharia, Malima"

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    Impacts of Poverty and Lack of Education on Radio Communication for Forest Conservation in Tanzania
    (Centre for Democracy, Research and Development (CEDRED), Nairobi, Kenya., 2019-06-24) Zacharia, Malima
    This paper examines how poverty and lack of education among rural-based citizens living adjacent to forests in Tanzania impact on the efforts of the radio to communicate information on forest in a bid to influence community members to be responsive to forest conservation efforts. The study was guided by three research questions: To what extent do the communities view the impacts of deforestation in Tanzania? To what extent does education hampers the efforts of radio communication for forest conservation in Tanzania? How does poverty affects the communities to put into use forest conservation education provided by the radio in Tanzania? Data collection entailed content analysis of a series of ‘Urithi Wetu’ (Our Heritage) programme on TBC Radio, questionnaires and Focus Group Discussions. Yet, the study established that, contrary to the existing findings from different researchers that the radio is the most powerful mass-medium in creating environmental awareness and the most powerful in influencing the citizens to conserve forests, factors such as poverty and low levels of education among citizens living adjacent to forests in the rural areas limited the power of radio to influence conservation behaviour in Rufiji and elsewhere in Tanzania. It was established that many of the citizens with low level of education lacked the purchasing power to buy radio sets and, hence, had no access to radio broadcasting. As a result, they lacked forest conservation education and continued harvesting of forests in an unsustainable. It was also established that the poverty level of the rural inhabitants limited their capacity to shift to modern agriculture and their power to embrace the use of improved woodfuel saving stoves and improved charcoal stoves. In consequence, the majority of continued to over-rely on firewood and charcoal energy. As such, the government and other stakeholders should endeavour to empower the citizens economically first and then educate them. The farmers must first-of-all be supported to get modern agricultural production implements such as tractors and other agricultural inputs before being informed about stopping wanton cutting down of trees.
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    Radio Communication for Forest Conservation in Tanzania: a SWOC Analysis
    (The BRILL, 2020-05-23) Zacharia, Malima; Andindilile, Michael
    This study investigated the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges (SWOC) associated with the power of radio in communicating forests information to enhance community responsiveness to forest conservation in Tanzania. Data collection entailed the analysis of the content of a series of Urithi Wetu (Our Heritage) programme produced and aired by the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) radio, conducting interviews with key informants, administering questionnaires with citizens living adjacent to forests, and holding focus group discussions (FGDs) with the villagers in the study area. The study established that, to some extent, radio presents some opportunities for easy communication of forest conservation information in a bid to influence communities to take the intended conservation action. On the other hand, the study found that factors such as poor packaging of forest information, lack of participation of the rural-based citizens in the programmes, and poverty among community members limited the power of the radio to influence effectively citizens to conserve forests.
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    The Role of Radio Surveillance in the Fight Against Deforestation in Rufiji, Tanzania
    (Journal of the Geographical Association of Tanzania, 2020-06-30) Zacharia, Malima
    This paper examines the role of radio surveillance in the fight against deforestation in Rufiji, Tanzania. It presents the findings of a study that was guided by three research questions: (i) What techniques are used by radio programme producers in alerting people on the dangers of deforestation in Tanzania? (ii) How useful and helpful is forest information communicated through the radio to Rufiji community members? (iii) To what extent does the radio influence forest conservation behaviour among community members in Rufiji? Data were collected from a series of Urithi Wetu programme on TBC Taifa, and its content was analysed qualitatively to yield input that depicts the perceived role of radio surveillance. Complementary data were collected using questionnaires and focus group discussions. The findings reveal that the radio has largely failed to use instrumental surveillance function of the environment to empower community members find alternative sources of income generation and refrain from actions that are detrimental to forest conservation efforts. In fact, the findings expose the relative limitation of the success of the radio in both scope and intensity in using several techniques to make its audiences aware of impending and prevailing threats associated with TBC-Taifa tree-felling. Thus, remedial measures would include a shift in focus to solution-based programmes and integration of the views of the community members in radio programmes to optimise the impact on the target audiences.