The history and development of participatory communication in Tanzania

1. The history and development ofparticipatory communication in Tanzania Thomas Tufte Roskilde University, Denmark ttufte@ruc.dk Presentation given at IAMCR Conference 18-22 July 2010, Braga, Portugal

2. Presentation • The Research Project • Entry Points: Governance and Citizenship, Public Sphere and Human (In)Security • Case: The history of participatory communication

3. Research Question • How can civil society driven media and communication initiatives- in the digital era - enhance processes of empowerment and ultimately good governance?

4. PeopleSpeaking Back? Media, empowerment and democracy in East Africa • 2009-2013 • Collaborative Research: 6 interlinked research projects (3 universities: Univ.of Dar es Salaam, Univ. of Nairobi and Roskilde University) • My project:

5. Entry points • Civil society – gaining visibilty, articulating change and obtaining political influence (Porto Alegre Partic.budget + Social For.) • Citizens – (dis)connections with orgs and movements • Stakeholders: government, decision-makers • Media and communication contents and outlets: visibility, networking and pol.action

6. AnalyticalPerspectives • human security: relates to both material and immaterial conditions of existence. Is deeply connected to questions of identity, community and subjectivity • Mediapolis: a mediated public sphere, a space which hosts both possibilities and limitations for the cultivation of civic action and participation. It includes the flows of media and communication practices • Citizenship: a multi-dimensional concept which includes the agencies, identities and actions of people themselves

7. EnactingcitizenshipSocial Movements and InsurgentPolitics • ‘in a world marked by the rise of mass self-communication, social movements and insurgent politics have a the chance to enter the public space from multiple sources. By using both horizontal communication networks and mainstream media to convey their images and messages, they increase their chances of enacting social and political change – even if they start from a subordinate position in institutional power, financial resources, or symbolic legitimacy’ (Castells 2009. 302)

8. Disjunctions of Citizenshipperspectives for myanalysis • Exploring political projects versus reality of lived lives, and the role of media and communication herein • A ’humanity’ perspective (raised human integration to the level of humanity (Bauman 2010) • The social cost of globalisation: ’Locals by fate rather than choice’ (Bauman 2000) • Glocal agency in contexts of ’failed states’. A global ’social state’ (NGOs rather that states engaging)

9. Disjunctions of Citizenship- the ménage of exclusion • ‘the state is today unable, and/or unwilling, to promise its subjects existential security (‘freedom from fear’, as Franklin D. Roosevelt famously phrased it) (Bauman 2010: 65)’. When the state acts in this way, the individual citizen is left to his own, unable to obtain existential security, that is unable to obtain and retain ‘a legitimate and dignified place in human society and avoiding the ménage of exclusion’ (Bauman).

10. Mediápolis- a mediatedspace of appearance • The polis, properly speaking, is not the city-state in its physical location: it is the organisation of the people as it arises out of acting and speaking together, and its true space lies between people living together for this purpose, no matter where they happen to be… (Arendt 1958; 198)

11. Mediápolis- a global civil space • a new cosmopolitan critical theory of the emerging global civil society and its contradictions • Embryonic and imperfect, but a necessary starting point for the creation of a more effective global civil space

12. Mediápolis – a communicationpractice • A comunicationpracticebasedon: • A mutuality of responsibility between producer and receiver; • A degree of reflexivity by all participants in the communication and; • A recognition of cultural difference A dialogic space of potential and possibility..

13. emergingquestions.. • What reality is created in this mediated space of appearance? • What kind of publicness is this, and where is it enacted? • What relation exists between online and offline media and comm practices? How do ordinary citizens engage as participants in the mediated public sphere of mediápolis?

14. Human Security • Human security as freedom from fear describes a condition of existence in which human dignity is realized, embracing not only physical safety but going beyond that to include meaningful participation in the life of the community, control over one’s life and so forth (…)Thus, while material sufficiency lies at the core of human security, in addition the concept encompasses non-material dimensions to form a qualitative whole. In other words, human security embraces the whole gamut of rights, civil and political, economic and social, and cultural (Thomas 2007: 108-109)

15. Human (In)Securityaimswiththisconcept • The subjective position from which people speak and act • Conditions of existence fundamental of agency and communiction • Helps us understand the social reality citizens live in, and the socio-physic situation this reality produces • Helps produce a parameter for the quality and scope of civil society driven media and communication initiatives

16. Research Questiononceagain • How can civil society driven media and communication initiatives- in the digital era - enhance processes of empowerment and ultimately good governance? • Explored in the intersection of mediápolis, citizenship and human (in)security

17. Research Project: MEDIeA(Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa) • Kenya + Tanzania, 2009-2013, team of 6 researchers, including two media ethnographic PhD-students, urban + rural fieldwork sites Tanzania Case: • Femina HIP • Health Info for youth • Reach: 25% of all Tanzanians

18. Case: Femina HIP Objectives To build supportive environments in Tanzania where: • Young people in their communities enjoy their right to access information & services and are empowered to make positive informed choices around sexuality and lead healthy lifestyles in order to reduce the negative impact of HIV/AIDS.

19. Case: Femina HIP Objectives To build supportive environments in Tanzania where: • Communities exercise their right to express themselves, participate in public debate & engage in civil society. (Femina HIP Logical Framework, 2007)

20. Tanzanian Context • Stil low – but now growing- levels of participation in public life and decision-making • Weak civil society – but is changing • Low/weak media infrastructure • Femina HIP became a visible NGO early on

21. FEMA • FEMA. A glossy magazine, 64 pages, 150.000 copies (rising to 170.000 by end of 2008). Published 4 x a year. Targets youth aged 15-24 especially secondary school students in every region of the country

22. SiMchezo • Si Mchezo! 32 pages, 140.000 copies. • 6 x a year. Targets out of school youth and their communities particularly in rural areas. • Will rise to 250.000 by end of 2008.

23. Other Media Outlets • Pilika Pilika. A radio soap opera. Carries messages from Femina as well as two other organisations. Airs on national radio 4 times a week. • FEMA Tv Talk Show. Half ½ hour talk show. Broadcasts on national TV 4 times a week. Mobile phones are used for feedback and voting, particularly around the TV. • ChezaSalama (‘play safe’). Interactive website with a series of activities and information in English and Swahili. First of its kind in Tanzania. • A Facebook site – recently created • Blogging - a Femina Club is doing it, but not explored yet.. • Individual Publications: Range of specialist publications produced on for example HIV-testing.

24. Challenges • To apply this conceptual framework in the empirical analysis (exploring media uses in/for the articulation of (deliberative?) spaces of everyday life • Studying ’agency’, space and feelings of ’human insecurity’ in practice • Identifying the relation between on-line and off-line practices