“I sometimes used to sit and cry but then feel determined at the same time to change my situation from what society perceives [about] people living with disability – that we’re not able to do anything in life. Some parents [even] refer to their disabled children as ‘half pikin’ (half child),” Madi Sefoi tells our radio presenter Marian Tina Conteh.

In Sierra Leone, many people live with different forms of disabilities, but often girls in wheelchairs are seen begging from people passing by in cities around the country.

We met Madi on a production visit to the south of Sierra Leone for our radio programme Wae Gyal Pikin Timap (When a Girl Child Stands). Thousands of girls are out of school in Sierra Leone, so the show aims to turn up the volume on the barriers to education. Increasingly, we identify the issues for girls living with disabilities and give them the opportunity to tell their stories on air and discuss challenges.

We sometimes bring girls to our studio to present alongside our presenter, by acting as the presenter’s friend. We interviewed Madi as a co-host when we visited her province to record with our partner radio stations. She told us that growing up in Bo City (known as ‘Gari town’) wasn’t easy,

‘’I had to put up with the difficulties of going to a public school which was not disabled-friendly in terms of moving around the compound. I used to feel discouraged to be crawling among thousands of students.”

People living with disabilities faced lot of discrimination in their daily lives, she said. Often, families, communities, and society see them as a burden. Some people treat them with disrespect and sometimes mock, provoke, laugh, or call them names like ‘gbenkelenkie’ (bend foot), or believe they are a result of witchcraft or are a curse on their family.

“Transport to go to school and other places was always a nightmare for me because I had to be taken off my wheelchair and helped into it again. People look low at me and that makes me feel unhappy,” Madi continues.

She describes that she finished high school and took the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) but unfortunately did not achieve the requirements for university. She wanted to re-sit but could not afford the entry fees for the exams.

Determined for change

“I decided to start doing something to raise money to be able to take care of myself and save some to fulfill my dream of re-sitting and going to college or do something meaningful in life,” says Madi.

She started plaiting hair for her family and because she was creative with different hair styles, she quickly had friends, family and new customers coming to see her every day. Her reputation grew, she told us people started calling her ‘Madi Sefoi the Bluffay’ (for us this means a lady who is well presented and immaculate), quickly she started earning enough to start taking care of her immediate needs such as food and clothes, and eventually enough to save for her next step.

After hearing an IT course advertised on the radio, Madi left Bo and traveled to Freetown to complete the course. She continued to plait hair to support herself and enrolled for a customer care training course back in Bo City. “I learned how to attend to people and how to manage my time as well,” says Madi. “With all these training experiences, I continue with my passion of plaiting hair… earning some income that I’m using to take care of myself and my immediate family.”

“Disability is not inability”

On our show, Madi told her story. She said people living with disabilities need people to give them attention, support, and encouragement. People should include girls living with disabilities in opportunities that are available to others – in her words “…our disability is not inability. Girls living with disabilities are greatly in need of those opportunities”.

She went further during her Wae Gyal Pikin Timap interview and called on government to address the issues of people living with disabilities, especially girls, to create more opportunities that are accessible and disabled friendly.

Inviting girls like Madi onto the radio programme helps shine light on the issues girls are facing as part of our project called Every Adolescent Girl Empowered and Resilient (EAGER). We identify issues affecting girls who are out of school, including those living with disability, and give them the opportunity to discuss and tell their stories, and most importantly to share their creative solutions.

Meeting Madi was truly inspirational. She featured in an episode called ‘’Disability not holding girls back’’ and we know by inviting young co-hosts on the show it’s helping other girls. Last year, our research found listeners find the programme engaging and they like Wae Gyal Pikin Tinap because it features girls in relatable, real-life situations about issues relevant to their lives, as well as potential solutions. I believe it is how our programmes focus on inspiring and empowering girls which makes the difference.


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Mariama Sesay is a Senior Producer for ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Media Action, Sierra Leone

Learn more about the EAGER project here 
Read our new commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion here

Agol’s story featured alongside those of many other girls in South Sudan. For 15-year-old Easter, going to school in the dark was dangerous. Waiting until daylight meant she was missing classes. 

By means of interviews with girls, their families and teachers, 'Our School' shows how these kinds of factors can affect a girl’s education. At the same time, through positive role models, the programme shows girls how they can succeed.

After listening to the radio show, started walking her daughter to school.

Making a difference

Our shows that listeners of the programme are significantly more likely to say their daughter is going to school, compared to non-listeners. And, nearly half of our audience said they had asked questions at their local schools after listening to the show. Those who tune in say they more frequently discuss education with their daughters or girls in their family too. 

Many issues remain, but as Agol’s story suggests, girls in South Sudan are in a class of their own.

As she says: "I had challenges but I overcame those bit by bit until I sat for my exams and passed."

More power to you Agol.

 

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Kenyi Betuel is Editor for ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Media Action project ‘Our School’ – a girl’s education programme in South Sudan funded by DFID through the . The programme is produced by a team of local producers and broadcasts in nine languages.

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔwork vs housework

Stella’s story is a common one. Many people in South Sudan believe a girl should be doing housework, not homework. Whole communities of girls are prevented from getting an education for fear that they will lose respect for time-old traditions that place women firmly in the home.

Stella had wanted to sneak into school with the boys from her village but the prospect was daunting, “We didn’t know people in town and were scared that we’d get lost on the way,” she says.

Her father finally relented once convinced of the future economic benefits of educating his daughters.

“My father only gave my sisters and I permission to go to school when he realised the benefits school had on my brother,” she says.

“My brother… has bought many cows for my father…paying for him to travel between the village and town by car whenever he wants.”

Like Stella’s father, Lopeyok a father and community elder changed his mind about school being a ‘dangerous place’ for girls.

“Now I have realised that the school is good for girls, I am ready to pay for my daughter’s school fees” he tells Tina. “If they ask me anything for school I have cows that I will sell for my children to study.”

I want to be a doctor

Despite starting school relatively late, Stella is working hard to achieve her dreams.

“It won’t take me long to finish my school” she says defiantly. “I want to be a doctor to serve…my community.” She’s aware of how different things could have been: “If I had remained in the village up until now, I would already be married, have many children – and be working on the land.”

I hope her story is an inspiration for all our listeners - girls, parents and community leaders. The more that fathers realise that educating their daughters is beneficial for their family, community and country, the more that girls will realise their potential.

Our School – funded by DFID through the Girls’ Education South Sudan (GESS) project – is produced by a team of local producers and broadcasts in nine languages.

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Media Action isn't funded by the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ’s licence fee and depends on the generous support of donors. Help our work.

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In South Sudan, it’s not uncommon for older men to offer girls and young women gifts of transport, mobile phones and cash with the expectation of them starting a sexual relationship in return. This sometimes has disastrous consequences for their education.

Rose, aged 16, was a committed pupil before a relationship with an older man caused her to drop out of school. On her way to school one morning she arrived at the bus station and found there was no transport. She was stuck and didn’t know what to do when a man in his thirties cruised by in his car and offered her lift. Desperate not to be late for her morning lessons, she accepted the lift and jumped into the man’s car.

Rose, now 29, told her story to Florence Michael, a producer of , a radio programme which discusses the importance of girls completing their education in South Sudan.

“On our way, he asked for my name, I introduced myself then he did the same,” Rose said. “Reaching school he asked me if we could meet again.”

Over the next few months, the man continued to give Rose lifts to school. He didn’t stop there. He gave her a whole variety of gifts, including money and a mobile phone. Not long after that, the man asked for something else.

He asked Rose to be his girlfriend. A few months later she was pregnant.

“After I conceived I couldn’t go to school,” Rose said. “The man had a wife; he only came to spoil me then went back to his wife. Up to now, I couldn’t get back to school and there’s no one helping me with my child.”

Rose isn’t the only one. Monica from Lakes State, Mimi from Juba and Esther from Maridi in Western Equatoria State told our producers they left school after developing relationships with older men. They all say it started with gifts.

Many people in South Sudan are poor and public transport is often unreliable. School teachers and parents we interviewed believe some men take advantage of this situation to seduce schoolgirls into relationships.

Gifts from strangers

Atong, a female teacher in Mingkaman, Lakes State, said she is aware this goes on and they are doing their best to alleviate the situation.

“During lessons, we tell girls to protect themselves by rejecting any gifts from strangers”, Atong told Abraham Machuor, another Our School producer.

Wilson, a parent, entered into the debate, saying it’s not enough to tell girls not to accept gifts. “You have to give her a budget,” he said. “For example, money for transport, to and from school, money for breakfast…and she’ll be free and not think about what others can give her.”

Many of the girls we interviewed – from a number of states – said they believed the benefits of education outweighed the attraction of gifts that come with strings attached.

“If somebody gave me something, I would concentrate on that person and forget my education, that’s why I reject gifts,” said one girl, “Even if I am poor, I have to continue with my education until I finish and be rich like that person.”

It’s satisfying to know our radio programmes are giving people a platform to talk frankly about such a sensitive issue as well as discussing ways to overcome it.

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The theme for this year's is the power of the adolescent girl and the vision for this generation of girls in 2030. As the day approaches, Apune Jacob Alfred reflects on the research he and colleagues at ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Media Action have undertaken as part of the Girls’ Education programme in South Sudan.

                 "[I want to go to university] so that I can become a doctor and drive my own car.”
                                                            Adolescent girl, Ngomba, western South Sudan

This was just one ambition we heard earlier this year when we conducted interviews with teenage girls for ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Media Action's , part of the DFID-funded . In total, we spoke to 13 girls aged 13 to 18. Having a daughter myself, it was wonderful to hear about how interested these teenagers were to become doctors or engineers and become equal to any man in South Sudan.

We were working in Wau, Western Bahr El Ghazal, in the west of South Sudan on what’s called a longitudinal qualitative study which involves us speaking to girls, their families, teachers and key influencers in their community over a four-year period.

As the quote suggests, a key finding from our research is that this generation of women have big ambitions and hopes for their futures. However, in 2013, . Many of the girls in our study, despite being teenagers, were either not in school or were still in the lower grades of primary school.

What causes this gulf between ambition and reality?

Our study aims to understand better the drivers and barriers that influence girls’ opportunities in relation to education and, consequently, what they are able to choose to do in their lives.

Many of the adolescent girls we spoke to talked about a number of issues affecting their ability to go and stay in school. They told us about the pressure of domestic responsibilities, the expense of education – not only school fees, but also the price of uniforms, books and pens. Parents and others in the community also mentioned the harassment girls sometimes face from boys and men inside and outside of school.

                   “Life has been hard. Had it not been because of money problems, I would have got                                         registered in school. So… these are the things that pain me.”                                                                                                Adolescent girl, Kayango, western South Sudan

Informing programmes

The findings from our research directly feed into Our School, a 15-minute factual radio programme that includes real-life stories of girls, their families and schools to highlight the benefits of girls staying in school.

Recent episodes of the programme have directly tackled some of the main challenges the girls told us about.

For example, the show has focused on how to grow and manage income and expenditure in the household to help budget for school fees, how to split household chores among girls and boys equally and how girls can deal with boys inside and outside of the classroom.

Next year we will be returning to the same girls, families and teachers to see if and how their situations have changed – and what has contributed to these changes. I’m very much looking forward to going back and meeting the girls again so I can see for myself how they have progressed in their ambitions, and if and how the Our School programme is helping them.

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In a country where only one in ten girls complete primary education, Trish Doherty looks at how a ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Media Action radio programme is helping more girls stay in school in South Sudan.

“A girl without education is like a bird without wings”

So read the banner held by pupils of AIC Nursery and Primary School as they marched onto the pitch set aside for the celebrations of South Sudan’s National Girls’ Education Day. Held at Gudele East Primary School, the event was both a celebration of girls’ education and the launch of the first ever .

In a country where only one in ten girls complete primary education and even fewer a secondary education, the strategy’s emphasis on girls’ education is paramount.

Launched by the government with support from UNICEF and key education organisations, the strategy aims to remove barriers that prevent girls in South Sudan from going to and staying in school and includes plans to promote girls’ education, make education affordable and provide a gender sensitive curriculum.

Transforming lives through education

Watching the children of primary schools from across the area perform songs, dances and dramas about the challenges they face in going to and staying in school, and the pride they have in their own education, I reflected on the changes that ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Media Action’s radio programme is making to lives of people across South Sudan. is a 15 minute factual radio programme that includes real life stories of girls, their families and schools to highlight the benefits of girls staying in education. The show forms part of the , which seeks to transform the lives of a generation of children – especially girls – through education.

In 2014, within four months of its first broadcast, reached an estimated 946,000 people aged 15+ in South Sudan. Since then we have seen real stories of change among listeners. For example, 19 year old William Okeny from Juba, who, after hearing the Our School programme, said he changed his attitude towards the division of household chores:

“One time I tune on my radio it was Our School programme and the topic was supporting girls at home… it was really touches me [and] encourages me to come up with a choice of helping my sisters at home with everything like cooking, sweeping [and] mopping.”

Or 19 year old Teresa Mading from Kuajock, who, at 15, dropped out of school when she got married and had a family. Listening to Our School programme some years after the birth of her first child, Teresa was inspired to return to school.

“I first talked to my husband [and told him] that I had listened to the one of young mothers like me explaining over [the] radio that she had taken courage and returned to school while having young children like me.”

As pupils at the National Girls’ Education Day celebrations performed a drama on the importance of girls staying in school for themselves and their families, I noted how similar their fictional storylines were to William and Teresa’s real-life stories, and how much of a difference education will make for future generations.

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Since its launch in 2009,  has attracted over six million users in Bangladesh and received several international awards for its innovative mix of pre-recorded English lessons and quizzes delivered through mobile phones. 

International conferences provide an opportunity to share our experiences of working on a large-scale mLearning project. And last week, as ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Media Action’s English Language Teaching editor in Bangladesh, I attended such an event, the . 

Participants from over 50 countries gathered for an exciting week of presentations, debate and discussion on the important role mobile technology can and is playing in education. 

As part of an Open University UK workshop called 'mLearning Solutions for International Development: Rethinking What’s Possible', we presented the factors which have contributed to the success of ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Janala – and some of the challenges we face too. 

One important challenge is how we ensure the sustainability of the service.  We focused on how it will be necessary to develop partnerships which will enable us to pass the service, once funding ends, to a commercial entity, whilst retaining a focus on the broadest target audience possible. 
Sustainability was an issue that also marked the informative keynote speech of the conference, given by Rita Vanska from Nokia Corporate Relations & Responsibility. 

She talked about Nokia's projects in developing countries and demonstrated how Nokia MoMaths in South Africa works and the impact it’s having inside and outside the classroom.
Rita stressed how the delivery of educational content through mobile phones offers accessible learning opportunities for all. However, in order for these projects to become sustainable, she emphasised the need for further involvement and engagement of governments, telecom providers and other partners.

In addition to the issue of sustainability, another challenge is measuring large-scale impact which, like any new educational initiative, requires time, money and resources. Without a substantial body of evidence of the educational impact of mobile technologies on teachers and learners, it is more difficult to persuade stakeholders to invest in and adopt them.  

Although this evidence is emerging, it seems to me that further investment in measuring impact is required. In 2013, ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Media Action will be carrying out a large-scale research study to evaluate improvements in English language competency of users of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Janala mobile phone service. This study will be able to contribute to a global body of evidence around the educational impact of mLearning.

Having worked on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Janala mobile service project since August 2010, I’m already aware of how mLearning can help make a difference in people’s lives. 

I'll never forget one of our users, Mohammend Sultan, who told us that anyone – no matter what their literacy level – can learn English and gain the confidence he has developed while using ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Janala. As he says, "They could be a housewife, a housekeeper, a father, a boss or a guard. Anybody can do it." We made a short film about how his new skills have helped him in his job.  Measuring and sustaining this impact on a large-scale is the next step in truly transforming where, when and how people learn.

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"Fan-tas-tic!"

A new word has caught on in the classroom.

Around 40 teenage Cambodian students sit at their fixed wooden desks, listening and singing along to a new series of the radio programme English Is Fun.

"How's it going today? Fantastic!" they sing-come-yell in unison with the singer, clearly enjoying this way of learning.

And it's a relief. Using music to teach English is still something very new in Cambodian state schools and it's taken seven months to put the series together, scripting, pre-testing and evaluating along the way.

I work for and since 2010 we have partnered with ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Media Action to produce three series of English Is Fun, 120 programmes in all and funded by of Japan. They are designed to help Cambodian students with their English speaking and listening skills in an engaging and interactive way, using songs, quizzes, pronunciation sections and the voices of native speakers of English.

There is also a storyline which follows Cambodian schoolgirl Devi and her friends as they journey through rice fields and jungles on a quest to open a mysteriously carved box. They are helped by their talkative buddy Mr Parrot, who finds love on the journey.

These programmes help meet a dire need for teaching materials in Cambodian schools, which are seriously underfunded. Of course things have come a long way from the Khmer Rouge period (1975-1979) during which all schools were closed and many teachers persecuted or killed. These days, teachers suffer from poor pay and most schools have no electricity or running water.

With English Is Fun, teachers tune in to the radio programme at an assigned time and listen and interact together with the students. They then do a series of follow-up games and activities so students practise what they have learned.

It’s a model that seems to be working. One of our stakeholders, the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport conducted an assessment of speaking and listening skills, comparing students who were using the programme with students who are not. Their figures show English Is Fun students performed an average of three times better in speaking tests and four times better in listening tests.

We've been working with the ministry to ensure our programmes mirror the state curriculum for English, and are also culturally appropriate. We’ve also been working with ESC "Kizuna", the non-governmental-organization, who are responsible for implementing the school side of the project, and producing textbooks to accompany the radio programmes.

 

For me, the best part about this project has been this spirit of working together. By bringing together two ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ departments, three talented young Cambodian producers and scores of teachers, ministry officials and our Japanese donors and partners, I think we have crafted something that can help inspire students now and for years to come.

The next practical step is to get these programmes made part of the state syllabus nationwide, so every Cambodian student going through school grades 7, 8 and 9 would use them.

If we can achieve that, it really would be "fantastic."

The new series of English is Fun started on Monday 8 October and is broadcast nationwide in Cambodia on AM on three local FM stations.

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If you watch the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Janala video above, you'll see that its star, Piyal, learns to ride a bike because of his determination.

This characteristic is shared by a great many people in Bangladesh who are learning English any way they can.

1st March, 2012, was a big day for the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Janala Project in Bangladesh as we launched ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Janala Amar Engreji (β€˜My English Course’). What’s new and special about the course is that students can study whenever they want, as often as they want. It is available on mobiles, web and WAP. It’s also published four times per week in a leading daily newspaper, and the syllabus is what underpins our latest TV series – Mojay Mojay Shekha 2 – a fun, formatted game show.

In terms of size and scale, the project is bigger than anything I’ve ever worked on before and reaches many more millions of people than an average ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ One prime-time show. In fact our TV audiences can reach up to around 20 million viewers.

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Janala is already four years old, but over those years we’ve learned a lot – our audiences told us that they wanted a structured course which progressed through different levels and offered a reward at the end. In response we developed a progressive, step by step syllabus with topic reports and a course report when they finish. They also told us that they wanted the learning to be relevant and meaningful to them – so we tested the content on all our platforms many times to ensure the level of language and cultural appropriateness. It has involved many hours of work and the efforts of many people in the team.

We have always sought to be innovative and creative and I’m delighted that the whole team’s efforts have been recognised recently at several major awards ceremonies – including winning the eAsia award for the Best Open and Distance learning, and the World Innovation Summit for Education Award in recognition of innovative practices.

Amar Engreji was launched with a TV, radio and print advertising campaign across a wide range of TV channels and newspaper outlets. Already over half a million people have called the mobile line alone, and we know that people are staying longer than ever before on the web content, on average around 18 minutes. It is early days but the indications are very good.

With a project this size, so many people are involved, and without the hard work of everyone in the team, ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Janala would not be the incredible, inspiring project that it is, a huge thank you from me to everyone. There’s another five years to go… so do watch this space!

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