To reach Indigenous Peoples and the most remote of forest-dependent communities, you need (community) radio. DRP helped us develop a high-quality podcast for and by Indigenous Peoples with stories from different continents. The team is experienced and diverse, speaks different languages, and has connections everywhere. DRP has helped get the podcast on the radio in multiple countries, reaching over 40 million people. We're so pleased with the work that we expanded the podcast series and are working on additional episodes.
Developing Radio Partners works in innovative ways at the grass-roots level to strengthen communities in developing countries and help them respond productively to health, environmental, and governance concerns. For example, by providing journalism training to teenagers in Malawi and informing them of their rights, DRP gives youth a strong voice in their communities' affairs. With these skills and information, teenage reporters produce programs aired by their community radio stations that delve into local problems and possible solutions. And these programs have delivered results. In one community local young people didn't wait for their elders to build them a youth center; they built it themselves. In another community, youths reporting on their peers' complaints about lacking access to youth-friendly health services persuaded the health facility to stay open during times more convenient for young people who are in school. In this way, DRP builds local capacity in a sustainable way, leading to healthier and more stable communities.
DRP is one of the most effective, responsive, and fair organizations I've worked with during 15 years of media development around the world. Their network of partners and in-country contacts enriches their programming and brings diverse context to their approach. They deliver strong results through a combination of hands-on training, technical support, and tailored models that respond to beneficiary and partner needs. Their genuine commitment to strengthen and support media as a pillar of civil society always comes first in their work. As a partner and client, I can't recommend them highly enough.
DRP is doing profoundly important and impactful work with minimal resources. Where other organizations purport to achieve massive impact at huge scale, DRP makes a difference one person at a time, positively contributing to community growth and change.
It is easy to get distracted by new technologies and forget that people's informational needs are still the same. Community radio remains the most efficient means of enabling locally relevant and empowering conversations for millions of people around the planet. We are lucky DRP continues to work in these locations and that they do so with such profound and genuine commitment.
DRP’s spirit began for me freshman-year, day 1 when I wandered into our Buffalo-university campus radio station. Bill Siemering, DRP’s Founder and then our central and inner-city satellite station Manager, said “Hi I’m Bill. What’s your name and what would you like to do?” In that spirit DRP works with local radio stations, in developing countries, providing them with the skills they need to bring reliable information to those who need it the most.
Managers, producers, engineers and trainers work with DRP to do what broadcast does best. In many geographies and languages-from many cultures and histories, they tell their stories. Measurable differences result from their broadcasts. They produce radio that has, produced results that impose limits on child-bride practice; get sanitary hygiene products into schools so girls can attend without interruption; make sure government health authorities honor their commitments and provide HIV resources; identify practical climate and conservation measures helpful to local farmers; and so much more. For me serving DRP and the people it serves is my honor. I support DRP and hope you will too.
DRP excels in training young journalists throughout Africa and encouraging them to tackle hard issues such as child marriage and climate change. Through community radio, they inform communities on what can be done and make a huge difference. Their work is first rate and should be better known.
In Sub-Sahara Africa Radio is the queen of communications media. It’s everywhere, it’s inexpensive, and it builds on the oral traditions of the local cultures. Radio is all about storytelling. Community radio is local folks telling their own stories, stories that inform and move people to action. Florence was a child bride in Malawi. She told her story on the radio and, in doing so, helped other young girls avoid the problems she had. At the same time, she informed the broader community, including its leaders, of the problems young girls forced into marriage face. Telling her story helped her redirect her life. Florence worked with reporter Daniel who was trained by Developing Radio Partners (DRP), an NGO that is rooted in local community radio, trains citizens to tell their own stories, and helps organize listener clubs to discuss those stories and to facilitate action. DRP helps local radio stations that tell these stories become sustainable through training and technical support. As technology evolves, DRP helps local radio move into new delivery methods, like podcasts, available to anyone with a mobile phone. I am retired from careers in both rural community radio in Alaska and international community media development. Serving on the board of DRP allows me to use some of my skills in retirement enabling people to tell their stories and build community.
DRP is an NGO that works at the grass roots. It began working with local radio in Malawi reaching in particular vast swaths of young people who still rely on radio for any and all information. DRP not only provided the information but it trained the youth and made them a part of information gathring and sharing process. DRP funding goes to the locals on the ground - youth trained, locals training others,- spreading information with cell phones when all else fails. They focus on essential information: from COVID to child marriage, eduction, to agriculture challenges and beyond. I am a Board Member,
a journalist, writer and iNGO worker who has worked over 30 years in Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkey as well as East Africa and South Asia.I have always vetted every iNGO I get involved in for its efficiency and best practices. DRP is unique. It works from the ground up not the top down. This is because of
Chuck Rice, the founder. I have followed his work for 20 years. Chuck's continuing leadership of DRP has expanded the organization on the ground across local radios in multiple countries. Added to this its Board actively helping with its connections and its brainstorming. We started small in Malawi villages and towns and we are now working in West Africa and at expanding in Asia. Young people leading the way. Working with easy to use technology. And expanding fast. DRP is investing its funding in the people on the ground not large salaries in the US. DRP delivers!
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DRP has improved the lives of millions of Malawians and Burkinabe through targeted messaging on local radio stations, the only source of information for most of the population. Positive behavior change has led to better health, education, economic activity and an improved environment. DRP’s mission is simple but it helps solve a multitude of complex issues confronting Africans. Every project needs a public outreach component, and DRP does it best. Ambassador (Ret) Jeanine Jackson, Former Ambassador to Malawi and Burkina Faso.
I've had the honor and privilege of serving on the Board of DRP for 3 years now, and during this time I've learned so much about independent, local radio in Africa. DRP partners with local radio stations in African nations and beyond and does a fantastic job training local journalists, developing broadcasting on issues related to public health, climate change, and gender equity, and supporting independent and community radio programming. As a Board member, I've felt like an integral member of the team and have had many opportunities to learn about Nonprofit fundraising, grant-writing, and general operations. It's been a real privilege to be a part of this team, and it feels good to be involved in an organization that is so dedicated to supporting and sustaining independent, local journalism and broadcasting in African countries and other places where radio remains one of the predominant modes of communication.
We work with DRP for a few years now and they have hosted several of our interns during these years. The feedback we receive from our interns has been nothing but positive. Our interns (despite working remotely) really feel like an integral part of the team and their contribution matters to the organization (and the amazing work they do in Africa). We love working with them and hope for many more successful internships in the future.