Due to geography and other factors, Guro district in Manica province has long suffered from the intermittent or complete lack of radio and television signals, an information problem that is exacerbated by the low level of alphabetization in the district, where only a relatively small part of the population can read and write. In the absence of national signals, the local community stays informed through the community radio station.
“We receive the daily Xipalapala Info podcast from h2n and broadcast it in Portuguese and Chitwe,” explains João Zuze, the radio station coordinator. “We can always depend on the podcasts and can even download them from the internet, if we have to,” says Zuze. “And the response from the listeners is positive.” Xipalapala Info is a daily podcast that covers current issues related to health, nutrition, gender equality, youth and closely related issues, including Covid-19.
The podcast currently has more than 2,200 subscribers and is broadcast by some 50 community radio stations, some of which re-record and re-broadcast it in local languages. “We are investing in the podcast format because it is both convenient and effective and can be disseminated across many channels,” says João Bosse, h2n National Coordinator for Radio, who visited the Guro station with other members of the h2n field team as part of a mentorship program under the Community Radio Project (CRP2) funded by the Norwegian Embassy in Mozambique.
h2n, which is primarily supported by Norway, works extensively with community radios, produces community videos, broadcasts the “Saude e Vida” television program on health and wellness, facilitates youth engagement hubs and pursues a rapidly expanding gender equality agenda.