Community Radio in Ghana and its impact on Women in Ada

Professor Adrienne Rivers(below, in green) presents this topic to Africanists.

From 1935 until 1995 Ghana had only one radio voice- that of the state. The advent of private broadcasting in Ghana tremendously changed the broadcasting scene. Today there are about 35 privately owned radio stations in Ghana .

In her recent visit to Ghana, Professor Rivers examined how women in the town of Ada are benefiting from the community radio station operated in this resort town . According to Rivers, to qualify to be a community radio station, the station must meet the following three criteria;
a) it must be non-profit making
b) it must be programmed by community (must have community support)
c) it must have community participation.
On Radio Ada programming is done in Dangbe, the dominant language of the area and the programming specifically directed at and developed by women covers fishmongering and dressmaking. The fishmonger's program airs twice a week and the dressmaker's show airs once a week.
Rivers said the topics on the programs included child rearing and family life. The women identified these topics as being the type of information they needed to help them support their children's development and education. According to Rivers, the men in the community also found the programs interesting, especially when the women discussed how to work with and motivate the men in their lives.
Rivers said from the perspective of providing the women with an outlet to discuss issues of importance to them, Radio Ada had done a good job in its years of operation. She queried as to whether the topics of the programs needed to be expanded to cover other things and noted that the station's facilitator (general manager) said he did include other topics of particular interest to women in other programs on Radio Ada.