Media and the Empowerment of Communities for Social Change - Chapter 4: Access to Educational and Developmental Media in Buhera

This is an excerpt from the thesis "Media and the Empowerment of Communities for Social Change".

4.1 Buhera District Case Study

Results of the Buhera District Case Study are based on quantitative data collected using face to face interviews with female heads of households as well as information obtained from the same respondents as they elaborated on some aspects of issues raised in the questionnaire and the unstructured short interviews with three rural shopkeepers and two extension officers. The method that was used to sample the rural female heads of households is explained in detail in Chapter Three. As stated in Chapter One, this study aimed to investigate predominantly women and also sought to support or refute the statements that Zimbabwean rural women:

• have limited access to print and electronic channels of communication.
• lack adequate, quality and appropriate programmes which address areas of interest and issues of concern to them.
• have very limited human and material resources for feedback.
• have different needs that are not recognised by the media.

Respondents for the survey were random sampled. Results obtained revealed from what sources the female heads of households got most of their information on specific subjects e.g. health related issues as well as to understand the nature of the social networks and the role they play in disseminating information.

4.2 Location of Buhera District

Buhera District is located in East Zimbabwe in the above-identified region called Manicaland Province. It occupies an area of 5,369.23 square kilometres. During the last census in 1992, the population of Buhera District was said to be 203,739. There were 38,917 households identified in the 1992 census (Census 1992-Provincial Profile Manicaland, 1994). However, the exact number of households in this district could not be established accurately during the Survey. The next census is scheduled for 2002.

Size of Households

Among the respondents interviewed, the minimum number of persons in the households was two. The biggest household in the sample had fourteen persons.

4.4 Marital Status

The marital status of the female heads of households interviewed was as follows, 61.8% were married, 26.5% widowed, 5.1% were in polygamous relationships, 3.7% divorced, 2.2% single parents and only 0.7% which actually represented one household was headed by a child who had never been married.

The marital status of the female heads of households above and the types of families of the respondents below showed that rural families are not homogeneous. Their needs and aspirations could therefore be different.

Out of the 136 households random sampled for the survey, 53.7% were extended families, 41.9% nuclear, 4.4% were single parent headed households and only 0.7% was a child headed household.

4.5 Economic status of the households

One of the purposes of communication for development is to uproot communities out of their poverty. One hundred and seventeen respondents, that is, 86% of the female heads of households said that their income was not sufficient to meet their households basic needs, while 13.2% representing 18 respondents said that they were able to meet their basic household needs while only 0.7% which in real terms represented only one household said it was able to meet its basic household needs sufficiently. I recalled that this woman had children working in town who constantly sent her provisions and money. From the results above, it means that the majority of households interviewed were not able to meet their basic needs from their own resources, or from initiatives from individual members of the family.

4.6 Ownership of radio, television and telephone

The table below shows that most of the rural households have no direct access to radio, television or the telephone. While 43.4% of the respondents said that they owned a radio, only 4.4% said they had a television and only 1.5% had telephone. Looking at the frequency counts, radio seemed to have penetrated this community more than either television or the telephone.

It emerged during analysis that ownership of a radio or a television set did not necessarily mean access because some of this equipment was broken down. Out of the fifty-nine radio sets, seventeen of them were not working. Of the six television sets one of them was not working. In terms of the status of the telephones, only one of them was working. The status of the other telephone was not established. Although some of these respondents had radio sets in their households, it emerged during the interviews that much of this equipment was not being used because of lack of power.

4.7 Source of power

Most of the radios and television sets among the households sampled used batteries as their source of power. Out of the 136 households sampled, only two households had solar power for lighting and to power their radio and television sets. One of the respondents remarked that they had last listened to the radio more than nine months ago because they could not afford batteries. At only one household, I observed that the radio was playing as they did other household chores. This household was also one of the two households, which used solar power.

Further qualitative investigation revealed that most households were resorting to listening to radio during specific times of the week when their favourite programmes were aired. This was meant to preserve batteries and enable them to listen to their favourite programmes longer. Flat batteries were tied in a plastic bag, which was put in boiling water, or simply left in the sun to partially recharge. This, in some cases enabled households to listen to radio broadcastings for a little bit longer.

There was therefore certainly limited access to electronic media among those with radio and television due to lack or limited source of power by the households.

4.8 Respondent's favourite radio programmes

Respondents had to name up to three programmes they liked most. However, in some cases, they cited one, two or none. Programmes on health and agriculture were hardly cited as favourites as shown on the table below. Health related programmes were cited only eight times (5.9% of the respondents), agriculture was cited four times (2.9% of the respondents). The respondents seemed to prefer programmes that focused on cultural issues, news, funeral notices, greetings and to some extent music. One could conclude that radio was playing more the role of a rural telephone, preserving a people's culture and informing them on current and social issues. These programmes kept them connected with the outside world, especially their families, as they seemed isolated.

On the basis of the open-ended question (see Appendix 6 or 7, Question 34) it appears that the programme, Zviziviso Zverufu (funeral messages) is the most popular among the respondents as shown on table below.

These female heads of households seemed to be using their radios to inform and enlighten themselves on personal, social, cultural issues and to a limited extent for entertainment since the programme Kwaziso that combines greetings and music was cited sixteen times as a favourite.

4.9 Other networks of tuning in and selective media consumption

During the pilot study, it emerged that some of the community members who did not have radios would go to their neighbours', or friends' houses' or to the shops to listen to their favourite programmes. Based on observations and short unstructured interviews with three shopkeepers, it emerged that playing their radios loudly was a strategy to attract customers to their shops. Villagers would come to listen to the radio, especially during the weekend and late in the afternoon. They would tune in to their favourite Radio Station. When these communities wanted to buy, they would buy from the shop where they normally listen to their favourite programmes. I recall a conversation with one of the shopkeepers,

Villagers come to listen to the radio. They sit and listen and sometimes they dance to the music. When there is news on radio, we listen together and we discuss what is going on. When they want to buy, they buy from us. So we use radio as a way to attract them to our shop. It is a marketing strategy (shopkeeper A, personal communication, 2001).

The shop owners and shopkeepers interviewed perceived a playing radio at their shop as a marketing strategy, a crowd puller. The three shopkeepers informed me that it was however rare to see female heads of households coming to the shops to listen to the radio. This was also confirmed by Andersson (2002) in his book entitled, 'going places, staying home: Rural-urban connections and the significance of land in Buhera district, Zimbabwe'.

Like so many of these business centres, Chinyudze consists of a general dealer selling basic commodities and a bottle store. The latter, Chinyudze Hot-Line, is a popular meeting place for people from the surrounding villages. Every afternoon a number of men and a few women gather here to enjoy a beer. Seated on small benches in front of the two shops, they discuss daily affairs and watch the little traffic that passes by (Andersson, 2002:45).

A possible explanation to this could be cultural. Men, apart from listening to the radio, would also be drinking. It is culturally not acceptable for women to be drinking in public places or to be out after sunset.

Some of the respondents elaborated during the face-to-face survey that at times they had access to the radio as well as the television when they visited relatives and friends who had these assets. It was therefore clear that owning a radio or television did not mean that one had access, as the radio could be broken or without a source of power. Similarly, not owning a radio did not mean that members of that household did not have access as they could listen at a neighbour's home, at the shops or when they visited friends or relatives.

4.10 Access to Print Media

Among the female heads of households, which participated in the survey, there seemed to be lack of interest in the print media. From the table below, 83.1% of the respondents did not name any magazine as a favourite. Parade seemed to be the most popular magazine as it was cited the most, seventeen times (12.5% of the respondents). The Parade Magazine focuses mainly on family and social issues. However, recently, since the Horizon Magazine which focused mainly on political issues went out of print, Parade Magazine has started to feature politically orientated articles. The second most favourite magazine named was the Moto, which was cited three times (2.2% of the respondents). The Moto is a Christian politically orientated magazine published by the Catholic Church. Only 2.2% of the respondents indicated that their favourite magazine was not listed among the options on the questionnaire.

83.1% of the respondents shown on the table above, did not name any magazine as a favourite, could have been composed of respondents who could not read. Lack of access to magazines could also have contributed to the size of this group. The issue of literacy is dealt with later.

The three rural shops visited did not sell newspapers or magazines. Newspapers and magazines could, however, be obtained when one visited the growth point[2] which is over thirty kilometres away, or when one went to town.

Location of Zimbabwean cities in relation to Buhera District

The area were the survey was conducted is far from the major cities and towns in the Province namely Mutare, Rusape, Chipinge and Chimanimani. Apart from that, there is no direct road linking this community with the major cities.

The nearest town, Rusape, is almost two hundred kilometres away. In some instances, visitors or family members residing in urban centres would bring some magazines and newspapers when they visited, said some of the respondents. Kwayedza emerged as the most popular newspaper among the female heads of households interviewed as shown on the table below.

Kwayedza is written in vernacular languages, that is Shona and Ndebele. It was the most popular newspaper being cited 17 times (12.5% of the respondents) followed by the Herald, which was cited, 12 times (8.8% of the respondents). The Daily News was cited 7 times (5.1% of the respondents). The majority of the respondents, 69.9%, did not identify any newspaper as a favourite. Lack of newspaper use could be due to literacy rates and limited or lack of access. The sections that follow look at the education level attained and the literacy levels of the respondents.

4.11 Educational level attained and literacy

Among the 136 female heads of households, 64.7% had gone to school up to primary school, 19.9% had gone up to secondary school and 2.9% had gone up to tertiary college while 12.5% had not received formal education.

Results on the table above show that 84.6% of the respondents had gone to school up to primary school and 19.9% up to secondary school. Lack of use of newspapers or magazines could therefore be due to factors, for example, access and the language used other than literacy.

In the survey, Shona, English, and Ndebele were cited as the dominant languages used by respondents although the degree of articulation of these varied as shown in the table below. Over 80% of the respondents could read, speak and write Shona. 51.5% of the respondents could read English, 46.3% could write English and only 38.2% could speak it. In terms of Ndebele, only 4.4% could read, 2.2% could write and 5.9% could speak the language as shown on the table below.

Among the newspapers cited as favourites, only Kwayedza, which was cited by 12.5% of the respondents representing 17 persons, is written in vernacular languages, Shona and Ndebele. Since only 51.5% of the respondents could read English, it meant that 48.5% of the respondents were automatically excluded from literature written in English, while 95.6% of them would have been automatically excluded from literature written in Ndebele. 86.8% of the respondents would be able to read literature written in Shona and only 13.2% would be excluded from such literature.

4.12 Disseminating educational and developmental information

This section focuses on different channels from which respondents received information on general educational issues and on development. Word of mouth emerged as the primary source of information on health related issues, political issues, agricultural information and on social issues. In terms of mediated messages, radio was the main source of information. The role extension services play in disseminating information showed that their services were reaching a considerable number of respondents and was greatly valued by the majority of the female heads of households interviewed.

4.12.1 Health Education

Word of mouth emerged as the primary source of information on health related issues as shown below. Over 90% of the respondents said that they receive information on the listed health related issues through word of mouth followed by radio and newspapers. Television and magazines were the least utilised sources of information on health related issues.

Most female heads of households mentioned nurses at rural clinics as their major sources of health information by word of mouth. When the respondents were asked where they got most of their information on health related issues, they would generally respond, '...from the nurses at the clinic. They tell us what to do and how to prevent some of the diseases like cholera'(personal communication, 2001). Nurses perform multiple roles, as there are no doctors servicing rural clinics. They also have to do administrative duties. A respondent elaborated during the quantitative interview on where she got most of the information on health related issues.

When I visit the clinic, the nurses tell us more about the different diseases and what we must do to prevent ourselves and families from being victims. For example, this year we had a lot of rainfall. They tell us that there is an outbreak of malaria. They tell us the symptoms and what we can do to prevent mosquitoes breeding around our homes (personal communication, 2001).

During the administration of the questionnaire rural nurses were cited as the primary sources of health information by the 136 female heads of households, as well as on birth control. In terms of traditional medicine, elders were cited as the primary sources of information.

4.12.2 Politics and Governance

During the time of field research, media and politics in Zimbabwe was a very sensitive area. It was therefore not surprising that respondents generally gave very short hesitant answers to questions with a political connotation. It emerged from the quantitative analysis that most of the information they received on political issues and governance was through word of mouth as shown below.

Traditional police officers were said to be mostly using the traditional method of disseminating information, word of mouth. Some of the respondents said traditional police officers who are still active in the rural areas would stand on the top of an anthill before sunrise and shout messages to the people. The type of messages communicated was mainly announcements to meetings or information of what was happening in the locality.

In literature review, Chapter 2, the use of electronic and print media to disseminate development information meant to increase agricultural productivity in developing countries was highlighted. However, among the 136 female heads of households, word of mouth was their main source of information as show on the table below.

From the table above, it is also evident that radio was the dominant traditional mass media method information was received by the 136 female heads of households interviewed.

4.12.3 Social Issues

Word of mouth emerged during the quantitative data analysis as the dominant method information is disseminated or received by female heads of households interviewed on general social issues. Among the traditional means of Mass Media, radio was the most dominant source of information as shown on the table below.

From the results above, it was evident that folk drama had been incorporated on radio, television and newspapers to some extent.

4.13 Places they get most information by word of mouth

Respondents were asked to cite up to three venues where they get information by word of mouth. However, some of the respondents cited less than three venues. As shown on the table below, the Church emerged as the venue they get most of their information. The Church was cited 94 times (69.1% of the respondents). On further inquiry, I learnt that the information received by word of mouth from the church was in most cases announcements of events taking place in the locality and personal communications among the audiences before and after church service. Meetings were in second position, being cited 89 times (65.4% of the respondents). The type of meetings attended by these respondents varied from meetings conducted by health extension officers, agricultural extension officers, general developmental meetings and women's clubs meetings. It seemed that most of the respondents belonged to one or more different types of womens clubs. Some of these met regularly on a weekly basis while others met once a month. Home was cited 76 times (55.9% of the respondents) and at funerals was cited 52 times (38.2% of the respondents). It became evident that funerals were a common event in this community and hence an occasion people met and passed on information by word of mouth. During the period of data collection, there were three funerals in the area the quantitative data was collected. This was mainly through announcements during the funeral and personal communications among the people attending the funeral. The people attending the funerals would come from different parts of the country and urban centres. Andersson (2002) remarked,

In February, Chinyudze is suddenly a busy place again. The few buses from Harare that stop at Chinyudze, again bring urban migrants from Harare. Although they probably did not plan a home visit so soon after the Christmas holidays, these migrant workers have come to attend the funeral of a young schoolteacher. (...) The mourners sit up with the deceased's family for days, leaving only occasionally for a bath at home or a drink at the bottle store (Andersson, 2002:46)

So, funerals provide an opportunity of people to meet and information is passed on.

From the table above, it is evident that most of these female heads of households interviewed had no direct access to schools and there were no markets in the area. I learnt that some of the information they received at home was from members of their households who were still in school. These respondents elaborated during the face-to-face quantitative interviews that at times, they would get information from government developmental departments and from developmental non-governmental organisations, from their children or members of their households who were still attending school. They informed me that these messages would be announced during assembly.

4.14 Extension Services

Ministry of Health, Agriculture, Youth, Gender and Employment Creation have extension staff in rural areas. The role of these extension staff is to disseminate information and to monitor to what extent communities are adopting the new innovations and to stimulate development in specific areas. They use mainly word of mouth during house visits or meetings to disseminate information. Sometimes, they also use the print media particularly pamphlets or leaflets on specific issues. The table below shows that over 70% of the female heads of households interviewed had been in contact with extension services.

During the design of the questionnaire, religion had not been considered as a variable that could influence how respondents perceived information from extension services, particularly on health related issues. In this area, a number of respondents were of apostolic faith. They believe that one can be cured by a combination of water and prayers. Members of this sect are discouraged from taking their children or themselves for treatment be it to traditional healers or those using western medicine. One of the extension officers informed me that in most cases, the apostolic faith people discouraged others who were not from their sect to visit their homes as it was believed these would influence their wives. Extension services staff were therefore generally not welcome among these communities.

As shown on the table above, of the 136 respondents, 80.9% had contact with health extension services, 73.5% with agricultural extension services, and 72.8% with village community workers. Among those who had not had contact with extension services, the majority could have been members of the apostolic faith.

Health extension services staff seemed to be having more contact with these respondents than agricultural extension staff and village community workers as shown on the table below.

Looking at the table above, it is evident that extension services were reaching most of the female heads of households interviewed for this survey. The table above shows that 26.5% that is 36 respondents had contact with health extension officers very regularly while 51 respondents, which is 37.5% of the respondents had regular contact with the health extension services. Of the total participants, 31 which is 22.8% of the respondents said they had very regular contact with the agricultural extension services and 32.4% that is 44 respondents had regular contact with the agricultural extension services. In terms of contact with the village community workers, 11.8%, which is 16 respondents, said they had very regular contact and 37.5%, which is 51 respondents, said that they had regular contact.

The table below confirms that not only are extension services having contact with the respondents but that overall, their services are greatly valued.

In terms of health extension services, 39.7% said that it was very useful, 37.5% said it was useful and 44.1% said that agricultural extension services was very useful and 25.7% said it was useful. Village community workers were said to be very useful by 29.4% of the respondents and 35.3% said that they were not useful.

4.15 Mobile video screenings and development

Mobile film screenings were introduced in Zimbabwe then known as Southern Rhodesia during the 1940's by the Central African Film Unit. Rhodesia was then a member of the Federation[3] with Nyasaland now known as Malawi. After the disintegration of the Federation, Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia) established Production Services whose task was the production of films. The Rural Information Services was also established. Its role was to screen educational and developmental films in the rural areas using generator powered film projectors (Hungwe, 1990). Most of the programmes produced during this period were used for propaganda. At independence, government adopted Production Services and the Rural Information Services also known as the Mobile Cinema Unit (Carter, 1999).

The concept of the service is excellent: to provide rural audiences throughout the country, many whom have little access to any type of information, with development information, education, communication and entertainment through films. The MCU staff in turn report back to the government about agricultural, education and health issues facing the communities they visit. The mobile cinema programme is undoubtedly one of the most extensive communication activities carried out by the government (Carter, 1999:1)

However, by the late 1990's, the Mobile Cinema Unit was grounded as most of the vehicles and generators had broken down and there seemed to be no funds to repair or replace them. The vehicles were equipped with 16mm film projectors, hence continued to show outdated films since the cost of producing 16mm films had become prohibitive. During the past decade, some non-governmental institutions and organisations as I show later set up projects to improve access to video films among the rural communities.

It was evident in the survey that Mobile films or videos are some of the sources of information among some of the female heads of households apart from radio, television, magazines and newspapers. 29.4% of the respondents classified under not applicable on the table below had not watched a mobile video or film in their lives. Those who were classified under 'yes', had attended one or some of the screenings and learnt something. Those who were classified under 'no', had attended one or more mobile screenings but had not learnt anything. The other group, 'can't remember,' had attended one or more of the mobile film or video screenings but could not remember whether they had learnt anything or not. The table below shows the percentages of the female heads of households who had learnt something during the mobile film and video screenings.

The table above shows whether respondents had learnt anything during mobile video shows on politics, health care, agriculture and on general social issues. Of the total respondents, 25% said that they had learnt something on politics, while 13% said they had been exposed to programmes on political issues but had not learnt anything. In health related issues, 25.7% said they had learnt something while 11.8% said that they had been exposed to health related programmes but had not learnt anything. In agriculture, 27.7% said they had learnt something and 12.5% had not learnt anything at all. A total of 27.9% said that they had learnt something on social or cultural issues while 10.3% said that they had not learnt something while 27.9% that is 38 respondents, said that they had learnt something. This study showed that mobile films and videos are accessible to female heads of households to some extent. Respondents classified under the category 'can't remember' comprised individuals who had watched mobile video films but could not remember whether they had learnt anything or not. Those categorised under 'not applicable' comprised those who had never attended any mobile video or film screening.

What is not established in this study is the frequency of exposure to mobile video and film. However, during the administration of the questionnaire, some of the respondents remarked that they had last watched a mobile film or video over twenty-five years ago. This does not necessarily mean that it was the last time a mobile film show had been conducted in this community.

4.16 Convenient time for the respondents to watch mobile videos

Respondents had to name two different times of the day they considered appropriate to watch mobile films or videos. From the results below, it was evident that the female heads of households prefer watching mobile films or videos during the afternoon. The majority of the female heads of households, 95 of them, representing 69.9% of the respondents said afternoons were the ideal time while 53 persons representing 39% of the respondents preferred watching mobile video or films at sunset. However, early morning and mid-morning were stated as times least convenient for mobile screenings.

Programmes on agriculture, health and culture were cited as the most appropriate to show during mobile film or video screenings by the female heads of households as shown on the table below. A very small number of respondents, ten, which represents 7.4% of the respondents cited politics as an area of interest.

A total of 106, which is 77.9%, said they preferred programmes on agriculture, 100 respondents, which is 73.5% said they preferred programmes on health care and 62, which represented 45.6% of the respondents preferred programmes on cultural issues. Politics and entertainment were cited the least, ten and thirty three times respectively. Some of the respondents pointed out that they were not much interested in attending mobile films or video screenings because the focus seemed to be on entertainment. Mobile video screenings were therefore perceived by some of these respondents as being targeted to children and the youth.

4.17 How female heads of households utilise their free time.

It is my observation that 'Free time', was defined differently by respondents, hence the different activities they said they undertook during this time. The 60 respondents, comprising 44.1% of the total respondents and classified on the table below in the category 'others' engaged in activities like cleaning the house, washing dishes, washing clothes, ironing and cooking among others. These women on further questioning expressed the opinion that they did not consider such activities as work, and therefore cited them as activities of their spare time.

A total of 59 respondents, which is 43.3% of the sample said, they would just sit and rest during their spare time. A small percentage of the respondents as shown on the table above said they would listen to the radio (5.9%), television (1.5%), or read newspapers (0.7%) or magazines (4.4%) during their spare time.

4.18 Conclusion

It emerged during the case study that word of mouth remains the dominant method by which information on health-related issues, agriculture and on social issues are disseminated and received in this community by the female heads of households interviewed. There was limited or no direct access to most of the Information Communication Technology particularly the Internet and e-mail. The traditional Mass Communication tools that is radio, newspapers and television remain inaccessible to the majority of the households. Among those with radio sets, radio is not accessible at least on a regular basis due to the high cost of batteries and lack of electricity as a result some of the respondents resort to listening to their favourite programmes when they have the means to power them.

In this research, I did not assess how much of the information eventually disseminated largely through word of mouth had originated from the radio, television or newspapers. It is however my assumption that some of the information received by word of mouth could have originated from radio, television or the print media. There is need for research to find out how much of the information, which is disseminated by word of mouth, originates from the radio, television or the print media.

It also emerged in this study that a considerable number of the respondents had attended one or more mobile video screenings. However, through further inquiry, it became evident that these were not a regular event in the community. Some of the respondents remarked during the quantitative interviews that they had last watched mobile films more than twenty years ago and others said while they were in primary and secondary school.

The study confirmed that access to Information Communication Technology is still not readily accessible to most of the households and female heads of households interviewed hence the need for intervention.

Results of this study showed that extension services is still being widely used in this community and was generally valued by these respondents. There is need for further research to find out to what extent the work of extension services is complemented or can be complimented by other communication development strategies, for example traditional media and Information Communication Technologies. Their seemed to be no or very limited use of traditional media in disseminating developmental and educational information.

Lack or limited access to mass media or mediated messages on developmental information by these rural female heads of households who participated in the survey could be the scenario in most of the rural communities in Zimbabwe.

The main aim of conducting this case study was to find out the level of access to media by rural households and in particular access to information by female heads of households. The study revealed that there is limited access to both print and electronic media among the households, which participated in this study. Ownership of a radio did not mean that the household had access to information from radio because the cost of batteries and lack of alternative cheap source of power resulted in selectivity listening when power was available. Due to the cost of postage and Post Offices being far away and a very limited number of telephones, this community had therefore very limited human and material resources for feedback.