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InterMedia's Aylin Talgar Pietz shares about challenges faced during focus group research in Uganda. InterMedia's local research partner shares key challenges and ideas about conducting survey research in Somalia. Imagine trying to get reliable information in a country in the midst of civil war. For most people in Somalia, finding out about local events and dangers is a life-or-death challenge. And many head to the street corner for vital news. Anti-U.S. sentiment is particularly high in the Muslim north of the country, where most of Nigeria's Hausa ethnic groups reside. The success of Freedom FM, a popular new radio station based in the northern city of Kano, reflects broader trends on Nigerian airwaves. Freedom FM has capitalized on the rise of indigenous-language private broadcasting focused on niche audiences. Religious life has a ubiquitous presence in Nigeria with Islam and Christianity being the two major faith blocks concentrated along the north and south regions. Nigerians describe themselves as "strong believers" and their religious practices reflect a very dovout country. Nigerians are fairly knowledgeable about ways to prevent the spread of malaria and HIV/AIDS. But there is a dangerous gap between knowledge and the financial or material means to apply it. |
Regional Overview
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For more information on InterMedia's research in the Africa region, contact: |
Radio is king in Africa. Relatively cheap, portable and ubiquitous, the medium rules on a continent where the vast majority of the population lives on very low incomes and most countries have rudimentary communications infrastructures. Recent liberalization in many African radio markets has fueled an explosion in the number of stations, which broadcast in myriad languages. In Uganda, for example, there are now more than 150 stations broadcasting in 38 different languages. In Nigeria, which has more than 250 languages, there are a wide variety of radio stations available in the main dominant local tongues of Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba. Still, radio doesn't reach everyone in Africa. Take Ethiopia, one of the poorest, where less than two in 10 respondents to InterMedia surveys say they listened to the radio yesterday and a quarter say they have never done so. On the other hand, seven in 10 Kenyans say they tuned in yesterday.
There is a stark urban-rural media chasm in Africa, with television viewing and internet activity largely confined to the cities, apart from a few exceptions such as South Africa. By and large, rural inhabitants are too cash poor to afford TV sets--note that all 22 countries in the lowest category of human development, as defined by the United Nations, are in sub-Saharan Africa. But in urban areas, direct-to-home satellite transmission is poised to grow rapidly among the minority of people who can afford it. And, interestingly, Africa is becoming a testing ground for mobile TV, which parallels rapid growth in cell phone use. Data from the International Telecommunications Union show nearly 22 cell phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants in Africa in 2006, up from about 6 per 100 three years earlier. Overall, national and local governments continue to control most broadcasting, albeit with local variations. In Togo, for example, the government largely dictates content, while journalists in Kenya are under official pressure to self-censor their output.
Internet penetration is hampered in many areas by a notable lack of fixed telephone lines. As a whole, Africa has only three lines per 100 inhabitants, compared to more than 40 for the world as a whole, according to the International Telecommunications Union. The ITU notes that Africa is home to 14 percent of the world's population but only 2 percent of Web users. The situation may improve dramatically once fiber optic cables are laid in the Indian and Atlantic oceans, bringing greatly improved connectivity for the region.