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VOICES FOR WETLANDS AND WATER: CASE STUDIES ON WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT & WASH IN KENYA
Using Media to Amplify Community Voices
governance issues. The programme is also an arena for the community to air views on water and the environment. “The information we provide is credible and authoritative. We know the issues we discuss percolate to the government because our radio programme is co-hosted by a County Environment official. We also engage CSOs that have interests in water and environmental conservation,” Juma says. The budget champion believes conserving the catchment is as critical as drilling new boreholes. He is lobbying the County Government through his radio platform to enact a water policy and the legislation to govern the Environment, Climate Change, Sand Harvesting and Renewable Energy sector. Juma views the media as a vital link between the government and the community through which information on water governance can be shared and illegal activities and government lapses in the sector exposed.
Bus Radio is a local broadcasting station and community-based organisation in Kajiado. Launched in 2017, it broadcasts over a 60-Kilometre radius and livestreams on Facebook. The Station’s biggest fan base comprises women and youths. Broadcaster Victor Juma, a water budget champion who was trained on lobbying and advocacy under the Watershed Programme, is passionate about governance, issues affecting youths and the management of environment and water resources. Water is both an urban and rural problem here. We are farmers and pastoralists in a water-stressed land. Water and its governance should be given priority over health, education and infrastructure in Kajiado County budgets, but this is not the case. The young journalist uses his media celebrity status and the Station’s Maji ni Uhai (Water is Life) talk show as a platform to create awareness about water rights and responsibilities and to lobby county government officials on water
Victor Juma of Bus Radio in Kajiado Town
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