The free Farmers' Voice Radio Academy will train up to 20 organisations per year to apply participatory radio approaches in their own context
Last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic was just unfolding, the Lorna Young Foundation received funding from the Fore and the Network for Social Change to scale up its Farmers' Voice Radio online offer with the aim of providing an accessible and engaging remote training platform and community of practice. Since then, our resource hub has been accessed hundreds of times by organisations working with smallholder farmers around the world and a number of international organisations, such as Teach2Teach International and Food for the Hungry, have integrated participatory radio approaches into their own programmes with rural communities.
As the next step in 'open sourcing' Farmers' Voice Radio, we are delighted to announce the launch of the new Farmers' Voice Radio Academy: a FREE programme of remote training and mentoring that complements the downloadable resources. Over the course of four online group training sessions plus one-to-one mentoring, Academy participants will acquire the skills and tools needed to design and deliver their own Farmers’ Voice Radio programme series that raises the voices and improves the lives of the farming communities that they work with. In addition, graduates will also have the opportunity to apply for a limited number of start-up grants to help get their project underway.
The pilot Academy will run between February and April 2022 with places limited at 10 participants. If you are a farmer organisation, NGO or radio station based in a low income country with a mission to empower rural communities, the new Farmers' Voice Radio Academy will put the power of participatory radio into your hands!
See our Farmers' Voice Radio Academy page for full details and information on how to apply. Application deadline Friday 7th January 2022.
“One of the greatest advantages of LYF’s [Farmers' Voice Radio] programme is the ease with which it can be adapted to a variety of contexts, scales and budgets and still have a substantial impact. Once the smallholder group, extension officers and radio presenters have received training, they take ownership of the radio programmes.”
Linda Lisser, Responsible Sourcing Manager, Ringtons.