Resources

Africa’s Voices is passionate about sharing our learnings on citizen engagement, research design and analysis, and technology development for listening to citizen voices at scale. Here is a selection of resources and research reports for anyone interested in amplifying citizens’ voices.

Africa's Voices Annual Report 2022

Africa’s Voices 2022 Annual Report

To read the full report. 

 

 

Africa's Voices Annual Report 2021

Africa’s Voices 2021 Annual Report

To read the full report. 

 

 

Deploying the Common Social Accountability Platform (CSAP) to support the Strength Through Tolerance project that aims at Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) in Somalia

 Africa’s Voices Foundation (AVF) in partnership with MediaINK (MI) our media partner in Somalia, deployed a 3-week interactive radio show across 15 radio stations (5 stations in each targeted Federal Member State (FMS) with a focus on the analysis of the role women peace leaders play in the Prevention and Countering Violent Extremism in each region and their collaboration with the Civil Society Organisations and the government.

To read the full report. 

 

 

Deploying the Common Social Accountability Platform to support Rift Valley Institute (RVI)’s Somali Dialogue Platform in Promoting Public Dialogue on Elections and Amplifying Citizen’s Voices in Political Processes

Africa’s Voices Foundation in partnership with Rift Valley institute (RVI)’s Somali Dialogue Platform
implemented a 3-month project between February 8th – May 7th 2022. The project promoted public
dialogue around elections so as to understand citizens’ perspectives on Somalia’s national elections.

 

To read the full report. 

 

 

Using Citizen-Generated Data to Address Antimicrobial Resistance in Kenya

Antimicrobials, including antibiotics, underpin modern medicine. But they are becoming less and less effective because of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) — a condition that occurs when infections become resistant to the drugs designed to treat them. Data on AMR is lacking, which limits our understanding of its burden, hobbles efforts to communicate the urgency of the crisis, and slows national and global efforts to address AMR effectively. Citizen-generated data (CGD) can play a crucial role in plugging these gaps, but it is also critical to gather data that surveillance data will never capture, such as citizen knowledge levels, as well as perceptions and drivers of behavior. AVF worked with the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data collaborated to generate and disseminate insights on AMR in Kenya using CGD. 

 

To read the full report. 

 

 

Africa's Voices Annual Report 2020

The report covers AVF’s activities, insights and success stories over the year 2020. Despite the unprecedented challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was yet another year for AVF to place the voices of the people of Africa at the heart of the Continent’s transformation. It is during the pandemic that AVF demonstrated its ability to make real contributions in yet one more field. This can be attributed to thousands of participants who sent SMS messages asking how to protect themselves and demanding accountability from the authorities in the management of COVID-19 resources. In 2020, our two programmes (Citizen Evidence for Social and Governance and Accountability) gave a voice to thousands of citizens in both Kenya and Somalia. 

 

To read the full report. 

 

 

Education in Emergencies in Protracted Crisis 2019-2023: Listening to citizen voices to understand education service delivery in Somalia.

Africa’s Voices partnered with the Foreign, and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) to support the implementation of the Education in Emergencies in Protracted Crisis 2019-2023 programme. AVF and its partner Katikati deployed in tandem two unique approaches: The Common Social Accountability Platform for radio dialogues and SMS feedback; and Kati-kati for 1-1 SMS engagement. The aim was to ensure that citizens are meaningfully consulted, and their voice, agency and influence are used to inform education service delivery.

 

Download Full PDF

 

 

AVF's Fact Sheet

Get the AVF’s Fact Sheet to read on our unique methodologies, how we work, our three core outcomes (Engagement, Evidence, Action), our programmes, and a summary of our work in numbers.  

 

Download Full PDF

 

 

Overcoming barriers to refugee girls' education in Kakuma & Daadab camps - KEEP II - Season II

With funding from World University of Canada (WUSC), Africa’s Voices Foundation has been working in Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps to contribute towards WUSC’s Kenya Equity Education Programme (KEEP II) aiming at improving conditions for refugee girls’ education. 

 

Awareness Creation and Feedback Collection Through Interactive Radio Shows in Kitui and Makueni counties

We implemented interactive radio for awareness raising and feedback collection in an effort to understand the knowledge, attitudes, & practices related to COVID-19 among community members in Kitui & Makueni counties.

 

Community Driven Governance and Service Delivery Audits in Nairobi, Kenya

Public participation is a critical component of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 (CoK, 2010). Even though public participation is entrenched in the CoK (2010), citizens’ ability to be involved in decision making and the consideration and inclusion of their views by duty bearers remains an open question, with many legal experts describing the process as a “rubber stamping” exercise. To bridge this gap, with support from UNDP, AVF implemented the Strengthening Public Accountability and Integrity Systems (SPAIS) pilot project.

 

Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Support to Somali Stability Fund COVID-19 Projects in Federal Member States of Somali

Africa’s Voices in collaboration with local organizations in Somalia, namely MediaINK
and Message to the Audience (M2A), delivered a COVID 19 Risk Communication and
Community Engagement (RCCE) response and Social Behavior Change Communication
(SBCC) campaign by adapting its proven locally-trusted mass media approach to reach
most vulnerable groups in Somalia including Women, IDPs, Youth and minorities.

 

Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Support to Somali Stability Fund COVID-19 Projects in Federal Member States of Somali

Africa’s Voices in collaboration with local organizations in Somalia, namely MediaINK
and Message to the Audience (M2A), delivered a COVID 19 Risk Communication and
Community Engagement (RCCE) response and Social Behavior Change Communication
(SBCC) campaign by adapting its proven locally-trusted mass media approach to reach
most vulnerable groups in Somalia including Women, IDPs, Youth and minorities.

 

2019 Annual Report

AVF 2019 Annual Report 

 

AHADI-Siaya-pilot-August-2019-Presentation-public-compressed

AHADI-Siaya-pilot-August-2019-Presentation

 

REPORT | SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY ON DURABLE SOLUTIONS: PERCEPTION SURVEY IN BOSSASO AND BAIDOA

What do the citizens of Bossaso and Baidoa in Somalia think the role of the government should be in responding to the displacement crisis? See the findings of our interactive radio consultations in partnership with the United Nations Resident Coordinator Office in Somalia.

 

NEW PUBLICATION: MEDIATED SOCIABILITY: AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION AND CONVENED CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT IN INTERACTIVE BROADCAST SHOWS IN AFRICA

By Dr Sharath Srinivasan and Dr Claudia Abreu Lopes published in the International Journal of Communication. This article examines what drives audience participation in interactive broadcast shows, with implications for the democratic potential of these shows as spaces of citizen engagement and public discussion. It makes three contributions, the first two to audience and media studies and the last to political communication.

CHATTER SMS YOUTH ENGAGEMENT PILOT MASTERCARD FOUNDATION - LEARNING REPORT

How can we put youth voices at the driving seat of programmes and policies for dignified work across Africa? In 2018, Africa’s Voices joined forces with the Mastercard Foundation to pilot an SMS-based two-way feedback and engagement platform to amplify the voices of African youth and place them at the heart of Mastercard Foundation’s youth employment programmes. Our Learning Report outlines how AVF designed and tested a prototype of this channel, and some of the insights that were learnt.

 

AFRICA'S VOICES 2018 ANNUAL REPORT

Explore highlights from 2018, the year that in many ways, defined Africa’s Voices. In 2018, we raised the bar on the accountability of humanitarian actors to populations served in Somalia. We shaped a multi-year programme with social insights on barriers to girls education in refugee communities in Kenya. And we brought new community solutions for a displacement crisis to authorities in Mogadishu through citizen-authority dialogues.

 

COMMON SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY PLATFORM: RESULTS AND FINDINGS FROM CITIZEN-LED DISCUSSIONS ON DISPLACEMENT AND DURABLE SOLUTIONS IN MOGADISHU

This report outlines the first iteration of the Common Social Accountability Platform (CSAP), developed by Africa’s Voices Foundation (AVF) and launched in partnership with ReDSS and the Banadir Regional Administration (BRA) in late 2018 with financial support from Danida, DFID and ECHO.

 

INTERACTIVE RADIO! A TOOLKIT FOR STATIONS

Based on research carried out in African countries by Cambridge’s Centre of Governance and Human Rights, this interactive toolkit is full of tips and exercises to help radio hosts and producers create open, inclusive discussions that invite everyone to participate. It was designed by The Internews Center for Innovation and Learning.

 

RADIOACTIVE! THE STORY OF INTERACTIVE RADIO IN AFRICA

This is an illustrated, accessible guide to research on interactive radio, from the Politics and Interactive Media in Africa research project (led by the University of Cambridge’s Centre of Governance and Human Rights). It was created in partnership with The Internews Center for Innovation and Learning, The University of Nairobi and The University of Zambia.

 

RESEARCH PAPER: MOBILE PHONES AND RADIO IN AFRICA

Read the results of Africa’s Voices pilot project in this research paper. Our goal was to practically assess the potential for interactive radio to gather and analyse opinions of harder to reach sub-Saharan African communities. We evaluated how best to work with small, rural radio stations, and the most effective approach to gathering public opinion.

 

RESEARCH PAPER: INTERACTIVE MEDIA AUDIENCES IN KENYA AND ZAMBIA

To better understand who participates in media-driven public discussion and opinion-making, this working paper presents the results of a randomised household survey implemented in four constituencies in Kenya and Zambia, one urban and one rural constituency in each country.

AFRICA’S VOICES VERSUS BIG DATA? THE VALUE OF CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT THROUGH INTERACTIVE RADIO

Africa’s Voices’ Sharath Srinvasan and Claudia Lopes have contributed a chapter, to the ‘Voice and Matter‘ anthology brings together research that was presented at the fourth Ørecomm Festival in September 2014, and makes “important contributions to how we think about voice, power, technology, culture, and social change”.

 

ENGAGING SOMALI VOICES: STRENGTHENING HEALTH PROGRAMMING BY GATHERING BELIEFS

How can organisations design programmes that are grounded in citizen’s everyday realities? This in-depth interactive page explores Africa’s Voices approach, focusing on health-related research with UNICEF Somalia. Discover our innovative method and key insights into citizen’s beliefs on immunisation and HIV/AIDS.