Research has enabled us to gather data and develop tools to combat disinformation. We have also conducted a research project on gender-based violence and analysed the impact of our programmes providing news and information.
Fondation Hirondelle aims to be a learning organization, adapting and improving its activities in the light of objective information. For more than a decade, we have been working closely with the academic world to measure the impact of our action and adapt our information programmes as much as possible to people’s needs. In 2023, our Media Research and Policy department carried out research projects and held various panels focusing on the themes of violence and disinformation.
Our journalists and partner media journalists are confronted with violence on a daily basis. In 15 years, the Sahel has seen a 2,000% increase in the number of deaths of civilians and soldiers. In 2023, almost half the attacks listed by the Global Terrorism Index worldwide took place in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. This violence generates massive humanitarian crises and an increase in displacement due to instability. Burkina Faso is facing one of the largest internal displacement crises in Africa. The vast majority of displaced persons are women and children under the age of 15. These people have an increased need for protection against genderbased violence (GBV) and associated psychological trauma.
In 2023, we conducted a research project in Burkina Faso, aimed at strengthening the capacity of journalists to respond to the information needs of survivors of gender-based violence. This included raising journalists’ awareness of how their own prejudices and working context influence their ability to deal with gender-based relations of domination, and to manage trauma in their interactions with victims. The study also highlighted how traumatic it can be for journalists themselves to cover these situations of violence. Trauma management by journalists will be at the heart of the follow-up we want to give to this project in 2024.
We carried out this project with a multidisciplinary team of international researchers from the University of Sheffield and Harvard Medical School & School of Public Health, as well as with experts based in Burkina Faso, at Thomas Sankara University, the NGO Pull for Progress and our Studio Yafa journalists.
The research project was divided into three phases:
1. Group discussions and individual interviews with journalists in the capital, rural areas and “red zones” affected by the conflict;
2. A detailed content analysis of a year of programmes produced by Studio Yafa, including topics and formats, women’s participation and interactions between men and women;
3. Training for journalists in trauma management and gender mainstreaming, and drafting recommendations with journalists.
A research project in Burkina Faso highlighted how traumatic it can be for journalists themselves to cover these situations of violence.
IMPACT STUDY IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
In 2023, as part of Geneva Peace Week, we co-organised a panel with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, Interpeace and BBC Media Action to discuss evidence of the effectiveness of anti- disinformation programmes.
On this occasion, we shared the initial results of a study measuring the impact of Radio Ndeke Luka (RNL), Fondation Hirondelle’s media outlet in the Central African Republic, before and after its launch in border areas.
Initial results show that access to RNL, following the installation of new radio antennas, has had a tangible impact: in particular, there has been a change in listeners’ perceptions of disinformation. The final results for all the localities covered by the study will be available in 2024.
INCLUSION AND VISIBILITY OF FRENCH-SPEAKING AFRICA
English is the dominant language at international events. Without a common language, knowledge sharing and collaboration would be impossible, but the near-exclusive use of English has an undeniable impact on geographical representativeness. Representatives from Frenchspeaking Africa are often absent from international media exchanges.
With over 10 million daily listeners in Africa, Fondation Hirondelle strives to ensure media visibility in the Sahel and central Africa through its research partnerships and events.
In 2023, Fondation Hirondelle ensured that several African experts committed to strengthening the media came to speak at the Forum Media and Development (FOME) in Bonn and at the conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) in Lyon.