‘Jeunes Wakat’ programme becomes more interactive

These new formats have been made possible thanks to the training of correspondents and correspondents from the editorial staff and presenters from partner radio stations.

UNALFA has been producing the programme Jeunes Wakat ('youth time') since July 2019. It is broadcast every Sunday in French and in local languages (Mooré, Dioula, Fulfulde, Gourmantchéma) and exclusively in local languages on the last Sunday of each month.

The editorial team, based in Ouagadougou, is supported by ten or so regional correspondents, all playing a part in compiling programmes that are closely linked to the local population. The programme also relies on a network of 24 partner radio stations that have been broadcasting it on their airwaves since August 2019, enabling it to reach other broadcasting basins, and supplementing it with an interactive part in national languages since November 2019.

Conceived by and for young people, the programmes deal with themes such as "Joking kinship", "Internally displaced youth", "How to preserve cultural values?", "Irregular migration, how to convince young people to stay?", "How to fight against pregnancies during schooling?", "The benefits of sport for young people", or in national language programmes: "The economic reintegration of displaced youth: being young and displaced is not an end in itself" (in Mooré), "Being young and succeeding in animal husbandry" (in Dioula), "The dangers of tobacco for young people" (in Gourmantchéma), "Women's contribution to local development" (in Fulfulde).

Strengthening skills in the animation of interactive programmes

The ten correspondents of the 'Jeunes Wakat' editorial team and the 24 hosts of the interactive programmes of the partner radio stations also attended training sessions in the Autumn of 2019.The first session took place in September and enabled ten correspondents to expand their skills and techniques. They came out of it perfectly equipped to elaborate, conduct and animate the interactive parts in French and local languages. The completion of four pilot programmes, during training, helped build on their successes.

“Making programmes in local languages has more impact because a large part of the local population understands it better. UNALFA understood that."
Boureima O. from La Voix du Paysan radio

UNALFA training – September 2019

As each issue of Jeunes Wakat was followed by an interactive broadcast phase in the main local language of the radio listening area, a second training phase logically involved 24 presenters from the 24 partner radio stations. In addition to benefiting from support in animation and editing techniques, they were made aware of the challenges of youth programmes in the security context and the issues of legal and social responsibilities attached to the animation of interactive programmes in Burkina Faso, under the aegis of the Higher Council for Communication (CSC).

Participants in the UNALFA training

For Alice Ouédraogo, who hosts the part in Mooré at Radio Pulsar, the training sessions have brought real added value to her work as a journalist:
“This training has been very beneficial. I've been hosting interactive programmes for years, but without any methodology. I was able to learn all the programme preparation, be trained in the management of an interactive programme (how to cut a listener when he strays too far off topic, how to manage the listener's speaking time). Today, the programme 'Jeunes Wakat' that I host is going well, young people call in to intervene because they feel concerned, they even ask for longer programmes!"

As a reminder, 'Jeunes Wakat' is a programme developed for the Burkinan youth. Young people even ask for longer programmes!The language programmes are broadcast on the last Sunday of every month in the project's intervention regions. The programme is very successful (as measured by the number of listeners, participation in the national language interactive portion, the number of Facebook subscribers and the number of messages sent), and the features are very popular:: “The Facebook journalist", “Let's read", “The coach's opinion", “Vox pop", etc.

The programme is broadcast every Sunday from 5 pm to 6 pm on 24 radio stations in Burkina Faso, with 30 minutes of programming in French and 30 minutes of interactivity in the national language (Mooré, Dioula, Fulfude and Gourmanchéma).
The programme is broadcast in its entirety in the national languages on the last Sunday of every month.'Jeunes Wakat' news is available on its Facebook page.