Washirika: Raising Awareness without Mass Media

Published in PLA Notes, this 4-page paper examines a strategy developed by the UK-based international non-government organisation (NGO) Living Earth Foundation (LEF) to empower local people to take an active role in addressing environmental issues. LEF has worked to create an alternative to use of the mass media, with its tendency to enable only top-down, one-way communication "from 'the authority' to 'the community'". The strategy explored in this paper is based on the observation that "Passive learners cannot interrogate the mass media and so the effect of these media is usually limited to raising awareness."

Based on the principle that known and trusted people can be influential communication resources, author Paul Vare (affiliated with the LEF at the time of this writing) worked with colleagues in Ghana and Tanzania to develop participatory programmes of people-centred "mass" communication that rely on a multitude of two-way conversations between friends and neighbours that are "harvested" regularly in a series of local meetings. In Ghana, the approach was called "field neighbours" or "field walkers"; in Tanzania it was coined "washirika" (a Swahili word that describes people whom we trust and with whom we cooperate).

According to Vare, the process of developing this strategy of learning through dialogue is crucial to ensure an atmosphere of trust - and the community awareness and action that trust can support. The washirika approach was developed by LEF as part of Tanzania's Rufiji Environmental Management Project (REMP) run by the District Government with technical assistance from IUCN - The World Conservation Union. REMP was developed not simply to respond to a lack of awareness about unsustainable resource use but, rather, to "bring all local people into the decision-making system, to elicit their ideas and their support in developing resource management patterns that will benefit both wildlife and local livelihoods."

Specifically, in 4 pilot villages, volunteers - washirika - were sought to develop and promote dialogue with their neighbours through listening and questioning. The process of identifying and engaging these volunteers included an exercise in "trust mapping" in order to find out how people in the community relate to each other and to identify social groupings - rather than simply relying on geographical proximity in the selection of washirika. Peer groups identified through the mapping exercise then gather to select washirika in the absence of external facilitators; those who are selected are trained for a full day.

The (unpaid) volunteers spend a few hours per week walking through village and hinterland, engaging people in conversation about resource use patterns; the idea is that "People listen and learn when their concerns and questions are being addressed - simply giving pre-prepared speeches might be termed teaching but it does not guarantee learning." A weekly meeting takes place with all the volunteers in the hamlet to discuss and record the key issues that emerged during the week. After the very first week of work, the volunteers select from their midst one woman and one man to link with the village environment committee. These representatives attend meetings, informing the committee of major issues and possible solutions at the grassroots level.

In conclusion, Vare notes that "The washirika programme represents the point at which environmental education and stakeholder dialogue converge. This is a novel approach that will require sensitivity and shared experience to develop further." To that end, he presents some lessons learned and next steps.