Scriptwriting Competition – Farm Radio International

Congratulations to Alice Bafiala Mutombo, an independent radio journalist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who won first prize in an Africa-wide scriptwriting competition on healthy communities. Nine other broadcasters and producers also won prizes for their entries.

In July 2010, radio professionals from across sub-Saharan Africa were invited to submit a radio script about a healthy community initiative. To help participants develop their scripts, they were encouraged to participate in a 10-week online training course on scriptwriting. One hundred and twenty-eight entries were received from 23 countries across sub-Saharan Africa.

The first-prize winner impressed an international panel of judges with her script about how community members mobilized to improve hygiene by purifying drinking water, encouraging hand-washing and building latrines. She also receives the Marie Coulibaly Award for the top entry by a woman. The Marie Coulibaly Award is named in honour of a Farm Radio International staff member in Mali who tragically died in 2009.

All 10 winners will receive high quality digital audio recorders. Winners will also work with Farm Radio International’s managing editor, using feedback received from contest judges, to improve and finalize their scripts. The winning scripts will then be published in French and English and distributed by Farm Radio International to several hundred radio organizations across sub-Saharan Africa. They will then be transformed into a wide variety of programs and shared with a rural audience of millions of farmers.

The winners and script titles in alphabetical order by country are:

•  Kpénahi Traoré, Burkina Faso – Composting human waste is a healthy way to reduce disease and feed the soil
• Alice Bafiala Mutombo, Democratic Republic of the Congo – A clean village for a healthy life
• Gabriel Adukpo, Ghana – A family fights malnutrition with local leafy vegetables
• Simon Mukali, Kenya – Talking to teens about unsafe sex
• Charles Kemboi, Kenya – Empowerment saves youth from drug abuse
• Lawrence Wakdet, Nigeria – Occupational and nutritional therapy for people living with HIV and AIDS
• Oluwakemi Aduroja, Nigeria – Empowering communities with participatory community enumeration
• Ugonma Cokey, Nigeria – Florence saves girls from human trafficking
• Bonaventure N’Coué Mawuvi, Togo – Collecting plastic waste: Cleaning the city and generating income
• Filius Chalo Jere, Zambia – AIDS support program gives positive people a new lease on life

Farm Radio International carried out the scriptwriting competition in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL). We would also like to thank the following organizations and individuals for their support: the Donner Canadian Foundation, the McCain Foundation, the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Anne Burnett, The Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA).