Scriptwriting Competition – Farm Radio International

This script package features the 10 winning scripts from Farm Radio International’s recent scriptwriting competition on healthy communities. We also include an issue pack which provides background information to help you research and plan programs.

In Voices we present an interview with Alice Bafiala Mutombo, the overall winner of the scriptwriting competition. We offer general feedback on the scripts submitted for the competition, and photos of the ten competition winners!

Along with the latest issue of Voices newsletter, the script and issue pack are all available on the Farm Radio International website: http://farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/

In addition, we invite you to listen to two audio productions based on two of the winning scripts.

Thanks to the Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for supporting the audio productions.

The two scripts/audio recordings are:

1. “A community fights malnutrition with local leafy vegetables,” was written by Gabriel Adukpo from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Koforidua, Ghana. In this script, a local extension worker helps villagers to reclaim the health and agricultural benefits of indigenous green leafy vegetables, commonly stigmatized as “poor people’s food.”

• To listen to the audio production of the script produced by Gladson Makowa in Malawi, go to:  http://www.farmradio.org/audio/malnutrition_e.mp3
• To read the script, go to: http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/93-3script_en.asp

2. “AIDS support group gives positive people a new lease on life!” was written by Filius Chalo Jere from Breeze FM in Chipata, Zambia. This drama shows how a local Zambian organization helps HIV-positive people improve their nutrition by supporting them to grow the ingredients for their own nutritional supplements.

• To listen to the audio production of the script produced by Gladson Makowa in Malawi, go to: http://www.farmradio.org/audio/AIDS.mp3
• To read the script, go to : http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/93-10script_en.asp

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).

Today, Farm Radio International is launching the Radio Scriptwriting Competition on Healthy Communities. On this website you will find all the information you need about the competition.

An online training course, starting August 16, will help participants write their scripts before the competition deadline of November 1, 2010. A number of prizes will be awarded to the authors of winning scripts. The best scripts will be published in English and French and distributed to hundreds’ of radio organizations across sub-Saharan Africa.

We invite you to sign up for the competition!

Press Release (PDF): Launching of the Competition

Congratulations to John Cheburet, a journalist from The Organic Farmer, a magazine and a radio show aired on the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, who won first prize in an Africa-wide scriptwriting competition on smallholder farmer innovation. Fourteen other radio broadcasters and producers also won prizes for their entries.

In July 2009, radio professionals from across sub-Saharan Africa were invited to submit a radio script about an innovative smallholder farmer in their area. To help participants develop their scripts, they were encouraged to participate in a free two-month online training course on scriptwriting. Eighty-two entries were received from 20 countries across sub-Saharan Africa.

The first-prize winner impressed an international panel of judges with his script about an innovative Kenyan farmer who uses sawdust to lengthen the storage period of Irish potatoes. His prize is a study visit at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy. This award is sponsored by FAO.

Lydia Ajono from the Ghana Community Radio Network won the award for the best entry by a community radio broadcaster for her script about a woman farmer who grows henna plants and sells them for processing into dyes and cosmetics. The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) will sponsor her trip to the AMARC 10 conference, to be held in Argentina in November 2010. Rosemary Nyaole-Kowuor from Shine FM in Kenya received the Marie Coulibaly Award for the top entry by a woman for her script on sack farming. Sack farming involves putting soil and composted materials into a plastic bag and growing vegetables in the “sack.” This is a very useful innovation for those without land. She will receive a certificate recognizing her achievement.

All 15 winners will receive high quality digital audio recorders sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa. Winners will also work with Farm Radio International’s managing editor, using feedback received from contest judges, to improve and finalize their scripts. The 15 winning scripts will then be published in French and English and distributed by Farm Radio International to approximately 500 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:

• Felix Houinsou, Benin -Using weaver ants to protect fruit trees frompests
• Issakou Yagui Assouma, Benin -Crush the maize stalk to preserve the grains
• Adama Zongo, Burkina Faso -The pump mill
• LydiaAjono, Ghana -The miracle local plant “zabila/lelle” or henna plant: The turning point for food security for a smallholder woman farmer in northern Ghana
• Gabriel Adukpo, Ghana -A farmer suffocates stem borers to death and saves his cocoa farm
• Rosemond Ohene, Ghana-A farmer protects his young oil palm seedlings from rodents with jatropha
• John Cheburet, Kenya -Sawdust prolongs the storage life of potatoes
• StanleyNyakwana Ongwae, Kenya -Women re-invent hanging gardens technology to solve land crisis
• Rosemary Nyaole-Kowuor, Kenya -Sack farming: Unlimited vegetable harvest
• Fredrick Mariwa, Kenya -A local farmer in Kenya uses water hyacinth to produce chicken feed
• Andrew Mahiyu, Malawi -Innovative farmer uses animal dung to protect his crops by fending off hungry goats
• Gladson Makowa, Malawi-What fattens pigs is still a mystery
• Lamine Togola, Mali -Composting, the best practice for improving soil fertility: The case of Dien
• Assétou Sidibe, Mali- Scarecrows and cassette tapes protect rice fields from predatory birds
• Lazarus Laiser, Tanzania- Transforming bicycles into a vehicle of innovation

Farm Radio International carried out the scriptwriting competition in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), UNESCO, FAO, the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Donner Foundation, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), IPS Africa, and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA).

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For more information about the competition and winners, contact:

Blythe McKay, Development Communication Coordinator, Farm Radio International, bmckay@farmradio.org or 613-761-3652.

The course results are in! The following 34 people completed all the course assignments and will be receiving a sansa and certificate to reward their hard efforts:

Anane Gbadago
Andrew Mahiyu
Andrews Osler
Daniel Osei-Bonsu
Dereje Moges
Fredrick Mariwa
Fredrick Mugira
Gabriel Adukpo
George Katongole
Gladson Makowa
Happiness Mnyachibwe
Ismaila Senghore
Jefferson Massah
John Cheburet
Justin Boswell Oryema
Khadija Chembe
Lazarus Laiser
Lilian Manyuka
Lucas Kulwa
Lydia Amy Ajono
Mary Yongolo
Monica Mandala
Odong James
Petronillah Simwenyi
Pius Sawa
Robinson Wikana
Rosemary Nyaole-Kowuor
Rosemond Ohene
Rotshak Wakdet
Sachia Ngutsav
Samuel Okocha
Sawuratu Alhassan
Susuma Susuma
Tiwonge Ng’ona

Stay tuned for mid-January when we will be announcing the winners of the scriptwriting competition!!

Hi everyone,

Thanks to those who submitted entries for the competition. To make sure we received your entry please check that your name is on the following list. If you sent us an entry but you do not see your name please contact Blythe Mckay at with your entry by Friday November 6 at the latest.

list of people who submitted scripts:

Andrew Mahiyu

Andrews Osler

Dereje Moges

Fidele Niyigaba

Filius Chalo Jere

Fr. Bento DeSOuza

Fredrick Mariwa

Fredrick Mugira

Gabriel Adukpo

George Katongole

Gladson Makowa

Happiness Mnyachibwe

Ismaila Senghore

James Odong

Jefferson Massah

John Cheburet

Justin Boswell Oryema

Kwabena Agyei

Lazarus Laiser

Lilian Manyuka

linus fiakeye

Lucas Kulwa

Lydia Ajono

Monica Madala

Peter Labeja

Petronillah Simwenyi

Philip Nana Koah

Phinehas Udoeyo

Pius Sawa

Rachel Awuor

Richard Elorm Ovulley/Dennis Eghan

Robinson Wikana

Rosemary Nyaole

Rosemond Ohene

Rotshak Wakdet

Samual Asaase-Kwaw

Sawuratu Alhassan

Stanley Nyakwana Ongwae

Susuma Susuma

Suwie A. Regina

This is a reminder that the last day to submit your script for the scriptwriting competition on smallholder farmer innovation is November 1, 2009. For more information about the competition please visit the following website www.scriptcompetition.net.

If you have been participating in the online course, you can submit your script online. Here’s how: Log into the Scriptwriting Competition Course on Moodle, go to the last module (Module 6), and click on “Submit your script for the competition here.” Upload the file with your script, and you’re done!

If you have not been taking the online course, you can submit your script by e-mail to:  

Remember that, as well as receiving valuable feedback on your scriptwriting skills, you may win one of our valuable prizes. Each of the 15 winners will receive an Olympus LS-10 audio recorder. One lucky winner will have the opportunity to travel to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome for a 3-5 day training visit in 2010. Finally, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) is sponsoring an award for the best entry by a community radio broadcaster. The winner will have the opportunity to participate in the AMARC 10 conference, to be held in Argentina in 2010.

If you have any questions about your submissions, please send an email to Blythe McKay:  

We look forward to reading your final scripts. Good luck!!!

In 2007/2008, Farm Radio International organized a scriptwriting competition on climate change adaptation. Listen to one of the winning scripts to get some inspiration for your own writing!

When Farm Radio International invited African radio broadcasters to a radio scriptwriting competition on Farmers’ Strategies for Coping with Climate Change, more than 50 scripts were submitted. Gladson Makowa from Malawi was one of the 15 winners. He wrote the script Manure the magic worker that illustrates how composted manure can have advantages over synthetic fertilizer during dry seasons, as it helps retain soil moisture, leading to better yields and decreased erosion.

Listen to the audio version of Gladson’s radio script to get some scriptwriting inspiration! Click on the link below to begin. You can also read the script here.

Audio: Manure the Magic Worker

We hope that you are having fun interviewing innovative farmers.

We have some great news! Each of the 15 winners will receive an Olympus LS-10 audio recorder. These prizes are generously sponsored by Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

One lucky winner of the scriptwriting competition will have the opportunity to travel to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome for a 3-5 day training visit in 2010. This award is generously sponsored by FAO. The FAO will also sponsor the audio production of four of the winning entries.

The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) is sponsoring an award for the best entry by a community radio broadcaster. The winner will have the opportunity to participate in the AMARC 10 conference, to be held in Argentina in 2010.

We can’t wait to receive your entries for the competition. Remember, the deadline is November 1.

Good luck!

Are you one of the many participants in the Scriptwriting Competition taking the online course? If you complete the entire course you will receive a nice prize.

All participants who complete the course will receive a certification and a Sansa MP3-player with built-in microphone and radio. This little device can easily be brought out in the field to record interviews with farmers and market sellers, like on the photo below.

To be eligible for the prize you have to complete all the phases of the course. These include the submission of your story idea and focus statement, the team task and the three quizzes. Finally, you will also have to submit your final script in the end of the course.

So don’t wait any longer, submit your story idea and focus statement now to receive feedback from our experienced scriptwriters!

A market seller in Ho Market, Ghana, is being interviewed by Sawuratu Alhassan with a Sansa MP3-player. Photo: Farm Radio International.