Use of Radio Programs to Enhance Adolescent Intervention Programing in Urban Kenya during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Adolescents’ Learning During COVID-19: Lessons Learnt in the Utilization of Technology during Emergencies

Proposal

The unprecedented spread of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world resulted in school closures in 194 countries by the 4th of April, 2020, where an estimated 1.6 billion children, accounting for 91% of the student population, were affected (UNESCO, 2020). To address the impact of COVID-19, most governments adopted various strategies to address learning continuity by using various forms of online technologies (MOE, 2020). For instance, the Kenyan government adopted strategies to provide continuity of education through electronic channels such as the radio, television, and internet-enabled devices (MOE, 2020; UNICEF, 2020). The partial down in Kenya disrupted all activities of an intervention program, the Advancing Learning Outcomes for Transformational Change (ALOT Change). ALOT Change was a community-based after-school support intervention program implemented in Korogocho and Viwandani in 2013, in conjunction with Miss Koch Kenya (MKK) and U-Tena Youth Organization. Motivated by the need to have an integrated approach to improve learning outcomes, psychosocial well-being, and behavior among adolescent girls and boys, the partial lockdown necessitated ways of continuity of this intervention within the community. As such, there was a need to use the radio as one of the digital media to enhance the delivery of life skills intervention to adolescents and parental counseling to the parents. The study had three objectives: Enumerate the process of implementation of the radio program to continue the delivery of life skills and parental counseling to adolescent girls and boys, and the parents respectively; secondly, what were the benefits of using the radio program in the delivery of the intervention to adolescents and their parents?; thirdly, what were the lessons learned, and challenges of using the radio program to deliver the intervention during COVID-19? The methods used to institute the radio programs entailed; planning and engagement meetings with local radio stations, to identify the modality of use, either as a live show or a recorded show, mobilization and identification of mentors and counselors to facilitate the radio shows, delivery of ALOT-Change radio program was facilitated through phone-calls, word of mouth, and radios promos for maximum listenship, and content review meetings were held every week to prepare talking points for the upcoming radio programs. The key benefits of the radio programs included: established bonds and closeness between the adolescents and the parents, particularly emotional closeness between parents and the adolescents. On the side of the adolescents, the radio programs enhance their self-confidence and self-awareness. For instance, the radio programs enabled the girls to learn elements of self-awareness; wade off the advances of boys within the community; and gain confidence on how to deal with issues affecting them. Moreover, the use of the radio programs enhanced the relevance of the impact of living in the slum on young people, including the adverse effects of drugs, and the interrelationship of COVID-19, poverty, and social ills. In conclusion, broadcasting the ALOT Change intervention through the radio reinforced intervention tenets learned by the adolescents and parents, like self-confidence, self-awareness, and emotional connection between parents and their adolescent children.

Authors

• Benta A Abuya, African Population And Health Research Center

• Nelson Gichuhi Muhia, African Population and Health Research Center APHRC