DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, Dec 10 (IPS) – At dawn in the mangrove-choked Rufiji Estuary, paddles from wooden canoes cut through still water as a soft voice drifts over the tide.
“Today we talk about how communities can protect mangroves from flooding,” said host Evalilian Massawe of Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation’s TBC FM.
A moment later the broadcast changes: the swish of mud, the shuffle of rubber boots and the rustle of mangrove seedlings. The laughter of women wading through the delta completes the scene. For many communities in Tanzania, radio has become a teacher amid worsening climate impacts such as creeping salt intrusions, droughts and floods.
Stories about resilience
Every week, Massawe broadcasts stories about fishermen restoring degraded mangroves, coastal villagers building sea walls and families adopting drought-tolerant crops to cope with drought. Her programs interweave science with everyday life, simplify complex climate concepts into simple language and attract many listeners.
As world leaders wrapped up COP30 in Brazil – where calls for climate justice, adaptation finance and stronger engagement with frontline communities dominated the agenda – community radios in Tanzania’s flood-prone areas, drought-scorched savannahs and fragile coastal settlements are becoming increasingly important as climate responders.
With radio ownership still above 80 percent, these stations have become trusted conduits between scientific forecasts and ordinary families, transforming abstract climate risks into people-centered stories.
Bolstered by debates at COP30, Tanzanian broadcasters – often working with handheld recorders and local knowledge – are filling the gaps left by formal systems, amplifying the voices of farmers, fishermen and pastoralists whose struggles rarely reach global platforms.
Radio doesn’t just tell stories. It encourages action. —Communal broadcaster Amina Mohamed
A lifeline on the water
In a thatched hut in the Rufiji Delta, fisherman Fakil Msumi repairs his nets while listening to an old radio, his trusted weather instrument.
“When I hear the radio announcing strong winds, I tell my people to wait,” he says. “I know the tide will rise.”
He remembers first hearing on the radio how mangroves protect homes from storms. After devastating floods ravaged villages in 2024, he joined his neighbors to replant the battered Indian Ocean coastline. Since then he rarely misses the Bahari Yetu, Maisha Yetu – Our sea, our life –program.
Radio as Climate Teacher
“Radio tells stories in a more intimate way,” says Massawe, one of Tanzania’s most trusted climate voices. “If not everyone has access to the internet, a radio voice becomes the bridge.”
She once produced a series called Climate Change from the startsimplifying scientific jargon into everyday language.
“When we asked people what climate change meant, many said, ‘The weather is warm.’ So we explained that even cutting down trees or cooking with charcoal can also affect the weather.”
Radio storytelling relies heavily on sound: capturing the cracking of parched ground or the hiss of salty waves creeping inland.
“Sometimes sound tells the story better than statistics,” says Massawe.
Its programs have inspired farmers to switch from maize to cassava and women to learn rainwater harvesting techniques.
Climate stories told through sound
Hundreds of kilometers north, journalist Lilian Mihale arrives at the Moshi FM studio with a recorder on her wrist. She prepares her weekly segment, Now dry (Putting an end to the drought problems).
Her field recordings form the backbone of her stories: the metallic tinkling of cowbells, the chatter of children and the laughter of Maasai women drawing water from a well.
“These sounds are my script,” she says. “I go where the drought hits hardest.”
She remembers interviewing a Maasai family who lost their entire herd during the dry season. “You could hear the pain in their voices,” she says.
A medium of trust
For decades, Tanzanian farmers, fishermen and herders have struggled with erratic weather: prolonged droughts, flash floods, pest outbreaks and changing seasons. In this challenging situation, community radio has become an unlikely hero, turning climate science into practical knowledge and linking global debates to rural realities.
Mihale remembers the last planting season.
“Farmers were worried because the rain fell late. But we invited experts to teach them simple soil moisture techniques. Many harvested better than they expected.”
In the Rufiji Delta, where salt intrusion is destroying crops and freshwater sources, radios buzz in kitchens, fishing boats and village shops. Farmers receive advice on early warnings, agroforestry and water conservation, in addition to age-old weather knowledge.
“I used to only grow corn,” says farmer Fatuma Juma. “After I heard about agroforestry on the radio, I started planting fruit trees. Even if the rain doesn’t come, I now have food and something to sell.”
Youth-led groups are increasingly working with stations, including TBCFM, to promote climate-smart agriculture, mangrove restoration and tree planting campaigns.
Coastal votes, shared fate
At community radio Kati FM in Zanzibar, presenter Amina Mohamed starts each program not with science, but with voices from the community.
“I start with the fishermen, the mothers and the young people, because that is what the ocean belongs to,” she told IPS.
A fisherman in Zanzibar, Hussein Kombo, once confessed in the air: “We used to cut down mangroves to build boats. When I heard how they protect us from floods, I felt ashamed.”
Today he leads a volunteer group that has planted more than 10,000 seedlings.
“Radio doesn’t just tell stories,” says Mohamed. “It encourages action.”
Warnings that save lives
The Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA) works closely with community radios to provide forecasts. During the 2024 Kilombero District floods, early warnings on community radio prompted farmers to harvest early and herders to move livestock before rivers burst their banks.
A weekly program is called in Dodoma Bringing agriculture and climate change farmers and experts together.
“It’s a classroom without walls,” says presenter Emmanuel Kimaro.
One widowed caller, Mama Tunu, explains how she once thought mulching was laziness.
“Now my corn survives even if the rain does not come,” she says.
Challenges behind the microphone
Yet the medium remains vulnerable. Many community radios operate with limited funding, unreliable electricity and outdated equipment. When recorders break, broadcasters use cell phones. Rural families rely on hand-held or solar-powered radios, which can limit range.
“Climate journalism is expensive,” says Massawe. “But we do it because these are the stories that matter.”
Yet creativity flourishes. Background sounds – lapping waves, creaking ground, laughing children – have become powerful storytelling tools.
“Authenticity is more important than perfect production,” she adds.
A tool for resilience
At the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA), experts say the country’s adaptation efforts would be seriously weakened without the reach of community radio, which remains the most trusted source of weather information for rural households.
John Mbise, a senior TMA climatologist, says radio’s simplicity and accessibility make it unparalleled as a tool for climate study.
“In many villages, people may not have a smartphone or internet, but they always have a radio,” he explains. “When predictions are made in the local language, through voices they know, communities understand more quickly and act immediately.”
Mbise says this direct, trusted communication has helped farmers adjust their planting schedules, fishermen avoid dangerous tides and herders move their livestock ahead of storms – proof, he notes, that “adaptation becomes a reality when information reaches people in a form they can trust and apply to their daily lives.”
Voice of resilience
Back in Rufiji, as the tide recedes and dusk falls over the mangroves, a fisherman sits next to his canoe and tunes into TBC FM. Massawe’s familiar voice returns:
“Remember: the climate is changing, but so are we.”
He nods. “I used to think climate change was a problem for scientists. Now I know it’s my problem too.”
For broadcasters like Massawe, these small victories are quite rewarding.
“If my voice helps people understand – even just a little – then it’s worth it.”
This feature was published with the support of Open Society Foundations.
IPS UN office report
© Inter Press Service (20251210075540) — All rights reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service
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