Local rural radio as a development radio: an exemplar of Dzimwe community radio in Malawi

The article examines the nature of stakeholders’ participation in conceptualizing and implementing a village-based rural radio for development purposes. It explores the development leading to the establishment of the station and how the politics of participation resulted in tense conflicts over the radio’s ownership between an implementing body and a community-based committee. Whilst investigating the development broadcasting praxes the staffers are employing with regards to empowering and mobilizing communities towards poverty reduction initiatives, the article argues that inadequate community participation at the planning stage will result in uncertainties over project sustainability after implementation. The article does this through a careful case study of Malawi’s local rural radio, Dzimwe Community Radio, which was established in 1998 in Monkey Bay area of Mangochi District.