Narrowcasting for SBCC: Using Digital Audio to Provide Accessible Knowledge for Marginalized Populations

Abstract for a Skills-Building Workshop from the 2022 International SBCC Summit in Morocco: 

"While broadcasting is the transmission of information to a large group of people and geographic area for instance through radio or television, narrow-casting targets a much more select, defined group and can be done fully offline through devices such as solar audio players or loudspeakers. Narrow-casting is particularly relevant for reaching most vulnerable members of the community amongst whom a higher prevalence of illiteracy prevails. The content can be translated and made available in a range of different languages. Narrowcasting involves the use of speaker/sound-playing devices. Rather than simply using the devices to amplify voices, they can play content pre-loaded on storage devices like memory cards and flash disks. This can be used for communal or small group meetings or by individuals. This type of on-demand audio-content is well adapted to ensure the targeted audience has access to the learning material over a period of time (rather than one-off) and at a time of convenience, thus allowing more opportunities to digest and understand complex and new messages such as those provided in SBCC campaigns. This is advantageous compared with radio-shows with fixed schedules and limited broadcasting time. This workshop introduces participants to narrowcasting and helps them understand both the technical solutions and their implementation based on field projects in different environments. The scope and benefits of narrowcasting will be illustrated. Suitable technological solutions for different environments will be presented and can be tried out in practice."