Communications challenges– the proposed Constitution
on A Serendipitous Journey (Kenya), 31/Jul/2010 16:34, 34 days ago
This Wednesday, there will be a national referendum regarding the proposed Constitution for Kenya. And for the past few months the government and civil society have been educating the public regarding its contents and the implications, should it pass.They have been challenged with communicating the contents of a highly technical document to a population of 40 million people, who speak more than 40 different languages, have varying degrees of education and are spread out across more than 500,000 km. This population varies from elderly rural Maasai women who may have never attended school to young, highly educated professionals in Nairobi; and from communities who depend on the radio as their primary source of news to frequent internet users in the city. The challenges of managing this campaign are astronomical, from TV shows and Facebook groups to rural community gatherings and prayer meetings.On top of the communication challenges regarding the contents of the proposed Constitution, the government, media and civil society are also engaging in numerous communications strategies to promote peace, after the 2007 post-election violence resulted in more than 1,300 deaths and more than 300,000 displaced persons.