Credit: Janice Laurente/USAID
If you visit USAID-funded Internews in Port-au-Prince, you’ll see a newsroom full of busy Haitian journalists. There’s a pile of empty cardboard boxes in the corner organized neatly in rows that almost reach the ceiling. After examining it more closely, you’ll notice that the boxes form a temporary radio studio where a young woman is recording part of Enfomasyon Nou Dwe Konnen (News You Can Use), a daily radio program that provides humanitarian relief and assistance information to victims of the January 12 earthquake in Haiti.
Internews increases the quality and amount of news and information on relief and recovery efforts. It also helps strengthen journalism in Haiti through a training program for both journalists and radio station business managers.
“After a crisis, people need information just as much as any other basic need like shelter and water,” said Jennifer Mandell, research, monitoring and assessment director at Internews. “Through News You Can Use, we help people affected by the earthquake find solutions to everyday problems they encounter.”
Haitian surveyors go into camps and surrounding communities to ask people what information they need to make their lives better. The data is then shared with members of the news team who report on key topics of concern. “Mailbox,” a popular segment of the show answers questions sent by listeners via SMS. News You Can Use is disseminated in and around Port-au-Prince to nearly 30 radio stations, reaching approximately 3 million listeners. About 98 percent of Haitians get their news through the radio.
“I know we’re helping people,” said Alain Draye, senior journalist advisor at Internews. “One listener that comes to mind is a man who submitted a question to “Mailbox.” He lost his leg in the earthquake and needed a prosthetic so we contacted different groups to get information. This helped him, and many others like him, get what he needed to walk again.”
