Tackling Violence and Criminality in the Niger Delta with Television Designed Content; A SEARCH Initiative

In a bid to tackle violence and criminality in the Niger Delta, Search for Common Ground and its consortium of partners have introduced several components that examine the role of the government and government institutions, security agencies, community representatives, civil society organizations and the media, to foster an inclusive approach in creating a new face for the Niger Delta.

Due to its wealth in natural resources, the need for resource control has generated decades long battle that have defaced the oil rich region, even as the communities and people of the Niger Delta strive towards peaceful coexistence, to drive peace and progress in the region.

For this cause, SEARCH in collaboration with Foundation for Partnership in the Niger Delta (PIND) and Stakeholders Democracy Network (SDN) embarked on a peace building project which was funded by the European Union with the theme, “A Community Centered Approach To Transforming Violence And Criminality In The Niger Delta” which is being implemented in 60 communities, across 33 local government areas in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers State.

In recognition of the role of the media in enforcing behavioral change messaging through strategic storytelling and reporting, SEARCH engaged over 30 journalists, reporters, content creators, social media influencers and media personalities in an intensive 3-Days Workshop, which held from the 3^rd to 5^th of December, 2024.

While introducing the participants to SEARCH, its project objectives and the expectations from the media towards the project goal, Mass Media and Information Management Coordinator of the project, Sunny Dada stated that..

Sunny Dada also took participants on discussions that enabled a better understanding of the Niger Delta, its history and socio economic challenges that will help participants to properly understand the complex issues of the region, to educate participants on how these dynamics can be fused into reporting.

Another facilitator, Afolashade Seye-Ojo who is the Mass Media and Information Management Officer of the project also engaged the participants with interactions and discussions around Designing Common Ground Media Contents for Behavioural Change Messaging, which equipped participants with the tools needed to design and implement media programming that influences positive change, in other to build peace and dissuade the audience from violence or other negativities associated with the Niger Delta region.

National Media and Digital Peace Building Specialist for the project, Temisan Etitesola also facilitated sessions on Understanding Identities and how Identity roles come to play in transforming conflicts. He also took the participants through discussions on Adversarial versus Collaborative Approaches in Conflict prevention and resolution, while exploring the difference between conflict and violence, and establishing the visible and invisible dynamics in conflict.

The workshop also featured group works and presentations by participants on identifying target audience, framing formats and angles for storytelling, script writing and practical demonstrations of strategically designed content.

At the end of the workshop, the project has recruited the media as another set of peace building agents, with the vital role of producing conflict sensitive reporting, a reformation of the Niger Delta image and contributing to the peace building efforts of the European Union, SEARCH and its partners. 

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