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A planned community radio station in Wajir is expected to boost development and raise living standards in one of Kenya's most expansive and arid districts.

The Wajir Community Radio (WCR) will give the local community a voice through media and promote effective natural resource management.

The radio station, facilitated by the Arid Lands Resource Management Project (ALRMP II), will

A section of the Wajir Community Radio station structures under construction. Picture: ALRMP II

broadcast on 90.9 MHZ and is expected to be complete by the end of November 2008.
Following approval by the World Bank, which jointly funds ALRMP II with the Kenya Government, the Project has now issued a tender for broadcast equipment. The advertisement appeared in the Daily Nation and TheStandard newspapers on Friday, July 18, 2008.

The concept was initiated by Wajir residents in 2005, when they sought assistance from ALRMP II to set up the radio station.

Information dissemination

The community argued that being one of the largest districts in the country, it was difficult to disseminate important information or coordinate activities such as livestock marketing, health awareness, peace and conflict resolution and other activities that would accelerate development.

In 2006 the World Bank gave ALRMP II a go ahead to assist the community to establish a radio station at a cost of Kshs 40 million.
That same year WCR got approval from the Ministry of Information and Communications to operate a radio station covering the entire District.

A frequency and license to operate an FM radio station was then granted by the Communications Commission of Kenya. The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority carried out site inspection in 2007 and approved the construction of a tower up to 55 metres.

Construction of the radio station structures such as open air studio, the tower, office block, fencing and generator house were started the same year and are now about 90 per cent complete.

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