[2012] This paper examines the question, “Does information change lives?” by looking at the role of five small FM radio stations, launched and managed by Internews, operating in a vast territory that includes what is now South Sudan and the regions known as the Three Areas. The stations were established during the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended Africa’s longest-running civil war in 2005 and led to the establishment of South Sudan as an independent state in July 2011.
The study concludes that there is enormous potential for media development in South Sudan because of the enthusiasm for and interest in news and information, even in the most remote villages. Local radio is a platform for political and cultural expression and a site for citizen participation, empowerment, and social and political change. Radio is also relatively inexpensive to operate, to program and, for audiences, to receive.