Community Radios and Access to Information in Local Government Authorities in Tanzania

Abstract

One of the challenges facing local government authorities in rural Tanzania is how to disseminate information to the citizens and obtain timely feedback. Decentralization which brings government close to the people was thought to increase information flow but empirical evidence proves otherwise. This paper sought investigated the contribution of emerging community radios in bridging information asymmetry in local government authorities. Data were collected through questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews. Results indicate that despite its popularity and coverage, very little information is disseminated through community radios due to lack of policy at LGAs level as well as conflicting national policies which still favor the center at the expense of local community approaches.