Abstract
Conflicts between farmers and herders have a long history in West Africa, but have proliferated rapidly over the past couple of decades. While media-based interventions have been employed as a (cost-) effective means to addressing farmer-herder conflicts and promoting peace, i.e., disseminating messages over radio to improve social cohesion between these two groups, the evidence on their efficacy is mixed and limited. Our study adds to the growing literature on the efficacy of media-based interventions in promoting peace. We work in the context of a 2-year UN-supported peacebuilding program at the border of Sierra Leone and Guinea; and assess a media-intervention that was created by Talking Drums Studios (TDS, formerly Search for Common Ground) as a tool to foster peace between farmers and herders. Taking the form of a radio drama, the weekly program occurred over several months and disseminated messaging to improve farmer-herder attitudes and relations in remote communities. In our study, we primarily ask: What are the impacts of exposure to this pro-peace radio programming on farmer-herder attitudes and behaviours towards the out-group?
To answer this research question, we use priming techniques and employ a survey experiment following the UN-program and randomly assigned individuals to a treatment where they are (re-) exposed to a condensed version of the peace radio program. Conversely, individuals assigned to the control are (re-) exposed to a placebo radio drama also created by TDS, but focused instead on improving knowledge and behaviors around health practices. We measure our key outcomes thereafter, which include intergroup trust, tolerance, and behaviors (altruism, spite and cooperation). Our identification strategy is thus comparing these outcomes across treatment assigned individuals, who are those (re-) exposed to the peace radio drama, to those assigned to the control (i.e., the health radio drama).