Assessing “beneficiary” communities’ participation in HIV/AIDS communication through community radio

Abstract

This article gives account of a research study that was conducted on a “beneficiary” community’sparticipation in HIV/AIDS communication through a community radio station. The aim was tounderstand the community’s presence and access to dialogue on HIV/AIDS, as practiced by theircommunity radio station. The research underpinning the article focused on a community radiostation based in Platfontein, Kimberley, in South Africa. X-K FM is a community radio station with!Xun and Khwe people as its primary target audience. The station is the only formal communicationchannel that targets these communities in their respective mother tongues. The researchersattempted to understand civil voices’ participation in and access to the strategies of HIV/AIDSprevention, care, support and treatment. The article is underpinned by Jürgen Habermas’stheory of structural transformation of the public sphere. Research data was gathered using semistructuredinterviews. The article concludes that the radio station has provided some avenues tofacilitate the process of beneficiary community participation in HIV/AIDS communication.