Bidibidi FM: A radio station for refugees, by refugees | All media content | DW | 01.03.2024
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Africa

Bidibidi FM: A radio station for refugees, by refugees

Bidibidi Refugee Settlement supports hundreds of thousands refugees, mainly from South Sudan. Bidibidi FM is, for many, their main source of information.

  • A woman in the offices of Bidibidi FM
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    Betty Yangi Wani, content creator

    Betty Yangi Wani is a journalist at Bidibidi FM, a local radio station in the Bidibidi Refugee Settlement in Uganda. The young woman fled South Sudan a few years ago and ended up in Bidibidi, where she received training from DW Akademie. "Working as a content creator is an incredible opportunity for me," she says. "I can give the people in this camp a voice, because this is our radio!"

  • Editor Clement Bothosa outside the offices of Bidibidi FM
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    Clement Bothosa, editor

    Editor Clement Bothosa is 25 years old and from South Sudan. He is responsible for 10 young children - but none of them are his own. "They no longer have parents; they are all my relatives. I make sure they have food and go to school here in the camp. But I don't earn very much," he said.

  • DW Akademie | Flüchtlingslager Bidibidi
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    From civil war to refugee settlement

    Around 250,000 people live in Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, 84% of whom are women and children. Most of them are from nearby South Sudan, where a civil war broke out in 2016, prompting hundreds of thousands to flee to neighboring Uganda. At the camp, refugees build their own huts from mud and palm fronds. They grow their own food to supplement the small amount they receive from aid organizations.

  • A woman in the Bidibidi FM studio
    More

    The target audience is both refugee and host communities

    Bidibidi FM is the only radio station in the settlement and the only radio station in the region whose broadcasts are understood by South Sudanese refugees. Bidibidi FM broadcasts in three languages: English, South Sudanese Juba Arabic and in the local Ugandan language Aringa Ti. Many South Sudanese are illiterate, making radio the best medium to reach them.

  • DW Akademie | Flüchtlingslager Bidibidi
    More

    Yumbe, Uganda: The host community

    Bidibidi is close to the town of Yumbe in northern Uganda, not far from the South Sudanese border. Despite being a relatively quiet town, Yumbe is the administrative center from where a refugee settlement with a quarter of a million inhabitants is organized. For many in the area, their quality of life is not significantly higher than those within the nearby camp.

  • Two editors at an editorial meeting for Bidibidi FM
    More

    Majubo Rafah, editor (pictured right)

    "DW Akademie has a very good reputation. When I heard that they were carrying out this project together with UNHCR, I applied straight away," said editor Majubo Rafah. The Ugandan broadcasts in the local language, Aringa Ti. Bidibidi FM aims to break down barriers and counter prejudices in the host community by encouraging locals to learn more about the refugee settlement.

  • DW Akademie | Flüchtlingslager Bidibidi
    More

    Isaac Dedi, editor

    "We understand exactly what moves the people in this refugee settlement - we live here ourselves and we have been through the same thing. That's why the radio is so close to our listeners," explains editor Isaac Dedi, who is also from South Sudan.


  • A woman in the offices of Bidibidi FM
    More

    Betty Yangi Wani, content creator

    Betty Yangi Wani is a journalist at Bidibidi FM, a local radio station in the Bidibidi Refugee Settlement in Uganda. The young woman fled South Sudan a few years ago and ended up in Bidibidi, where she received training from DW Akademie. "Working as a content creator is an incredible opportunity for me," she says. "I can give the people in this camp a voice, because this is our radio!"

  • Editor Clement Bothosa outside the offices of Bidibidi FM
    More

    Clement Bothosa, editor

    Editor Clement Bothosa is 25 years old and from South Sudan. He is responsible for 10 young children - but none of them are his own. "They no longer have parents; they are all my relatives. I make sure they have food and go to school here in the camp. But I don't earn very much," he said.

  • DW Akademie | Flüchtlingslager Bidibidi
    More

    From civil war to refugee settlement

    Around 250,000 people live in Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, 84% of whom are women and children. Most of them are from nearby South Sudan, where a civil war broke out in 2016, prompting hundreds of thousands to flee to neighboring Uganda. At the camp, refugees build their own huts from mud and palm fronds. They grow their own food to supplement the small amount they receive from aid organizations.

  • A woman in the Bidibidi FM studio
    More

    The target audience is both refugee and host communities

    Bidibidi FM is the only radio station in the settlement and the only radio station in the region whose broadcasts are understood by South Sudanese refugees. Bidibidi FM broadcasts in three languages: English, South Sudanese Juba Arabic and in the local Ugandan language Aringa Ti. Many South Sudanese are illiterate, making radio the best medium to reach them.

  • DW Akademie | Flüchtlingslager Bidibidi
    More

    Yumbe, Uganda: The host community

    Bidibidi is close to the town of Yumbe in northern Uganda, not far from the South Sudanese border. Despite being a relatively quiet town, Yumbe is the administrative center from where a refugee settlement with a quarter of a million inhabitants is organized. For many in the area, their quality of life is not significantly higher than those within the nearby camp.

  • Two editors at an editorial meeting for Bidibidi FM
    More

    Majubo Rafah, editor (pictured right)

    "DW Akademie has a very good reputation. When I heard that they were carrying out this project together with UNHCR, I applied straight away," said editor Majubo Rafah. The Ugandan broadcasts in the local language, Aringa Ti. Bidibidi FM aims to break down barriers and counter prejudices in the host community by encouraging locals to learn more about the refugee settlement.

  • DW Akademie | Flüchtlingslager Bidibidi
    More

    Isaac Dedi, editor

    "We understand exactly what moves the people in this refugee settlement - we live here ourselves and we have been through the same thing. That's why the radio is so close to our listeners," explains editor Isaac Dedi, who is also from South Sudan.


The Bidibidi refugee settlement in northwestern Uganda, on the border with South Sudan, covers an area of roughly 250 square kilometers. Around 250,000 refugees live there. Most have fled the civil war in South Sudan, while others come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The radio station Bidibidi FM was initiated by the UN refugee agency UNHCR and is implemented jointly by DW Akademie, the Dutch REF FM Foundation and the Ugandan non-governmental organization Straight Talk Foundation.

DW Akademie, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), is responsible for training the journalists.