Ila Dhageyso
Mohamed Gulaid, Aditya Vashistha · 2013
In many developing countries, it is challenging for remote communities to access reliable and accurate sources of news. This paper examines the case of Somaliland, where there is a fragmented media landscape that is subject to tribal biases and manipulations. Often, exaggeration or misrepresentation of facts prompts conflicts and hostility towards authorities, especially in remote areas. To foster more transparent communications between governmental institutions and the public, we built and deployed an interactive voice forum, accessible to anyone with a basic mobile handset. Called Ila Dhageyso, this forum enables callers to listen and respond to official recordings from the Presidential Ministry, as well as to the responses of other callers. Audio messages are also threaded and posted on YouTube to involve Somaliland people in diaspora. From December 2012 to April 2013, Ila Dhageyso logged 4,300 posts from callers. This paper reviews the media climate and geopolitical circumstances in Somaliland that motivated the formation of Ila Dhageyso. It also describes the design, implementation, and experiences gained in the first exploratory deployment of the service.