DECONFINING Radio Bridge North-South: Intercontinental Youth Exchange

As part of the Deconfining project, students from Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Austria collaborated through the Radio Bridge North-South exchange programme. Over 2023–2024, participants co-created more than 15 radio programmes and podcasts, sharing stories, local sounds, and cultural experiences. The initiative fostered intercultural dialogue, media skills, and long-term partnerships while engaging over 90,000 listeners in Austria and beyond.

Radio Bridge North–South is an intercultural youth exchange developed within the Deconfining project and realised by Freies Radio B138. Between 2023 and 2024, students aged 12–16 from Sinazongwe School (Zambia), Siabuwa School in Binga (Zimbabwe), and MS Pettenbach & NMS Scharnstein in the European Capital of Culture 2024 region Salzkammergut (Austria) came together to explore identity, culture and global connections through sound.

Through regular online meetings, workshops, and joint productions, the students exchanged local stories, everyday soundscapes, traditions, and personal perspectives, addressing deconfinement themes in an age-appropriate, creative way. More than 15 radio programmes and podcasts were produced and broadcast on Zongwe FM, local stations in Binga, and Freies Radio B138—reaching an estimated 90,000 households in Austria alone.

The programme strengthened media literacy, intercultural dialogue, and global learning (SDG 4). It also supported long-term partnerships: from the creation of a temporary school radio studio in Austria to the installation of a solar-powered system at Zongwe FM, enabling 24/7 studio use thanks to a fundraising concert by Zimbabwean/Tonga band Mokoomba.

This youth-led radio bridge will continue beyond the project period, with partners planning further collaboration, including a potential on-site exchange in 2025.

🎧 Listen to the Student Podcasts HERE & HERE