The Other Voice aims to enhance the acceptance of migrants in the so called new states of Germany, in the eastern part of Germany. Their chosen method is radio. Through production of features and specials, that are available online, The Other Voice want to give insights to a different perspective of realities of live: the ones of refugees.

The Other Voice is a radio project realized by onda, that was conducted with financial support of the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung and civitas, a programm of the youthministry of Germany in order to strengthen initiatives that are active against right winged extremism in the so called new states of Germany, in the eastern part of the country.

Onda is a radio news agency that tries to publish interviews and reports from Latin America in Germany but also creates their own features and reports with original material from there. Their focus is to make the unheard voices of the south be heard in the north, whereas north and south are rather to be understood in political than in geographical terms.

Onda has started The Other Voice in order “to give insights in the realities of refugees and migrants in the new states of Germany by handing the word to them.” as it is stated on their website. But not only that, they also think, that this will make a difference and change the way the listener is perceiving migrants: “Personal stories and the feeling and the experiences of the everyday live of individuals can enhance the understanding of one another. We want to dissolve the anonymity, in which migrants and refugees are too many times presented in the media, as it is for instance seen in statistics about asylum seekers.” The principle seems easy: “Through sophisticated stories we want to dissolve the stereotyp picture of “the other”.”

The radio streams are distributed for free for all free radios but are also played in commercial broadcast programs, if they are willing to take it into their program. The offer is diverse, since the features touch all different aspects of a life of a refugee. The titels are promising: “Germany from the perspective of a scientist from Guatemala”, “Forced to lead a double life: refugees in Brandenburg” or: “Beyond the Border. Why an anti- discrimination law in Germany doesn’t exist”. Overall, it seems, that in their features, The Other Voice tries to stay closed to the way traditional radioreports are made. Even though the content tries to be as different as possible.

The Other Voice has been realized in cooperation with many different antiracist and refugee groups from the region. This way a lot of activists got deep insights in radioproduction and streaming media. Even though this sideeffect doesn’t seem to be intended, it may have been the biggest win the project could create. Julien, an activist from the refugeeinitiative of Brandenburg has also been involved in the project. He remembers, how the project made him realize more clearly the importance of media and the power of a personal story. For him the project was the occasion to reflect about his situation from a totally new perspective.

All streams are available on their website. They are in German only and there are no translations available. The reason for that seems to be the concret publicity the project is aiming to reach: Germans, that lack the understanding for foreign people and migrants. The question remains, how many of those will ever listen to those nice and interesting features.