Broadcasting Tolerance in Kenya

In 2023, 1.5% of the world’s population (117.3 million) was forcibly displaced, nearly doubling the rate from a decade ago. The majority of the displaced are hosted in the Global South, where the surge of refugees and asylum seekers places considerable strain on host communities already facing resource constraints, exacerbating socio-economic disparities and fueling tensions and resentment. Focusing on Kenya, our study tests a highly scalable intervention designed to increase the acceptance of refugees and support for inclusive refugee policies through a serialized radio drama featuring relatable refugee characters. The radio show is explicitly designed to foster empathy and increase support for inclusive refugee policies by employing messaging and plot lines informed by social psychological theories, such as perspective-taking. Using three sources of exogenous variation to evaluate this intervention across Kenyan villages with varying radio coverage and listener engagement levels, thereby contributing valuable insights to global efforts toward effective refugee integration and social cohesion.