The Soul Beat 179 - Radio and Television Dramas
In this issue of The Soul Beat:
- Experiences in POST-CONFLICT SERIAL RADIO DRAMAS...
- Using RADIO DRAMAS TO PROMOTE GOOD HEALTH...
- More on the COMMUNITY RADIO THEME SITE...
- Promoting HIV/AIDS AWARENESS THROUGH TELEVISION DRAMAS...
- CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS on gender and media...
- Reports ASSESSING IMPACT OF DRAMA...
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This edition of The Soul Beat includes information about programme experiences and strategic thinking related to radio and television dramas in Africa, focusing on post-conflict, health, and HIV/AIDS, as well as assessing the impact of drama as a communication tool.
POST-CONFLICT SERIAL RADIO DRAMAS
1. Ajing Conga, Bila Pa Ladwar Radio Programme - Uganda
Launched in 2010 by Lamele Theatre Artists, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), this 72-part serial radio drama and live theatre production was produced to provide people, especially returnees in post-conflict Uganda, with information on education, health, culture, security, and governance. The programme tells the stories of three families that have returned to their homes from internally displaced people's camps. Over a period of four months, three stations aired the 72 episodes of the radio drama three times a week in the local Luo language throughout Uganda's Acholi sub-region.
2. Vila Pisa Bem (Walk Well Village) - Mozambique
Launched in June 2009, Vila Pisa Bem (Walk Well Village), produced by CMFD (Community Media for Development) Productions for World Without Mines Mozambique, is a serial radio drama designed to raise awareness, disseminate information, and encourage safe behaviours around landmines. The storyline focuses on a rural community in which a demining operation is in progress. Available in Portuguese, Shangaan, Sena, and Macua languages, the drama was broadcast on 30 community radio stations across the country, and included theme music also designed to highlight landmine issues.
3. Kumbuka Kesho - Democratic Republic of Congo
Since 2006, La Benevolencija has produced and broadcast the radio soap opera "Kumbuka Kesho" ("Remember tomorrow" in Swahili) on 24 local radios and the national Radio Television Nationale Congolaise (RTNC). Using an entertainment-education approach, the serial drama blends social development educational messages into a drama designed to encourage conflict prevention. The radio soap tells the story of a fictional city, "Bugo", where various groups used to live peacefully. However, through time, life conditions have worsened.
4. Tuonane Sokoni Radio Drama - Burundi, Congo (DRC), Rwanda
Launched in December 2010 by Search for Common Ground (SFCG) with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Tuonane Sokoni ("See You at the Market" in Kiswahili) is a serial radio drama designed to raise awareness and foster discussion on corruption and illegal smuggling. According to SFCG, such practices increase bribes and sexual exploitation, strain relationships between border officials and traders, and have an overall negative impact on traders' livelihoods. The series is being broadcast on four radio stations in border areas between Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda.
5. Mako-mere Radio Drama - Uganda
Launched in February 2011 by the non-governmental organisation MIFUMI, Mako-mere (which means "Making Friends" or "Holding Hands") is a serial radio drama designed to address issues such as domestic violence, gender equality, corruption, and problems arising out of bride price customs. Broadcast on Mama FM and Radio Veros, the drama was written and produced on site in a small village near Tororo, in Eastern Uganda. During the first week of research in the village, the writers heard first-hand stories (via a translator) from female survivors of domestic violence.
RADIO DRAMAS TO PROMOTE GOOD HEALTH
6. PataPata Radio Programme - Tanzania
Launched in April 2011, PataPata is a radio programme designed to inform and encourage children in Tanzania aged 6-12 to become involved in the fight against malaria. The radio drama follows the adventures of Kinara, Maua, and Annie Anopheles as they learn about malaria. PataPata was developed as part of the Communication and Malaria Initiative in Tanzania (COMMIT), a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and President's Malaria Initiative (PMI)-funded project that is led by Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (CCP).
7. Amores a mais é demais! Yuuh! Não vale a pena!" Campaign - Mozambique
In November 2009, N'weti Communication for Health in Mozambique launched a campaign called "Amores a mais é demais! Yuuh! Não vale a pena!", which, translated from Portuguese, means " it's not worth having many sexual partners". The campaign seeks to prevent HIV infections in the region by creating awareness around the risk of HIV infection associated with having multiple concurrent partners (MCP). The campaign includes a radio drama which tells the story of young Ibrahimo and Rute. Ibrahimo is a ladies' man until he falls helplessly in love with Rute, a simple and determined girl. He learns that he can change and find love and complete satisfaction in one partner. The drama is being aired on more than 50 radio stations, including approximately 40 community stations in Portuguese and Macua languages.
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HIV/AIDS AWARENESS THROUGH TELEVISION DRAMAS
8. Intersexions Television Drama - South Africa
Launched in October 2010, Intersexions is a South African televised drama with 25 independent but interrelated standalone episodes that dramatise the effects of a sexual network, tracing the movement of HIV/AIDS from partner to partner across age, class, sexual orientation, and race. The programme is sponsored by Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA), with funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Response (PEPFAR). Intersexions is produced by Curious Pictures and Ants Multimedia, in partnership with JHHESA and SABC Education.
9. Shuga Television Series - Kenya, Zambia
Launched in November 2009, Shuga is a three-part television drama produced by MTV in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) as part of MTV's Staying Alive Ignite campaign. The drama focuses on a group of young friends living in Nairobi, Kenya. As they explore the complexities of love, the series shows how some kinds of behaviour - including sexual involvement with multiple partners, sexual exploitation, and alcohol abuse - can make young people more vulnerable to HIV. Shuga was broadcast across Africa on MTV and terrestrial broadcasters and was also shown at public screenings in Kenya and Zambia.
10. Love - Stories in a Time of HIV/AIDS - Southern Africa
Launched in 2009, this series of ten half-hour films was produced for television in ten countries in Southern Africa, exploring the many facets of love in the context of HIV/AIDS. The series is part of the OneLove regional campaign, which aims to create awareness about the effects of multiple concurrent partnerships, as well as to encourage youth to take responsibility for their lives and their actions. The ten films comprising the series are designed to tell stories that cross borders, entertain and move people, challenge deeply held beliefs, and get people to pause and think.
11. 4Play: Sex Tips for Girls - South Africa
Broadcast in 2010, 4Play: Sex Tips for Girls was a television drama series which followed the lives of four thirty-something Johannesburg professional women as they negotiate sex, love, and relationships in a "contemporary, honest and often funny way." Besides being entertaining, the show also seeks to deal openly with issues of sexuality, highlighting risky behaviours, such as infidelity and alcohol abuse, that put young people at risk of HIV infection. 4Play was written and produced by Curious Pictures for Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA).
12. Club Risky Business: A Zambian Television Series Challenges Multiple and Concurrent Sexual Partnerships through the One Love Kwasila! Campaign
This report, published by AIDSTAR-One, presents an interactive case study of the ten-episode television programme Club Risky Business, broadcast on Zambian television in 2009. The series examined multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships (MCP) through the engaging stories of three male friends and their partners in the age of HIV. According to the report, this fictional mini-series and its associated One Love Kwasila! multimedia campaign encouraged viewers to protect themselves and their partners by "cutting their connections to HIV".
The Gender and Media Diversity Centre (GMDC) seeks proposals for contributions to its tenth journal, focusing on the topic of "Gender, Media Freedom, and Access to Information." The theme is mainly informed by the 2011 Windhoek +20 celebrations of the Windhoek Declaration on Promoting Independent and Pluralistic Media that was adopted in 1991 to improve media freedom in Africa.
For more editorial guidelines, contact Saeanna Chingamuka [email protected]
13. The Project Ignite Evaluation: Tribes in Trinidad & Tobago and Shuga in Kenya and Zambia
By Dina L.G. Borzekowskia
This July 2010 document shares an evaluation of MTV's Staying Alive Ignite campaign, which used mass media (television drama), social networking platforms, and interpersonal communication to put forward key messages around transmission, prevention, condom use, HIV testing, multiple concurrent partnerships, and stigma and discrimination relating to HIV/AIDS in Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, and Zambia. This evaluation covers 2 of the 3 campaigns: "Shuga" in Kenya and Zambia, and "Tribes" in Trinidad and Tobago.
14. Soul City Institute: Demonstrating Impact on Social and Behaviour Change
This presentation from a meeting hosted by The Communication Initiative on March 29 2011 ("Social and Behavioural Change Research Results: Strategic Implications") in Geneva, Switzerland, explores the evaluation strategies and impact developed by the Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication in the area of social and behaviour change communication (SBCC). Soul City is a South Africa-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) operating regionally and using approaches such as mass media and edutainment, advocacy, social mobilisation, and school- and community-based outreach activities to promote health and development in South Africa.
15. Untold: Stories in a Time of HIV and AIDS - Audience Reception and Capacity Building Report
By Mandi Chikombero
This report, published in November 2009 by the Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication, presents a summary of an audience reception study conducted to assess the impact of a series of HIV/AIDS education dramas entitled "Untold: Stories in a Time of HIV and AIDS". The "Untold" films were produced in nine Southern African countries and were broadcast on public television in all countries. According to the report, the series moved and entertained audiences, created dialogue and debate, and got people thinking about the choices they face in relation to HIV and AIDS.
16. Radio Role Models for the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and HIV Testing Among Pregnant Women in Botswana: Documenting Change
By Anne Sebert Kuhlmann, Joan Marie Kraft, Christine Galavotti, Tracy L. Creek, Maungo Mooki, and Raphael Ntumy
This study, published in April 2008 in the journal Health Promotion International, presents an evaluation of the serial radio drama Makgabaneng (Rocky Road) in Botswana, which is designed to encourage use of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programmes and promote HIV testing during pregnancy, among other objectives. The evaluation was undertaken to establish whether women identified with the PMTCT role models in the drama, and if this led to increased uptake of PMTCT and HIV testing. The study argues that, coupled with other supporting elements, serial dramas could contribute to HIV prevention, treatment, and care initiatives.
17. An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Radio Theatre in Promoting Good Healthy Living among Rural Communities in Osun State
By Olaniyi Alaba Sofowora
This report, published in the Research Journal of Social Sciences in January 2007, looks at the results of a study to assess the effectiveness of the "Abule Oloke Meje" radio theatre programme in promoting good healthy living among rural communities in Osun State, Nigeria. According to the study: 76% of respondents rated the programmes as an effective method for promoting healthy living; 78% felt that the series changed their disposition toward healthy living; and 89% said the drama increased their knowledge about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS.
Related previous issues include:
The Soul Beat 170 - Radio for Social Change in Africa
The Soul Beat 161 - The Team Series in Africa
The Soul Beat 148 - Soaps for Social Change
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