The Drum Beat 239 - Radio Dramas, Part I

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The first in a 2-part series, this issue of The Drum Beat offers some examples of initiatives, evaluations, trends, strategic thinking, and materials that focus on the use of radio dramas (soap operas) as a tool for development. These pursuits and publications explore the current use of radio as a communication instrument at a time when more advanced, expensive technologies seem to be taking the forefront.

Part II of the series will focus on a single document - "An Institutional Review of Educational Radio Dramas" submitted by Mary Myers to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (USA) - that details 14 projects using radio drama for development around the world, with an eye to figuring out what worked (and what did not), and why.

The below are just a few of the resources on The Communication Initiative site related to radio.

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PROGRAMME EXPERIENCES

1.A Friend For Life - South Africa

Eskom and ABC Ulwazi developed this children's radio drama to support safe and sensible electricity consumption and use. The series of 6 programmes, each 10 minutes long and produced in English, isiZulu, SeSotho, Sepedi, Afrikaans, and Xhosa, is aimed at 6- to 14-year-olds and their caregivers. In the first phase, 40 community radio stations participated in a training workshop that explored content and encouraged production of further children-inspired programmes. The stations were asked to broadcast the drama during Child Injury Prevention Week, discussing the themes and messages with their listeners.

Contact: Lynn Taylor lynn@abculwazi.org.za

2.Thabyegone Ywa - Burma

In Nov 2003, the BBC World Service Trust began broadcasting a Burmese-language educational radio drama series. The twice-weekly, 15-minute programmes are intended to reach the 10-16 million people every week listening to the BBC Burmese Service and aim to extend that reach to Burma's poor, rural population. One goal is to raise awareness about poverty-related health issues including HIV/AIDS and to provide information about and practical solutions for everyday healthcare problems. The dramas challenge stigmatisation and urge families and communities to accept and help people living with HIV/AIDS.

Contact: Tim Williams tim.williams@bbc.co.uk

3.Radio to Prevent Diarrhoea - Afghanistan

Population Services International and its partners are using radio to convey health and hygiene messages related to preventing diarrhoeal diseases in children. The radio dramas and messages address Afghan parents by focussing on hand washing, increased fluid consumption during diarrhoea episodes, and other preventative measures. The goal is to reduce infant and child mortality in Afghanistan through prevention and treatment of diarrhoea.

Contact: Michael Chommie chommie.psi@kbl.pactec.net

4.HIV/AIDS Communication Research Project - South Africa, Burkina Faso, Vietnam

This project assesses "edutainment" as a communication strategy for reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS. Case studies include the South African media NGO Soul City, whose 60-episode radio drama series is used here as a basis of comparison for parallel studies. The Department of Film and Media Studies, University of Copenhagen and its partners are asking: Would this model work in Vietnam, a country with strong media control? Would it work in Burkina Faso, where radio is the predominant medium?

Contact: Thomas Tufte ttufte@ruc.dk

EVALUATIONS

5. Radio Drama Series "Our Street": A Focus Group Evaluation

A series of focus groups with young Russians, Ukrainians, and Crimean Tatars indicated that this radio drama drew listeners' attention to inter-ethnic issues and delivered intended messages (e.g., ethnicity should serve neither as a basis for conflict nor as a barrier to resolving it). Some listeners said the drama exposed them to specific ways to deal with potential conflicts and introduced them to skills that might be helpful in resolving disagreements. Tatars tended to display a comparatively stronger emotional association with the plot, as well as greater empathy with some of the characters.

6.Somali radio soap for health education

Health Unlimited's Saxansaxo ('Fresh Breeze') is a soap opera and magasine programme produced by a Somali team in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Its design includes locally sung poetry and stories that thrive in Somali culture. The show mixes health and empowerment messages with drama, comedy, and human relationships. Staff visit villages regularly to talk to listeners about what worries or confuses them about their sexual health and wellbeing. One listener asked herself why she alone should benefit from the programme; she set up her own listeners' group and used it to spread the word.

7. Overview and Executive Summary of Taru Project

Evaluations were conducted of a Population Communications International radio soap opera that promoted gender equality, small family size, HIV/AIDS prevention, and inter-caste harmony in India. One found that Taru sparked social change by drawing attention to socially desirable behaviours. When listeners develop "parasocial relationships" with the characters, they may be motivated to consider changes in their own behaviour. Taru also initiated a process of social learning as audience members talked among themselves and considered effecting collective behaviour change.

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PULSE POLL

International Days are not useful in developing countries.

[For context, please see The Drum Beat 237]

Do you agree or disagree?

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TRENDS

8.Radio Listening Survey

In Apr 2003, an independent team conducted a survey of the DFID/World Vision Radio Education Project developed with Radio Mozambique in Quelimane, Zambézia, Mozambique. The team spoke to over 600 heads of households in 4 locations, where listenership is almost 100%. The drama, based on the happenings in 2 fictional villages, is popular; between 81% and 97% who listen are familiar with the individual characters. Most of those who listen do so once or twice a week and indicate that the programmes are a very good or excellent way of informing them about important life issues.

9.Media & the Empowerment of Communities for Social Change - A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of PhD in the Faculty of Education

43.4% of female heads of households in the rural Buhera District of East Zimbabwe said they owned a radio (4.4% said they had a television and 1.5% had a telephone). The women were asked to name up to 3 radio programmes they liked most. Only 4.4% mentioned radio dramas addressing various issues; respondents preferred hearing cultural reports, news, funeral notices, greetings, and music. One could conclude that radio was playing the role of a rural telephone, preserving a people's culture and informing them about current and social issues.

STRATEGIES

10.Using Stories to Prompt Attitude & Behavior Change

According to this author, research shows that people who are engaged in stories are less resistant to persuasion, i.e., they are less likely to counter-argue claims meant to convince them to adopt a certain belief or behaviour. For this approach to work, narrative must be engaging. There is no formula, but this lecture discusses factors needing attention in the design of radio dramas and other entertainment-education initiatives.

11.Modeling and Reinforcement to Combat HIV: The MARCH Approach to Behavior Change

According to this report, role models in radio or television dramas provide information about change, motivate the viewer, and enhance a sense of self-efficacy. An emphasis on narrative that is aligned with the norms of the particular culture allows people "to understand the origins, meanings, and significance of [their] difficulties, and to do so in a way that makes change conceivable and attainable". Messages can be reinforced through interpersonal strategies like printed materials delivered by members of the affected community.

12. From Awareness to Action: Tackling HIV/AIDS Through Radio & Television Drama

This paper looks at psychosocial aspects of AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, with particular reference to initiatives using drama to promote awareness and encourage behaviour change. Millions of couples worldwide continue to have sex without condoms, and risk contracting HIV. Is it any use telling them not to? For this author, not usually. This is because, often for complicated reasons, they are compelled to do what they are doing; it is not within their power to change...

MATERIALS

13.How to Craft an Audio Play - by Yuri Rasovsky

A guidebook on how to write, produce, and direct audio plays. According to Rasovsky, "Audio is the most intensely visual of media precisely because of its sightlessness. It doesn't lack visuals; the audience supplies them...The distinguishing task of the audio dramatist is to use sound, language, voice and music to evoke and to suggest..."

14.A Voice that Carries Far (Una Voz que llega Lejos) [Video]

Produced by Asociación Minga, Pasionaria's Life uses radio drama to address sexuality, gender equity, family violence, and natural resource management. To reach the most isolated populations in Perú's Selva Region, the programme is combined with training activities for community agents. This video was produced in response to 2200 audience letters (70% were from women). It features women telling their stories about how the programme has contributed to greater possibilities for analysis and action, thereby carrying their voices beyond the Amazon.

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Please visit Soul Beat Africa: Communication for Change

Click here

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This issue was written by Kier Olsen DeVries.

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The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.


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