In Rwanda resolution is a radio broadcast, scripted like a soap opera but strategically addressing relevant issues that encourage positive behavior change among its audience. The show “Rwanda’s Brighter Future” explores ecology taking readers on a journey with characters that care about the country’s wildlife.
In this case their heroine is Leodia the leader of an ecology club in the village Tarama. Her dedication to preventing tourists from destroying the habitat of endangered mountain gorillas, inspires listeners to take action in small but meaningful ways. For example: Through her work, Leodia encourages her neighbors to buy tree seedlings to prevent erosion and help the gorillas.
At the end of the show, researchers from Population Media Center (PMC) do a survey. They discover sales of tree seedlings spiked by 11% at local nurseries. Each time researchers from this Shelburne, Vermont-based nonprofit air a radio or television soap opera, they find similar results—an increase in family planning visits to a clinic, better HIV and AIDS prevention or a decline in violence against women.
As it turns out, PMC, which airs shows in 25 different countries and receives grants from the United Nations Population Fund, has discovered a very powerful tool to promote sustainable growth. Not all of the soap operas deal with environmental issues as directly as the Rwanda drama does. But all of them draw a link between overpopulation, health problems, poverty and environmental degradation.
An emotional connection with a character is the key to the success of the PMC dramas, says Katie Elmore, communications director. Cultural relevance is the other key. For that reason, PMC shoots all of its shows on location in the host country. They also recruit writers and actors from the local film and theater scene and hire in-country production teams. To ensure that they are emphasizing the right message and hitting the right target, the writers often gather local residents and quiz them during a series of focus groups.
“It’s all done by locals because they know the countries best, so they can create realistic characters,” Elmore says.
The agency is also exploring interactive video games with a team-building message for a primarily male audience. They tested a soccer game called Break Out during the World Cup in South Africa with positive results. Winning the game requires making good decisions; it promotes teamwork and respect.
“It’s not about telling the audience what to do,” Elmore says. “It’s about showing the outcomes of various decisions.”
Population Media Center works worldwide using entertainment-education for social change based on the Sabido Methodology for designing and producing serialized dramas on radio and television that can win over audiences while imparting prosocial values.
To further the impact of this method PMC introduced the Whole Society Strategy combining print, television, radio, music, and new media with training for clinic workers, journalists and television reporters to reweave a country’s mythology concerning sexuality, the role of women and family size.
