Programs and Activities of Population Media Center

Programs and Activities of Population Media Center

June 2013

Since PMC’s inception, we have initiated projects in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, nine island nations of the Eastern Caribbean, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, México, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, the United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Vietnam. PMC has new projects in development in Cameroon, China, India, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Niger, Pakistan, the Philippines, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. In 2007, PMC was recognized by the Population Institute with a Global Media Award for having the Best Electronic Communications Service for its entertainment-education television and radio dramas, featuring family planning, gender equality, and reproductive health issues. In 2009, PMC won third place in the Peter F. Drucker Awards for Nonprofit Innovation. In 2011, PMC won our second Global Media Award for Best Serial Drama for PMC-Ethiopia’s radio serial drama, Mieraf (“New Beginning”). The Aspen Institute's 2012 Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health Resolve Award has been awarded to Ethiopia, largely due to Population Institute's nomination of PMC's work there. This highly competitive, non-monetary award is designed to honor innovative and scalable approaches in accelerating progress toward universal access to reproductive health. Following is detailed information about PMC’s work.

AFRICA

Burkina Faso

Population Media Center has received funding from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UNICEF to develop two 156-episode radio serial dramas for promotion of family planning use. One of the programs is in the Mooré language (Yam Yankre or “the Choice”), and the second is in the Dioula language (Here S’ra or “the Road to Happiness”). The programs started broadcasting on the national broadcaster and 22 community radio stations in September 2012.

In Burkina Faso, the barriers to use of modern methods of contraception are largely informational and cultural. Among sexually active, fertile women in union, the top reasons for non-use are the desire for more children (18%); personal, partner, or religious opposition (17%); fear of health effects (10%); and not knowing a method or a source (10%). Cost is cited by only 2.5%, and lack of access is cited by only 0.7%.

The annual population growth rate in Burkina Faso is 3.4 per cent, which means that the population is doubling every 20 years. The total fertility rate is the 8th highest in the world at 6.0 children per woman. The majority of the population is young: 46% of the population is under the age of 15. Population growth and population dynamics are important challenges that must be addressed in order to reduce poverty.

Childbearing begins early in Burkina Faso: almost half of all women in union less than 20 years of age have already given birth to at least one living child. The actual fertility rate closely follows the desired family size for women: married women interviewed during the 2003 Demographic and Health Survey in Burkina Faso said they would like to have about six children on average. Married men would like seven children.

Although knowledge of contraceptive methods in Burkina Faso is high (92% of those interviewed know at least one modern method), only 13% of married women are currently using a modern method of contraception.

Burundi

PMC has received support from the Segal Family Foundation, and commitments from UNICEF, UNFPA, and Population Services International. The goals of the program will be to reduce under-nutrition trends and promote child survival, improve maternal health, inform audiences about and promote family planning and small family norms, promote gender equality through role modeling, promote universal primary education, and prevent HIV/AIDS and other STIs. We plan to conduct a scriptwriters’ training workshop in October 2013 and begin broadcasting in 2014.

Burundi’s total fertility rate is 6.4 children per woman, one of the highest in the world. Only 18 percent of married women use modern methods of contraception. Such high fertility results in high maternal mortality rates: the rate of maternal mortality in Burundi is estimated to be 500 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births. In part, because of the high fertility levels and close birth intervals, Burundi has one of the highest rates of stunting among children under five in the sub-region.

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

PMC has received commitments from UNICEF, the World Bank, UNFPA, UNAIDS, and UN Women for three separate radio serial dramas (in Lingala, Swahili and French) each with 156 episodes. While seeking the remaining funding needed (about $500,000), PMC is planning to conduct a scriptwriters’ training workshop in November 2013 and begin broadcasting in 2014.

Ethiopia

PMC is conducting three concurrent projects in Ethiopia.

1. Youth Media Capacity Building Programs and Interactive Radio Serial Drama on Cross-Sectoral Program Issues is the newest project in Ethiopia, funded by UNICEF. Program components include: a 208-episode radio serial drama in Amharic; training for journalists and producers in Education Media Centers and radio stations on six themes (and guidebooks); media capacity training for children and youth through multimedia training at select youth centers on priority youth issues.

2. A Multi-Media Communication Campaign to Address Alcohol, Substance Abuse and HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia is a project funded by the Ethiopian Public Health Association (EPHA). The project consists of a radio serial drama, talk show, spots, print production and capacity building training programs for religious leaders, youth group leaders, women’s group leaders, and community leaders, plus production of a book in February 2012, called Azurit (“Whirlwind”) with real-life stories of victims of alcohol and substance abuse. The radio programs are:

a. Yeregebu Fetiloch (“Broken Dreams”), a 120-episode radio serial drama.

b. Fenote Lesiket (“the Right Path to Success”), a radio magazine in Amharic.

3. Save the Children Norway (SCN) is continuing their support of PMC-Ethiopia for 2011-2015 with a project addressing Harmful Traditional Practices and Female Genital Mutilation consisting of a national talk show, two regional radio magazine shows, print materials, capacity building workshops, and research and monitoring. This is a continuation of the project SCN supported from 2007-2010. Additional support has been provided by Bayer Corporation.

a. The talk show Gudayachin has aired 64 episodes as of the end of April.

b. The two regional magazine-style programs, Naedetai (in Afar) and Igadda (in Somali) have aired 75 and 74 shows respectively as of the end of April.

c. A training workshop on HTP & FGM was held from April 1-3, 2013. Thirty-two high school students, drawn from nine regions participated. There was also an experience sharing forum for students from Afar, Somali and SNNPR regions where a severe type of FGM, infibulation, is being practiced. A 15-minute film on FGM was relayed, and general discussion was held at the culmination of the training.

This work has been described by Women’s E-News as being highly effective at stopping the practice of FGM.

Previously, as part of a project to improve the delivery of health services in Ethiopia through increased awareness and communication between the 30,000 health extension workers in rural Ethiopia and the communities they serve, PMC-Ethiopia broadcast Mieraf (“New Beginning”), a 180-episode radio drama series in Amharic, from June 2010 through November 2011, with funding from UNICEF. The program addressed rural health care, including family planning, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and STIs, hygiene and sanitation, and was designed to model positive health care and client rights to information on their health status. Mieraf received the 2011 Global Media Award for Best Serial Drama.

From October 2010 to November 2011, PMC conducted a program with support from UN Women, designed to address violence against women in Ethiopia. The objective of the project was to provide information and increase the knowledge of change agents and communities on issues related to violence against women and female empowerment. The project included TV and radio spots, plus print materials including a book, Yenealem (“My World”), a collection of real-life stories. As part of the project, PMC conducted five capacity building workshops to address the issue of violence against women.

o The first workshop was “The Role of Journalists and Media Practitioners to Address Violence against Women in Ethiopia.”

o Workshop 2 was for women leaders of all regions.

o Workshop 3 was for youth leaders from all regions.

o Workshop 4 was for law enforcement bodies from all regions.

o Workshop 5 was for senior writers of all regions.

From 2005 to 2010, PMC produced a talk show and panel discussion, called Alegnta (“Security”). The serial drama, Sibrat (“Trauma”), was broadcast from September 2007 through February 2010. Sibrat was broadcast over the National Service of Radio Ethiopia and FM Addis.

From 2002 to 2004, PMC-Ethiopia aired two radio serial dramas addressing the issues of reproductive health and women’s status, including HIV/AIDS, family planning, marriage by abduction, education of daughters, spousal communication, and related issues in two major languages. Yeken Kignit (“Looking over One’s Daily Life”) was broadcast in Amharic in 257 episodes; Dhimbibba (“Getting the Best out of Life”) was broadcast in Oromiffa in 140 episodes. Broadcast of the radio serial dramas in the two languages began in June 2002. Quantitative research (14,400 client interviews at clinics) done in November 2004 found that 63% of new clients seeking reproductive health services at 48 service centers in Ethiopia reported that they were listening to one of the PMC serial dramas. In fact, 18% of new clients named one of PMC’s programs by name as the primary motivating factor for seeking services.

Of new clients who cited radio programs as a motivation for seeking services, 96% said that they were motivated by one of PMC’s programs. About half the population reported being regular listeners.

In just two and a half years of nationwide broadcasting, the following changes were recorded:

· Listeners were 5.4 times more likely than nonlisteners to know at least 3 or more family planning methods. (Adjusted odds ratio with p<.00001 controlling for age and education).

· Among married women in the Amhara region who were listeners, there was a 55 percentage point increase in those who had ever used family planning methods, while among non-listeners, the change was only 24 percentage points. A similar increase occurred among male listeners in the Amhara region.

· Among married women in the Amhara region who were listeners, current use of modern family planning methods went from 14% to 40% among listeners vs. 25% among non-listeners.

· Listeners sought HIV tests at 2.5 times the rate of non-listeners*.

· Among married women who know of a method of family planning, spousal communication about family planning issues climbed from 33% to 66%.*

*These findings remained significant after running statistical controls for all significant socioeconomic and demographic variables.

PMC’s first serial drama project in Ethiopia was supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office of the Government of Ethiopia (HAPCO), the Hughes Memorial Foundation, the Flora L. Thornton Foundation, CARE-Ethiopia, the UN Population Fund, and 35 individual contributors. Yeken Kignit is currently being rebroadcast in southern Ethiopia with support from the Packard Foundation.

A partnership with Save the Children-US involved production and distribution of a third serial drama on audiocassettes for play by truck drivers and other high-risk groups. The support from Save the Children allowed production and distribution of 24 episodes of this program, plus the writing of another 28 episodes. The evaluation of the cassette-based drama showed major changes in self-reported behavior by those who listened to the program. HAPCO awarded PMC additional funds to complete production of the remaining episodes and to distribute them to high-risk populations via cassette, as well as to broadcast a modified version on Radio Ethiopia. The broadcast of this program, Maleda (“Dawn”), started in May 2005 and was completed in September 2006. Among other findings, the evaluation showed that listeners were 4.3 times more likely than non-listeners to know where to go for counseling and testing services.

PMC also received support from the Packard Foundation for two additional projects in Ethiopia designed to involve the creative community in addressing population and reproductive health issues. These projects included creating traveling stage plays to address reproductive health issues; developing two video documentaries on population and HIV/AIDS issues in Ethiopia; holding contests for the best short stories and poems that address reproductive health issues; and conducting training of journalists in covering reproductive health issues.

PMC produced a full-length stage play entitled Yesak Jember (“Laughter at Dusk”), focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention. The stage play was launched in September 2003 and was attended by the former President of Ethiopia, Dr. Negasso Gidada. The play was staged in the capital for five months, followed by performances in 14 other cities around Ethiopia. The script was then given to local drama groups for adaptation. PMC received additional support from the Packard Foundation for additional training of journalists in covering reproductive health issues, and that project was completed in 2006.

As part of this work, PMC-Ethiopia began publishing a series of books. The first was a collection of eight national prize-winning short stories and three poems focusing on HIV/AIDS and related social issues, published in 2003 under the title Yehiwot Tebitawoch (“Drops of Life”). The creative pieces were selected from among 146 short stories and 176 poems submitted in response to a national competition for the best poems and short stories that address reproductive health and HIV/AIDS issues. Ten thousand copies of this book were published and distributed throughout Ethiopia.

A second volume of short stories was published in 2004 as a result of a second nationwide competition. The book, Kinfam Hilmoch (“Winged Dreams”), was also widely distributed and dealt with major health, social and health issues. A third book, Wenzoch Eskimolu (“Waiting for the Rivers to Rise”), was published and distributed in 2006. In 2007, PMC published a fourth book, Yemaleda Shekim (“Burden at a Tender Age”), consisting of 13 short stories on harmful traditional practices in Ethiopia, chosen from 99 submissions.

A fifth book, published in 2008, is entitled, Zaren Ketegubet (“If You Become Diligent Today”). A collection of essays, the book focuses on youth mental and physical development and holds out positive role models for young people.

In 2009, PMC published a sixth book, Yaltenabebu Libotch (“Incongruous Hearts”), focused on social and economic problems affecting women. It consists of 11 short stories written by nine women writers. It highlights the inequalities faced by women with regard to economic, educational and employment opportunities.