|
>View discussions about this entry Country: United States
Organization: Population Media Center
Sector Focus - Civil society
Year the initative began (yyyy) - 2004
YouTube Upload - Place your video embed code here from YouTube, Google Video and other video sharing websites. How to embed a video from YouTube.
Project URL: http://www.populationmedia.org
Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence? - PMC uses a specific methodology of social-change communications developed by Miguel Sabido of Mexico, in which characters in long-running radio and television serialized dramas evolve into role models for their audiences.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field? - The design of the serial drama is critical to its potential success in terms of behavior change. Sabido-style serial dramas achieve results because they are developed using an empirical and reproducible approach to behavior change communication via mass media. In fact, every detail of a Sabido-style serial drama is developed according to a theoretical and empirical research-based formula in order to reinforce a coherent set of interrelated values that is tied to specific prosocial behaviors. The Sabido methodology is also a replicable methodology that, although formularized, is still adaptable to the individual values and cultures of each country where it is used.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing? - The steps involved in the development of a PMC program are as follows:
1) Formative Research 2) Advisory Committee 3) Writing, Production and Broadcast 4) Promotional Campaign 5) Monitoring 6) Evaluation How do you plan to grow your innovation? - PMC’s vision for the next ten years is to expand to 50 countries. Among the highest priority countries for PMC are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. PMC has received invitations from governments and NGOs in each of these countries to undertake project development. Other countries of interest, where we have already trained radio station personnel or made exploratory visits, include Afghanistan, Angola, Botswana, China, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. We also have interest in working in Algeria, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Eritrea, Guinea, Haiti, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Zambia. We have received inquiries from a number of these countries.
Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how do you create them? - In every country where we work, PMC forms an Advisory Committee of representatives of relevant government ministries, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other institutions working on the issues addressed in the program. The Advisory Committee meets throughout the life of the project, and will serve two purposes:
• To oversee the content of the serial drama as the scripts for the episodes are written, to ensure that it remains technically correct and in line with the program’s objectives; and • To ensure that demand for services generated by the program can be met by the service infrastructure throughout the program. Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact. - Sabido-style dramas are designed to motivate changes in attitudes and behaviors on a wide range of issues, including child trafficking, women’s status, environmental protection, and HIV/AIDS.
How many people have you served or plan to serve? - PMC's programs are generally the most popular programs on the air, and typically attract over half of the population as listeners.
Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation? - Listeners will continue to talk to each other and to non-listeners about the anti-trafficking values covered in the program. Ideas of prevention regarding poverty and family planning will have taken root and will continue to grow among West African citizens.
Exactly who are the beneficiaries of your innovation? - The general public. For our anti child trafficking programs in West Africa, the primary target audiences were children at risk of being trafficked, and their parents.
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)? - Since its founding in 1998, PMC’s work has been recognized and supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office of the Government of Ethiopia, Norwegian Save the Children, the Danish Embassy in Vietnam via UNFPA-Hanoi, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Rotarian Action Group on Population and Development (with funds from Rotary International Foundation, Aventis Foundation and the German Government), the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Pfizer Inc’s Public Health Group, the Kaiser Family Foundation and many other foundations and individual donors.
If known, provide information on your finances and organization - Annual budget;
Annual revenue generated; Number of staff: Currency = U.S. dollars. Annual budget: $3.6 million 2008 Revenue: $3,587,795 2008 Expenses: $3,652,045 Number of staff (worldwide, excluding creative talent): 49 employees What is the potential demand for your innovation? - PMC’s vision for the next ten years is to expand to 50 countries. Among the highest priority countries for PMC are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. PMC has received invitations from governments and NGOs in each of these countries to undertake project development. Other countries of interest, where we have already trained radio station personnel or made exploratory visits, include Afghanistan, Angola, Botswana, China, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. We also have interest in working in Algeria, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Eritrea, Guinea, Haiti, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Zambia. We have received inquiries from a number of these countries.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability? - The cost of a three-year serial drama project, including formative and evaluative research, training and technical assistance, writing, acting, production and broadcasting, varies, depending on which medium is used. The typical cost of a radio project is about $450,000 per year.
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story. - PMC was founded in 1998 to bring the Sabdio methodology to countries that had not yet benefitted from it. In its first ten years, PMC has initiated projects in Brazil, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Mexico, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, the Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, the United States and Vietnam. PMC has new projects in development in Botswana, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Eastern Caribbean, Egypt, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, the Western Pacific, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It has continuation projects in development in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and the Philippines. 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.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material - Kriss Barker is Vice President for International Programs at Population Media Center, an international organization that works with broadcast media to produce entertainment-education programs. Kriss has assisted production teams throughout the world to develop entertainment-education serial dramas. She has trained numerous media and health communciation professionals in the Sabido methodology for behavior change communication using the mass media. She oversees management of PMC programs in over 20 countries worldwide. Kriss has authored several papers on the Sabido methodology, including manuscripts, journal articles and chapters in edited books. She is considered an expert on application of the Sabido methodology for behavior change.
Contact Information:
Kriss Barker
Vice President for International Programs Population Media Center (NGO) Discussions about this entry |
Soap Operas to End Child Trafficking in West Africa
|
|
Hello Kriss,
I am currently at an International HT Conference, where I just learned of a similar project being done in Argentina. A soap-opera was created that specifically targets HT. It has been quite successful and since it's release approx. 300 girls have been rescued. I think your idea to have it on the radio in countries where television is not easily accessible is fantastic. I also learned of PSA's produced by the Ricky Martin Foundation that are being played on the radio in South America which has already led to a successful story. A victim who was being held in a remote village heard it on the radio and realized that she was in the situation being described. With just that small glimmer of hope, she was able to escape and get help.
I would like to see your project move forward!
Hello Kriss,
This sounds like a really neat idea. I would love to learn more about what you are doing. It would be great if you could respond to the questions above as well as include some more information about your work. Please tell us more about your finances, your sustainability, your impact, your story and your partnerships. Thank you.
Dana Frasz
Ashoka's Changemakers
What an interesting approach--get the valuable behavior-changing lessons into an entertaining and engaging format that is familiar and culturally-accepted. This is a creative way to address a culturally-sensitive issue in a way that raises awareness. I noticed that Population Media Center has a Sabido methodology training guide in three languages for its HIV/AIDS prevention soap operas on its website. Has the soap opera methodology had positive, measurable effects in the countries where the program has been running? Is there a similar guide for the soap operas aimed at ending child trafficking?
The soap-opera-with-a-message model seems like an approach that could be implemented in other areas of the world where child trafficking is unfortunately culturally accepted. Are there plans to expand it beyond Africa? Are the soap operas released in multiple media formats to maximize their reach and effectiveness?