The Team Morocco: Baseline and Final Evaluation Report

This 48-page evaluation report shares findings of an assessment conducted to evaluate The Team Morocco, a television serial drama designed to promote positive social transformation of disenfranchised communities. Produced by Search for Common Ground as part of a multi-country campaign, the Moroccan television series was supported by a national outreach campaign led by 50 dialogue facilitators, as well as social networking via a website and interactive blog. The evaluation found that the show presented important issues that not only interested the audience, but also inspired some to take steps to address some of these issues. The drama also provided role models and challenged practices and traditions which hamper the development of youth across class and gender divides.

The evaluation outlines the following findings:

• The drama managed to tackle people's problems in a realistic way and succeeded in portraying youth's struggles. The issues addressed in the drama were crucial and significant to the Moroccan society. Focus group responses were consistent in praising the drama for portraying important issues in the Moroccan society.
• The drama succeeded in presenting role models and behavioural patterns which were positive and constructive.
• Most focus group participants stated that the handling of the issues was realistic and timely.
• A few were concerned that at times the language and set up for certain issues departed somewhat from the Moroccan reality.
• Most of focus group participants weren’t satisfied by the tendency of the drama to leave issues open-ended; they were looking for direct and realistic solutions.
• Participants mentioned that the drama helped them to be more aware regarding certain issues, revived some values that were about to disappear, and succeeded in reminding the participants of the suffering of marginalised groups and gave them the chance to observe their conditions closer.

The information gathered from outreach facilitators indicated that because of outreach activities, combined with watching the series on television, some participants and civil society organisations have started initiatives to address issues raised in the drama, or have changed or adjusted their actions or modes of operation in order to benefit from what the drama has inspired. However, follow up research suggests that much of these efforts have not been sustainable beyond the period of airing of the show and the outreach activities.

Three main groups of respondents seemed to present the most consistent positive changes as a result of the drama or its associated outreach activities. These were younger youth age 13-19; those who watched the drama more regularly, and those from Marrakech. They all seemed to have been influenced by the show more strongly, and seemed to come out motivated to tackle traditions that get in their way, and to enhance their collaborative approaches and their abilities to resolve conflicts related to themes addressed in the drama.

The report states that The Team Morocco did not have the best conditions when it was aired. First, there was a strong competition from a popular programme (The White Thread). Second, most people were under the incorrect impression that it was aired only on land TV and not on Satellite, and therefore did not access the show. Third, the advertising campaign by the television station was limited in order to be consistent with their practices. All these factors, in addition perhaps to being on air near the final examination time, reduced the reach of the drama to a wider audience. According to the report, this could explain the low traffic on the website and on the Facebook page. Additional technical issues seemed also to hamper the flow and continuity of watching the show, such as the commercial breaks between the two episodes.

The following are recommendations based on this evaluation:

• It will be worthwhile to continue with the evaluation effort using case study approaches in order to examine the long-term impact of the drama on specific actions that seem to be underway in several locations, even if follow up research evidence suggests that many of them were not sustainable.
• If a second season or a re-run are planned, SFCG should carefully determine the time allotted for airing the show, especially in relation to other programmes aired at the same time (although SFCG has no control over SNRT programming decisions). SFCG should also reduce the number of themes tackeled by the drama so as to be more focused in it's messages.
• Continue, if possible, with outreach activities as they seem to play a rather effective role in motivating youth and in making the drama messages clearer to them. They also are becoming an intact component of the work of several civil society organisations which have been engaged in The Team outreach activities.
• Consider, if possible, engaging the production company and/or other civil society organisations in the outreach efforts. Consider an exploration of the role of Media Focus on Africa in Kenya in all aspects of the drama production, outreach, and beyond.
• Consider an exploration of the efforts made in The Team production in Kenya with the website and Facebook in order to share experiences and lessons learned.
• Examine carefully "the Aziz Bouerbala Effect" (The use of mega-star personality Aziz Bouderbala was expected to bring attention to the drama and to keep the audience interested, however, including him may have skewed the attention of the audience towards him and away from the specific issues the drama was set to address.