The Team Radio Series - Ethiopia

The series revolved around members of a football team and followed the emerging love story between two of the main characters and the many problems they confront. They are shown working through these conflicts constructively, becoming role models for other young people. The series focused on promoting a change of attitude among Ethiopians regarding how to manage and resolve various community conflicts, while at the same time providing entertainment. The Team tackled issues of ethnicity, religion, and class, and focused on themes of violence, dialogue, tolerance, mutual respect, social responsibility, and empowerment. According to organisers, the programme served as a launching point for Ethiopians as a whole – and youth in particular – to discuss issues of diversity and interpersonal conflict. Click here to read episode summaries from Series 1.

According to the producers, the Ethiopian radio show was a challenge because the visual aspects of the team, specifically the football games, had to be interpreted aurally. To overcome this challenge, the Ethiopian writers came up with a clever and humorous character called "Abush" (common slang for neighbourhood kid), who become the self-appointed commentator for The Team and made humorous play-by-play announcements about the game.

In an evaluation attitude survey based on the first 10 episodes of The Team in Ethiopia, youth highlighted several topics in the series that were relevant to their lives. The following were among the issues identified:

• Resolution of Conflict Between Groups - Participants said the various conflicts presented in the episodes related to their own lives since such conflicts and disagreements are common on football fields and elsewhere. They also said the ways different conflicts were resolved, using open discussion to reach mutual understanding, were very helpful.
• Cooperation and Collective Responsibility - Participants said they learned from the series that they can solve many common problems in their community through cooperation and collective responsibility. According to SFCG, this message was successfully communicated through portraying activities like speaking out against illegal acts, cleaning up the environment, and turning in a thief.
• Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality - In the series, women are portrayed in key leadership positions and as effective and efficient decision makers. Participants characterised the women as understanding problems in the community and acting cooperatively to find solutions. Participants in the survey also said that the series showed them that women can be as successful as men if they work as hard, citing the success of Aresema – the lead female character – on the football field.
• Strength and Rejection of Abuse - The survey participants revealed that sexual harassment by instructors is one of the major problems affecting many female students. Aresema’s confidence and strength in handling the sexual harassment she encountered was recognised as a good lesson for female students who are at risk of similar harmful and unethical practices in schools and universities.

Youth, Civic Participation, Conflict Resolution, Diversity

The Team in Ethiopia is just one of a number of versions of the series produced in different countries for SFCG. Organisers say the production has merged the global appeal of football with radio and television soap opera to help transform social attitudes and diminish violent behaviour in countries grappling with deeply rooted conflict. The series addresses the very real divisive issues facing societies in a dozen African, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries, using sport as a unifier to surmount barriers. Each production of The Team follows the characters on a football team who must overcome their differences – be they cultural, ethnic, religious, tribal, racial, or socio-economic – in order to work together to win the game.

All series of The Team are created and produced locally. Actors and scriptwriters, who have experienced violent conflict and divisions firsthand, are drawn from local populations. Local production companies and technicians take the lead, with additional technical assistance and support from Common Ground Productions.