The Team Television Series - Palestine

The Team, a multi-nation initiative (click here to learn more), uses popular culture to communicate positive messages. It merges the global appeal of football with soap opera in an effort to help transform social attitudes and diminish violent behaviour in countries, including Palestine, grappling with deeply rooted conflict. Using this edutainment medium, The Team hopes to promote co-existence and connect with a broad and diverse audience otherwise hard to reach. The series portrays positive role models and young people taking responsibility for their actions.

The main character of The Team in Palestine, Karam, is a university student and a professional football player. He is a diligent student who falls in love with his dream girl. The drama follows their love story, and how Karam's life changes as he is exposed to the injustice and oppression all around him. The series also focuses on the hopes and fears of Karam's football team, which longs to grow and develop, yet faces the constant challenges that come with living in a nation under siege, such as the daily reality that their coach or teammates could be arrested at any time. They keep striving for success, however, fuelled by the hope of being embraced by their people.

Some of the social issues tackled in The Team Palestine include: women's right to work; encouraging women in sports; the difficulties facing a single mother raising 2 boys; the importance of education, especially for women and youth; values such as loyalty, commitment, and cooperation; saying no to drugs; and the overall difficulties of life under occupation.

The 28-episode series will be broadcast from June 11 to July 9 2010 to correspond with the timing of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup (held in South Africa in 2010). It will be broadcast from 8:50pm to 9:30pm daily as the lead-in show before the main soccer match, which begins at 9:30pm Jerusalem time. It will be aired on 8 local Ma'an television stations; Ma'an will webcast the entire series after the World Cup. To raise awareness about the broadcast, organisers plan to erect 16 billboards around the West Bank, broadcast TV spots and radio spots on all 10 Ma'an stations, run web banners on the Ma'an website, publish articles in/on several Palestinian newspapers and websites, and spread hundreds of posters throughout Palestinian cities.

Conflict, Education.

SFCG explains that Palestine is embroiled in a decades-long conflict with Israel. Attempts to broker a two-state solution to create an independent Palestinian state have yet to come to fruition, and other complex issues, such as mutual recognition, control of Jerusalem, security, and refugee rights, remain unresolved.

It is anticipated that 24% of the entire Palestinian population will be exposed to this series during the June to July 2010 broadcast on terrestrial television; when webcast, it will be available to 90% of the population through the internet. When it goes to satellite, SFCG estimates that it will again be available to 90% of the population through television.