Soul City Regional Health Communication Programme

Soul City initially identified local partner organisation in each country who, in most cases, created a communication project within the organisation. Each project then developed their own edutainment brand through the multimedia products that they produced. The countries, local partners and brands are as follows:

• Botswana: Population Services International(PSI) - Choose Life
• Lesotho: Phela Health and Development Communications – Phela
• Malawi: Population Services International PSI – Pachachere
• Mozambique: Vida Positiva - N’weti
• Namibia: Namibian Red Cross Society - Desert Soul
• Swaziland: Schools Health and Population Programmes (Shape) – Lusweti
• Zambia: Zambia Centre for Communication Programmes (ZCCP) – Kwatu
• Zimbabwe: Action Magazine - Action

Adaptation of multimedia materials

Each local partner has produced local television segments, print booklets and radio dramas adapted from existing Soul City print, radio and television products that were developed for a South African audience. According to Soul City, their communication initiatives are successful as they are grounded in communication theory as well as an extensive formative and summative research process with the target audience, to develop messages and test relevance and appropriateness of the material.

The adaptation process in the partner countries started with the commissioning of a country profile - an analysis of health and development issues in the country, existing services, the media environment and a socio-demographic profile of the country. This analysis gave a picture of the context, the media landscape and the priority health areas that needed to be addressed. From this, a 5-year media plan was drawn up, detailing appropriate Soul City communication material to be adapted. This media plan was drafted through consultation with key stakeholders. Using qualitative research methods (i.e. focus group interviews), the identifed material is then evaluated through pre-testing among target audiences and key informants to assess the relevance and appropriateness of the material within the specific cultural context. A stakeholders workshop is also convened to gather comments and suggestions. Depending on the outcome of this research, changes are made to the communication materials to suit the socio-cultural context.

The following adapted multimedia materials have been produced:

• Print materials - The Regional Project has researched, developed and distributed 11 different booklets all dealing with HIV/AIDS and related health issues, with a total print quantity of 11,365,000 across 8 countries. These books have been developed in English and 10 other indigenous languages including Chichewa (Malawi), Shona (Zimbabwe), Sena (Mozambique) and Oshavambo (Namibia).
• Television - 15 locally produced television series (for broadcast in 7 countries) have been produced adapting the existing Soul City TV edutainment drama and combining it with locally produced documentaries, talk shows and magazine programmes. In many cases the Soul City TV dramas are broadcast with a short local segment at the end to contextualise and localise the issues raised in the drama. The purpose has also been to identify and develop local television production skills and capacity. The local segments are produced by local TV companies with support and training from Soul City.
• Radio - To date the Regional Project has researched, adapted and written 8 radio drama series that have been broadcast in 11 languages in 5 countries - potentially reaching as many as 48 million people.

Capacity building

As part of the production of the multimedia materials, the Regional Project has trained media practitioners and health communicators in a wide range of skills including formative research; media and finance management; television and radio edutainment drama production and print production.

The regional approach

According to Soul City, the model of working with local partners is effective, not only in building local capacity, but also in ensuring that resources are integrated into a broader and sustainable health strategy within each country. The regional approach enables the participants to network and share resources, skills and ideas and creates the possibility of building regional capacity, avoiding duplication and sharing best practice. Local partners ensure that local particularities inform the media while the regional framework allows for consistent messaging across borders such as safe sex; sensitivity to gender issues and creating a supportive environment within a broad human rights based approach.

Build effective partnerships

According to the project, functional and effective partnerships need to be developed between the regional partners and the local health and educational sector as well as between partners and the local funding agencies. This regional model aims to create a regional network of health practitioners, who share best practice, resources, skills and ideas across countries. Soul Beat Africa, an organisation that forms part of the Regional Project, is contributing to this process by establishing and supporting a network of health communicators in the region as well as in the rest of Africa. This is achieved through the Soul Beat Africa website and newsletters which aim to share information related to development communication in the region and create a dialogue between organisations and people working in health communication.

All countries will in the next 5 years introduce an advocacy component which aims to create an enabling environment and support the messages and content covered in the print, television and radio productions.

In Phase 2 of the Regional Project all countries plan to develop and produce their own country specific multi-media materials which will be entirely locally researched, conceptualised and produced.

Health, HIV/AIDS

Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication is a South African multi-media health promotion and social change project. The organisation uses edutainment to reach its audience mainly through its 2 main brands: Soul City targeted at adults and Soul Buddyz targeted at 8 - 12 year olds and adults in their lives.

Southern Africa has the biggest HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world with more than 11.4 million people living with the disease. Cross border population flow is common in Southern Africa, whether in search of jobs for travel or trade. This fuels the spread of the epidemic across the region and for that reason Soul City recommended a coordinated regional approach.

According to Soul City, there had been numerous requests from government agencies, donors, public broadcasters and NGOs, to use or adapt Soul City materials. The series was aired in Zambia and Namibia and the HIV/AIDS booklets translated for use in Mozambique. In Zambia, an evaluation survey by UNICEF, indicated that not only had Soul City been popular but had also been an effective social change tool.

From working in the region, Soul City realised that there was a dearth of effective local health communication, as well as the skills and leadership to produce them. They considered that using materials developed for one context in another, can be an effective catalyst for sharing resources and skills in different parts of Africa. Working regionally creates the possibility of building regional capacity, avoiding duplication and sharing best practice.