Theatre for Social Change

From SOUL BEAT AFRICA - where communication and media are central to AFRICA's social and economic development

In this issue of The Soul Beat:

* Theatre for HIV/AIDS and HEALTH awareness...
* Theatre for ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT among women and farmers...
* ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS through performance...
* Participatory theatre for PEACE and HUMAN RIGHTS...
* Networking EVENTS for practitioners...

This edition of The Soul Beat looks at the use of theatre for development (TFD) and features a range of programme experiences, strategic thinking documents, and resource materials from the Soul Beat Africa website that highlight how theatre and performance can be used to raise awareness and help communicate about HIV/AIDS and health, agriculture, the environment, peace, and human rights.

If you would like your organisation's communication work or research and resource documents to be featured on the Soul Beat Africa website and in The Soul Beat newsletters, please contact soulbeat@comminit.com

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THEATRE FOR HIV/AIDS AND HEALTH

1. Acting Against Worms - Uganda
A project of the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI) in collaboration with Theatrescience, Acting Against Worms is a theatre project which took place in Busia, Uganda, from October 2009 until April 2010. It was designed to share health messages about the prevention and treatment of bilharzia and actively involved school children to widen their knowledge and ultimately change the behaviour of individuals at high risk.

2. Ka Bobebe Theatre Production - Lesotho
Ka Bobebe is a theatre production designed to use football to educate and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS among young people. It was produced and performed in Lesotho in 2010 as part of the Strong Youth, Strong Africa tour being undertaken by Youth Development through Football (YDF). The performance embraced the notion of spectActors, where the audience can watch as well as participate in the performance to change the outcome of the storyline.

3. No Monkey Business Puppet Shows - South Africa
No Monkey Business is a series of puppetry shows by arrep: Theatre for Life Trust designed for children ages 6 to 8. The shows deal with stranger danger, good and bad secrets, body awareness, life-skills, self-efficacy, basic health, violence, discrimination, HIV/AIDS awareness, and physical abuse and substance use. The puppet shows are followed by facilitated discussions, which provide interactive, social life-skills education in an effort to enable informed choice and develop resilience in children.

4. Theatre in Preventing HIV among Young People and Adolescents (TIPH) - Lesotho
Supported by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and implemented by the non-governmental organisation Coalition on the Rights of a Child (NGOC) in Lesotho, this project employs interactive theatre where young people write their own scripts on issues that concern them, such as HIV prevention. Launched in November 2009, the objective is to encourage young people and communities to acquire new knowledge and skills in HIV prevention by connecting with each other through the common thread of real life experiences.

5. Child Participation in Awareness Raising Through Theatre
By John Muiruri
This report, published by the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) in 2005, details the successes of the Dagoretti Children in Need project which aims to improve the physical and psychological health, living conditions, and skills of children and adolescents in vulnerable circumstances. The project worked with the community of Dagoretti slum to establish a system for rehabilitating, re-socialising, and reintegrating street children in the community. The report focuses on the project's use of theatre for rehabilitation, outlining AMREF's "theatre-like-home" approach and the impact this approach has had on vulnerable children.

6. Theatre for Life: Health Information, Community Mobilisation, and Child Rights - A Qualitative Evaluation
By Alex Mavrocordatos
This document, written for United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Sudan by the Centre for the Arts in Development Communications (cdcArts), presents a qualitative evaluation of the Theatre for Life (TFL) programme, which is part of UNICEF Sudan's Child Friendly Community Initiative (CFCI). Children perform plays designed to deliver 10 key messages around child protection, education, and child survival and child rights. The evaluation found that TFL is an effective tool for community education and that people believe that it encourages discussion in the home and social contexts. However, the research also found that the format of the messages is out of date and not geared toward children.

7. Drama in HIV/AIDS Prevention: Some Strengths and Weaknesses: A Study in Botswana, Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Uganda
By Dickson Mwansa and Pia Bergman
This research report shares findings of a study carried out in April and May 2003 in Botswana, Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Uganda to explore how theatre and drama has been used as a tool to respond to HIV/AIDS. The paper explains how drama, forum and process theatre, music, dance, poetry, and storytelling are used by organisations all over Africa to address many different issues, including HIV/AIDS. Two broad approaches to TFD are the performance-based and workshop-based approach. The author suggests that where behaviour change has occurred, it is more likely to have been influenced by the highly participatory approach.

8. Empower Youth and Communities to Respond to HIV/AIDS
Implemented between February and October 2009, the main objective of this project was to increase the HIV prevention knowledge and skills of more than 400 young fishermen and women in order to reduce risky behaviours. Initiated by the Youth Self-Employment Foundation (YOSEFO) in collaboration with different partners including the Zanzibar Theatre Group, TVZ, and Radio Zanzibar, the project used drama, peer education, and community outreach to promote awareness and counter HIV related stigma. The project is based on a concept called Youth Visioning which seeks to empower young people to take action for sustainable living and development, and by doing so encourage locally based development of new skills and opportunities.

9. Umhlaba Wethu - A Man's World - South Africa
Umhlaba Wethu - A Man's World is a theatre play by South African director and composer Jerry Pooe and the Netherlands-based Het Waterhuis theatre company, which focuses on the issue of macho culture and the role African men play in the spread of HIV. It tells the story of four brothers struggling with issues of power, violence, anger, frustration, bitterness, and emptiness following the death of their mother.

10. DramAidE and Live Drama
By Fredrick Mugira
This article, published in the Glocal Times in 2008, describes how South Africa's Drama AIDS Education, also known as DramAidE, uses participatory drama and other interactive educational methodologies within schools to equip young people with increased knowledge about HIV/AIDS and the skills to inform and communicate with others about sexual health. The paper resulted from an exploratory study of DramAidE that was designed to understand how live drama is perceived and experienced by youth audiences and their teachers. The author suggests that young people like to not only watch, but also to take part in live drama, and that this affinity can increase the chances that messages positively impact attitudes and behaviour.

11. Agricultural Employers Association (AEA) HIV/AIDS Awareness Theatre - Namibia
By Fredrick Mugira
From February 2009 to early 2010, the industrial theatre group Quiet Storm worked to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS through drama among farm workers, employers, and rural communities in Namibia. Supported by PharmAccess, a Dutch non-governmental organisation working to provide health care to those who cannot afford it, the theatre group worked with members of Namibia's Agricultural Employers Association (AEA).

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SOUL BEAT AFRICA EDUTAINMENT THEMESITE AND E-NEWSLETTER

For more information related to edutainment, please visit the Edutainment theme site .

On this site you will find programme experiences, strategic thinking documents, evaluations, and materials that look at the use of radio, television, theatre, puppetry, comics, visual arts, sport etc. to both entertain and educate.

Every second month, Soul Beat Africa sends out a Soul Beat Extra: Edutainment newsletter which features all the latest edutainment-related summaries posted on the Soul Beat Africa website.

If you would like to receive this free e-publication, register here http://www.comminit.com/en/user/register/38 and indicate an interest in edutainment or write to soulbeat@comminit.com indicating that you would like to receive the Edutainment Extra.

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THEATRE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

12. Women Accessing Realigned Markets (WARM) - Malawi, Mozambique
Launched in July 2009, Women Accessing Realigned Markets (WARM) is a three-year project working to strengthen women farmers' ability to advocate for appropriate agricultural policies and programmes. Initiated by the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), the project is being piloted in Mozambique and Malawi. The goal is to assist women farmers to gain access to tools, such as credit and better seeds, that will allow them to farm more successfully by ensuring that local and national policies and services address their needs. As part of the project, theatre is being used to raise awareness and dialogue about agricultural policies.

13. Majalisar Mata Manoma - Nigeria
Initiated in 2009, Majalisar Mata Manoma was a project that involved creating spaces for women farmers in the rural community of Gwagwada, Nigeria to meet and engage with radio. The project, which was carried out by the African Radio Drama Association (ARDA), involved the development and broadcast of a radio programme designed for rural farmers, particularly women, as well as the establishment of a listening club in Gwagwada. Women in the listening clubs were also trained to use a cellphone to interact with the radio programme. In addition, the project used theatre to identify needs, create awareness, and mobilise community members, particularly women.

THEATRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

14. Caravanamani (Peace Travel) - Sudan
Caravanamani, Swahili for "peace travel", is a Pan-African initiative that makes annual cross-country tours to promote peacebuilding. In 2010, the team travelled from Germany to South Africa, where they presented their experiences and results from the journey in the context of the FIFA World Cup. At each location, Caravanamani holds theatre workshops in collaboration with local partners. In Sudan, students from Sudan University’s College of Music and Drama and well-known actors developed a number of scenes on environment, non-violence, and diversity. The workshop methodology draws from the interactive and inclusive perspective of forum theatre by Augusto Boal, and seeks to disseminate the message of political and social change.

15. Pollution Revolution Theatrical Production - South Africa
This production forms part of Well Worn Theatre's Climate Change Action Programme for primary schools in South Africa. The production was created through a workshop process with the actors in the play, and the director of the play, Kyla Davis, in South Africa in 2010. The programme involves theatrical performances at schools which seek to create awareness and encourage action around climate change, global warming, greenhouse gases, and the consequences of excessive consumerism.

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PREVIOUS SOUL BEAT NEWSLETTERS RELATED TO THEATRE FOR DEVELOPMENT:

The Soul Beat 80 - Theatre for Development

The Soul Beat 42 - Using Puppetry for Communication

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PROMOTING PEACE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

16. Participatory Theatre for Conflict Transformation: Training Manual
By Lena Slachmuijlder and Don Tshibanda
This book, published in 2009, documents what Search for Common Ground (SFCG) has learned using participatory theatre for conflict transformation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). SFCG has performed for approximately one million people in South Kivu and northern Katanga since 2005 using participatory theatre. Throughout the participatory event, the public participates to adapt, change or correct a situation, an attitude or a behaviour that is developed during the show.

17. Ben ni walen (Let's agree and take action): Mobilising for Human Rights Using Participatory Theatre
By Cristina Sganga and Teun Visser
Published by Amnesty International in 2006, this guide is a basic introduction to using participatory theatre methods for exploring human rights issues with people in rural communities. According to the publishers, raising human rights awareness can help people claim respect for and protection of their rights, and it can contribute to peaceful coexistence based on equality, respect, and tolerance. The manual contains basic guidelines and suggestions, rather than giving step-by-step directions on how to develop programmes.

18. Agit-Prop Theatre in Sierra Leone: The Work of Pampana Communications
This paper, presented at the 2008 International Peace Research Association (IPRA) Conference, examines the potential of the arts to promote development in Sierra Leone, with specific focus on theatre for development. It argues that if used in an effective and holistic manner, theatre can be an effective strategy for promoting development among a largely illiterate population. The author states that funding requirements have confined the practice almost entirely to only one of the three broad methodologies of TFD - the agit-prop methodology, a term defining politicised theatre – rather than more participatory methodologies.

EVENTS
Go to the Events page to view the full listings which include these:

19. Drama for Life Festival
Aug 21-29 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa
Sept 9-11 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa
Sept 15-16 2010 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Sept 17-18 2010 in Durban, South Africa
The Division of Dramatic Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand is hosting their annual Drama for Life festival. Designed to be a holistic arts programme, the festival is themed "Sex Actually" and focuses on renewed efforts to find creative and sustainable ways of learning and building capacity in HIV/AIDS education and prevention.

20. The Drum Cafe 2010 Peace Festival (Sept 19-25 2010) Nairobi, Kenya
The seven-day celebration is presented by and for the various Kenyan ethnic subgroups and communities living in Nairobi. It will include performances, presentations, workshops, displays and demonstrations of music, theater, dance, storytelling, food, films, traditional medicines, and crafts at various venues in Dandora, Kibera, Kawangware (slum areas which all experienced violence following Kenya's 2008 elections). The festival is designed to create a safe place for all Kenyans and their international guests to value the importance of culture as a tool in conflict resolution and culture's vital role in maintaining peace in local communities, nations, and throughout the world.

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Previous issues of The Soul Beat related to Edutainment include the following:

The Soul Beat 148 - Soaps for Social Change

The Soul Beat 131 - Music for Change

The Soul Beat 70 - Comics and Cartoons for Development in Africa

The Soul Beat 64 - Art for Social Change

Click here to view all archived editions of The Soul Beat Newsletter.