Rope Guna Fal Radio Serial Drama

In Rope Guna Fal, UNICEF, AFN, and PMC-Nepal addressed issues that have been raised within the communities by many organisations for quite some time. The PMC-Nepal office began in 2016, with funding support from The Kendeda Fund, dedicated to challenging child marriage norms, improving the social status of women and girls, and protecting reproductive health and rights. When an audience already has awareness and knowledge, shows like Rope Guna Fal can focus on attitudes, norms, and behaviours. Rajan Parajuli, PMC's Country Director in Nepal, explains, "PMC's multi-issue approach allows for nuanced and varied storylines." While season one was developed with a view to equip parents and caregivers with skills and knowledge related to positive parenting, as well as breaking gender stereotypes and norms, the second season focused on child marriage and SRH.

Adolescents and young people between the ages of 13 and 24, as well as parents between the ages of 25 and 45, are the intended audience of the drama. In addition, the radio drama was also designed to appeal to grandparents, guardians, and other caregivers. The idea is that active involvement of parents and caregivers in children's lives - in the physical, intellectual, linguistic, emotional, and social development of children from pregnancy to 8 years of age - as well as in addressing child marriage and the SRH of adolescents, can be promoted through the drama to bring behavioural change in the community. According to PMC-Nepal, behaviour is ultimately comprised of a person's knowledge of what is possible, their attitude about what they would prefer to do or have happen, their perception of what is "normal" and done by others, and their perception of how they will be treated based on their behaviour - any negative or positive repercussions from their many social groups.

Within the entertainment-education framework, this initiative drew on the power of storytelling. An assessment found that child marriage and parenting education storylines were well liked by the audience: 52% chose Kusum, the transitional character of child marriage, and 46% hav chosen Utsav, the transitional character of parenting education storyline as their favorite characters. Jagat is the positive character and Nimkali is the negative character of parenting education storyline. Ayush is the transitional character of the adolescent SRH storyline. The most popular characters are transitional characters, which means the audience goes through the narrative journey and listens to both positive and negative characters before ultimately making their own choices at a critical moment. The characters serve as role models to the Rope Guna Fal audience.

Each episode closes with a quiz for audiences, with prizes (e.g., a recharge of Rs. 200 on the listener's mobile phone, courtesy of AFN) for those who get the answers right. This strategy was designed to motivate listeners to tune in and to reward them for their knowledge of the topic(s) at hand.

Rope Guna Fal aired every Monday and Thursday through Radio Nepal and over 100 local radio stations. Besides radio, the show can also be heard on the Hamro Patro mobile app, Facebook, YouTube, and the AFN website. In addition, mobile subscribers of Nepal Telecom can access the offline listening platform "Suchana ko Sansaar" at any time by dialing the toll-free number 32100. Finally, the show was made available for offline listening as part of a voice-based platform (Viamo) for hard-to-reach communities.

Child Marriage, Sexual and Reproductive Health

Rope Guna Fal addressed social, behavioral, and normative change across three broad objectives: strengthening parenting skills to improve child well-being, reducing and eliminating child marriage, and improving adolescent SRH. These themes were carefully selected based on clear local needs. The Nepalese government has implemented various programmes and policies aimed at improving all three of these themes, including taking steps to provide sex education in schools, increasing access to family planning services and information, and working to reduce stigma and discrimination. But these issues are multifaceted, and cultural norms and traditional practices pose significant barriers to improvement. PMC-Nepal contends that addressing deeply personal and entrenched beliefs requires sustained efforts across an ecosystem of partners, including government, health organisations, schools, service providers, and community members, to create a supportive and enabling environment for change.

According to organisers, listeners tuned in every week to hear what happened next. But, more importantly, the audience then made informed decisions about what happened next in their communities. Rope Guna Fal was able to help the audience prepare for action and take action and become local, regional, and national change makers. (See Related Summaries, below.)