Women's Rights Programmes
ABC Ulwazi and the Foundation for Human Rights implemented a project with the goal of putting women's issues on top of the broadcast agenda by translating existing women's rights radio programmes ("Fight Against the Fist" and "Talking Man, Talking Woman") into other South African languages. These programmes were initially produced in English only, but were made more accessible by being made understandable to a greater number of South Africans.
Communication Strategies
The project made pre-existing material about women abuse and domestic violence available to more South Africans by translating it into many of South Africa's official languages. In this way, the messages can be better received and understood by listeners. "Characters are easier to identify with when they are speaking in your language and have names and idiosyncrasies that are relevant to your culture and situation. Drama itself is an excellent format to convey abstract or difficult themes to a wide listenership."
"Fight against the Fist" is a 6-part radio drama series about domestic violence that covers issues such as what constitutes domestic violence, the effect of domestic violence on children, police involvement, and getting an interim order. "Talking Man, Talking Woman" is a radio series of dramatised plays that address gender equality from a different perspective - in a subtle but (hopefully) persuasive way.
Both series were translated into Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Sotho and Tswana and redistributed to a network of 50 community radio stations around South Africa.
Development Issues
Domestic Violence, Women, Rights, Gender.
Partners
ABC Ulwazi and the Foundation for Human Rights.
Source
Letter sent from Tammy Baldwin to Soul Beat Africa on February 11 2004.
Placed on the Soul Beat Africa site April 05 2004
Last Updated February 19 2009
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