An Ethiopian creative team drawn from the national theatre and the University of Addis Ababa worked with PMC trainers to develop the dramas. Specifically, PMC held a four-week training workshop in November and December 2001 for writers and producers of the two dramas. During this workshop, PMC shared the results of its formative research and created settings and scenes in partnership with the creative team.

These training sessions fostered the development of an Amharic serial drama, entitled "Yeken Kignit" (Looking Over One's Daily Life), and an Oromiffa drama, called "Dhimbiibbaa" (Getting The Best Out of Life). The former was broadcast for half an hour twice per week, the latter for half an hour once per week. These soap operas featured characters experiencing love, passion, and intolerance as they face the struggles of daily life, including HIV/AIDS, the marginalisation of women, marriage by abduction, the education of daughters, and spousal communication. Some of the actors who participated had worked in the national theatre; others were discovered by running advertisements. The Theatre Arts Department of Addis Ababa University, along with the Ministry of Health, the HIV/AIDS Department, and the Women's Affairs Department at the University, reviewed each script for accuracy with regard to health issues prior to broadcast.

PMC then developed and broadcast a youth-focused talk radio programme and serialised melodrama to inform young people about HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and related social issues. The programme, Menta Menged (“Crossroads”), began broadcasting on Radio Ethiopia in March 2005.

Live performance has also been a component of this initiative. PMC launched a play in September 2003 that staged in the capital for 10 weeks, followed by performances in 14 other cities around Ethiopia. The script was then given to local drama groups for adaptation. PMC also created travelling stage plays to address reproductive health issues and produced a full-length stage play entitled Yesak Jember (“Laughter at Dusk”), focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention.

PMC-Ethiopia published a collection of short stories and poems focusing on HIV/AIDS and related social issues in 2003 under the title Yehiowt Tebitawoch (“Drops of Life”). The creative pieces were selected from among 146 short stories and 176 poems submitted in response to a national competition - contests were held for the best short stories and poems that address reproductive health issues. A second volume of short stories was published in 2004 as a result of a second nationwide competition. The book, Kinfam Hilmoch (“Winged Dreams”), was also widely distributed.

With Packard Foundation support, PMC is conducting ongoing training of journalists in covering reproductive health issues.

HIV/AIDS, Family Planning, Health, Rights, Women, Population.

PMC was motivated to initiate this project on the basis of estimates that there are three million HIV/AIDS carriers in Ethiopia; several hundred thousand are reported to have died. PMC claims that half a million children have become orphans due to HIV/AIDS, and 50% of the hospital beds in urban areas are occupied by people with HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, Ethiopia's rapid population growth will soon make it Africa's second most populous country. Currently, each woman in Ethiopia bears an average of six children. If growth continues at this rate, the population of 68 million will double by 2025.

After the radio dramas were launched, PMC's Ethiopia office reported receiving more than 100 letters a day, which organisers say indicates the deep level of involvement by the audience in the lives of the characters.