Looking for more information on Edutainment? Soul Beat Africa has launched a new feature on the website - an Edutainment Window - focusing on experiences, strategic thinking, materials, evaluations and other information related to using Edutainment in Africa! Visit the Edutainment window!
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To contribute your own edutainment information, please contact Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com

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The Fourth Entertainment-Education (EE) conference was held from September 26 to 30 2004 in Cape Town, South Africa. Entitled "EE4: Community and Context", the conference set out to explore traditional forms of communication including storytelling, songs and drama, mass communication approaches, related theories and research. According to the conference website, "entertainment-education (EE) brings together the popularity of entertainment and the empowering potential of education through communication to achieve development and social progress. EE communication strategies are rooted in oral traditions of ancient times and now extend to include a wide range of communication approaches including mass media technologies." To read more about EE4, visit the Entertainment-Education (EE) conference website

To lead up to the EE4 Conference, the June 9 2004 issue of The Soul Beat focused on Edutainment and the forthcoming conference. Read more: Click here

The conference was organised into three streams, with papers presented based on each. For a quick review of some of the papers and presentations presented at the conference, summaries have been posted on Soul Beat Africa at the links below. Each summary has a link to the conference website that allows you to download the full paper.

PARTICIPATION IN EE...

Puppets in Entertainment-Education: Universal Principles and African Performance Traditions as a Model for Interaction

When the Broadcast Ends, the Programme is Not Over: Maximising the Effectiveness of EE Programmes at Community Radio Level

Community Reinforcement of an Entertainment-Education Intervention: Botswana and Zimbabwe

Participation Versus Professionalism: Using Non-Actors in EE Programmes in Factories

Stimulating Participation in Human Development Through Theatre: A Case Study of Mobile Laboratory Experiments

RESEARCH AND EE...

The Impact of a Drama Series on the Community Where it is Produced

Using Participatory Story Telling, Forum Theatre and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Concepts and Techniques to Create Powerful Learning Experiences Around Issues of HIV Prevention, Support and Positive Living

Effects of Folk Music and Community Outreach Drama Performances on HIV and AIDS Awareness in Niger State of Nigeria

MASS MEDIA AND BEYOND...

Selling Safety Marketing Road Safety in South Africa

Folk Media as Means of Entertainment Education and Community Motivation

Centre 4: A Television Drama from Uganda

Urunana: Edutaining Soap Opera in Rwanda

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To find more summaries of papers presented about and from the African experience, please visit the Edutainment section of Soul Beat Africa and search for "ee4".

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The conference was an opportunity for networking and to learn more about what is happening in entertainment-education across Africa and the world. Following are just a few examples of projects and programme experiences that were shared at EE4.

Friends 4 Life - South Africa
An HIV/AIDS peer educators' radio programme that operates in East London.
Contact Charles Kalima charles.kalima@daimlerchrysler.com

Radio La Benevolencija - Rwanda
A reconciliation radio programme to promote trauma-healing methods and help lead to reconciliation and the prevention of violence.
Contact Johan Deflander labenevolencija@hey.za.net

Our Neighbourhood - Zambia
A distance education radio programme for Neighborhood Health Committees (NHCs) in Zambia.
Contact Josephine Nyambe josephinen@zihp.org.zm

From the Conference Welcome...
"The people we serve are at the centre of our work: regardless of whether we aim to provide health education, or promote other educational values through various communication genres. Our programs must be responsive to their needs and in ways that respect the diversities of our social, economic and cultural backgrounds. We acknowledge the need to network with our stakeholders and our communities to bring
forward education and development for social change. These values are embodied in the EE Declaration 2000 and will be further explored in 2004 as we bring our work to the table, share new experiences and discuss the various issues related to EE practice."

PREVIOUS CONFERENCE INFORMATION ON SOUL BEAT AFRICA

Read about the proceedings and results of previous EE Conferences on Soul Beat Africa...

The Third International Entertainment-Education Conference for Social Change, held from September 17-22 2000 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Read the Nairobi Declaration: Making Entertainment Useful

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The conference was organised in partnership between Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs, Soul City, the Centre for AIDS Development, Research and Evaluation (CADRE) and DramAide.

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Edutainment information from and for Africa all in one place! Visit the Edutianment Window: click here

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The Soul Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

Please send material for The Soul Beat to the Editor - Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com