Presented at "Media in Africa" conference, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Introduction

In Africa, social development projects, usually designed by western "experts," are continually being implemented. In these projects, there is usually communication support designed to inform and persuade the beneficiaries of the advantages of this development. The support frequently uses top-down communication models, with the state or a development agency as the source sending a message to a specific group of the population. Many media are used, ranging from radio, television, posters, and video to more traditional forms of communications such as griots, puppets, theater, and folktales.

Communication scholars have recognized that in Africa, television, radio and newspapers primarily reach urban people, resulting in an ever-widening information gap between rural and urban populations. If rural people are to be reached and persuaded to change behavior, expanded uses of more traditional media are needed. One such approach is forum, or interactive, theater where the format allows an exchange of ideas on the topic presented. The true meaning of communication--to share--is the foundation of this medium. Among its most important characteristics are that it encompasses cultural factors such as the oral tradition and social learning through performance, that it uses techniques to enhance audience identification, that it is inclusive, and above all, that it is participatory and stresses the equality of the input of all parties involved.

For two decades forum theater has been used as a popular means of community development in West Africa and Kenya to bring healthcare and other social development messages to rural people. These messages are brought in a format--dramatic performance--that is enthusiastically received. This two-way communication permits audience members to act out and hopefully internalize concepts such as healthcare, nutrition, sex and AIDS education, and family planning.