The national radio station Radio Rwanda broadcasts the soap Musekeweya twice weekly at 8.45 pm; Radio Benevolencija indicates that it will also be broadcast live on the Radio Rwanda website . An English translation of the radio show will be made available on the Radio Benevolencija website. Portions of the show may be listened to by clicking here [1] .

The soap is designed to raise awareness about the dangers of manipulation and propaganda. "Translated into simple 'messages', the listeners of the programme can see how politics, media and their own historical and psychological traumas can manipulate people." The idea is to use entertaining radio drama to create debates throughout the country that embed knowledge of these mechanisms in the population; one strategy here is the training of local social workers so that the project will be fully integrated into the Rwandan tradition and social infrastructure.

Musekeweya was developed in close cooperation with psychologist and genocide scholar Prof. Ervin Staub of the University of Massachusetts (USA), trauma specialist Dr. Laurie Pearlman of TREATI (a USA-based trauma treatment centre), and researchers of the Department of Psychology at Yale University (USA). Organisers claim that the production strategy also integrates extensive ongoing feedback, testing, and impact evaluation activities. They test the radio programmes with 13 listener groups, each consisting of 40 people representative of the whole population. After listening, discussion leaders present group members with a checklist of questions on which basis a group discussion is organised. The process of pre-testing is designed to ensure that the programme messages are clear and interesting. Any problems raised or changes suggested are discussed with the writers and producers, after which feedback is processed into script writing and production activities. A separate network of 7 evaluation groups who listen to Musekeweya and 7 control groups is in the meantime monitored to assess impact and behaviour change.

Conflict

Project organisers say: "Ten years ago, radio played an important role in the Rwandan genocide. Radio was used as a means to incite Tutsis against Hutus. This time, La Benevolencija Rwanda wants to use the same powerful medium in a positive way."