Scott Connolly
Director of Research
Population Media Center (PMC) collaborates with the mass media
and other organizations worldwide to:
1. Bring about stabilization of human population numbers at a level
that can be sustained by the world’s natural resources.
2. Lessen the harmful impact of humanity on the earth’s
environment
The emphasis of our work is to educate people about the benefit of
small families, encourage the use of effective family planning
methods, elevate women’s status, an promote gender equality.
Changes in attitudes and behaviors among the audience are
measures of success.
Human Health Human
Rights
Environmental
Preservation
Economic
Equality
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Reproductive Health
Family Planning
Maternal & Child Health
Obstetric Fistula
Female Genital Mutilation
HIV/AIDS
Adolescent Reproductive
Health
Drug & Alcohol Abuse
Nutrition
Malaria
Disease Prevention &
Control
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Education
Gender Equality
Child Marriage
Gender-Based
Violence
Violence
Child Abuse
Prostitution
Rights of the
Disabled
Deforestation
Farming Practices
Climate Change
Biodiversity
Water
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Financial Literacy &
Planning
Entrepreneurship
Funders and Partners:
United Nations Population Fund
UNICEF
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
MacArthur Foundation
Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development (DFATD) Canada
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Soap Operas for Social Good
Compelling and Relevant
• Must be 75% entertainment
• Can address 5-10 major themes
Long-Running
• 206 episodes over two years is ideal
• Time for characters to evolve in their
thinking and behavior at a believable pace
• Time for audience to evolve in their
thinking and behavior
• Time for emotional bonding with
characters
Soap Operas for Social Good
Entertaining and Emotional
• Dramatic -- to keep the audience wanting more
• Emotion influences behavior more forcefully than purely
cognitive information
• PMC programs are often the top-rated show on the air
Real Life, Real People
• Show real people with realistic choices
• “Positive,” “Negative,” and “Transitional” characters
• Never lecture
Storylines from Around the World
Rwanda
• Ndyera wants a very large family but to support them he
must illegally trap a gorilla in the forest and sell it on the
black market. He gets caught in his own trap. He
decides to limit his family size and adopts a sustainable
farming method to grow food.
Nigeria
• Kande is a 13 year old girl from N. Nigeria whose father
marries her for dowry. She gets pregnant and loses the
baby, plus gets obstetric fistula. Her husband casts her
out. But a friend helps her, and she learns how to get
treatment, is re-integrated into society, enrolls in school
and becomes a successful seamstress. Becomes positive
role model.
Population Media Center (PMC)
Impacted more than 50 countries worldwide.
Why PMC Is Effective
Why PMC is Effective
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Focuses in countries with highest need
Based on formative research (real life)
Hires all local producers and writers
Works with national & local broadcasters
Uses multiple media and transmedia
Robust monitoring & evaluation (M&E)
• Studies the habits and lifestyles of members of the target
audience to determine needs, desires, behaviors and
media usage in order to develop understandable, highquality, culturally appropriate characters and storylines;
and above all, to reproduce the life styles of the target
audience.
Methods:
• Literature Review
• Media Analysis
• Social Services Infrastructure Analysis
• Health Behavior Analysis
• Qualitative Research (Focus Groups)
• Ethnographic Research
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Writer’s Notebook
– Health statistics, but in visual form
– Transcripts from focus groups
Expert presentations from clients and donors during the training.
Field visits to health centers and communities
• Help develop questions necessary for
research purposes
• Input on research on target audience
relevant to story creation
• Observation of focus groups with target
audience
• Review of all related new media
programming and publishing related to target
market
Audience Size and Econometric Indicators:
• Reach (% that listen) and Frequency (# of times listen)
– Program: Ruwan Dare (“Midnight Rain”), Hausa Drama, Northern
Nigeria.
– Result:70% listened one or more times to PMC drama
– Audience Size:12 million Nigerians
– Cost Per Listener: 8 cents US
– Cost Per Behavior Change: (For spousal communication about
family planning: 89 cents US)
Behavior Change Indicators: Family Planning and HIV
• Percent of new clients at family planning clinics motivated to get services by
PMC dramas
• Program: Ethiopia, Yeken Kignit (“Looking over One’s Daily Life”)
• Result: 18% motivated to get services
• Program: Burkina Faso, (Yam Yankre or “the Choice”), and (Here S’ra or “the
Road to Happiness”)
• Result: Listeners 60% vs. non-listeners 53% responded “yes” to the question
“Have you ever been voluntarily tested for HIV?” (differences are statistically
significant).
• Listeners were 1.8 times more likely than non-listeners to say have been
tested, voluntarily, for HIV
Participatory Research
• Post-broadcast qualitative evaluation with drawings
How has listening to
the radio program
influenced your life?
“My life has changed in many ways, and I have tried to
influence many others. This is a sketch of me and my
daughter Miriam. I have told her that no matter what, she
should complete her education. I also spoke to my two elder
sisters, who have daughters who were recently married off. I
told my sisters to tell my nieces and their husbands to delay
pregnancies, and if they become pregnant they should go for
regular health check-ups.” Male participant, Kano, Nigeria
Gugar Goge
Nigeria
In the first month, East Los High rose to be one of the
top five shows on Hulu, and also the top show for
Hulu’s Latino viewers.
In the first month, more than 30,000 people used
Planned Parenthood’s “The Check” widget available on
eastloshigh.com to explore their risk and need to get
tested for STDs, HIV, or pregnancy.
Experiential learning through gameplay
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entertainment-education  role modeling  social change
• Player becomes the Transitional Character.
• Interactivity leads to decision-making.
• Player experiences cause and effect.
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• Feuilleton radiophonique Vivra Verra “Time will Tell”,
Republique Democratique du Congo (RDC) –
Partenaire DFATD Canada
• Haitian Diaspora
• Soap opera broadcast in Creole to change
attitudes among Haitians about restavek (child
slaves) in Haiti
Entertainment-Education and Health Behavior
– Transmedia storytelling using social media and web
– Using gaming and gaming audience to engage in and
promote pro-social values aligned with human rights
– Development communication and ONG partnerships
Population Media Center
PMC@populationmedia.org
+1-802-985-8156