PHA-Exchange> (Via) [ c r - i n d i a ] Population Foundation's radio programmes

[George(s) Lessard]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
From:           	"Frederick Noronha (FN)" <fred at bytesforall.org>
To:             	cr-india at sarai.net
Subject:        	[cr-india]Population Foundation's radio programmes
Send reply to:  	cr-india at mail.sarai.net
	<mailto:cr-india-request at mail.sarai.net?subject=subscribe>
	<mailto:cr-india-request at mail.sarai.net?subject=unsubscribe>
Date sent:      	Tue, 17 Jun 2003 07:41:00 +0530 (IST)


POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA

The story of Population Foundation of India (PFI), as it has grown
over the last 30 years, is based on its constant endeavors to respond
to the challenge of population. The Foundation is unique in the sense
that it is a collaborative initiative of industrial houses for human
welfare. It is in the forefront of non-governmental efforts to focus
its activities on Reproductive and Child Health; Population, Health
and Social Development issues and to establish a balance between
resources, environment and population. It is the one and only
institution of its type in the country. The Foundation was 
established
on 26th September l970 by a dedicated group of industrialists and
population activists led by Bharat Ratna, the late Mr. JRD Tata, who
guided it as the founder Chairman until his death in l993. Its 
present
Chairman is the noted industrialist, Dr Bharat Ram, who is a founder
member and was Vice-Chairman until 1993. The present Executive
Director is Mr A R Nanda, former Secretary to Government of India,
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The Foundation has come a long way since l970, marching with time and
reshaping its activities in the light of the changing priorities.
Beginning with pure research-oriented studies, its activities now
cover the entire range of population, health and social development
issues in a developing society. Apart from addressing reproductive
health and population issues, it has always been in the forefront to
raise awareness of these issues in the country.

MISSION

Foundation's Mission

The Population Foundation of India (PFI) is dedicated to promote
effective formulation and implementation of gender sensitive
population and development policies, strategies and programmes. PFI
seeks to accomplish this by extending technical and financial support
to individuals and civil society institutions; piloting innovative
approaches; and building support at the national, sub-national and
community levels through informed advocacy.

The Foundation endeavors to address the critical issues of 
population,
health and sustainable development for better quality of life by
increased access to services, promotion of advocacy programmes,
capacity building at various levels and facilitating enabling
environment for optimal utilisation of resources.

The Foundation aims to promote, expand, build awareness and 
strengthen
commitment towards a rights-based approach, empowerment of women,
increased male responsibility, a life cycle approach, gender equality
and equity, informed and expanded choice of contraceptives and
promotion of small family norm by forging meaningful partnerships 
with
institutions both in public and private sectors.

The Foundation strives to focus its activities on issues of
reproductive and sexual health and rights, HIV/AIDS, child health &
rights, women's health, adolescent health and development, unmet need
for family planning services and female foeticide. The vision
encompasses serving the economically weaker and marginalised sections
living in the socially and demographically backward districts of the
country for sustainable social change.

The Foundation acts as a think tank and advocate at various levels in
formulating and influencing population policies and programmes. It
serves as a catalytic agent to promote programmes directed towards 
the
goal of population stabilisation and development.


COMMUNITY RADIO PROGRAMMES

As a part of its Advocacy programmes, the Foundation launched
Community Radio Programmes in the States of Karnataka and Uttar
Pradesh in the year 2000 and in the State of Madhya Pradesh, in the
year 2002.

KUSUMALE IN KARNATAKA

 In Karnataka, the programme "Kusumale" having 52 drama series in
 Kannada, was launched on November 1, 2000, for a period of one year,
 with special focus to tribal community of Mysore, the soligas, in
 liaison with All India Radio, Mysore and Bangalore; and Vivekananda
 Girijan Kalyan Kendra, a local NGO in Mysore.

UJALA IN UTTAR PRADESH 

 In Uttar Pradesh, the programme "Ujala" having 30 drama series in
 Hindi, was laucnhed on 19th March 2001, for a period of one year,
 with special focus to backward community of Sonbhadra District in
 Uttar Pradesh, in liaison with All India Radio, Obra and Banwasi
 Seva Ashram, a Non-Governmental Organisation in Sonbhadra.

UJALA IN MADHYA PRADESH

 In Madhya Pradesh, the programme "Ujala" having 52 drama series in
 Hindi, was launched on 3rd February 2002, for a period of one year,
 with special focus to rural community of Indore in Madhya Pradsh, in
 liaison with All India Radio, Indore and Bharatiya Grameen Mahila
 Sangh, a Non-Governmental Organisation in Indore.

Strategies involved during implementation of the Community Radio
Programmes

1.Selection of Script Writers 

Script writers are selected from the focussed community itself. 
Topics
for the scripts are discussed in detail with the script writers,
keeping in mind the cultural milieu of the target community, so that
focussed themes emerge, which acknowledge people in their own rights,
take into account their concerns, and provide them with information
and knowledge to enable them to decide what is in their best 
interest.

The invited scripts are edited by the Foundation in order to
disseminate correct messages and then submitted to All India Radio
station for approval.

Topics for 52 episodes for scripts

Prenatal care and safe delivery
Postnatal care and clean weaning
Safe abortion and Medical Termination of Pregnancy
Knowledge on contraceptives in detail
Family planning and family welfare
Male responsibility
Personal hygiene and environment hygiene
Food and nutrition
Communicable diseases and their prevention
Diarrohea and its prevention
Acute respiratory infections
Safe and clean drinking water
Child health and immunization
Adolescent health
HIV/AIDS
RTIs/STDs
Responsibilities of parenthood
Gender equality
Early Age at Marriage
Female Foeticide
Neglected girl child from 0-6 years
Literacy and Education

Importance of girl child in the family
Empowerment of women
Development through panchayats
Role and Responsibilities of Panchayats
Population Pressure and Development

2.Production/Recording of the selected dramas

In Karnataka and Obra, the responsibility for production was given to 

the respective All India Radio stations, but in Indore, the 
production
was done by the Foundation itself, in order to have a full grip on 
the
theme, contents keeping the cultural mileu and the quality recording
of the programmes. In future programmes, the Foundation would like to
do the recording of the dramas

3.Selection of  Non-Government Organisations in the target community

The selected NGOs play a crucial role in implementation of the
Community Radio Programme

Before organising the script writers; workshop, NGOs in the state
assist the Foundation in knowing the community for which the 
programme
has been designed. Apart from getting the information on health and
social indicators, the information is collected on their media 
habits,
the kind of radio sets used by them, the number of radio sets
available, suitable time for broadcasting the programme and any
specific health and social problems prevailing in the community.

The NGOs help in promotion of the programmes through their regular
project activities. Every week, before the broadcast of the 
programme,
the topic is announced in the community, discussions are held to
motivate them to listen to the programme, facilitate them to have an
access to the radio sets, be with them during the broadcast and after
the broadcast, messages are discussed in detail to enable them to
understand and co-relate them in their own lives.

Knowing the scarcity of radio sets in the target community, NGOs help
the Foundation to distribute the radio sets in the community for
effective listenership/promotion of the programme.


NGOs assist in selecting the script writers and in organising the
script writers' workshops.

Apart from introducing the radio programme in their project
activities, NGOs also help in publicity of the programme by word of
mouth and through print media in the other communities, which do not
come under their project areas, for which the Foundation bears the
expenses.


4.Re-broadcast of the Radio programmes

After receiving good response from the listeners and also in order to
increase the listenership, the programmes are re-broadcast through 
AIR
stations. On demand, the audio cassettes are also made available for
use in their project activities.

5.Mid-term and Final Evaluation of the programmes

Apart from the mid-term evaluation done by the respective Radio
stations, the Foundation also conducts the mid-term as well as final
evaluation of the programmes.

The Foundation did the final evaluation itself in case of Ujala in
Uttar Pradesh and Audio-Visual Research Centre, Mysore University did
the final evaluation of Kusumale in Karnataka.

Future Community Radio Programme

Based on the success of the three Community Radio Programmes in
Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the Foundation is
launching three more prorgrammes in Bihar, Chattisgarh and Orissa.

Meetings with NGOs and script writers have been organised in 
Jagdalpur
and Patna.

GIST OF EVALUATION REPORTS 

Community Radio Programme in Karnataka : Its reach and Effectiveness
Evaluation done by Audio Visual Research Centre, Mysore


A Community Radio Programme on Empowerment of Community on Issues of
Population, Health and Social Development, implemented by the
Foundation in collaboration with Vivekananda Kalyan Kendra, a local
NGO at Mysore and AIR- Bangalore, for Mysore District of Karnataka,
was specially focussed to the Soliga tribes of Banjara Hills. A 52
half an hour episode drama series in Kannada namely "Kusumale" were
aired from November 2000 to November 2001. Simultaneously, it was
re-broadcast through F.M. from 3rd July 2001 and the series will be
over by June 2002.

The final Evaluation study of Kusumale programme has been done by the
Audio Visual Research Centre, University of Mysore. The purpose of
this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and reach of Kusumale
programme among the target area. In the evaluation process 40 
villages
in Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts were selected. Five programme
listeners in each of 40 villages were searched to obtain a sample of
200 programme listeners. Though the target listeners were 200, it was
able to get only 157 listeners out of 1707 households searched.

The following are the highlights of the Evaluation Study :

Out of the 40 villages 23 villages provided the required five
household clusters. On an average 13.88% was the media reach in these
23 villages. A total media reach in 40 villages was 9.19% in Mysore
and Chamarajanagar districts.

In total population of the area covered, 50% of them belonged to
Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribes and Backward Caste. The sample
consisted of agricultural labourers, housewives and unmarried girls.
Radio was the major media with a listenership of 99.36% and majority
of the viewers were regular listeners.

A moderate number of listeners had listened all the 52 episodes.
Kusumale had established an identity of its own as great majority of
listeners recalled the correct timings of the programme broadcast.
About 93% of household listeners have found the programme informative
whereas 86% found it interesting.

The programme had desired impact on the listeners denoting high 
degree
of recall of specific issues like age at marriage and small family.
The study revealed that listeners had not only liked the programme 
but
also found it very useful.

  The target listeners had not only received the information but also
  learnt some lessons out of it. Some of the girls during survey said
  they would not marry before 18 years even if their parents force
  them to do so.


Community Radio Programme in Uttar Pradesh : Its reach and
Effectiveness

Evaluation findings 

A Community Radio Programme UJALA on Empowerment of Community on
Issues of Population, Health and Social Development, implemented by
the Foundation in collaboration with Banwasi Sewa Ashram, a local NGO
at Sonbhadra and AIR- Obra, for the Sonbhadra district . A 52 half an
hour episode drama series in Hindi, was aired from March 2001 to 
March
2002. It was re-broadcast through Rampur Station from 28th November
2001 to 30 June 2002.

Evaluation was conducted by the Foundation in May 2002. The targetted
sample size was 100 listeners of UJALA programme but evaluation team
could interview only 53 listeners after listing the 1707 households.
The following are the highlights of the Evaluation Study :

It was found that in Sonebhadra District the media reach of UJALA
community radio programme was slightly less than 3 percent (2.87%)
which may be considered as very low. Probably the main reason for 
such
a low media reach was broadcasting this programme from Frequency
Modulation (FM) Band Radio. On an average there were only 10 Radio
sets in a village and out of them only 3-4 had FM Band Radio. Most of
the Radio sets were very old and due to poverty, people in this area
were not in a position to purchase a FM Band Radio set.

The sample size was 49 spread across 20 villages in Sonebhadra
district. Out of 49 respondents 79.6 % (39) were males and 20.6 % 
(10)
respondents were females. The highest numbers of respondents were
young in the age group of below 25 years.

Literacy level especially female literacy                             

     was very low in the target area. Out of the total respondents
22.4% (11) were illiterates and 7 (14.3%) were below primary
education. Most of the women were either illiterate (40%) or literate
but below primary education (30%). 

Radio continues to dominate the lives of the respondents in villages
where almost 90 percent of the respondents had a radio set in their
house and only 10 percent (5) respondents did not have a radio set in
their home. Because of high illiteracy newspaper and magazine reading
was very poor and only 12.2% (6) and 34.7% (17) respondents read
newspaper or magazine respectively at their home. Television was
available in 32.7 percent households and Cable TV was available in
only 4% (2) households.

The findings substantiate the immense interest it generated among the
programme listeners. A very high proportion of listeners i.e. 92% 
have
rated the programme as very interesting and informative. When asked 
to
name the specific issues broadcast by the serial a majority of the
listeners recalled the drama on abolition of dowry as a major issue
followed by education of girl child, family planning, age at 
marriage,
population problems & Women education, prevention of diseases and 
safe
delivery. The study reveals that the programme was quite effective
among its listeners.

Mid-Term evaluation of UJALA in Indore, Madhya Pradesh

Audience Research Unit of All India Radio, Indore has conducted a mid
term evaluation of the 'Ujala' programme in the urban areas along 
with
their other programmes broadcast through their station.  According to
them, there is around 18% of urban listenership of the 'Ujala'
programme.

Inspite of many TV channels and private radios available in Indore 
the
sponsored programme Ujala has got a very good response.  AIR Indore 
is
receiving thousands of appreciation letters as well as phone-calls in
response to 'Ujala' Programme. The Foundation is repeating the
broadcast through the Medium Wave channel of AIR for wider coverage.
_______________________________________________ cr-india mailing list
cr-india at mail.sarai.net
http://mail.sarai.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cr-india
------- End of forwarded message --------- 
:-) Message Ends; George(s) Lessard's Keywords Begin (-: 
Freelance Media Arts, Management, Training, Mentoring & Consulting 
On line: Internet / Workshops / Research / Presence / Content / 
On location: TV / Radio / Production / ENG / EFP / Editing
Interests: Access / Activism / Communities  / Cultures / Arts
Resume and more @ http://media002.tripod.com
Queries / Offers / Patronage /  
Commissions should be sent to 
media at _no_spam_web.net (remove _no_spam_ for use)
Rostered Volunteer UNV# 120983 & CESO/SACO VA# 11799

-Caveat Lector- Disclaimers, NOTES TO EDITORS 
&  (c) information may be found @ 
http://members.tripod.com/~media002/disclaimer.htm
Because of the nature of email & the WWW, 
please check ALL sources & subjects.
                          - 30 -