| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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Ouro Negro is an optimal example of an innovative Entertainment Education program that increases knowledge and influence change in attitudes, social norms and behaviors by tapping into intrinsic motivation and focusing on enabling the target audiences to be the driver of desired behavior changes. Content is developed based on formative research to assess community perceptions and motivations and guidance from key stakeholders to ensure information accuracy and alignment with country laws. Key messages are communicated through an entertaining story and based on actions and motivations of characters. Characters are not strictly categorized as good, bad or transitional characters, as the classical Entertainment-Education methodology often defines. By creating realistic characters and stories, it ensures that people relate to the drama, a critical foundation for stirring debate.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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Ouro Negro is built on partnerships between diverse stakeholders and originated with the partnership between Radio Mozambique, UNICEF, and PCI Media Impact, an NGO that specializes in communications for development and Entertainment-Education. UNICEF is the primary program funder and is instrumental in fostering partnerships with government and NGO partners. PCI Media Impact leads production of Ouro Negro radio drama and transmedia components. Other program partners include World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA and the Institute of Social Communication.
Our ongoing rapid response surveys have revealed 25 – 30% of the potential radio audience has been exposed to the drama, with approximately 1.5 million people (15 years +) reached.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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• After an initial pilot phase, in 2014, UNICEF partnered with Radio Mozambique, PCI Media Impact and the World Food Program to produce and broadcast Ouro Negro (Black Gold) in Mozambique. Ouro Negro is conceived as the FFL flagship communication program targeting women aged 15-35.
• A coalition was developed to bring together Radio Mozambique, UNICEF, PCI Media Impact, Entertainment-Education Experts, Creative and Production Talent and Thematic Experts from NGOs and Mozambique ministries on Facts for Life (FFL) issues to provide technical advice on developing a strong program design.
• Formative research, including a baseline study by an independent evaluator, was conducted to understand the obstacles, fears, motivations and myths and media preferences that affect target audiences in relation to FFL.
• The production of each story of Ouro Negro follows a rigorous design and production process. In the pilot, scriptwriters and actors were carefully selected in order to ensure a high-quality production. A 50-page production book serves as a resource for all involved production members and artists, providing an overview of the overall program vision and purpose, program features, the target audience, and the history of the world of the story for Ouro Negro.
• Each production cycle starts with the identification of key themes in a collaborative process with the partners and are assessed by solid formative research. During a creative retreat, the premise, the dramatic question, the storyline and the story message for a season are designed. Back from retreat, the creative team discusses the set-up with the key stakeholders from UNICEF and their partners. Stakeholders give their input in the form of “opportunities and concerns,” that will then be taken into account in the next phase of the story writing. The creative team then embarks on a 3-step mission to write character beats, story treatment and eventually, the dialogue. Each step is reviewed with the stakeholders in a Technical Reference Group. There is no going back and forth within these steps. Inputs are taken into account in the next step, in a forward moving process.
• Recording and post-production
• Pre-test and adjustments
• Radio Distribution: Radio Mozambique hosts are trained to sensitively promote
and air Ouro Negro episodes and provide monitoring information to the program team to document broadcast execution. Episodes are broadcast and rebroadcast on national and local radio outlets for a total of 168 episodes per year.
• Monitoring and Evaluation. Drexel University was contracted to conduct in-depth impact and process evaluation activities, with support by GfK Intercampus as a local research partner. Both the project design and evaluation framework are theoretically grounded in the social ecological model, which considers the complex interplay of personal and environmental factors that determine individual and collective behaviors.
• Funding. UNICEF Mozambique is the primary funder of Ouro Negro and has committed over $2,500,000 since 2014. In 2015 and 2016, WFP and UNFPA joined the campaign and contracted with UNICEF to integrate programmatic messaging into additional radio stories. Radio Mozambique has contributed thousands of dollars in free air time that has been vital to making the program financially viable.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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The primary stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and its implementation were Radio Mozambique, UNICEF and PCI Media Impact, with UNICEF initiating the concept of the drama as a transformative vehicle for its Facts for Life handbook for caregivers and communities. In 2015, the first year of full operation, PCI Media Impact built in Mozambique Technical Reference Group, (TRG), involving local institutions, like the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Human Development, and a series of organisations from civil society to discuss and design the E-E drama treatment and scripts in order to ensure that the national priorities and policies are rightly addressed in the E-E Drama. The production of program outputs is based on rigorous formative research processes, including secondary and primary research. Scriptwriters are a central part of the research process in order to ensure realistic stories the primary and secondary target audience can identify with and reflects the local context.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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Ouro Negro has become Mozambique’s longest running radio drama. Our audience of as many as 1.5 million people, including a high proportion of our targeted listeners of vulnerable and poor women, was exposed to over 200 episodes (to date) of high-quality social and behavior change radio drama content that brings together 1) great entertainment by expert writers and celebrated actors along with emerging talent; and 2) integration of vital messaging on at least six Sustainable Development Goals: good health and well-being, no poverty, end hunger, quality education and gender equality. The result is a media product that stimulates the emotional connection essential for fostering knowledge, attitude and behavior change as modeled by Ouro Negro characters facing and overcoming challenges and social norms.
Partnerships were developed with World Food Programme and UNFPA in season two in addition to UNICEF that have supported the sustainability of the program financially and enhanced the breadth of SDGs covered on the program (nutrition, reproductive and sexual health). This is a valuable model that recognizes the complexities of the lives of poor Mozambicans as they simultaneously struggle in making better choices in nutrition, protecting themselves from disease, and preventing pregnancy. It is also an economical way to leveraging one media platform to reach the target audience. Furthermore, these NGOs are adapting the content to reach people in need in different ways. For instance, we have provided Toolkits with recorded stories (thematic groups of episodes) and discussion guides on SRH, the right to live free of child marriage and domestic violence and life skills to UNFPA’s Action for Adolescent Girls, a program that aims to reach over 1 million girls through mentor-led sessions in safe spaces for girls.
While the anchor of the program has been the broadcast radio drama, it has spurred the creation of a range of media content that reinforces program messaging and expands audience engagement and interpersonal communication. For example, in 2016 Ouro Negro piloted community theater productions in Zambezia based on Ouro Negro characters and scripts to bring the power of the SBCC drama to communities lacking radio access. Furthermore these shows are adapted into local languages.
The theatre director shared: “I think some things change after they see the play. I think this is the power of the theater of the oppressed. Because in the end, someone will go, will get in, and then say what they think about the issue that we, we show[ed].”
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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The first obstacle was that the target audience was not always available to listen to the program during its broadcast times. This was addressed in a couple of ways. First, the program was broadcasted twice each day, each during different times. Second, episodes were made available online through the website, and with areas with limited internet access, Our Negro worked with partners, such as UNFPA, to make stories and discussion guides locally available.
Another challenge was determining how to make a program that could appeal to a broad population and be economically viable, given Mozambique’s large number of regional languages. Ouro Negro found the balance between accessibility and affordability by producing the radio drama in portugese at a literacy level accessible to most Mozambicans and developing program add-ons in other languages. Radio Mozambique has just spearheaded the development of a new weekly talk show to accompany Ouro Negro called Ouro Negro ao Vivo! which allows people to share their stories of their struggles and how they have overcome them, in their local languages. Our theater program (see question 8) represents another example of how we have extended the reach of Ouro Negro to more isolated communities.
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