Conflict Media intervention type 4 and 5
The Panos Institute West Africa has been involved in the production of a radio soap opera to focus on a range of issues that are related to the conflict in Casamance. Panos, an international non-governmental organisation based in Dakar, is engaged in various projects in fifteen West African countries. It aims to open and strengthen public forums for debate on communication; to contribute to the ethical, organisational and financial restructuring of the media sector; to produce and disseminate pertinent, high-quality information which can generate a culture of democracy, of citizenship and peace; and to reinforce institution-building and institutional innovation, as well as regional and inter-regional synergy.
The radio soap opera was launched following an evaluation of two previous media projects - Democracy and Environment, and Human Rights, Democracy, Media Network - in which Panos had been involved. According to Johan Deflander of Panos, "These programmes were radio documentaries or magazines which the audience gave positive feedback on, but [they] were too 'academic' for the rural audiences. There was a need for dramatisation of this information in order to make it popular."
Using the dramatic techniques of the soap opera format, the programmes focus on five important themes: respect for cultural, ethnic, and linguistic differences, and national unity; the future of the region; women's rights; minority rights; and reconciliation.
The media environment
In explaining its rationale for choosing the radio theatre approach to pursue
its objectives, Panos notes that radio is the most popular, reliable, economic
and accessible communication tool in Senegal, and that, more than any other
medium, it is able to transcend problems of distance, illiteracy, and language
diversity. In a country where the oral tradition has always been dominant, radio
has emerged as the only real mass communication medium.
The Senegalese media is one of the most free and unencumbered in the region, with little interference from the government. It has, thus, been able to play an active role in promoting the development of Senegal's multi-party democracy. The constitution guarantees freedom of the news media, and the government does not practice censorship. Laws do exist, however, which prohibit reports that discredit the state, incite disorder or disseminate 'false news'. The result, according to the BBC, is that a degree of self-censorship still occurs. Still, the independent media frequently criticise the government, and foreign media are free to circulate without restrictions.
There are five major daily newspapers, including Le Soleil, which is state-owned. Senegal has two television stations - the state-owned Television RTS, and one commercial channel - two national radio networks, and four regional radio networks. Forty local radio stations (20 in the capital, Dakar, and 20 in other cities), 10 community radio stations, and short-wave broadcaster RSI, Radio Senegal International, were also operating. In addition, radio stations have begun to appear on the Internet.
Radio is by far the most effective means of reaching the Senegalese people, especially in isolated, rural areas. In a report released in March 2001, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) observes that aside from its obvious uses to provide information and entertainment, radio empowers farmers and rural communities, thus allowing community based, non-governmental organisations to use radio as a tool for local development. The report adds that radio has a crucial role to play in promoting democracy and pluralism because it provides opportunities to rural communities and women to express their views on air. The FAO concludes in its report that "rural radio has changed considerably within the last decades: from vertical to interactive communication, from centralised to local, from state monopoly to associative radio."
Preparatory workshop
Radio theatre in Africa is not new. The format has been utilised by public stations
since the creation, following the end of colonialism, of national radio in Africa.
But the conceptualisation and realisation of radio productions has been centralised
at the national level and local people have rarely played any significant part
in the development or production of these programmes. Panos Institute has initiated
and developed its radio theatre project in West Africa with a view to engaging
local civil society actors more directly in the project.
In preparing for the production of the programmes, experts from human rights organisations, media, and theatre groups, gathered in Dakar along with scriptwriters and moderators to assist the Panos Institute in identifying issues relating to the programmes and to analyse potential technical and artistic difficulties.
Recommendations and observations emerging from the workshop included the following:
1. The themes should be important national problems related to human rights,
democracy, peace, and citizenship, as well as the everyday life in regions in
the country.
2. The programmes should be interactive, with the possibility of listener participation
via telephone, where possible, or by mail. Letters from listeners would be read
during the programme.
3. In Casamance there is a particular language problem. Diola seemed to be the
essential language but a variety of dialects are spoken, as are other languages.
In particular, two other languages, Mandingue (Malinké) and Peulh (Fulani-Fulfulde)
are the most commonly spoken languages in this region. It was decided to produce
the series in Mandingue.
4. The storyline should be written after field research. Then Panos should produce
scripts for weekly programmes to run for a period of three months. These programmes
should be tested and broadcast, and then evaluated. The production of the remaining
nine months should be based on these evaluations.
5. The producers should establish focus groups of listeners in a village in
order to monitor the opinions of listeners
6. The scripts should avoid giving lessons or lectures to the audience
7. The voice of the actor counts. Thus, it should either be a voice known by
the public or a new one that is able to attract attention.
8. The state broadcasting company RTS should be involved in the project, in
order to profit from its technical infrastructure.
Writing workshop
At the outset, a workshop was conducted involving writers, radio professionals,
and resource people from human rights organisations. The discussion focused
on issues such as: Plot development - determining what the story should be,
how it should begin, how it proceeds Character development - character traits,
motivation, audience identification with characters Setting - location, the
challenge of description Sound - what sounds to incorporate to add realism to
the drama.
Choice of partners
According to Panos, the production and broadcasting of radio theatre is a totally
participatory process. In its development projects, Panos involves various players
in the conceptualisation and production of the radio serial: local writers,
rural radio animators, theatre groups, etc. This approach helps to better address
the needs and expectations of the region and country.
"You need to share the world vision of your audience. You need to have
an almost personal affiliation with them. I grew up in Casamance and I still
remember the division between us and the ones from the rest of the country.
I remember that whenever we planned to go to the capital, Dakar, we used to
say: 'I am going to Senegal!"
Ibrahima Sane, consultant at Panos
According to Ismaila Diedhiou, head of the RTS affiliate in Casamance, which broadcast the series, "it is ten times better to realise the whole production locally. The local production team 'knows' the population better". He stresses the importance of creating the concept in the field: going there as tabula rasa and letting the audience set the agenda. This ensures that the first barrier between the medium and the audience is eliminated.
Diedhiou points out that local theatre companies can provide actors, who are well-known local personalities, for the production. With local actors playing the parts, the local population will more readily identify with the heroes of the series. And thus the programme has greater impact. Local production and the use of local actors also contribute, of course, to local capacity building, which is of particular importance in view of the conditions in conflict-ridden areas. Diedhiou also stresses that the writers should be locals who have remained in the region. Those who have moved away may still know the language, but they will have lost touch with the community, and may not know the 'right' words and expressions. The problem of language dynamics, he says, cannot be dealt with from a distance. They will also have difficulties handling the content. Scripts written by people living outside the conflict region are not likely to accurately reflect the dynamics of a problem. Those looking at the issues from outside tend to become preoccupied with the conflict, concentrating on the particularities of the problem and ignoring other factors and issues. "I would prefer it if the scriptwriters would use the personal testimony approach more," says Diedhiou.
However, says Johan Deflander, recruitment of local staff is not always easy. "Not all radio production capacities can be found locally, due to the huge brain drain and the move of qualified people to the capital of the country. We were committed to working with local stations during the whole process, but only the national ones have experienced production personnel or can cover the entire region with their transmitters."
After some initial delays, Panos has found its collaboration with RTS to be very valuable. Journalists and the manager of the station in the Casamance capital, Ziguinchor have been quite helpful, particularly in providing insight and analysis of the problems related to the conflict in Casamance.
A contract between Panos and RTS covered a period of 12 months with weekly programmes of 25 minutes, consisting of a 15-minute episode followed by a 10-minute discussion with participation by a journalist, and listener phone-ins. However, the airing of the series has been stopped twice by RTS. "This was not the original plan," says Deflander. "But in Africa, you should always expect that. You have the 'Africa factors': the rainy season, the farming season, material not working and so on. We also had elections during the scheduled broadcasting period, which delayed the whole process further."
Production
The story line developed for the radio drama involved a young couple trying
to deal with an 'impossible' love - he (Bakary) is from one ethnic group and
region, and she (Sireng) from another. As a result, they confront all sorts
of social and cultural pressures, and their situation is further exacerbated
by the violent context in which they live, full of rancour and tension. They
defy the established order, but nonetheless they unwittingly fall prey to the
forces around them.
In this context, the five themes around which the series is built (respect for cultural, ethnic and linguistic differences, and national unity; the future of the region; women's rights; minority rights; and reconciliation) come to the forefront during the course of the drama. Bakary and Sireng, for example, must fight for recognition of their interethnic love relationship, despite the objections of their families. They seek advice from a wise man named Ansoumana, and in the scenes in which he is present, the discussion often turns to politics and what the future may hold for the region. In another sub-plot, Bakary and one of the rebels, Manthiou, are involved in a discussion about the effects of the war on schoolchildren, which forces them to consider what sort of future these children have if the war continues. To highlight the issue of women's rights, one story-line follows Sireng's efforts to establish a school, and the resistance she encounters from parents who don't want their daughters to go to school but rather to stay home and work in the fields or around the house. The scriptwriters also consciously portray women as dynamic, entrepreneurial characters. Issues related to minority rights come to the forefront in scenes that focus on the lives and the belief systems of two characters who are part of the rebel movement. A spirit of reconciliation is demonstrated by the friendship that develops between Bakary and Manthiou, and also when young people from different ethnic groups, including Manthiou, work together to raise money to help a young student who has lost his legs in a mine explosion.
Writing techniques used
Writing a radio drama with a conflict resolution objective is not quite the
same as writing a more generic soap opera, explains one of the programmes scriptwriters.
The first task is to create the characters and to give them recognisable character
traits. But then, just as the character traits are distributed among the cast
of characters, so too must the various prejudices - those for the 'other' as
well as those directed toward themselves And these characters need to be placed
within a setting which is dictated by local power dynamics. Still, each character
has to have a certain degree of 'autonomy'.
"Inside this complex network of relationships," says the scriptwriter, "you build the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and inter-ethnic conflicts. For example, the intrapersonal conflict that the daughter has between the morality of obeying her mother and following her passion for the man from the other ethic group; the interpersonal conflict between the daughter and her parents and relatives, when she decides to be with the man from the other ethnic group; and finally the inter-ethnic conflicts that arise from the interaction of the couple with relatives and others from the two ethnic groups." In addition, the writer has to consciously attempt to avoid resorting to stereotypes - images of laziness, narrow-mindedness, or stupidity, for example.
Writers use a variety of techniques to counter the stereotypes and prejudices. One of the show's writers comments that he employs deus ex machina - the intervention of an outside actor - as a device. "I use a foreign intervention, like a neutral foreign NGO that has offices in the locale of the conflict," he says. Naturally, another technique is to devise a dialogue pitting more moderate and more extreme positions against each other, where the moderate position is seen to be correct. And writing against perceived stereotype - attributing the stereotypical character traits associated with one group with a character from another group - is also a strategy that the show's writers employ.
Special challenges
Language
Issues around language have posed some difficult challenges for the writers.
Though the show is performed in Mandingue (and other local languages), the scripts
are first written in French, because the writers did not have the experience
and familiarity they require to write in the local languages, and are better
able to express themselves in French. The scripts are then translated into the
local languages. And because the local languages are primarily spoken rather
than written languages, actors do not have sufficient experience reading in
the local languages.
But this process itself creates difficulties, because, explains Ismaila Diedhiou, "You have a number of problems when you translate from French to Wolof [the most commonly spoken language in Senegal] or another local language. There are cultural concepts that are transferred through the language. For example in Wolof you will never say that you are telling lies. Instead you will say that you are making a mistake."
An additional problem, observes one of the writers, is that "the point of view of the writer and the director of the production can be very different. That can be reflected either in the translation phase or in the re-writing phase."
Other cultural subtleties
In addition to language, other cultural subtleties need to be taken into consideration.
For example, notes Diedhiou, there are differences in the way men share information
with each other as compared with the way women share information. And the style
of discussion and debate also differs between men and women. "Sometimes you
should show some respect for these patterns and sometimes you have to fight
them," he comments. He adds that the scripts need to incorporate local approaches
to conflict resolution and reconciliation. For example, in the Casamance region
women have an important role to play prior to the outbreak of a conflict, playing
an active role in efforts to find peaceful solutions. "They are the mothers,
the sisters and the partners of the soldiers," he explains. "As such all the
consequences fall on them ... On the other hand, during the overt conflict or
in the post-conflict period, the people that are the leaders of the conflict
resolution are the cousins. The cousin is usually the one who is connected with
both families but does not belong to anyone more than the other. Similarly,
there are ethnic groups which are considered 'cousins' to other ethnic groups
and are legitimate to do 'third party interventions' according to the local
traditions."
An additional complication for the scriptwriters concerns the contrast between the urban and rural audiences. Rural listeners process the information differently, have different listening patterns with respect to the time of day they tune in to the radio, and they are more directly affected by the fighting. As a result, they tend to find reconciliation and forgiveness more difficult.
Evaluation
State broadcaster RTS carried out on-going monitoring and evaluation of the
series making use of phone calls, letters, field visits and - more unconventionally
- audience feedback from those who were present during outdoor rehearsals. Although
an evaluation of the series following its conclusion had been envisaged, Panos
was unable to carry it out because of a shortage of time and resources. However,
according to a report produced by Panos, informal feedback provided by radio
professionals did convey an impression that "this type of programme is particularly
important because of the information it provides related to the issues of democracy,
human rights, and peace education."
"You could not talk immediately and directly about the conflict because
everyone was afraid. We had to make a programme of the positive things of what
unite us and then we could discuss the painful negative things that divide us."
Mr. Bathily, scriptwriter