PCI is working with Janani, a local health service provider, to develop a new soap opera that addresses health concerns in Bihar, India.

“I’m very excited about this project,” says Kate Randolph, vice president of international programs at PCI. “Our partnership with Janani is a unique opportunity to collaborate at the grassroots level and make sure there are services available to back up the demand for reproductive health care.”
Janani has trained over 15,000 rural medical practitioners (RMPs) to promote modern family planning methods and reproductive health care. PCI’s new radio soap opera will include characters modeled on these practitioners and will be broadcast throughout the Hindi belt.

The serial’s script design workshop was held in July at the All India Radio (AIR) Staff Training Institute in New Delhi. Leading the workshop were Kimani Njogu, PCI’s regional representative for Africa, and Susan Rhodes, PCI’s senior program officer. The preliminary story was planned and the first four episodes were designed.

“I think one of the reasons that our workshop was such a success,” explains Ms. Rhodes, “is that the writers took a trip to Bihar and got an overview of Janani’s activities. They conducted in-depth interviews with village practitioners, and with clients and local staff at Janani’s clinics.”

Ms. Randolph had traveled to New Delhi in May to meet with partners and establish a technical advisory committee for the radio serial. PCI’s committees include experts in communications, health care, and research.
The advisory committee for PCI’s new soap includes Mrs. Usha Bhasin, one of the creators of PCI’s soap Tinka Tinka Sukh, Dr. Arvind Singhal, a professor at the School of Interpersonal Communication, Ohio University, and former PCI-USC fellow Devendra Sharma. Ms. Randolph says “this small and voluntary body will review scripts and make recommendations to strengthen the creative component of the program and ensure that the feedback from the monitoring process is shared with the writers and producers of the soap opera.”

A distinct feature of this program is its research component. Dr. Singhal will design the monitoring and evaluation of this serial drama. “Personally, this project is interesting to me,” says Dr. Singhal. “I spent three years in Bihar as a child and I am comfortable with the linguistic and cultural issues.” He visited India twice last year, meeting with partners in New Delhi and Bihar to develop the monitoring infrastructure. Dr. Singhal also spent time with Janani staff and with the RMPs.

“The research will be a challenge,” acknowledges Dr. Singhal, “but there is a great opportunity to get involved at an early stage of the project.
PCI is also planning a pre-program publicity campaign with AIR officials, and is tying the soap’s messages with grassroots initiatives like Janani. This will boost both the programmatic and research efforts and will help PCI produce a thoughtfully created entertainment-education program.”

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