Media Impact hosts Storytelling for Sustainable Development

(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) May 11, 2011 - Media Impact hosted a one-day workshop, Storytelling for Sustainable Development, yesterday to encourage the incorporation of Entertainment-Education programs into global sustainable development work. Entertainment-Education is the incorporation of vital health and environmental messaging into entertaining media formats to simultaneously educate and amuse audiences. 

The event led more than 90 participants through several examples of current Entertainment-Education programming and concluded with the premiere the radio drama, Callaloo, part of the 12-country My Island – My Community program to encourage community-based adaptation to climate change in the Caribbean.    “For 25 years, Media Impact has been working with partners around the world to tell the stories that change the world,” said Sean Southey, Executive Director. “Today we are excited to share some of these projects with you and look for ways to better incorporate Entertainment-Education in global development work,” he added.     Throughout the day, participants reflected on the role of Entertainment-Education in development and how the field must be adapted to accommodate and reflect the changing media landscape. During the morning, practitioners, including members of the Media Impact staff and board, Susan Koscis from Search for Common Ground, Dr. Connie Kohler and Betsy Hunter from Media for Health and Christine Panetta a New York City public school teacher, provided real-life examples of how Entertainment-Education is currently being used to address critical issues in local contexts around the world. The afternoon focused on innovations in the field, especially the use of games to promote behavior change. The session featured presentations by Maaike de Jong of Stenden university, Dr. Arvind Singhal of the University of Texas El Paso and Dr. Helen Wang from the University of Buffalo, State University of New York.   In the evening, participants helped to celebrate the premiere of Callaloo, a new radio drama that forms part of a larger regional program, My Island – My Community, launched in 2010 by more than 30 regional and national partners, including the GEF Small Grants Programme, implemented by UNDP, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USAID and The Nature Conservancy. This initiative will employ a multi-pronged communication approach – regional radio serial drama (Callaloo), national talk shows and local My Community Campaigns – to mobilize communities around the Caribbean to improve biodiversity conservation and the resilience of communities to climate change, along with key social issues such as sexual and reproductive health.   Regular twice-weekly broadcasts of Callaloo and talk shows will begin across the region on June 13th and continue for two years.    About PCI-Media Impact PCI-Media Impact (Media Impact) empowers communities worldwide to inspire enduring change through creative storytelling. Media Impact is a leader in Entertainment- Education and social change communications. For 25 years, we have worked with local partners to produce programs that address the most pressing social and environmental issues. Using our unique My Community approach to social change communications, we engage and empower audiences around the world to improve their own lives. Working with local partners, we have produced more than 3,000 episodes of 100 TV and radio productions. Together, these programs have reached more than 1 billion people in 34 countries.   PCI13781