Vision & Mission
The 3rd National HIV Communication Survey, 2012 to launch in February
Soul City Series
Soul City is a dynamic and innovative multi-media health promotion and social change project.
| Through drama and entertainment Soul
City reaches more than 16 million South Africans. It has also been
broadcast in many parts of Africa as well as Latin America, the
Caribbean and South East Asia. Soul City examines many health and
development issues, imparting information and impacting on social
norms, attitudes and practice. Its impact is aimed at the level of the
individual, the community and the socio political environment. Through its multi-media and advocacy strategies aims to create an enabling environment empowering audiences to make healthy choices, both as individuals and as communities. |
 |
Soul City Series are sponsored by Old
Mutual and BP and receives donor funding from the Department of Health,
DFID, European Union, Ireland Aid and the Royal Netherlands
Embassy.
Issues dealt with in each series:
- Series 1 – broadcast in 1994 - Mother & child health, HIV/AIDS
- Series 2 – broadcast in 1996 - HIV/AIDS, housing & land, TB & smoking
- Series 3 – broadcast in 1997 - HIV/AIDS, household energy, violence, alcohol misuse
- Series 4 – broadcast in 1999 - HIV/AIDS, personal finance, hypertension, violence against women
- Series 5 – broadcast in 2001 - HIV/AIDS, Small Business Development, rape, disability
- Series 6 – broadcast in 2003 – HIV/AIDS, depression, asthma, adult education + literacy
Each Soul City series is made up of:
- A prime time television series – 13 one hour episodes (Series 1-3 were half hours)
- A daily radio drama – 45 fifteen minute episodes
- Booklets – 3 full colour booklets per series
- A advertising/publicity campaign which keeps people talking and thinking about Soul City
- An advocacy campaign around one of the major topics
The television series is broadcast on
South Africa’s most popular television station (SABC 1). It has
consistently achieved top audience ratings and has won numerous
prestigious awards for excellence in television drama.
The radio series is broadcast on all nine SABC regional radio stations (in nine of South Africa’s official languages). It is also broadcast on many community radio stations.
The Booklets are serialised in newspapers throughout South Africa in synergy with the electronic media. The booklets are inserted into the newspapers at the end of the serialisation. They are also distributed through clinics and other government distribution channels, non-governmental and community based organisations, business and educational facilities.
At least 3 million booklets are distributed per series.
The television and radio series are powerful vehicles to shift social norms and impact on knowledge, attitude and practices. The booklets deal with the series topics in greater detail and can be kept by readers for future reference.
The radio series is broadcast on all nine SABC regional radio stations (in nine of South Africa’s official languages). It is also broadcast on many community radio stations.
The Booklets are serialised in newspapers throughout South Africa in synergy with the electronic media. The booklets are inserted into the newspapers at the end of the serialisation. They are also distributed through clinics and other government distribution channels, non-governmental and community based organisations, business and educational facilities.
At least 3 million booklets are distributed per series.
The television and radio series are powerful vehicles to shift social norms and impact on knowledge, attitude and practices. The booklets deal with the series topics in greater detail and can be kept by readers for future reference.
| "I feel that Soul City...has great
impact. You feel it and it sort of shakes you inside". (Gauteng adult listener) |
All Soul City series are developed
through a rigorous formative research process. This involves consulting
both audiences and experts. All materials are thoroughly tested with
audiences to ensure that the materials are effective. Through formative
research the lived experiences and voices of the communities are
captured, giving the materials resonance and credibility.
This formative research process is central to the Soul City IHDC’s methodology. It is what creates the difference between edutainment and pure entertainment and is a hallmark of all quality edutainment projects. Too often health and development communicators assume they know what is best for audiences, but get it all wrong. Experts are often out of touch with the very people they hope to communicate with. The Soul City IHDC’s formative research process - outlined below -- combines the inputs from experts as well as the audience at large to develop material that is meaningful, effective and appropriate.
Step one: Consulting widely with experts and key stakeholders on the topic issues. This includes government as well as civil society and (including non-governmental and community based organisations, activists and academics).
Step two: Consulting audience members about what they know, their concerns, their attitudes to the issue and the barriers that exist to positive change.
Step three: Role players and experts are brought together. They are presented with the findings from the first two steps. They then help define the issues to be included in the edutainment product and the way in which these issues will be dealt with.
Step four: A message brief that defines these messages is produced. This forms the blueprint for the creative team (producers, directors and scriptwriters) to work off in developing the TV and radio dramas.
Step five: The creative team use the message brief to integrate the issues into the entertainment vehicle. This is done in a creative workshop where the creative team is briefed and brainstorms how best to do this.
Step six: A draft outline is produced. This is tested with the experts, role players and audience members. After this, full scripts are produced.
Step seven: The scripts go through a writing and testing process until the issues are have been well integrated while ensuring the product maintains its entertainment value.
Step eight: The material is produced, broadcast, printed and distributed.
Step nine:The materials are evaluated. Lessons learned are integrated into future productions.
Evaluation is an essential part of the Soul City IHDC strategy. It helps determine impact and is important for accountability to the public as well as to funders. Lessons learned are fed back into the development of the IHDC’s future projects. All Soul City projects are independently evaluated.
Publications
1. Usdin, S., Singhal, A., Shongwe, T., Goldstein, S., & Shabalala, A. (in press). No Short Cuts in Entertainment-Education: Designing "Soul City" Step-by-Step. In M. Cody, A. Singhal, E.M. Rogers, and M. Sabido (eds.) Entertainment-Education Worldwide: History, Research, and Practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
2. Singhal, A., Usdin, S., Scheepers, E., Goldstein, S., and Japhet, G. (in press). Harnessing the entertainment-education strategy in Africa: The Soul City intervention in South Africa. In Charles Okigbo (Ed.) Development and communication in Africa. Boston, MA: Rowman and Littlefield.
3. Usdin, S., Christofides, N., Malepe, L., et al. The Value of Advocacy in Promoting Social Change: Implementing the New Domestic Violence Act in South Africa. Reproductive Health Matters Journal, Vol. 8, No.16, pp 55-65. November 2000
4. Usdin, S. “Tv-entertainment and Advocacy for Better Health”, Chapter 6, in Finn Rasmussen and Bettina Ringsing (eds): Vælt dagsordenen. Kampagnen som poliktisk murbraekker [Tip over the agenda. The campaign as a political ram], Informations Forlag, Copenhagen, March 2002.
This formative research process is central to the Soul City IHDC’s methodology. It is what creates the difference between edutainment and pure entertainment and is a hallmark of all quality edutainment projects. Too often health and development communicators assume they know what is best for audiences, but get it all wrong. Experts are often out of touch with the very people they hope to communicate with. The Soul City IHDC’s formative research process - outlined below -- combines the inputs from experts as well as the audience at large to develop material that is meaningful, effective and appropriate.
Step one: Consulting widely with experts and key stakeholders on the topic issues. This includes government as well as civil society and (including non-governmental and community based organisations, activists and academics).
Step two: Consulting audience members about what they know, their concerns, their attitudes to the issue and the barriers that exist to positive change.
Step three: Role players and experts are brought together. They are presented with the findings from the first two steps. They then help define the issues to be included in the edutainment product and the way in which these issues will be dealt with.
Step four: A message brief that defines these messages is produced. This forms the blueprint for the creative team (producers, directors and scriptwriters) to work off in developing the TV and radio dramas.
Step five: The creative team use the message brief to integrate the issues into the entertainment vehicle. This is done in a creative workshop where the creative team is briefed and brainstorms how best to do this.
Step six: A draft outline is produced. This is tested with the experts, role players and audience members. After this, full scripts are produced.
Step seven: The scripts go through a writing and testing process until the issues are have been well integrated while ensuring the product maintains its entertainment value.
Step eight: The material is produced, broadcast, printed and distributed.
Step nine:The materials are evaluated. Lessons learned are integrated into future productions.
Evaluation is an essential part of the Soul City IHDC strategy. It helps determine impact and is important for accountability to the public as well as to funders. Lessons learned are fed back into the development of the IHDC’s future projects. All Soul City projects are independently evaluated.
Publications
1. Usdin, S., Singhal, A., Shongwe, T., Goldstein, S., & Shabalala, A. (in press). No Short Cuts in Entertainment-Education: Designing "Soul City" Step-by-Step. In M. Cody, A. Singhal, E.M. Rogers, and M. Sabido (eds.) Entertainment-Education Worldwide: History, Research, and Practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
2. Singhal, A., Usdin, S., Scheepers, E., Goldstein, S., and Japhet, G. (in press). Harnessing the entertainment-education strategy in Africa: The Soul City intervention in South Africa. In Charles Okigbo (Ed.) Development and communication in Africa. Boston, MA: Rowman and Littlefield.
3. Usdin, S., Christofides, N., Malepe, L., et al. The Value of Advocacy in Promoting Social Change: Implementing the New Domestic Violence Act in South Africa. Reproductive Health Matters Journal, Vol. 8, No.16, pp 55-65. November 2000
4. Usdin, S. “Tv-entertainment and Advocacy for Better Health”, Chapter 6, in Finn Rasmussen and Bettina Ringsing (eds): Vælt dagsordenen. Kampagnen som poliktisk murbraekker [Tip over the agenda. The campaign as a political ram], Informations Forlag, Copenhagen, March 2002.
