Entertainment-Education and Child Marriage: A Scoping Study for Girls Not Brides

"Knowing that tackling child marriage requires transforming the attitudes and behaviours that perpetuate the practice among families and communities, Entertainment-Entertainment strategies could be a powerful way to engage individuals and communities to create new norms, values and behaviours."

Developed by the Center for Media & Health (CMH) and dance4life for Girls Not Brides, this report looks at the opportunities and challenges of entertainment-education (EE) - the use of radio, television, soap operas, theatre, and comic books to effect positive social change - as a way to address child marriage. Informed by a range of practical and theoretical insights, the report analyses a selection of current initiatives (in 9 countries: Pakistan, India, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Nepal, Nigeria, and Nicaragua), draws out key lessons, and provides tips for practitioners and donors of EE initiatives.

The scoping process involved desk research followed by in-depth interviews via Skype with 14 experts and representatives (such as researchers, fieldworkers, and creative designers) of interesting and promising EE projects related to adolescent girl issues. The interviews were conducted based on the concept of the Entertainment-Education Mapping Model developed by the CMH (see Figure 1 on page 6 of the document). Relevant and available audio-visual materials from these projects were also collected.

The report next examines EE as a strategy to create social change. This section provides several examples of ways and contexts in which it has been deployed, its groundings in the social marketing field, its movement toward being electronically and digitally mediated, and its basis in a multidisciplinary theoretical framework. For instance, the reader learns that at the heart of the EE strategy is the use of role models (e.g., soap series characters, theatre actors, or music performers), which reflects social cognitive theory's premise that people do not only learn in formal learning environments, such as schools, but also in informal situations, by observing the behaviour of so-called role models. With child marriage, for example, it is necessary to present appropriate models who practice the relevant behaviour and are visibly rewarded or "punished" for it in front of the observer. When viewers develop a personal relationship with popular personalities or characters from a series, this is called "parasocial interaction". The large amount of audience involvement and expression of parasocial interaction in EE soap and drama series may be explained by the fact that stories in soap and drama series reflect a lively oral tradition in various countries (Bouman, 1999). According to the authors, findings and learnings from earlier research on the use of EE in other sectors such as literacy, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, child health, and domestic violence can be of help in shaping future EE projects on child marriage and other girl-related issues. To that end, they review several studies.

Based on the results of the field interviews, the research team found that EE can be an effective way of tackling child marriage. The EE initiatives in this study that focus on child marriage or other closely related adolescent girl issues, such as girls' education, sexual and reproductive health, and gender-based violence, reported changes in terms of the level of exposure, awareness, and understanding of the issue within the intended audience. Several results have also been reported in affecting knowledge, attitudes, and intentions of individuals and, in some cases, a change of behaviour. The authors offer the following key findings:

• EE initiatives can't be done in isolation - The EE approach is usually part of a larger behavioural change communication (BCC) programme in which various strategies and formats are used - for example, a radio soap on a national level combined with an additional regional radio soap in another colloquial language such as in Nepal (Mai Sari Sunakhari and Hilkor). It can also be a radio soap with a radio live call-in show, such as in Mozambique (Ouro Negro). In regions with a more sophisticated and saturated media market such as South Africa, a television drama, youth movement, and mobile phones are chosen to reach the mass audience (Soul City). EE tends to be the glue or the overarching umbrella that connects everything. A lot depends on the audience and what they like.
• EE initiatives need to take the individual, community, and broader society into account - Mass media and storytelling can help in questioning and shaping the social norms that exist around harmful practices such as child marriage. EE initiatives can help to address these norms by starting conversations at the individual, community, and broader societal level. At the same time, however, the study finds that it is necessary to advocate for change in policy to create an enabling environment for change.
• EE formats tend to have wide intended audiences recognising the range of influences on people's lives; yet characters highlighted can help to reach specific groups - For example, in some regions, portraying parents as key characters who come to learn of the harmful impacts of child marriage and then change their behaviours will make sense. But in Nepal, where child marriage is often the result of teenagers eloping, the emphasis might need to be on adolescent boys and girls instead.
• Understanding the theory behind EE provides an important foundation - However, some interviewees expressed that these theoretical notions are not always used in a proper sense, and regarded this lack of understanding and proper use of theories as the root cause of mistakes and poor results.
• Use qualitative research to understand the complexity of the social norms, stigmas, and misconceptions of the communities you are working in - What influences people's behaviours in their day-to-day life? What are the norms, values and stigmas that drive families to marry their daughters? Researching these questions was crucial to the success of the projects the researchers examined. Based on the formative research results, several interviewees said they develop a "change matrix" or a "value grid" that indicates which norms, values, and stigmas are present among the intended group. In addition, this matrix includes the new norms they hope to address. After finalising the matrix, those interview partners share it with their scriptwriters to discuss how to address new norms in the EE series through characters and story arcs.
• In order to design and implement EE programmes on child marriage or other closely related adolescent girl issues, behaviour change professionals and creative professionals have to collaborate. It takes the right team to create compelling media programmes that can also change social norms. You need creative professionals who can write compelling storylines as much as you need social change professionals that understand behaviour change theory behind it. It is a matter of carefully balancing the message and form, and between different stakeholders and collaboration partners. Steps in the creative production process are outlined.
• Measuring progress along the way is vital to our understanding of how change happens - Various monitoring and evaluation (M&E) issues are discussed, including suggestions such as: Carry out a baseline study at the beginning to understand what you are hoping to change. Document how the project prompts discussion and encourages changes in awareness and attitudes throughout its run and once it is over. Research can be a challenge on many levels, and it often requires creative solutions. One solution that was mentioned by some interviewees is the use of "markers", which are unique words, expressions, or slogans that can help to trace back conversations. When intended group members use this unique word in a conversation in real life or on social media, this can uniquely be attributed to the EE intervention.
• EE may be expensive at first but can be cost-effective in the long run - Several interview partners indicate that actual behaviour change takes more time than simply prompting initial discussion or raising awareness. Because behaviour changes take more time, projects and evaluation activities need to be planned accordingly.
• EE does not exist in a vacuum: Social change needs to be complemented by a supportive enabling environment - When awareness is raised (demand side), there should be a mechanism to meet that change (supply side). One example raised by almost all interviewees is around the existence of legislation that prohibits early marriage, which frequently exists but is rarely enforced.
• EE has the potential for positive change but also unintended consequences can arise - For example, one of the interviewees who managed a Nicaraguan EE programme found out that, while the storyline was supposed to be supportive of a gay character, and the aim was to stimulate the audience to become less homophobic and more tolerant, the opposite happened.

Next, the authors offer a series of recommendations for practitioners, as well as for policymakers and funders, to initiate discussions on how to design and implement an EE project. For example, one suggestion is to build capacity among civil society organisations (CSOs) working (or wanting to work) in this field. Facilitating knowledge exchanges and capacity building among CSOs could involve sharing and discussing results, organising an international EE master class or summer programme, and/or collecting EE materials and film footage on child marriage and other girl-related issues.

In the concluding section, the authors note that "Child marriage is a complex and sensitive issue and there are many drivers which perpetuate the practice at the individual and community level. Strategies to address behavior change, must be long term and move from solely prompting initial discussions or raising awareness around the issue to working to prompt sustained change in people's intentions and behaviours. In order to be most effective when using Entertainment-Education, this approach must be part of a larger behaviour change communication programme and based on strong theoretical notions. Given the potential of this approach to address child marriage, further investment (in terms of time, budget and energy) and knowledge sharing is recommended."

Editor's note: The below webinar (June 14 2017) explores the findings from the report and shares first-hand insights about implementing a variety of entertainment–education initiatives in high-prevalence countries. It features Professor Martine Bouman, one of the report's authors, along with Kriss Barker, Vice President of International Programs at Population Media Centre and Carina Schmid Director of Global Health Programs at PCI Media Impact.