To complement training
seminars, the staff of the Advancing Healing and Reconciliation project
collaborates with
Radio
Benevolencija, based in the
Netherlands, on the development of a communications campaign designed to
promote understanding of the origins of genocide, healing, reconciliation,
and the prevention of future violence. The
Rwandan Reconciliation Communications Project is unique in being a research-based campaign that
brings together social scientists, psychologists, and communication for
social change experts in a concerted effort to advance healing and prevent
violence through popular media. The communications strategy is based around
two main activities: mass media communication, specifically radio
broadcasting in the local language (Kinyarwanda), and participatory
communications activities through a grassroots level network of change agents
and/or local organizations.
The radio programs will feature two main elements:
■ An
ongoing radio drama series. A
team of Rwandan writers and actors will create a drama series that
communicates key project themes. By following the lives of various radio
drama characters, listeners will understand how to prevent violence, how to
start the process of reconciliation and how to promote healing.
■ A series of factual radio programs. These
programs are primarily intended to provide deeper insight into the origins of
genocide with historical examples and discussion of the application of the
concepts to Rwanda. The programs will also emphasize the importance of
healing and avenues to violence prevention. Various formats involving
interviews, debates, personal portraits, poetry, music and oral history may
be combined to best convey project messages.
The participatory communications activities will operate through a network
of existing local organizations/community workers. The activities are aimed
at reinforcing the information conveyed through the radio programs and at
creating debate and discussion about the programs among local communities. As
a research-based effort, the project has introduced both formative and
summative evaluation activities in order to improve the programs and document
their impact on healing and reconciliation in Rwanda. Listener groups are
being used in the formative research process, in a participatory message
design approach. The evaluation is being conducted in partnership with Yale
University. For further information about the Rwandan Reconciliation
Communications Project, please
contact us.
