"Heart and Soul" covered in the British Media

Two articles recently appeared on the British Sunday Telegraph (2 July) and Sunday Times (16 July), respectively, on the "Heart and Soul" project. This was in anticipation of, and follow-up to, a week-long (July 3-7) scripting workshop facilitated by two of UK's top television drama experts namely, Mathew Robinson, Head of Drama at the BBC in Wales, and Mathew Baylis, novelist and former story-line editor for "EastEnders", one of UK's top TV soap operas.

Following the workshop, story lines and script for the first six episodes of the soap opera for radio and television were developed with participation of UN agencies. The creative foundations for the programme's characters, settings, story lines and direction were established. The first six-episode series are expected to be launched in April 2001.

The soap opera is the basis for a planned five-year multi-media communications strategy for the UN in Kenya, with joint funding from UNDP, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNEP, UNDCP, UNIC, ILO, and UNIFEM. In addition to providing entertainment, the soap will explore social issues and promote positive attitudes, values and behaviour change. By so doing the UN system, in partnership with the private sector and foundations, will break into a new and innovative arena of influencing behavior change through advocacy and public information.

"Heart and Soul"

"Heart and Soul" is the name of a pro-social issues-based opera. It aims to harness the communication power of the mass media in East Africa, creating a multimedia, communication vehicle for television and radio. The campaign embraces additional media techniques, including live drama, TV spot ads, billboards and education packs in a medium-to-long-term (five-years) implementation strategy.

Through the use of television and radio soap opera, the project seeks to facilitate the promotion of and communication of individual and collective United Nations messages, continuously and repeatedly to a mass, multi-national audience using relevant and entertaining approaches. Ultimately, the soap opera's scenarios and characters will have a powerful persuasive effect on public opinion, while creating awareness and galvanizing positive behavior change.