Looking for Love in Bolivia - Radio Soap Opera Addresses Youth Sexual Health in El Alto, Bolivia

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) New York, NY -  August 2, 2010 - How do you discuss taboo topics with youth who are, as they themselves say, taught to be so closed-off they don’t ever let their hair down?  

In a migrant town just above the Bolivia’s capital city of La Paz, CECOPI and Radio Atipiri in El Alto, Bolivia, in partnership with PCI-Media Impact, have a unique suggestion: create a soap opera about those issues and let teens loose on the airwaves to digest and discuss the stories.     For the past three years, Radio Atipiri and CECOPI have produced successful radio to begin important dialogues about social issues such as the rights of women, youth sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence and inter-generation communication, all with the goal of empowering the community to speak-up and address the problems plaguing local residents.   Every Saturday morning, dozens of teens pile into the little studio to present the drama, “Looking for Love” and discuss its themes with listeners and amongst themselves and launch a call to action that empowers young people to take ownership of their community and lives.    “For me it is important to be part of the drama,” said Silvia Copa, a receptionist and street vendor. “I like to participate in the radio program to talk about young people and their programs.”    The program also facilitates important interactions between youth and local health service providers, and furnishes a platform from which to discuss topics that are all-too-often off limits in the community.   And the approach works. Impact data gathered in 2009 shows the program has nearly 73% of radio audience listenership and that, of those listeners, as many as 90% learned important messaging about HIV/AIDS by listening to the drama. What’s more is that youth are talking about the program with their friends – 65% recommended something positive they learned in the drama to their peers.   “Looking for Love” is part of PCI-Media Impact’s My Community, a series of message-oriented, locally developed pro-social grassroots media programs throughout Latin America. With 25 years of experience in the field, Media Impact has long been at the vanguard of educational media. My Community represents its latest response to a pressing but often overlooked problem in international development: how to engage low-income communities in open discussions about crucial though sometimes controversial issues.   To learn more about PCI-Media Impact go to www.mediaimpact.org.

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