Radio Soap Opera ‘Agua de Angel’ Focuses on Environmental Issues related to Water

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) September 16th, 2010 –– Water politics reached new dramatic heights in Valle de Angeles, Honduras this year thanks to the efforts of Red de Desarrollo Sostenible (RDS - Sustainable Development Network) Honduras. 

In partnership with PCI-Media Impact, RDS has produced and broadcast ‘Agua de Angel’ (‘Angel Water’), an Entertainment-Education radio drama that focuses on environmental conservation, with water being a critical issue. More than 50 community leaders have been trained on radio production skills to produce the program.   The drama and complementary radio magazine show and My Community Action Campaigns, use broadcast media to address threats to the local ecosystem and way of life in Valle de Angeles (Valley of Angels), a town of more than a million people perched in the mountainsat 3,000 feet.   Valley of Angels is home to cloud forests, whose hundreds of waterfalls pour into the rivers that bring fresh water to the valley. According to program organizers, maintaining the pristine environment is a priority to local environmentalists and is critical to the livelihood of local farmers.   The tense political situation and coup in June 2009 derailed the original launch of the program, which was born out of RDS's desire to inform and engage local residents in a campaign to end destructive behaviors such as agricultural forest burning and dumping household waste into the local river.   Thankfully, with the support of generous individuals and the program’s very skilled team, Angel Water began broadcasting in the spring of 2010. The weekly radio magazine, Vamos a la Cuenca! (Let’s Go to the River Basin!) is written, recorded, produced and hosted by local volunteers between the ages of 12 and 70who interview local environmental experts, talk with listeners and interact with the program's mascots Punch and Taquacin to deepen the discussion about the issues presented in the serial drama. The mascots have become local celebrities.    Balbina Olivera, who lends her voice as a character in the drama said "people identify with the stories since they have been taken from problems and situations that are common not only in Valle de Ángeles, but in all of Honduras. It's interesting to hear the voice of someone you know, and even better when it's about a topic that interests us."   Vamos a la Cuenca! is part of PCI-Media Impact’s My Community, a series of message-oriented, locally developed pro-social communications programs. With 25 years of experience in the field, PCI-Media Impact has long been at the vanguard of Education-Entertainment. My Community represents its response to a pressing but often overlooked problem in international development: how to engage low-income communities in open discussions about crucial are sometimes controversial issues.   Each My Community program covers community-specific issues, such as democratic principles, sexual health and rights, and the mismanagement of solid waste. Every program incorporates a radio drama, developed at every stage by members of the communities themselves.   To learn more about PCI-Media Impact, please visit our website: www.mediaimpact.org.   PCI9000