Context
Whether for cultural, religious or social reasons, the people of Myanmar suffer from a significant lack of knowledge on crucial health and social issues. Without this knowledge, communities are victims of ignorance.
Our action
The objective of Human Drama—the first program of its kind, designed in 2011 by the British Council and FXB in Myanmar—is to help people become aware of various issues related to health, human trafficking, domestic and sexual violence, gender equality, the dangers of social networks (fake news), peacebuilding and safety. FXB works in collaboration with the organization MyJustice to improve legal knowledge and access to justice in communities.
This edutainment program has proven to be a remarkably effective communication and awareness tool. The performers present short plays illustrating real-life problems and situations chosen by the FXB team in the targeted community. They encourage the audience to intervene at key moments in the performance, whenever the spectator thinks that he or she can say or do something that would change the course of events. Role-playing is a simple but effective way to address the issues at hand: the complementary performances and workshops allow audience members to analyze their own reality, become aware of the potentially negative impact of their actions on others, and thus gain a greater sense of ownership concerning the need for behavioural change. This technique also tends to create empathy among community members.
The strength of our approach : Creating fertile ground to inform and induce behavior change.
In this favorable environment, community members are able to freely express opinions and determine the best solutions to the problems they face.
Unlike other methods of disseminating messages, such as brochures, this edutainment program has proven to be a remarkably efficient tool for communication and to raise awareness.
