Scenarios from Africa now available in Asia Pacific!

TVE Asia Pacific has recently signed an agreement to distribute two outstanding video collections of HIV/AIDS related stories produced by a remarkable pan-African collaboration involving young people and film-makers.

First launched in 1997, the Scenarios from Africa project on HIV/AIDS is carried out with and for young people and involves community mobilisation, education, research and media elements.

The two collections available, which between them have 28 short drama vignettes, were produced through a participatory process that involves almost all countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

The project, coordinated by the Global Dialogues Trust, gives children and young adults an exciting opportunity to educate themselves and others about HIV/AIDS by inviting them to participate with internationally acclaimed directors in the production of these short films.

The films are based on ideas thought up by young people in a series of contests. So far, over 105,000 young people from 37 African countries have taken part in these contests. Over 1,000 local and international partner organisations have been involved in organising the contests and selecting the winning ideas.

The films, ranging in duration from just under 2 minutes to almost 15 minutes, were produced by top fiction film-makers and animation specialists in Africa. They use African actors, locations and situations – and employ different story-telling tactics.

Some of the films are funny, while others are very moving. They cover many dimensions of the HIV epidemic, from preventing the spread of the virus to taking care of persons living with HIV. New films, focusing on priority topics of a constantly evolving epidemic, are being added each year.

"We are privileged to be able to distribute these remarkable stories in the Asia Pacific," says Manori Wijesekera, who heads TVE Asia Pacific's regional film distributions service. "As our region braces itself for a long-drawn struggle against HIV, we need communication to play its part – and there's much to learn from Africa's experience."

"We are delighted and grateful that TVEAP is distributing Scenarios from Africa in the Asia Pacific region," says Daniel Enger of the Global Dialogues Trust.  "Although the films were originally produced for the sub-Saharan African cultural context, we have been pleased to learn over the years that the films have proven useful as awareness-raising tools in many countries of the Asia Pacific area. Indeed, most of the HIV-related topics raised in the Scenarios from Africa collections have universal relevance, making the films useful discussion starters across the globe.”

TVEAP has been promoting Scenarios films for some years. Some were screened during the 2004 AIDS Film Festival that TVEAP organised during the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand.

Scenarios from Africa is a multi-media communication project that has been widely acclaimed by practitioners, activists and scholars worldwide. The films are supported by a user's guide and online discussion points that help teachers, trainers and activists to make the best use of these stories in their work.

The films are all distributed on a non-commercial basis across Africa and beyond, for broadcast and narrowcast use. The Scenarios films have been broadcast on locally-based television stations in almost every country in sub-Saharan Africa. The films are also collected on compilation DVDs and video cassettes for use by organisations and schools. Some 60,000 copies of the films (DVDs and video cassettes) of the films have been distributed to date.

The films are now available in a wide and growing range of African and European languages, and are reaching tens of millions of people.

Scenarios from Africa began life in 1997 as Scenarios from the Sahel. Thousands of young people under 25 in Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso took part in a contest inviting them to come up with ideas for short films on HIV/AIDS. The contest was so successful that a second contest was held in early 2000. Special emphasis in this contest was placed on encouraging girls/young women, rural youth, and young people who do not attend school to participate. Scores of organisations worked in partnership to bring the contests to communities, and almost 22,000 young people took part in the first two editions of the contest.

In 2002, the contest was expanded geographically to become Scenarios from Africa. During the 2002 and 2005 editions of the contest, some 84,000 young people from 37 African countries participated thanks to the collective efforts of over 1,000 organizations working in partnership at community level, and opportunities given to young people to take part electronically and by post.

TVEAP will distribute Scenarios on a non-exclusive, non-commercial basis to broadcast, civil society and educational users across the Asia Pacific.
The 5th Scenarios contest will be held from 1 December 2007 to 15 March 2008. Please contact info@globaldialogues.org. for more information