We worked in partnership with a team of Burmese media professionals and the BBC Burmese Service to broadcast educational programming and a radio drama that delivered live-saving health information to Burmese listeners.
Start date: 2003
End date: 2007
Media types: radio
Issue: health, livelihoods and governance
Country: Burma
You can't talk openly about HIV in Burma
Listener's comment
The programme also tackled social issues, and issues around livelihoods and citizenship.
Tree of life
In 2003 we launched Thabyegone Ywa ('Tree of Life'), a twice-weekly radio drama aimed at the seven in ten Burmese who live in rural areas.
"You can't talk openly about HIV in Burma. But you can with this programme - that's what I like about it."
Listener's comment.
The drama included story lines about HIV and AIDS prevention and stigma, malaria, tuberculosis, acute respiratory infection and alcohol abuse.
The programming has also addressed citizenship and livelihood issues pertinent to the lives of people in Burma, such as managing debt, alcoholism, drug use, trafficking, petty corruption and the environment - with an emphasis on water.
As the drama unfolded over three years, the characters and actors became famous in Burma.
Floating Eugenia tree leaves
In 2006 we launched Lay Hlaing Baw ga Thabye ('Floating Eugenia tree leaves'), a twice-weekly magazine-style radio programme that included both drama and factual programming.
Lay Hlaing Baw ga Thabye consisted of linked pairs of educational programmes containing two short drama episodes using the same characters from the earlier drama.
The episodes were typically separated by a 'cliff hanger' and the plot was normally resolved at the end of the second instalment.
Lead by a presenter, the programme featured vox pops, testimonials, interviews or discussions on the principal development theme of the drama.
These might include life-saving health messages such as how to reduce the risk of malaria; coverage of social awareness-raising topics such as gender equity or inter-ethnic relations, and issues around citizenship and livelihoods, such as safe migration and child labour.
- 24% of all adults listen to the BBC World Service at least once a week
- Nearly one in five Burmese adults listens to Thabyegone Ywa
- 93% Thabyegone Ywa's listeners feel they learn a lot about health issues from the programme
- 90% of Thabyegone Ywa's listeners reported hearing about HIV and AIDS from the programme; as well as about malaria (60%); STDs (57%), drug abuse (50) and alcohol abuse (43%)
Research and impact
Extensive quantitative and qualitative research was conducted inside Burma throughout the project, successfully overcoming the security risks this entailed.
In 2004, we carried out qualitative research into the media landscape in Bangladesh and audience responses to Thabyegone Ywa to inform the future development of the drama.
In 2005 we carried out qualitative research to pre-test new episodes of the updated drama.
In 2005, we also carried out the quantitative 'Voices of Burma' Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices survey. It was the largest independent survey of its kind to be conducted in recent years in Burma, with over 6,000 participants.
It provided a tremendous opportunity to ask wide-ranging questions of diverse communities living in rural and urban areas and was able to inform the design of the programme.
This was followed in 2006 by qualitative studies with focus groups in rural and urban areas of Burma. This data gave impetus to make changes to the format and structure of the radio programmes and provided better information about the audience's perception of their own needs.
Challenging circumstances
The closed, controlled nature of Burma's political landscape has meant that the project has always operated in challenging circumstances from its base in Thailand at Chiang Mai University.
The BBC Burmese Service reaches audiences of more than 7 million people across both rural and urban Burma. However it is not welcome by the ruling junta.
Maintaining links with organisations on the ground within Burma is essential, but the contacts have to be kept confidential and our research visits to Burma have been undertaken with extreme caution.
Training
Despite the challenging circumstances, the project succeeded in recruiting around 150 Burmese contributors in a variety of positions, including production staff, actors, scriptwriters and researchers.
The majority are exiles and refugees living in Thailand.
We have provided continuous, intensive skills development - through workshops and on-the-job training - to the Burmese team.
Working in partnership
The project has been based within Chiang Mai University and the long-term relationship with the Mass Communications Department has provided constant support and dialogue. In exchange, we have contributed lectures and master classes to various faculties.
Experts inside Burma have provided regular editorial and technical advice on the storylines and content.
This has ensured authenticity of plots and settings for the drama and helped tailor the messages to meet the real needs of listeners.
Links of this kind have also proved vital in assisting with the distribution of non-radio materials.
Health education leaflets that used characters from the drama to inform the Burmese public about HIV, malaria and tuberculosis were produced and widely distributed both in Burma via a network of non-governmental organisations and among Burmese-speaking communities at clinics and in refugee camps in northern Thailand
The programme also had close connections with health workers on the Thai-Burma borders - particularly the Mae Sot Clinic and outreach activities run by Dr Cynthia Mung, and the Burma Medical Association.