2007 Annual Report ENTERTAIN. EDUCATE. ENGAGE. EMPOWER. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE On February 2, 2007, the United Nations scientific panel studying climate change declared that the evidence of a warming trend is “unequivocal,” and that human activity has “very likely” been the driving force in that change over the past 50 years. While the global rate of population growth peaked in encourage women to stay home and have babies, lead to rapid about 1963, the number of people living on Earth – and population growth. The result is ever increasing numbers of sharing finite resources like water and food – has grown poor people across Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, by more than two-thirds since then, reaching over 6.7 and elsewhere suffering from malnourishment, overcrowding billion people today. And each year, we add an additional and inadequate shelter, lack of clean water, and AIDS and 80 million people to a planet that is already struggling to other diseases. By modeling the benefits of small families, provide for its current inhabitants. It is estimated that by empowering women and girls, educating men about the value the year 2050, the human population will exceed 9 billion, of females in society, and providing important information assuming continued declines in fertility rates. about family planning, PMC’s programs are helping to change population dynamics. It is through these strategies that Consumption habits and population are the two primary we are seeing significant increases in the number of women factors in global warming, and both must be addressed and men seeking family planning services. For example, in in order to prevent the catastrophic effects of a warming Rwanda, 57% of new family planning clients in November planet, which include rising sea levels, loss of biodiversity, and December 2007 cited PMC’s program as the main reason food and water shortages, severe weather patterns, and they were seeking services. disease. These two factors are, quite simply, driven by what people do, and how many of us there are. With half of the current population either in or entering their reproductive years, the choices they make will greatly The population component has often been avoided impact the path that population takes in the future. Access out of concern over tough questions and questionable to voluntary family planning information and services will policies that have been implemented in the past. Coercive dictate future fertility trends. How quickly the human population policies and government efforts to control population grows over the next fifty years will have a direct reproductive rights have caused a severe backlash. PMC and significant impact on the extent of global warming and its believes that bringing population numbers into balance social, economic, and environmental impacts. with natural resources can be done voluntarily through a combination of information and services. It requires The importance of this work at this critical turning point is changing social norms on family size and family planning evident, and we appreciate the support we have received from – as well as on consumption and waste patterns. This PMC’s donors. It is their dedication and conviction to the includes empowering and educating people, especially cause, and their belief in the power of people to change the women, worldwide. It requires helping people to make world, that has made our work possible. educated decisions about how many children they want based on what is healthy for their family and the world. Sincerely, In less developed countries, lack of access to family planning information and services, as well as cultural traditions that William N. Ryerson OUR MISSION The mission of Population Media Center (PMC) is to work with mass media and other organizations worldwide to bring about the stabilization of human population numbers to a level that can be sustained by the world’s natural resources, to lessen the harmful impact of humanity on the earth’s environment, and to help large numbers of disadvantaged people live better and move out of poverty. PMC uses entertainment programming on radio and television to encourage delayed parenthood, the consistent use of effective methods of contraception, and safer sexual behaviors, as well as to empower women to play equal roles in family decisions and in society. Among its strategies, PMC uses a specific methodology of social-change communications developed by Miguel Sabido, a Mexican producer, in which characters in long-running radio and television serialized dramas evolve into role models for the audience, encouraging the adoption of healthier behaviors to benefit individuals and their societies. Scientific research has shown that the Sabido methodology leads to population-wide behavior change. Photo by Katie Elmore 1 YEAR IN SUMMARY PMC’s innovative strategy has now been adapted and replicated in 15 countries around the world. Our dramas have produced behavior change related to issues as diverse as promoting the use of family planning, delaying the age of marriage, preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, preventing female genital mutilation/cutting, preventing child trafficking, preserving the environment, treating and preventing obstetric fistula, and encouraging education for girls. The following report highlights our work over the course of the past year. “While the attention of researchers has focused on the role of formal education in reducing fertility, soap operas on radio and television can even more quickly change people’s attitudes about reproductive health, gender equity, family size, and environmental protection.” - Lester Brown, Plan B, Mobilizing to Save Civilization EARTH POLICY INSTITUTE, W • W • NORTON & COMPANY “What clearly does work is changing hearts and minds about family size and use of birth control, a decidedly grassroots phenomenon. And that’s exactly what PMC does by creating popular soap opera-type radio shows.” - Jim Motavalli, E Magazine - The Environmental Magazine “Purely educational television and radio shows provide useful information and increase awareness about important issues. But research has shown that they are unlikely to change behaviors shaped by centuries of tradition. In contrast, the PMC’s serialized dramas on women’s rights and family planning rely on the science of behavior change to rope audiences in for years of emotion-drenched episodes.” - Corey Binns, Stanford Social Innovation Review 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS President’s Message i Eastern Caribbean _________ 26 Our Mission 1 Jamaica __________________ 28 Year in Summary 2 Mexico __________________ 32 Table of Contents 3 United States _____________ 34 Ethiopia 4 Vietnam _________________ 36 Mali 10 Financials ________________ 38 Niger 12 Donors __________________ 39 Nigeria 14 Board of Directors_________ 43 Rwanda 18 Program Advisory Board ___ 44 Senegal 20 Staff List _________________ 48 Brazil 22 Map of PMC Projects 3 ETHIOPIA PMC is now in its ninth year of working in Ethiopia. PMC-Ethiopia has produced five radio dramas, a radio phone-in show with a panel discussion aimed at youth, two radio magazine programs, as well as various publications including a youth magazine, a full- length play, and three collections of short stories. These programs are designed to complement one another and have demonstrated a significant impact on the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of Ethiopians with regard to issues relating to family planning, reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and harmful traditional practices, including female genital mutilation/cutting. In 2007, PMC received a grant from Ending Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Save the Children Norway to address the issue of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). FGM/C refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for cultural or other non-medical reasons. There are various negative impacts on women’s health resulting from FGM/ C. Immediate complications include acute pain, shock, hemorrhaging, urine retention, damage to the urethra and adjacent tissue, and a series of bacterial infections. Complications involving any of these factors can be fatal. Long-term complications include difficulty in passing urine and menstrual blood, recurring urinary tract infections, incontinence, pelvic inflammation, and sexual dysfunction. The Photo by Luca Belis inability to pass menstrual blood (because the remaining opening is often too small) can lead to infection of other organs and also infertility. The resulting damage to tissue is also a possible route of infection by HIV. Approximately 74% of women and girls in Ethiopia are victims of FGM/ C, leading to adverse physical, social, and psychological problems. In the Afar and Somali regions, where infibulations are performed, the most extreme type of FGM/C, girls suffer extreme consequences, sometimes even death. It is often believed that the practice has some sort of religious basis; however, the practice of FGM/C has no religious or medical ties. It is a deeply embedded cultural practice that encourages parents to have their daughters circumcised. FGM/C is often used to control women’s sexuality. The practice is thought to ensure virginity before and fidelity after marriage and/or to increase male sexual pleasure. Girls who are not circumcised are labeled as promiscuous and, therefore, unworthy of marriage. In some communities, the external female genitalia are considered dirty and ugly and are removed ostensibly to promote hygiene and aesthetic appeal. The practice must be stopped not only from the point of view of the irreversible health damage, but also from the point of view of valuing women in society and maintaining healthy citizens who can contribute to Ethiopia’s socioeconomic development. 4 PMC-Ethiopia is harnessing the power of the mass media to address FGM/C and other issues related to reproductive health and women’s empowerment. The project uses a multi-media approach at national and regional levels with special media treatment in the Afar and Somali regions, where the most severe form of FGM/C is practiced.