Posted on: June 02, 2021
A six-day long virtual workshop on the topic "Drama Design Workshop for Social Change" was organized in Kathmandu from May 17-22, 2021 to select radio drama writers for the second phase of the radio drama serial 'Rope Guna Fal'. In the first phase, Antenna Foundation Nepal and UNICEF Nepal jointly produced and broadcast radio drama serial based on parenting education in Maithili, Nepali and Bhojpuri languages. Population Media Centre, a non-profit organization dedicated to working on the Behavior Change through Radio drama, has also joined in the second phase.
The workshop was attended by 37 participants from across the countries who were drama writers and artists. Among the participants 16 were women and had people representing youths and other marginalized communities.
The 18-hour workshop was aimed at improving writers’ ability to write drama for social change based on Entertainment-Education. Population Media Center (PMC) discussed drama writing using its methodology (Telenovelas, Sabido Methodology, Transitional Character) during the workshop. The main themes discussed in the workshop were child marriage, gender socialization and parenting education. Similarly, the participants are also taught about values grid, character profile, triggers, writing for radio, scene, plot, dialogue, and cliffhanger and so on.
Workshop offered writers with group work sessions where participants were divided into groups to discuss triggers, characters, scenes and values grid. A range of experts ran different sessions over 6 days. The facilitators were Binaya Shekhar Guragain (AFN), Ananta Ghimire (AFN), Binita Shrestha (Guest Speaker/Equal Access Nepal), Dipu Shakya (UNICEF), JB Ruwali (PMC), Khagendra Lamichhane (Guest Speaker/Actor), Kriss Barker (PMC), Manoj Pandit (Guest Speaker/Director), Rajan Parajuli (PMC) and Sanju Bhattarai (UNICEF).
Keeping the Covid19 pandemic situation in mind, the workshop which was previously designed to be done physically was conducted virtually. The number of participants who applied for the workshop were higher than expected. The virtual platform proved to be beneficial because it gave space to increase the number from 20 to 37. Participants joined in using zoom. One of the challenges of conducting the workshop online was to ensure the attention of the participants. Resources like breakout sessions, polls, screen share, presentations, Mural and Menti Meter was used to make the sessions engaging. The workshop also had a session where participants were divided into six groups and performed a small skit using the tools learned throughout the training period. Overall, the workshop was informative as well as engaging.
"I had a great opportunity to improve my skills and understanding of drama writing. And, I also got to learn a lot from my fellow participants and facilitators" said Januka Dahal, a participant from Kathmandu and Binit Thakur from Dhanusha said, " I would like to thank the trainers for the sessions. The workshop has improved my understanding of drama writing as I have been writing dramas for a long time".
The workshop ended with a call for writers. The participants were given prompts to apply to become writers for the upcoming season of the radio drama - Rope Guna Fal (ROGF).
