Using folk media in development programmes.

Abstract

New communications technologies promise greater efficiency and accuracy in the dissemination of information. But the rural areas of developing countries do not benefit from these advances because of the lack of human and material resources there. There are valuable contributions to be made by folk media to support and promote development and family planning programs in developing countries. Folk media can integrate cultural values, beliefs, and attitudes with national and societal needs. Indigenous media are locally oriented, easily accessible, and relatively inexpensive. Folk media include visual, verbal, and aural forms accepted by a specific community and used to entertain, inform, or instruct. Poetry, puppetry, songs, and dramas are examples of dynamic folk media--adaptable, subject to change, and capable of incorporating new forms and ideas. In the early 1970s, 2 conferences were held to discuss the ways in which folk media and mass media could be used in family planning programs, bringing the idea closer to practical implementation. Historically, folk media have played a role in informing, instructing and motivating specific audiences. Folk media are flexible, portable and generally inexpensive. However, a careful balance must be maintained in using folk media to guard against the possibilities of destruction of the folk media form and the use of folk media solely for development purposes. Evaluating the effectiveness of folk media used to advance development aims is difficult, but behavioral changes seem to be the best gauge of effectiveness. The best approach, based on experiences in Sri Lanka, seems to be to use folk media to arouse the audience's feelings and create an atmosphere for change, followed by mass media presentation of more detailed information and vivid illustration.