The document discusses a new telenovela called "Mucho Corazón" that launched in Chiapas, Mexico to promote gender equality, sustainable development, and girls' education through the story of an indigenous woman overcoming discrimination. It also provides updates on Media Impact's work in 30 countries using entertainment-education methods like radio dramas and talk shows to address various social issues, and highlights programs in places like Peru, Bolivia, West Africa, and New York City.

1. on air
Putting Heart Spring 2012
Into Women’s
Issues in Chiapas
Move over Clark Kent. There’s a new Superwoman in town.
On January 25th, a new 35-episode The television drama was born after
telenovela, Mucho Corazón (A Lot the successful broadcast of a radio
of Heart), to promote gender equality, drama, Corazón de Mujer (The
s u s t a i nable development and Heart of a Woman), last year. The
education of girls launched on Canal radio drama, originally created for
10, the government-run television Chiapan audiences, has since been
channel in Chiapas, Mexico. picked up on more than 50 stations
in six countries. Similarly, the State
The story features a young indigenous Government of Chiapas, which co-
woman, Maruch, who suffers from produced both dramas with Media
harassment, corruption, racial and Impact, has signed distribution
gender discrimination and a lack agreement to make Mucho Corazón
of opportunities because of her available for free rebroadcast in
social class. Determined to see her more than 20 countries, including
father overcome alcoholism and to the United States and Canada. The story draws heavily from the
improve her own life, Maruch takes experiences and daily lives of
advantage of government programs To see clips from Mucho Corazón, residents of Chiapas, as shown in
for women and empowers others visit our website: this scene about new government
in her community to start their own www.mediaimpact.org. programs to support farmers.
tomato farm.
Media Impact Given Four-Star Rating!
In January 2012 Media Impact was awarded the highest rating
attainable by the esteemed, independent ratings organization,
Charity Navigator
recommendation for our work and programs at:
www.charitynavigator.org.
The drama, which centers around a love
story, was written by two famed Mexican
telenovela writers.

2. Mexico. This fall, we will expand this
work to include up to 15 schools in
New Faces, New Places NYC alone.
NEW FACES: NEW PLACES:
WEST AFRICA
Media Impact is entering into a
We are excited to welcome We are active in 30 partnership with USAID and the
two new people to our team countries! U.S. Forest Service to launch a
2012 is proving to be a year of growth four-year, four-country program to
Dr. Will Banham is Media Impact’s for Media Impact. We are currently promote climate change resilience,
DR. WILL BANHAM
n e w P r o g r a m s D i r e c t o r . Will working in 30 countries to empower sustainable forestry and improved
joins Brenda Campos in running local communities to address local livelihoods. As part of this
our Programs Department after local issues, including sexual program, the partners will create
nearly eight years at the Wildlife and reproductive health, climate a 52-episode radio drama that will
Conservation Society’s (WCS) change, biodiversity conservation,
Global Conservation Program, empowerment of women and girls Liberia, Guinea, Ivory Coast and
during which time he led a capacity and family planning. Sierra Leone. The drama will be
building program and developed complemented by local radio call-
approaches and partnerships to We are particularly excited about the in talk shows and community action
implement innovative and effective following programs: c a mp a ig n s t o p ro m o t e l a s t i n g
outreach and education within target changes in knowledge, attitude and
audiences in and around WCS NEW YORK CITY behavior.
landscapes and seascapes.
that the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
will support the expansion of our My
School – My Community program in
the fall. My School - My Community
is a classroom-based program that
teaches youth to use communications
programs, including a serial drama,
Marco Rodriguez joined the Media talk show and campaign, to foster “We all win when we protect nature.”
MARCO RODRIGUEZ
Impact team as Communications dialogue about problems in their Gaguie paraded the banner above
Officer. Marco has extensive school. We are currently working with
experience in graphic design and six teachers in four NYC classrooms, championship game.
video editing, and has supported
our work as an intern for the
two teachers in St. Lucia and one in
GABON
In February, Media Impact supported
past year. We are thrilled he has
the organizing committee of the 2012
joined our team and look forward
African Cup of Nations to help shape
to sharing his multimedia projects
the tournament mascot, Gaguie
with you in the coming months.
the Gorilla, into an ambassador
for conservation. During the two
weeks of Africa’s premier soccer
tournament, we worked with local
partners to produce and distribute
My School-My Community Students more than 4,000 promotional t-shirts,
produce give-away items that hats and stickers to Gaguie’s fans;
underscore the drama’s messages. hosted ten conservation-themed
Please join us in welcoming Will and discussions on Mbolo Gabon / Good
Marco to our team!
For more information about these programs, please visit
our website (www.mediaimpact.org). Be sure to check your
mailboxes and inboxes for more information about these
programs.

3. Morning Gabon (Gabon’s primetime
morning TV show); and arranged
radio stations selected from the
original participants will help guide What Does Your
for Gaguie and his dance troupe to
Support Mean?
new stations in the creation of radio
parade a banner stating “We all win magazine shows and community
when we protect nature” around the action campaigns. We are excited
about this program design because For youth in Peru, your support
the tournament. Soon a series of it empowers former participants to means knowing about their sexual
“Gaguie’s World” columns will be train their peers. (See page 4 for a and reproductive health and
featured in both of Gabon’s national participant perspective.) knowing where to access youth-
daily newspapers. Even though the friendly health services.
tournament is over, Gaguie’s work
is not. We look forward to keeping PERU Earlier this year, nearly 400 students
Gaguie and his messages alive with The new My Community – My Water ages 14-18 from six schools in
community-based activities around Huamanga, Peru were surveyed
Gabon in the coming months. at training workshops around the about what they learned from the
country. This three-year program, UNFPA and Media Impact
Impact-produced
executed in partnership with USAID, radio drama Cuando el Amor
will address issues of water and Agarra (When Love Grabs Hold),
sanitation, with a focus on the and the accompanying talk show
impact of water issues on women. ZonAdolecentes. The results were
The initiative centers around one impressive.
centrally-produced soap opera, and Of the students surveyed:
will train local coalitions of partners
in four regions of Peru to produce - 84.6% said they had heard of
talk-shows to give local context the Integrative Sexual Education
to the issues. This on-air work is promoted in the drama, as
Phase II of the Our Voices project complemented by community action compared to 64% of students in the
launched with this broadcast in campaigns that encourage listeners baseline.
Sucre.
to take action. - Nearly 50% of students said they
had heard of a regional initiative to
create youth-friendly reproductive
BOLIVIA health services, most of whom
(92.8%) heard of these services
The second phase of the Our Voices through the radio drama.
program kicked-off at a training - 87% of students who knew about
workshop in February 2012. The youth-friendly health services were
able to name a local health center,
successful creation and broadcast of Huamanaga Hospital, as a place to
the Dark City radio drama in more access these services, and more
than 40 radio stations around the than half (65.2%) participated in
country. The second phase of the local health fairs.
program is geared toward generating
Students in Peru (see right) We are very proud of these
community dialogue and action
participated in community fairs accomplishments. You should be
around the topics of pluralism and where they learned about sexual
diversity, access to communication too. Stay tuned to hear more about
health and took home prizes, like the lives around the world you
and civic engagement. 25 mentor this shirt.
change with your generous support.
In the News…
Media Impact has been making headlines this year! Since January, our work and Entertainment-Education
methodology has been featured in several publications, including the World Bank Blog (http://blogs.worldbank.org/
publicsphere/node/5887) and the New York Times “Fixes” blog (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/
steamy-plots-with-a-social-message/). In March, we were featured as a Solutions Partner for the Newsweek & The
Daily Beast-hosted Women in the World Summit.

4. Voices from the Field: Addressing
Diversity through Dialogue
Sandy Guillet is an Our Voices participant from Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Our Voices is a national program to promote plurality and diversity,
access to communications and information, and citizen participation
from around the country hosted Entertainment-Education radio talk
shows featuring the program’s radio drama thriller, Dark City. Now
in its second phase, the program is empowering even more stations
to create talk shows for the drama and to participate in a national
community action campaign to raise awareness about the issues.
Sandy’s radio station, Radio CEPJA, introduced innovative
Broadcasts in the central market promote
audience interaction.
program. By partnering with other radio stations, Radio CEPJA
engaged school children in classrooms and youth at the city’s central Radio CEPRA -- decided to work together, to unite our
market in meaningful discussions about diversity and plurality and efforts, our ideas, our expectations, our hopes with
regard to what we could accomplish in the community
Sandy was selected from more than 30 applicants as one of six by working together to promote citizen participation,
mentors for the new stations participating in the second phase of the the right to access communication and information,
program (see page 3). Her goal is to help the new stations develop plurality and diversity.
engaging talk shows to discuss the issues presented in the drama
and to help implement a national Our Voices campaign in her region. One project we did together with youth from several
classrooms at schools from the southern and northern
Our Voices zones of Cochabamba. The small encounter turned
program. into a huge forum for debate in which the youth and
adolescents shared their stories about plurality and
“The community mobilization component of the methodology was diversity, answering the question: “How do we feel in
very important for us because we believed that the messages of the relation to others?” They said sometimes we exclude
radio drama needed to go beyond the broadcast, that they should people because they are from the right or the left, tall
generate an effect, a reaction in the listeners. Because of this, three or short, speak an indigenous language or one that is
stations including ours -- Radio CEPJA, Radio Kancha Parlaspa and different from our own, or wear black or pink clothes.
We had a nice experience because we worked with a
group of people that is excluded from conversations
about these questions, these issues – plurality and
diversity.
The youth were able to suppress their feelings from their
own negative experiences to look for solutions to their
problems. And the radio drama Dark City, which many
people listened to, achieved, motivated, incentivized
these youth to respond to another’s story by saying,
“That also happened to me. If you propose a solution
Correspondents gathered opinions from listeners to to this problem, I can follow your example, or I choose
incorporate in the broadcasts. another path, but let’s build solutions together.”
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