Abstract

Radio is the only means of mass media that is able to reach the majority of people in most developing countries such as Malawi. Such being the case there are a lot of people that turn to radio for both education and entertainment. This thesis examines the extent to which radio edutainment has been used to communicate for development. The research takes us through two of the most popular radio plays in Malawi namely Zimachitika and Tikuferanji and puts under a microscope the requisites to the success of the two radio plays. It explores the requirements of successful behaviour change methodologies applied and what leads to failure in behaviour change in spite of popularity gained by radio drama programmes. It takes us through sentiments of the intended beneficiaries of the radio drama. There are listeners who believe that characters in the radio drama are their pillars of strength in the absence of trusted real life relations. In addition there are listeners that have been able to display positive transformation in their livelihoods as a result of listening to the plays. The new dimension brought by this thesis is the process that should be used to make radio edutainment viable for Malawian rural youth. This is the meticulous application of a values grid without losing the entertainment aspect of the whole process. The thesis posits that radio edutainment has a lot of potential to work as a substitute for live classrooms with teachers if the planning is both thorough and properly informed with relevant theories.

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School	: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Issued Date	: 2008

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