[afro-nets] Radio/Video Project on Older People's Rights - Africa

[The Southern Health & Ecology Institute <shae@worldonline.co.za>]

Radio/Video Project on Older People's Rights - Africa
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Summary

Africa Regional Development Centre, a component of HelpAge In-
ternational (Nairobi, Kenya), has launched a series of radio
plays and a two-part video. Five 14-minute radio plays focus on
issues that affect older people - health, poverty, abandonment,
HIV/AIDS, and violence and abuse. The plays aim to raise aware-
ness of older people's rights and to generate discussion of is-
sues that affect older people. A video explores rights-related
problems and solutions as defined by older people.


Main Communication Strategies

Radio is used as a tool to dramatise the predicaments of older
people faced with abuses including violence; witchcraft accusa-
tions; abandonment; and the problems created by poverty, lack of
access to health care, and HIV/AIDS. For example, one play ex-
plores the burden older people bear when their adult children
die of AIDS and leave the orphans under their care. In this
play, the village chief harasses an older woman, urging her to
contribute some money for the village water project yet remain-
ing deaf to her pleas that she does not have any money (she
spends all her income taking care of her grandchildren). The
older woman is accused of practising witchcraft, which it is
said led to the death of her HIV-positive daughter and son-in-
law. This play also highlights the common belief that older peo-
ple cannot get AIDS since they are no longer sexually active.


Some of the plays were aired by Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
(May 2003). The plays, each 14 minutes long, are designed to be
used by community radio and TV stations and to be featured at
training sessions and community and international events (like
International Day of Older People and Human Rights Day). The
scripts are available in English and French. Copies are being
distributed to all HelpAge International's members and partners
in Africa so that they can work with the media to reproduce the
plays in local languages.


A two-part video entitled Old is Gold has also been produced.
Part I (Rights of Older People - Mark of a Noble Society) looks
at the various dimensions of the violations of older people's
rights as described by older people themselves, policy makers,
and representatives of other NGOs and older people's organisa-
tions. The video also focusses on the application of interna-
tional human rights instruments, such as the Universal Declara-
tion on Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peo-
ple's Rights. Part II (Rights of Older People - Possible Solu-
tions) looks at solutions - as defined by older people, their
organisations, and policy makers.


Key Points

The radio and video project is part of HelpAge International's
programme "Addressing Violations of the Rights of Older Women
and Men Africa". The overall programme goal is to reduce viola-
tions of the rights of older women and men in Africa by increas-
ing understanding of the nature and extent of the violations of
the rights of older women and men in Africa and enabling the de-
velopment of appropriate interventions.

HelpAge International is a global network of members and partner
organisations working in over 70 countries on practical and pol-
icy work. Its mission is to improve the lives of disadvantaged
older people. Funders and partners include inter-government and
government agencies, trusts and foundations, charitable agen-
cies, companies, and individuals.


Source

Letters sent from Sarah Graham-Brown (Media Officer, HelpAge In-
ternational) to The Communication Initiative on May 20 and June
16 2003.


For more information, contact:
Pension Munyama
Rights Project Officer
mailto:pmunyama@helpage.co.ke

Angela Baiya
Communications Officer
mailto:abaiya@helpage.co.ke

Africa Regional Development Centre
HelpAge International
PO Box 14888
Westlands
00800 Nairobi, Kenya
http://www.helpage.org/