Mexico - Y Dios me Hizo Mujer

Centro para los Adolescentes de San Miguel de Allende (CASA) is an innovative Mexican community-based organization that has been serving the poor, particularly adolescents and rural women, by providing social services, and promoting health and environmental awareness. CASA's first of a kind Midwife training institute has become an important supplier of health professionals to the community.

In this context, with PCI-Media Impact providing training, funding and technical assistance, a group of young people were brought together to create the radio drama “Y Dios me Hizo Mujer”, which is the core discussion in the thirty minute live show magazine: “Rompiendo el Silencio” (Breaking the Silence). The primary topic of the program was reproductive health, with an emphasis on the professional role a midwife can plan in providing health care to pregnant women.

Social Economic Facts: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

In 1997 the Guanajuato State Government reported that 33% of the 4.7 million inhabitants of the state liv e in approximately 10,000 rural villages, the majority of which have a population of less than 2500. Of this rural population, 98.9% live in poverty.

According to CASA in 2000, 18,832 babies were born to mothers under the age of 20 in the state of Guanajuato. This constitutes 13.4% of all the state's births that year.

Broadcast Details

Broadcast Period: March 2006 – August 2006
Target Audience:The community of San Miguel de Allende, especially women ages 15 – 30.
Broadcast Coverage: XESQ Radio San Miguel 1280 AM, San Miguel de Allende and neighboring regions, reaching over 50,000 people approximately. After September 2007, CASA will start broadcasting the radio drama: “Y Dios me hizo Mujer” on Radio Reyna in the city Dolores Hidalgo. CASA is working to broadcast the program in more than 20 states to reach the most vulnerable women.

Magazine Show

Sections of the radio magazine

• Vox Populi “Callejoneando”: Open Questions
• “Cuéntame como paso”: Testimonies from listeners
• Guest interviews
• “¿Sabias que?” Informational clips

Number of Episodes: Radio Drama – 25 episodes, 4 minutes each. Magazine Show – 25 episodes, 30 minutes each.

The Serial Drama

Plot: Antonia is a young and single mother with many dreams and aspirations. She has seen the bad conditions under which pregnant women in her community give birth, and she is motivated to do something about it.

Radio Drama Main Characters Profile
Antonia: 29 years-old, her daily job presents her with many challenging situations, including trying to help and understand the reality of women’s role in her community.

Señora Otilia: the community midwife, she feels jealousy towards Antonia, and would do anything possible to prevent her dreams from coming true.

With the radio drama one begins to imagine what is happening to the person within the story.
Anonymous, 18

Program Impact

PCI-Media Impact and CASA developed a robust methodology to monitor the impact of this program. They conducted 427 surveys in San Miguel de Allende and three focus groups to recollect and analyze baseline information and impact results.

Indeed, the radio drama has changed my way of thinking about midwives. Now I have respect for their work. - Anonymous, 23

Baseline Research

For the baseline research 300 people were interviewed. Some results:

• Just 53.3% have heard a radio program addressing sexual issues before.
• 74% expressed interest to learn more about it.

Change behavior before and after the radio program broadcast

Which specialist would you choose for the moment of birth?

Do you think women should follow midwifes’ recommendations?

Local Partnerships
We work with public and private partners to promote social development.
Sanitary Jurisdiction - Family Planning Consultants; DIF - Divorce and Legal Adoption Consultant; and APAMEX - Midwife Consultants

Capacity Building and Participation
We ensure the program sustainability by increasing broadcasting skills within the community.

Three capacity building workshops: Script elaboration, radio production and broadcast. In addition, participants identified and communicated their own needs, which created credibility among listeners.

The radio magazine received 6-15 phone calls during each broadcast.

• 25% congratulating the program and 75% asking questions about midwife practices.
• During the last program, a simultaneous broadcast was set up from “Plaza de la Soledad” where listeners met some of the radio drama characters to take pictures.

Cost–Effectiveness
To ensure program sustainability the project required cost-sharing. PCI-Media Impact provided 12.6 % of the project cost and our partners provided the remaining 87.4%, often through in-kind contributions, volunteers, and sponsorship.