The campaign will be implemented in four main components, which include:
- Conceptualization
- Planning & Preparations
- Execution
- Monitoring & Evaluation
Conceptualization
As an initial activity of the campaign, Amanuddin Foundation and Sayara creative team, which will include the experienced Afghan researchers, scriptwriters and production designers with the guidance from Sayara’s international experts and creative director, will start the conceptualization of mobile theatre campaign focusing on the life and principles of Abdul Ghaffar Khan. The enabling factors of the concept will be derived from different situational analysis and atmospheric reporting that Sayara conducts in different provinces and regions of Afghanistan via its regional network for enriching its communications programming. The analysis will include focusing on the:
- Role of violence in the lives of the people in the targeted area
- The causes of the violence.
- Influence of the violence.
- Strengths and weakness in approaches dealing with violence.
- Benefits and points of concern.
- Who to target.
Additionally, the conceptualization phase will also include the audience preference analysis, which will be a vital part of the concept to ensure higher penetration rate. This will include strategizing the different elements of the program, such as:
- Good entertainment to ensure the audience attention, but shouldn't be overdone;
- Content from the real incidents that will match the current situation of those specific targeted areas; and
- The program should be prepared culturally relevant to the area, so that the audiences can relate with different aspects of the content delivery, such as accent of the actors, culturally relevant jokes, knowledge of the area, etc. Those aspects are deemed to be the most important factors for producing any communications tool in Afghanistan, because they can play a vital role in the success of the program and achievement of the intended results.
Planning & Preparation
Once the conceptualization phase is completed, Sayara’s experience staff in collaboration with Amanuddin Foundatiion will start preparations and planning for the actual execution of the campaign. The preparations will include activities such as, but not limited to:
- Recruitment of the theatre teams in three different regions, which are:
- Loy Nangarhar – covering Nangarhar, Laghman and Kunar provinces.
- Loya Paktia – covering Paktia, Paktika and Khost provinces; and
- Loy Kandahar – covering Kandahar, Helmand and Uruzgan provinces.
- Scriptwriting and pre-testing the scripts.
- Rehearsal of the pre-tested and approved scripts by the theatre teams (i.e. actors and directors)
- Developing the M&E plan.
- Development of the roadmap of the theatre teams, which will include coordination with different Government of Afghanistan civilian and security organs at national and sub-national level.
Execution
The mobile theatre campaign will be implemented in three regionalized phases. Three provinces will be covered in each of the regions. The provinces of the regions will be collated together where the cultural and social similarities are significant. For example, Nangarhar Kunar and Laghman are similar, if not the same, in terms of cultural, social and tribal specificities.
For three months, the teams will conduct around 75 shows in each of the regions.
In tier one provinces, which are the regional centers (I.e. Kandahar in the south, Nangarhar in east and Pakita in southeast) 40% of the total regional shows will happen and the remaining two provinces will have 30% each.
In addition, Sayara will hire actors and directors from the same regions where they will be required to perform the shows. This will ensure that the accent of the actors is the same as the audiences and the actors and directors of know what works in a specific region and what does not.
The filming will be conducted regionally and then edited by Sayara teams in Kabul.
Monitoring & Evaluation
Pre-evaluation
Before the rounds of mobile theater performances begin, baseline focus groups sessions will be conducted in order to evaluate the audiences’ initial knowledge and beliefs on subject.
Monitoring and Post-evaluation
Each performance will end with a quiz session, where the participants will be asked questions to test their understanding of the show. In addition, focus groups discussions will be conducted the day following each performance to assess the impact of the show.
The impact of the performances will be evaluated from 2 perspectives:
- Have the audiences understood the show?
- Have the audiences learnt something and will apply it in their daily behavior?
Comparing the answers given during the Focus Groups Discussions (FGD) against those given at the pre-evaluation stage will allow for a more precise assessment of the shows’ actual impact in terms of the audiences’ belief and understanding of the topic.
Moreover, for the participants of the FGDs not to be influenced by what the others say, as well as to avoid putting them under the pressure of finding the "right answer", the formulations will be as open as possible, and participants will not consecutively be asked the same questions.
Specific questionnaires will be designed for pre and post performance focus group discussions, which will be pre-tested before applying in the field.