Guatemala - K'ulb alib' Tz' Ixamal

PCI-Media Impact is producing the weekly radio drama K’ulb alib’Tz’Ixamal (Around the Fire) , broadcast in Ixil (Mayan language) and Spanish. The radio drama is the core feature of the talk show U Jatx B'al txum'al (Sharing from Ixil). The talk show is broadcast during a mixed – format call-in show, including:

• Testimonials and success stories from local families about how they achieved food security in their own homes
• Recipes made with local ingredients
• Expert’s advice
• Open lines to promote audience participation

Program Objective:

Using our Entertainment – Education (EE) methodology that harnesses the power of radio, PCI-Media Impact produces this show to improve food security and prevent child malnutrition among indigenous communities of Guatemala’s Ixil region.

“I decided not to go to the clinic when I was pregnant, because doctors and nurses are very rude to indigenous people over there.” - Local woman testimony
in the Ixil region

Overview of Food Security Issue in Guatemala

• In Guatemala, 57% of the population lives in poverty and 21% in extreme poverty, with a household income under $2 and $1 per day.
• 49% of Guatemalan children under the age of 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition.
• One quarter of these children are classified as below weight by public health officials.
• Children within the Indigenous population (67%) are more affected by stunted growth than within the Ladino population (35%)
  
  EMSMI:2003

The Broadcast

Broadcast: Radio Ixil 1010 A.M, from May 2007 – October 2007

• Radio Drama – 24 episodes, 10 minutes each
• Magazine Show – 24 episodes, one hour weekly

Target and Coverage: Women with children under 3 years old, nursing mothers, and pregnant women in the municipalities of Nebaj, Cotzal and Chajul in the Ixil region, and the south part of El Quiché.

Radio Drama Main Characters
Abuelita Nila & Abuelito Perucho: The oldest couple in the community. They enjoy telling stories to their grandchildren Maria and Lucho about how the community used to be in the past.

Nila: She is the new nurse in town, and she is trying to ensure pregnant women a safe pregnancy by taking care of them at the clinic, and by training local midwives.
Maria: She feels embarrassed for being pregnant and doesn’t trust the clinics.
Rosa: A very docile wife, she suffers from seeing her baby cry more than usual. Now she is expecting another baby.
Benito: A macho man and Rosa’s husband. He is tough with Rosa and flirts with Martha, who owns a small deli.

Radio Drama Plot: The drama portrays real-life situations encountered by a rural, Indigenous Ixil family over the course of an agricultural year. It heralds the family’s strategies to improve food production and security, overcoming child malnutrition and domestic violence along the way.

Our Methodology and Training

For this project, PCI-Media Impact is training local organizations and local broadcasters, such as Radio Ixil, to use our EE methodology to promote health provider services.

Our international consultants train these local partners focusing on:

• Education – Entertainment methodology (radio production, script and acting)
• Program monitoring and evaluation (quantitative and qualitative impact)