Participation Versus Professionalism: Using Non-actors in Entertainment-Education Programmes

This presentation explores the tension between top-down directives and bottom-up participation based on the experience of two health-related theatre projects with the South African Clothing and Textiles Workers Union (SACTWU) in South African factories. It looks at the difficulties of balancing the need for professionalism in ensuring an effective, persuasive campaign, and the need to use participatory strategies to create a sense of ownership and identification amongst factory workers.

According to the presenter, both theatre projects were driven from the top-down, with directives from the health associations of the trade union. Both projects employed a professional consultant to manage and direct the process, but made use of local unemployed trade union members as actors.
The presentation looks at weighing the advantages and disadvantages of professionalism and participation. One the one hand, a professional and slick campaign is likely to attract audiences, and hold their attention, encouraging behaviour change through social learning and the modeling of positive health behaviours. On the other hand, a participatory campaign is more likely to draw audiences in through a sense of ownership of the project and identification with those involved. According to the presenter, those who are participating become role-models within their own community and amongst their peers. For behaviour change to take place, individuals must have a developed sense self-efficacy, and their ability to change. Theorists such as Freire, Boal and Servaes argue that without participation and it’s resultant empowerment, real learning does not take place, and this self-efficacy is not enhanced. Professionalism and participation may refer respectively to the two key elements of EE, namely entertainment and education.


According to the presenter, post-performance surveys suggest that the performances are of a sufficiently high standard to allow for audience enjoyment, an increase in knowledge, and recognition of characters and situations that encourage them to think about their
own behaviour. Surveyed audience members prefer to see their peers on stage, and this may
contribute to feelings of association with the health messages portrayed, and, by extension, ownership of the project. These feelings may ensure that the notion of collective efficacy is developed amongst audiences.

The presentation concludes that interventions work best when ordinary people are involved in the creation and delivery of an intervention for the benefit of their own community. With some external professional guidance and training, this can be truly successful. The importance of this
professional input should not, however, be underestimated in ensuring the quality and impact of an intervention.

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