Content Design and Capacity Building Strategy of the Breaking the Silence Project

Breaking the Silence is an evidence-based edutainment (EE) initiative developed by Fundación Imaginario that seeks to facilitate deep reflection and dialogue about what happened in the armed conflict in Colombia. The initiative is designed to support the educational strategy of the Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition (CEV) and to ensure truth, coexistence, and the non-repetition of violence following the signing of a peace treaty.

The key component of Breaking the Silence is a fiction series, accompanied by a multimedia content platform with educational support materials for teaching and learning processes in the classroom and in the educational community (see Related Summaries, below, for more information about the Breaking the Silence initiative and its multimedia components). Due to the complex nature of addressing reconciliation following the protracted conflict in Colombia over 60 years, a distinctive feature of this initiative is that it has brought in the knowledge and expertise of a wide range of stakeholders.

Outlined below is the process of developing the content for Breaking the Silence following the first formative research phase, as well as another distinctive feature of this initiative: the capacity building component that sought to strengthen the implementation of communication for social change (CSC) and EE strategies for the project and beyond. For both these components, special attention was given to identifying global leaders in EE and CSC, as well local talent. These organisations shared their experience and lessons in more than 15 workshops. Among them were UNINORTE, Soul City and Heartlines (South Africa), BBC Media Action (United Kingdom), Puntos de Encuentro (Nicaragua), and The Communication Initiative (Canada and Latin America).

The first part of the content development process involved three training and design workshops on fiction series script writing and was based on the message brief that was the outcome of the formative research process (see Related Summaries, below). The formative research involved rigorous processes of research, situation diagnosis, and listening necessary to understand the audiences, their contexts, and culture, and it was designed to serve as the basis for producing the central narratives of the communication strategy. Participants in these workshops were subject experts, directors and producers, content creators in other non-fiction formats, and communication collectives active in the territories prioritised by the CEV. Each workshop was offered in 3 sessions of 4 hours each and resulted in the construction of character arcs and scripts for the fiction series, as well as validation with the intended audiences through focus groups. The workshops were as follows:

1. Introduction to Edutainment (EE) and the project for the Truth Commission: This workshop offered an introduction to the methodology of EE for social change with international examples from Heartlines (South Africa) and BBC Media Action (Myanmar). The Breaking the Silence project was presented, and the mandate and challenges of the Truth Commission were contextualised. In addition, the results of the formative research and the message brief that underpins the whole project were presented.
2. Designing an Edutainment Intervention Using Dramatisation/Fiction - Universe and Characters: This workshop was led by the Creative Producer of Heartlines. She talked about what EE is, models of social and behavioural change, and drama and storytelling through series. Based on her experience, she led the whole team to reflect on the audience's needs for this project. With this orientation and the messages brief containing the pillars of the formative research, the scriptwriters went on to design the fiction series and presented a pitch or proposal in a closed session to the CEV.
3. Designing an E-Entertainment Intervention Using Drama - Story Arches and Treatments: In this workshop, the scriptwriters presented the premise, universe, synopsis, and characters of the fictional series to the working team and the CEV. Suggestions were gathered in the workshops, and testing with the intended audiences was carried out in order to make any final adjustments.

The second stage of the Breaking the Silence EE strategy included training/capacity building for the general Colombian audiovisual sector in EE strategy design, script writing, content development, production, promotion, and use.

During the third stage of the process, capacity building of the Breaking the Silence EE team continued with partners from BBC Media Action and Heartlines. Three training workshops were held with a view to implementing and promoting the Breaking the Silence strategy and included:

• Lessons Learned from International Partners: This workshop sought to share experiences and lessons learned in EE implementation covering: youth engagement, youth and social agency, use of social media, social mobilisation, distribution and use in school and communities, and environmental analysis.
• Lessons Learned from the Education Sector: The objectives of this workshop were to: (i) share experiences and models of educational interventions that will allow the project to refine the implementation plan for Breaking the Silence; (ii) identify potential strategic alliances and synergies with key networks and organisations in the education sector; and (iii) start a peer-to-peer dialogue on how to ensure that Breaking the Silence is effectively incorporated and used in the classroom.
• Strategic Partnerships for Funding Breaking the Silence: This workshop sought to identify information on what aspects of Breaking the Silence could be highlighted to international funders and which funders could possibly be involved in supporting the peace process in Colombia through this initiative.

The final outcome of the capacity-building efforts is an edutainment manual "The Transformative Power of Story-Telling" (see Related Summaries, below) which was developed by Fundación Imaginario and Heartlines with support from DW Akademie. The manual is intended especially for people and organisations that want to use this type of communication strategy for social change in crisis contexts. It not only includes step-by-step guidance of an edutainment strategy but is enriched with a behind-the-scenes view of the production process of Breaking the Silence, as well as another storytelling initiative seeking to foster reconciliation: "What's Your Story" in South Africa.