“Icchedana”: New Innovations in Entertainment Education in Bangladesh
By Monidipa Saha
Many people in Bangladesh are familiar with “Meena,” one of the most popular children’s shows on television. An episode I often recall is the one where Meena’s mother serves a larger portion of food to her younger brother, Raju because he is a boy. Meena believes this is unfair, so she and Raju switch chores for a day to see what it’s like. Raju later returns home to tell his parents how difficult it was to do Meena’s work for the day. The episode ends with Raju and Meena receiving the same sized meals. Although at the time I perceived the show was a form of entertainment for children, Meena’s stories was also sending viewers powerful messages of gender equality, health, right to education and more. Conceived by UNICEF, today Meena has become a prominent example of entertainment education and a successful advocacy and teaching tool on a range of social issues in Bangladesh. The show resonated with millions like myself, who found Meena’s humor relatable and admired her courage.
Based on the success of Meena as a form of entertainment education, UNICEF’s most recent innovation ‘Icchedana’ is a television show that addresses the challenges faced by adolescent girls in Bangladesh. Under the ‘National Multi-Media Campaign focusing on Ending Child Marriage (ECM),’ Icchedana is an initiative striving to change social norms around early child marriage, gender stereotypes, girls’ empowerment, mental health, adolescent health-seeking behaviors, harassment, and reproductive health needs, to name a few.
Icchedana was launched at the end of September 2018 and intends to disseminate educational messages about several adolescent developmental issues through entertainment platforms. Currently the show is airing on BTV, ATN Bangla, Duronto, and Asian TV. But it is also accessible on YouTube, UNICEF Bangladesh’s Facebook page and Icchedana’s Facebook page.
BRAC JPGSPH with the support of UNICEF and Asiatic 360, has planned an evaluation framework to estimate the viewership of the show and to weigh the impact of entertainment education towards attitude and shifting the perception on adolescent development on high-prevalence child marriage areas in Bangladesh. The Research team is conducting a four-block Rapid Assessment Survey on Tangail, Kustia, and Nilphamari.
Tanjila, a fearless teenager and sports enthusiast, is the main character who rises against normative beliefs and taboos while overcoming stigma and challenges. The show features incidents of harassment inflicted by an antagonist with his own malicious gang. Tanjila stands up to the antagonist with support from her school and the rest of the villagers who later join in and boycott the gang members.
In one episode Babli (another character) misses school because of her period. How this episode showed how a small intervention can shatter impregnable taboos; Babli’s father buys her sanitary pads, which gives a strong message of support towards menstrual hygiene management. The incidence highlights how the slightest amount of awareness could help to solve the biggest of problems. The best feature of the show is that it reflects 21st century Bangladesh and the difficulties many girls still face in their day-to-day lives. Though the show features the stories from a rural setting, the themes remain universal and relatable to girls living across the country.
Bangladesh is going through a huge paradigm shift. Even though with changing mindsets, it still leaves a lot unspoken. There is a general lack of awareness of social discrimination. The character Tanjila is a new age phenomenon and shows how a young, optimistic and courageous girl can take charge and defy social norms. Tanjila is a fictional character, yet she has the influence to empower and inspire.
Icchedana represents positive images of girls succeeding against the odds to gain equal treatment, love, care, and respect. Creative and exhilarating storylines have promoted social issues appealingly and provocatively. Such programs strive to create intensive behavioral changes, definitely needs to break the interdiction.
Monidipa Saha is a Research Associate at BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University.
