Home

SAATHI SANGA MAN KA KURA (CHATTING WITH MY BEST FRIEND)

Based on Knowledge, Attitude, Practice and Skills (KAPS) study and other frequent qualitative studies, UNICEF developed an innovative radio program in Nepali: “Saathi Sanga Man Ka Kura ( SSMK )” or “Chatting with my best friend” or in short SSMK in 2001. It is the centerpiece of UNICEF’s communication initiative for young people which is the first radio program produced by the young people and for the young people in Nepal. It is designed to be interactive with listeners as a peer who speaks their mind without moral judgment. Each one hour episode of SSMK combines music with drama, and talks between young female and male hosts. The reason behind the popularity and quick acceptability by the young audience of Nepal is due to the media chosen for broadcasting the program -the radio, which is cheap and is easily accessible media to every young people than any other mass media in Nepal. The program premiers every Saturday at 3:30 PM local time from the national broadcaster Radio Nepal and more than two dozen local FM radio stations all over the Nepal rebroadcast the show as per their convenient day and time in the coming week. The program’s popularity has often been assessed by its listeners through feedback and letters in terms of its non-judgmental, confidential and open platform nature, where anyone can open their heart out on issues deeply related to them.

The Project: Radio For Young People By Young People

It was in April 2001 that “Saathi Sanga Manka Kura”(SSMK) aired the first episode through national broadcaster, Radio Nepal. Within 15 days after SSMK was first aired, the listeners wrote in their appreciations, ideas and suggestions. In the first two years after the first show, the program received almost 15000 letters from the listeners all over the country and till date SSMK has already received more than 30,000 letters from its variety of listeners across Nepal and beyond. The main objective of program is to equip young people with knowledge of life skills, so that they are empowered to deal with difficult and complex issues they face in their daily lives. The program also has a very specific objective of preventing spread of HIV infection and avoiding the use of injecting drugs by young people of Nepal. It also focuses on building up teenagers’ self-confidence and promotes to reduce the likelihood of risky behavior. SSMK encourages young people to break the silence surrounding physiological and emotional curiosities that come naturally with puberty.

It is the first and so far the only national radio program in Nepal that discusses personal issues affecting young people in open, frank and honest platform. Before the advent of SSMK, radio program in Nepal targeted specific audience category were either older people or children. There was no specific radio program targeted to attract adolescents alone to discuss their issues in the national radio broadcast. This could be because there were no radio program designed, produced or run by young people to cater their real needs and interests. And SSMK became a tailor made solution in this context to design and serve the young Nepali population and their preferences through radio. Being conceived, designed and produced by young people, SSMK has wide variety of its listeners from different groups of young people including married, unmarried, rural and urban or in and out of the school population.

SSMK Team Members To ascertain us of this audience diversity, SSMK everyday receives a large number of letters from wide variety of listener’s; from different geographical locations in Nepal and beyond. The letters adds up to around 1500 per month from listeners all over the country and even outside the country; who were listeners of SSMK and now have migrated outside the country.

In a bid to institutionalize the Saathi Sanga Manka Kura and its young production staffs, within a secured and facilitating environment in an organizational structure, the production of SSMK is now being undertaken by Equal Access Nepal. This initiative was also to ensure the long-term sustainability of the program, so that the creative team could form its own independent life-skill production units. So as to negotiate production and disseminate ideas, without being constrained by the bureaucratic and other barriers associated with state-run broadcasting authorities.

Along with the letters of appreciation about the program from its listeners, SSMK also receives letters and emails containing various problems and issues of the listeners. Each of these letters are addressed by the SSMK team, either by sending them life skill booklets with a template or dealing with it on air. A year after the program first went on air, every listener who writes to SSMK program receives an individual response, sometimes with slight modification to the template letter that SSMK has designed to address youth issues in Nepal, and a booklet on life skills, relevant to the particular life skill referred to in the letter. These set of eight booklets were prepared by UNICEF in Nepali, as a part of their life skills project for young people, which contents various specific life skills tools and its usages.

Only, 4 or 5 of the letters received are selected every week to be addressed on air. These letters are aired through the program only after its discussion within the team and identification of possible and appropriate options for addressing the issue. If the issue is very critical and is needed to be dealt by the experts, consultation with experts is done to ensure that responses are non-judgmental and factually correct and that they incorporate life skill messages. It was felt that if each listener who wrote in receives a direct response focusing his/her problem, the learning of specific skills would be much more effective.

So far the following issues are raised, discussed and talked in SSMK

  • HIV/AIDS-Knowledge & awareness, care and support, new developments, stigma and discrimination etc
  • Worries about study and career
  • Gender discrimination, caste discrimination
  • Early marriage
  • Interpersonal relationships -parents, peers, boyfriend/girlfriend.
  • Sexual reproductive health
  • Migration -internal and external
  • Physical appearance -how do I look? I’m too tall, I’m really fat – so, I feel Conscious about it… cannot take it normally, really worried about it etc.
  • Social problem: Like how to deal with the traditional norms and values, the traditional mindset of the parents, society, dealing with superstitions.
  • Problems due to low economic situation.
  • Disabled person
  • Raped cases, sexual harassment, pre-marital sex