Tales of disaster series, No Strings International
| Country | Various, Asia |
| Duration | n/a |
| Budget | Not known |
| Context | Communities across South East Asia face a number of hazards. Children are amongst the most vulnerable. |
| Aims Intended Outcomes | To reduce vulnerability in at-risk children and young people in South East Asia by increasing their understanding of key issues contributing to risk around a series of natural hazards and to prompt discussion within communities about actions that can be taken. The messages in the films were all carefully developed in consultation with local partner experts and tested with children to remain sustainable and relevant over time. |
| Activities | Media: Video series - The Tales of Disasters is a series of five highly-engaging short puppet films made by some of the co-creators of the original Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock, and incorporating vital key messages within the following films: Cyclone, Flood / Landslide, Earthquake, Tsunami, Volcano. Outreach: Workshop - After watching a film, children / communities take part in a number of activities using puppets and related tools in order to apply messages to local contexts and deepen understanding around prevention and safety behaviours. This follow-up work is a vital component of the behaviour change tool, with local facilitators trained in participatory techniques. No Strings initiated the programme though a partnership with the Irish NGO Trocaire, using local partners to roll out the tool through field work activities. No Strings partnered with a number of additional international and local partners, including the Department of Education in the Philippines, as part of wider efforts to increase children's safety through the adoption of greater prevention initiatives, and through them, their families and communities. Target: The films were launched in Indonesia with key messages and cultural sensitivity issues developed through a lengthy consultation period involving beneficiaries and local partner experts, and the following year, dubbed into additional local languages for dissemination in Myanmar, the Philippines, Cambodia and East Timor. While children and young people are the main targets of the initiative, it is also used within wider community programming, reaching adults also. The films were dubbed into Malagasy for roll-out in cyclone and flood-affected communities in the East and South West of Madagascar. Beneficiaries there are whole communities as well as school children. |
| Impact | The Tales of Disasters have reached many thousands of beneficiaries in each of the countries where it has been launched. In 2009, Trocaire commissioned an independent evaluation which found impact to be significant, with all beneficiaries considering the tool fun and relevant and its messages clear. No Strings has conducted several internal evaluations visiting former workshop participants and trainings given by them within their own organisations. As an example, five head teachers attending a regional workshop from the Philippines were able to reach over 3,000 primary and secondary teachers, as well as student leaders, on return to their province of Rizal through cascade training schemes they developed as part of Department of Education initiatives to generate awareness around DRR issues in both primary and secondary schools. This massively increased numbers of children reached through the films and accompanying methodology. Parents of such children report that confidence is increased in a family's ability to be safe during a disaster, and an increase in preparation measures such as presence of emergency kit bags. |
Watch and Listen |