Tune in to Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon – I, a woman, can achieve anything on All India Radio

Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon (I, a woman, can achieve anything) – a 52 episode radio serial is being launched by the Population Foundation of India (PFI), supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on 24th May, 2014. The serial will be aired on All India Radio (AIR) – the public radio service of India every Saturday and Sunday for a period of 26 weeks.

The storyline addresses issues of gender-biased sex selection, early marriage, early and repeated pregnancies, under-nutrition of girls, domestic violence and gender sensitization among boys. It aims to enhance knowledge and change perceptions and attitudes on women empowerment as well as influence social determinants of reproductive and sexual health.

The serial will be aired across 94 Primary Channels/Local Radio Stations, 24 FM Stations and 37 Vividh Bharati Stations, which together reach the remotest parts of the country. The 15-minute-long episodes can be heard on AIR Vividh Bharati at 3 pm; on AIR FM Gold at 10.05 am; on AIR FM Rainbow at 6 pm and on the AIR Primary Channels at 12.05pm.

The radio series is part of a trans-media approach (TV, radio, internet and mobile phones) and is following on the already popular TV series, which has been on air on the national broadcasting service of India—Doordarshan National since 9th March, 2014. The TV serial is also aired every Saturday and Sunday at 7 pm. The TV series enjoys wide and varied viewership and has received responses from across the country on its call back number. You can hear these responses at http://www.mkbksh.com/connect-with-us.html . The radio series, drawing on earlier precedents of entertainment education in India and abroad, is expected to be even more successful.

Guaranteeing universal access to equitable and good quality reproductive health information and services free from coercion and discrimination is critical to achieving gender equality. Family planning behaviors dealing with contraception and fertility are often moralized and stigmatized. Such norms are difficult to influence, question, and change.

Entertainment Education is a globally proven successful means of generating positive attitudinal and behavioral change around such ‘difficult-to-change’ norms. The highly popular Soul City from South Africa is a case in point and has guided the development of the radios series Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon. The radio series uses the positive deviance approach to leverage the collective wisdom of communities and discover solutions.

PFI engaged the best minds to conceptualize and develop the radio series. Its thought leaders primarily included Dr. Arvind Singhal, Professor and Director, Social Justice Initiative, Department of Communication, University of Texas, a global authority in the field of positive deviance and entertainment education; the director of the series Feroz Abbas Khan, a name to reckon with in the film and theatre world; Dr. Ajai Chowdhry, an ITC leader who guided the trans media approach; and PFI’s Executive Director Poonam Muttreja, whose energy and passion drove the entire process.

For more information on the popular culture trans-media initiative Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon (I, a woman, can achieve anything), please visit the website at http://www.mkbksh.com . Access the facebook page athttps://www.facebook.com/mainkuchbhikarsaktihoon and the twitter account at https://twitter.com/MKBKSH_ .

Radio Series - Synopsis