HEARTLINES - A PLATFORM FOR CHANGE

Despite the fact that the vast majority of South Africans hold good values, it has become perceived to be “normal” to engage in crime or corruption, to be involved in unsafe sexual relationships, to abuse one’s own family members. This “normalisation” has happened for a number of reasons:

MEDIA - the norms and actions of a minority have been magnified by our media so that they have begun to influence the norms of the majority.

INSTITUTIONS – vital institutions such as the family, schools, Faith Based Organisations (FBOs) have lacked the ability to motivate and inspire people to live out positive values.

CONTEXT - The supportive context for good people to have the courage to live out the positive values that they hold has been lacking.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup provides us with a point of focus for positive social change. Our impact on the world and the subsequent knock on for trade, investment and tourism will be primarily driven by the people we are, not just the infrastructure we build.

At HEARTLINES we believe that a bold and far reaching intervention can achieve positive national transformation and impact substantially on the issues that face us. It proposes an intervention that enables “good” people to have the courage to do good. If enough people start living out good values we will reach a social “tipping point” which will transform South Africa.

We will promote positive values, but above all the concept of respecting and embracing our common humanity by behaving towards others as you would want them to behave towards you, and rejecting and standing up against negative behaviour.

The intervention would focus on the following:

MEDIA - Create an alternative media lens to focus on the good that people are doing as well as to inspire and promote people to have the courage to do good. It will also encourage people to become part of a national movement for good. The connectivity for this movement would be technology.

INSTITUTIONS - Work with three major institutions to assist them to create a supportive framework in which good people can do good things, viz: FBOs, Schools and the Family. HEARTLINES will also work with Correctional Services to address those who have been living out negative values.

TECHNOLOGY (Cell phones and the web) – this would be the platform which would connect people and institutions to each other inspiring them with content around events, ideas and activities. Ordinary people will do extraordinarily courageous things if they feel they are part of a collective.

HEARTLINES I

In July 2006, the first phase of the campaign was launched. This included two main initiatives: a national broadcast of eight HEARTLINES films or dramas, with supporting print and below-the-line media components and the start of social mobilisation of faith-based organisations, during which FBOs were given relevant tools to teach values and were encouraged to undertake discussion-based activities.

The award-winning films produced by Curious Pictures were: The Miner (acceptance), The Good Provider (responsibility), Crossroads (forgiveness), The Bet (self-control), The Good Fight (perseverance), The Piano (honesty), The Other Woman (compassion) and HEARTLINES feature film (second chances). The films were complemented with discussion on radio stations, articles in the print media and HEARTLINES materials distributed to faith-based organisations. The films are being rebroadcast on SABC 2 from October 16, 2007 and are a prelude to the next exciting phase of this innovative project.

Over an eight-week period last year, each episode received multiple flightings on national television (preceded in every instance by a message from former president Nelson Mandela). For the first time in history, the SABC flighted the same programme in different time slots on all three channels in the same week. The initiative was underpinned by an extensive multi-media campaign which included:

  • At least 14 hours of television airtime on news, magazine and talk show programmes;
  • Radio coverage (on SABC and 15 FBO stations);
  • Print coverage (More than 500 articles in over 40 publications);
  • A storybook for parents to read to young children (45 000 copies distributed);
  • A music CD (produced by some of South Africa’s leading recording artists).

These initiatives were supported by FBOs across the country. Support was received from Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish leadership.
HEARTLINES I - EVALUATION

The first phase of HEARTLINES was evaluated using scientifically rigorous evaluation methods. A baseline benchmarking survey was conducted prior to the project. The post-intervention evaluation included interviews with 3500 adults across the country supplemented by 37 in-depth interviews and nine focus groups.

Key findings include:

  • An estimated 26% of the adult population or 7,3 million adults watched one or more of the HEARTLINES films on television;
  • The highest viewership (34%) was among the people aged between 18 and 24 years;
  • Audience numbers doubled from the first film to the last film;
  • Almost two-thirds of those who watched HEARTLINES discussed the films with others – resulting in an estimated 4,5million additional values-related conversations;
  • HEARTLINES had a positive impact on decreasing stigma towards People Living with Aids in South Africa;
  • HEARTLINES established support and credibility within FBOs that were visited and stories of far-reaching self-reflection and change attest to the impact of HEARTLINES on individual-level attitudes when used at FBOs, particularly with respect to forgiveness.

The first phase of HEARTLINES achieved excellent reach for an eight-week intervention. Noting that models of behaviour change postulate that dialogue is one of the critical ‘intermediate’ outcomes leading towards behaviour change or action, HEARTLINES’ success is underscored by its achievement of a national dialogue on values.
DOWNLOAD PDF VERSION OF THE HEARTLINES EVALUATION:
The evaluation is available for download as a PDF file (1.8Mb). Download PDF file here.
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