Harnessing the Power of Long-Term Entertainment-Education (EE) to Improve Contraceptive Behavior Across Languages, Cultures, and Geographies in a Large African Country:

Fatou Jah , Population Media Center

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has a very young population, with over half of its population under age 15. Currently, it is the third most populous country in Africa, projected to grow from its current 81.5 million to 216 million by 2050 and becoming the world’s eighth most populous country. Congolese women have 6.3 children in their lifetime in part due to women’s low use of modern contraception, stalled at 8% since 2007. To help address these unfavorable development indices, Population Media Center developed and broadcast three successive entertainment-education radio serial dramas. Together, the evaluation findings between the RSDs illustrate several points: • Significance of dose effect of contraceptive programs for impact. • Long-term multiple projects programming has potential for sustained positive contraceptive behavior. • Findings are irrespective of language, culture, and space. • Replicating program development and evaluation made possible comparisons/ interpretations that would not have been possible otherwise.

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 Presented in Session 10. Fertility, Family Planning, Sexual Behavior & Reproductive Health 2