Abstract:

This paper discusses the case study of the use of digital media that is multilingual and developed specifically for educational purposes, for adult audiences in South Africa.

The central idea of Maintenance Multimedia is that the courts are bewildering and difficult to access. Mothers (and fathers) of minor children need to agree on the due care of financially dependant persons. The public are unaware of the principles of maintenance, and do not know where when or how to access the legal system, and if they do, often cannot access the system efficiently, leading to a large number of queries, confusion, and undue time and effort spent unsuccessfully trying. There is a success rate of only 16% in Johannesburg, the biggest Family Court. Media is the only solution to make access to justice more efficient.

The aims of this project were to develop an innovative social justice animation pilot project that was developed for public social justice education.Mulitilingual animated films were developed in three African languages: isiZulu, Sesotho and Tswana and English, with a storyline and character talking the applicants through the application process, in the language of the applicant. The accompanying posters provide additional information on the process, in an attempt to increase successful applications.

The low education levels of the majority of poor women means there is thus a great need for legal advice and assisted form completion. Forms are complex, and even educated court users have difficulty completing or understanding them. Indeed the term 'forms' is a misnomer in that many of the so-called forms are legal pleadings, such as divorce summonses and domestic violence applications.

South African Family Courts are the site of the pilot project, where applicants for maintenance lack the knowledge or awareness of the correct process. Many recipients of social grants are in fact due maintenance. Poverty can be alleviated through the correct legal application of maintenance.

This project utilised educational content, written with specific outcomes, selected animation due to the ease of dubbing, to address the social problem of unsuccessful maintenance applications in the South African court system. The pilot site showed positive impact, but remains to be implemented nationally.

Bright Media has developed a multimedia programme proposal to address this need and gap in public knowledge about maintenance: Maintenance Multimedia is a television, radio, print and web project that uses developmental learning through the edutainment format of engaging multimedia.

The specific media elements developed were as follows: a public service announcement for television and web, raising awareness of maintenance as an issue for the South African public.

In-Family Court, monitors were set up to show the PSAs and well as additional content which explains the principles of maintenance, of child care grants, of disability grants, in looped reels.

The posters on the wall are in laminated frames, and each one is in graphic novel (comic) format, each with a different issue.

This demonstration and paper will present this case study, showing how educational media can be developed for social change in a developing country. This is a case study that can be implemented in other developing countries.

Keywords:

Animation, multilingual, justice media, case study, South Africa.