Enhancing Nigeria’s Response to HIV and Aids (ENR) is the BBC World Service Trust’s new Pan-Nigerian, DFID-funded project which will focus on lowering the prevalence of HIV in the country.

An aspect of this is to help capacity building at national and state TV stations. This involves creating a TV training team which will then go out and provide training at local stations, including training on HIV reporting and co-producing with the station for several weeks.

Ambika Samarthya, an international trainer based in Abuja reports on the first stages of the three year project.

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One of the great things about working for an organisation like the Trust is that we believe in preparation. For our training at the stations we need to have a few pilot or template programmes to show to the stations.

These pilots go through a long process before they can be finalised and used as training tools. The aim of making the pilots is for local stations to consider using them in developing their programming on HIV and Aids. It was really important to get them right.

But preparation can only do so much – and I’m finding that in a country like Nigeria, no amount of preparation can ever translate into a guarantee!

For instance, last Wednesday I prepared to export these pilot TV shows onto DVD but when I came into the office there was a problem with the electricity supply and I had to go back home and work from there.

Eventually, with the help of Devaan and Nasiru (who I trained at the start of the project and are now in my TV training team) the work got done. And then we – the trainers, trainees and a few members of the WST staff – all gathered at the office to watch the shows and give feedback in an ‘internal review.’

First, we watched Keeping Up, a talk show (with a host and guests) specifically dedicated to HIV issues. The unique thing about this show is that all the edits were done predominantly in camera. This means we created a show with a low level of editing which would be used in stations that don’t have editing facilities and resources.

The feedback was useful: the template and purpose was clear, but it dragged on and felt slow. As a TV producer, I know it’s very difficult to create a fast paced show without editing. And in this we confront the main question: how can we prepare the stations to create engaging programmes that don’t depend on pace (i.e. editing)?

As an example, Deji Arosho, our head of production, suggested a change of guests would perhaps keep it more lively and create more debate.

Next up we watched Swagger, a multi-format show that includes a testimonial, an edited discussion, and a ‘musical dramatisation’. Everywhere in the world, people are accustomed to watch programmes based on what they are ‘prepared’ to see – what is in their TV watching habits. Almost all Nigerian TV shows have a presenter and Devaan and Nasiru were both sceptical on how we could create a programme like Swagger without a host.

When we screened it, the question came up of how the segments were connected. My response was that they were three separate segments connected by a theme.

People nodded quietly and said “we should wait to see how the audiences respond” (audience research is the next stage and will help assess how well the formats and contents work).

The musical dramatisation (i.e. short film without dialogue set to music) was perceived as “confusing” since it wasn’t a music video or a short drama but something in between.

Overall, there were two specific changes that resulted from this feedback review. Firstly, to create another episode which would involve marginalised and lower income groups (our target audience), and secondly, to include real people instead of actors.

Devaan and Nasiru listened to these suggestions in silence. I could read their minds!

When we made Swagger, we prepared ourselves with weeks of camera rehearsals, shot lists, production breakdowns, scripts, actor rehearsals, and had to re-shoot several scenes many times. In spite of all this preparation we still ran into problems: limited lighting options, actors’ limitations, fuel scarcity, uncharged batteries, and power shortages.

Now, adding a documentary component, not to mention in a non-urban or affluent setting, would mean even more levels of preparation – and with it, risks and unpredictability. It would be up to myself, Devaan and Nasiru to oversee all of this.

But these challenges are crucial to our jobs and all the work of the Trust – to push the boundaries of media with no guarantee. And we will prepare ourselves to do just that.