Population Media Center Wins Award

A non-profit located in Vermont has been honored for its work making a difference in some two dozen countries around the world.

The Shelburne-based Population Media Center recently received a Peter F. Drucker Award granted to social organizations that demonstrate innovation and positive change in peoples' lives.

The PMC achieves that goal through internationally broadcast entertainment serial dramas in which characters evolve into role models for the audiences they reach.

Here's an excerpt from a PMC program that aired in Jamaica, in which a woman finds out that her friend was assaulted at a party:

"Tricia, what's wrong? Nothing. If it was nothing you wouldn't be crying. It's nothing, Wendy, it's just...What is it? If something is wrong I want to know what it is. It's just that, at the party the other night. I was drinking, and...Drinking??? I know, Wendy. OK?

Melodramas like these are written to deliver a resounding moral message about serious real-life issues-including HIV and AIDS prevention, womens' rights, and planning for children.

Bill Ryerson is the President and founder of the PMC, and he visited our VPR Studios to tell us more about the origins and goals of the genre that's been dubbed "Soap Operas for Social Change."

Ryerson speaks with VPR's Mitch Wertlieb.

Click listen to hear the interview.