Sharing Heartlines’ way of working with communities beyond South Africa

We live in a reality where the poorest in the world are often hungry, have much less access to education, and suffer from even poorer health. Members of Foundations for Farming (FfF) Zimbabwe and Zambia joined us at the Heartlines offices in Dunkeld West to learn about how Heartlines has used social behaviour change communication to reach millions of South Africa with values messages leading to social change. The mission of Foundations for Farming is to change perspectives on how farming can provide not only food security, but also reduce poverty, build stronger families and provide hope for the youth of Zimbabwe and Zambia, as well as many other countries around the world.

Foundations for Farming started in 1982 when the farm which their founding father Brian Oldreive was managing in Zimbabwe was nearing bankruptcy. Oldreive started using a conservation method of farming which involves not ploughing, using compost to blanket the soil, and conserving water. Burning and deep soil inversion are common practices on farms in Africa, causing terrible erosion to occur, resulting in loss of seed and water. Edwards says that they had seen how “increasing amounts of money were being spent on the machinery required for ploughing and double rollings of the lands, and yet the yields were declining”. Now, they use sustainable methods of farming and teach other farmers and households how to farm sustainably and take care of the land and soil for future generations.

Peter de Wet, a supporter of Foundations for Farming Zambia, who initiated the contact between Heartlines and FfF says that “we all have the same problems, whether we are in Zimbabwe, Zambia or South Africa. We are dealing with high levels of unemployment, food insecurity, fathers leaving their wives and children to look for jobs and a better life in the city.” For this reason, the Heartlines Fathers Matter project resonated particularly with the FfF team. They were also interested in finding out more about how Heartlines has used social behaviour change communication, also known as edutainment, to reach people and support behaviour change. Our WhatsApp Fathers Matter Coach sparked a lot of interest in using WhatsApp to spread messages and nudges around the farming process.

“The importance of listening to the target audience in order to understand the barriers to behaviour change and shape messages lies at the core of all our communication,” said Heartlines CEO Dr Garth Japhet. “We would strongly recommend that Foundations for Farming start a listening process to underpin messages that will resonate with their audience.”

The best partnerships are ones that are mutually beneficial. FfF is keen to show Heartlines’ films during their residential training. Heartlines has offered to help train FfF in listening to its audience and analysing the information gleaned from this process.