ESSAY BY EDWARD CHITEMBO 2012 Zambia
Giving an account of the Theatre for Development process and how it helps drive community development. Providing one or two recent Zambian examples of how this process is carried out. In your answer you must clearly define what you understand by the terms “process”, “community”, and “development”.
INTRODUCTION
The main aim of this essay is to give an account of Theatre for Development (TFD) process, how it helps to drive community development. The essay would further go on to look at recent Zambian example of how this process is carried out.
Theatre for development is a famous means of communication for the people especially in less development societies. According to a website, Oscar-af.org, it says, “Theatre for Development is used not for catering entertainment to the people but is used to educate people. If used properly it can play a very important role in development as it educates people not only in human rights but also in development, civic rights, hygiene and civic participation”[1].
In understanding Theatre for Development process to drive community development, it is prudent from the onset to understand some terms such as ‘process’, ‘community’ and ‘development’. According to a website, its.syr.edu, “a process is a collection of interrelated work tasks initiated in response to an event that achieves a specific result”[2]. The term community according to a website, Wikipedia.org, “it is a group of interacting people living in some proximity. Usually referring to a social unity larger than a household that shares common values and has social cohesion”[3]. While some see development as a state or condition that is static, others see it as process or course of change. Development represents ideas and practices designed to bring about positive change in human societies. Gene Shackman et al says “development is a function of society’s capacity to organise human energies