Objective

To communicate universal human values to Arabic-speaking children through stories about issues that are often difficult to address directly: gender equality, racism prevention, acceptance of other cultures and foreigners, open dialogue, honesty, cooperation, child-labour prevention, patience, determination and respect for others. The purpose was not simply to entertain children, but to influence attitudes during the years when values and perceptions of others are being formed.

Audience

Arabic-speaking children, principally ages 9–11, and indirectly their families throughout the Middle East and other regions receiving Arabic satellite television.

Method

A series of 46 short animated stories created, produced and directed by Firdaus Kharas. Rather than lecture children about abstract concepts, the stories placed universal values into recognizable situations and relationships. Animation allowed sensitive issues such as racism and gender equality to be addressed without attaching negative behaviour to a particular ethnicity, nationality or social group. The result was an unusually ambitious attempt to communicate potentially sensitive social values across very different Arab societies simultaneously.

Languages

Arabic

Where used

Commissioned for the Al Jazeera Children’s Channel/JCC and broadcast across 27 Middle Eastern countries, with the satellite service also reaching audiences in Europe, Africa and Asia. Chocolate Moose Media reports that the series reached into more than 350 million Arabic-speaking households and was broadcast repeatedly for two years.

Evidence/impact

Its significance lies partly in what happened — and partly in what did not happen. A children’s television series openly addressed gender equality, anti-racism, acceptance of foreigners and other potentially contentious subjects across a vast Arabic audience without generating the controversy that might have been expected. It demonstrated that carefully framed shared human values could cross political, religious and cultural boundaries at mass scale. (Chocolate Moose Media)

Partners

Al Jazeera Children’s Channel/JCC — commissioning and broadcast partner; Chocolate Moose Media/Firdaus Kharas — creator, producer and director.

Watch

The series was deliberately not broadly posted online following its original broadcast. View the official Hind and Hamza project page.

Download/use rights

Unlike most Chocolate Moose Media humanitarian campaigns, Hind and Hamza was commissioned television programming rather than an open-access CMM campaign and is therefore not offered for unrestricted public download and reuse.