CHENGDU, China (ILO Online) - Zhao Dayong works on a construction site, his wife Xie Chunmei found a job in a restaurant. Both sectors employ thousands of internal migrant workers in China.
Their friend Wang Defu has just joined them and edges out a living from collecting empty cans and bottles. For eight heartbreaking years he has been searching for his wife and daughter, who have run away after he beat his wife. Can he find her again in a big city like Chengdu?
Characters like Zhao Dayong and Wang Defu are the heroes of a new TV drama series in the Chinese province of Sichuan, with more than 85 million people western China's most populous province.
ILO research found that many migrants to the cities from the poorer regions in China like to relax by watching TV soap operas. So the idea of reaching out to them through this unusual means of communication was born.
"The aim is to catch their interest, encourage them to start their own businesses, and tell them about the training services available to help them make the first important steps. This is the first time that the ILO Start and Improve Your Business Programme (SIYB) is being used as the basis of a TV series", explains Christoph David Weinmann, Chief Technical Advisor, SIYB China Project.
The scripts for the TV series not only contain information, but also all the romance, action and drama needed for a gripping TV drama. The title "My Future Is Not a Dream" (Chinese: "Wo de wei lai bu shi meng") is drawn from a well-known Chinese popular tune. The main characters are migrants from the countryside, seeking better lives in the capital of Sichuan province, Chengdu city.
The first of twelve 45-minute episodes was broadcasted on 16 August 2006. Both standard Chinese and local dialect versions have been recorded. A further version will contain subtitles for English-speaking viewers. If the TV series is successful, its scope could be expanded.
While the programme is on-air, local labour offices are opening telephone hotlines to answer questions from migrants interested in starting their own businesses, and are channelling them to the appropriate training centres. There also is a website-based lucky draw to encourage watchers to actively participate by sending text messages with their mobile phones. The latter are the major tool of communication of Sichuan's migrant workers.
An evaluation program in the form of a TV round table following the broadcast is also being considered.
"The SIYB Project has been successful in including a new target group that has never had access to any type of promotion programs before. Destination city governments now have a mandate to organize services for migrants. We need to get this message out to the people", says Constance Thomas, Director of the ILO Office for China and Mongolia.
The SIYB China Project has received financial support from the United Kingdom and Japan. More than 120,000 laid-off workers, unemployed persons, small business owners, and migrants have been trained by China's SIYB Program in the past two years. This had led to the creation of almost 200,000 new jobs in different locations in China.
The SIYB product family comprises four training courses: The 'Generate Your Business' course helps potential entrepreneurs to generate feasible business ideas. The 'Start Your Business' course is a step-by-step guide how to set up a small business. The 'Improve Your Business' course helps entrepreneurs to set up basic business management systems, and the 'Expand Your Business' course offers advice on growth strategies. The training courses are short, modular, material-based and rely strongly on participatory training, including some action learning.
The ILO "Start and Improve Your Business" (SIYB) is a cost-efficient methodology used in more than 80 countries. By following an institution-building strategy, working with existing local and national organizations to train trainers from partner organizations, who in turn train the micro and small-scale entrepreneurs, the programme reaches large numbers of people and is sustainable.