WINNER: Special Award

Samajhdari (meaning "Mutual Understanding") is a 30-minute weekly radio programme in Nepal that regularly reaches up to one million listeners. It aims to cover the correlation between violence against women and HIV/AIDS from the listener's point of view, providing discussion and advice on situations that affect real people - and particularly women.

Every programme begins with a real dilemma that a listener has faced. These dilemmas have much to do with both violence against women and HIV/AIDS - such as, "I am a sex worker and if I say no to my clients' demands, they beat me. What can I do?" or "My husband forces me to have sex when I don't want to. How can I say no?"

The presenter then brings in a range of voices to comment on the issue, including other listeners and experts from the field. One pioneering element is the twelve community reporters who go into rural areas and collect much of the content that is then used for broadcast. These women are all survivors of violence, and this gives them an unrivalled insight into the dilemmas being discussed.

Samajhdari, and the VOICES project of which it is a part, have made a huge contribution towards changing the social landscape in Nepal, through doing exactly what they claim - encouraging mutual understanding.

This award was judged by the Trustees of One World Media.

Appan Samachar (India)

Appan Samachar is a fortnightly rural TV news channel run by a group of women, most of them from marginalized communities in north India. Focusing on issues such as empowerment of women, child labour and public health, the channel is shown at public screenings to large audiences, and also runs parallel journalism workshops for women in rural areas.

Rien que la Verite (Congo)

This television drama addresses a number of key health and social issues, including HIV/Aids. It follows a Congolese family as they face some of the everyday struggles of life in the DRC, and has managed to build a viewership of around three-to-five million people per week. The show has also tackled these issues through music videos, albums, a documentary and an all-day stadium concert.

The Team (Kenya)

The Team is a televiosn drama series that was produced in response to 2008's post-election violence in Kenya. Using an entertainment format, the Team shows how members of a new Kenyan football club learn to deal with their tribal, ethnic, social and economic divisions to achieve a common goal. The TV series is complemented by radio broadcasts, interactive SMS systems, and mobile cinema screenings.