Face of Truth | Dr. Ibrahim Shaglawi Development Media and Development Drama.. From the Millennium Development Goals to Reconstruction

If the war has destroyed homes, facilities, and roads, it has also destroyed part of the trust between citizens and the state, weakened the sense of the future, widened the distance between the center and the periphery, and pushed broad segments of society into a state of doubt, fear, and uncertainty.

Therefore, reconstruction does not stop at rebuilding what the war destroyed; rather, it begins with rebuilding awareness. A post-war state needs a more united and more insightful society, aware of the challenges of the stage, and capable of effectively repairing the damage inflicted on its social fabric. Hence, in my view, development media and drama should not merely be accompanying tools for reconstruction, but rather means of rebuilding trust, restoring memory, and consolidating the values of coexistence and citizenship.

Thus, recalling the experience of the Millennium Development Goals adopted and promoted by the United Nations becomes a necessary stage that laid the foundation for an international transformation in the concept of development, before the transition to the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Development became more closely linked to poverty, health, education, work, equality, the environment, institutions, and partnerships, and human development became an important matter in development.

The experiences of Sudanese institutions, including the Dams Implementation Unit, have confirmed that development does not succeed through projects and efforts alone. In the projects of Merowe, Roseires, Upper Atbara and Setit, water harvesting, and resettlement, the unit employed drama and mobile theatre to transform complex development issues into stories close to people, and to link the project to the life and interests of the community.

The radio series “Wadi Al-Atash” by Shadhali Abdel Qader was a story about water and its harvesting, while “Jaradiq Al-Matar” by Abdel Nasser Al-Tayeb offered a dramatic approach to the conflict over resources, whereas “Sada Al-Amwaj” attempted to address the social transformations associated with resettlement.

 As for mobile theatre, it was a more direct experience, because it moved from the studio to the people, and from the screen to the public space, opening a space for dialogue between the community and those responsible for the project.

But here we need to be more frank: the success of development media is not measured by the number of those who became convinced of the project, but rather by the number of those who became capable of understanding it and participating in it. This is a fundamental distinction between public relations media and development media.

A state that uses the media to tell citizens that a project is successful may win the battle of the short-term message, but it does not necessarily build long-term trust. As for a state that allows media and drama to also present concerns, questions, and side effects, it lays a more solid foundation for a new relationship with society.

Therefore, Sudan’s reconstruction media should not be content with beautifying the scene, but should monitor with society how Sudan is being rebuilt, for whom, and according to what priorities, so that the reconstruction process does not reproduce the marginalization that contributed to creating the crisis. Here, drama becomes a development tool that raises questions about life after the war, the return of displaced people, opportunities for youth, the return of agriculture, the quality of education and water, and the fairness of resource distribution; that is, it makes citizens see reconstruction as a right, a responsibility, and a shared future.

These questions are at the heart of development. Reconstruction should reconnect what the war has torn apart, rather than reproduce the old Sudan with its old tools. Therefore, the Sustainable Development Goals become an integrated framework for water, energy, agriculture, education, health, work, peace, and institutions, while reconsidering the relationship between the state and the citizen, the fairness of resource distribution, and the partnership between the center and the periphery.

Here, drama can become a social laboratory for rebuilding awareness, bringing together in one story.

Sudan, after the war, according to #Face_of_Truth, does not need media that beautifies reconstruction projects, but rather media that explains them, monitors them, and makes citizens partners in them, and drama that opens questions and rebuilds trust and the social fabric.

The experience of the Dams Implementation Unit has demonstrated that storytelling, theatre, and radio are capable of bringing development closer to people, but the new stage requires a transition from preaching development to participating in it. Reconstruction is not the building of stone, but the building of a new relationship between the state and society, because the country is not rebuilt with concrete alone, but with an awareness that restores trust, and a society that sees itself as a partner in the future.

Wishing you continued health and well-being

Monday, 28 September 2026. Shglawi55@gmail.com