Since 1990, UNICEF has undertaken several regional animation projects. The reason for creating regional projects is to enable one project to take into account a range of experiences and speak to a wider audience than a film created in one country would allow. In developing regional projects, UNICEF hopes audiences will respond to the films in a universal way...on a universal level.

Through trial and error, UNICEF takes painstaking efforts to research the character designs and background layouts before committing to any one style or character. Hopefully the result is the creation of a cast of characters whose cultural identities are not quite recognizable, but rather the viewer can feel they are from their own country and even their own village.

 

UNICEF has four such regional projects:

• Meena: an animated series dealing with gender inequality in South Asia
• Maximo: a series of animated shorts dealing with health issues in the Andean region of South America
• Sara: an animated series in production dealing with gender inequality in Eastern and Southern Africa
• Caribbean animation: a number of films dealing with child care and teenage problems

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