Using analogies to explain difficult subjects

Some subjects are difficult to talk about -- either because they are taboo (sex, family planning, HIV) or because they are complicated (soil fertility).

Analogies are one way of explaining or talking about these subjects. An analogy is a comparison. For example: a woman who has too many children is like a tree that bears too much fruit: the branches of the tree will break.

Several years ago, the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction worked on a family planning campaign in the Philippines. In traditional, Catholic Filipino society, sex and contraception are a difficult subject to bring up.

We used analogies from the world people were familiar with to explain things like the problems of large families, child spacing, condoms, IUDs, and so on.

Here are some of these analogies:

• Child spacing is like planting papaya trees: the trees must be spaced wide enough apart to allow each one to grow well.

• Condoms are like the water filter over the village pump: the filter lets the water (= feeling) through, but keeps the unwanted material (=sperm) out.

We held workshops with local people, agricultural extension workers and healthcare professionals to develop appropriate analogies that were appropriate and that people could understand easily.

We developed the first set of materials for rural areas in the Philippines - it was called "the agricultural approach to family planning".

We developed another set for urban areas - full of analogies that slum-dwellers would be familiar with. We developed and tested line drawings to depict each analogy.

We also used the same approach in Ethiopia and Uganda, using locally developed analogies to convey messages. I think it was also adapted in several other countries.

The analogies were used mainly as discussion starters - as posters and flip charts. A family planning advisor was able to use the pictures with couples or with small groups.

Analogies are a wonderful way of explaining other hard-to-understand subjects.

One Indonesian soil scientist explains different types of fertilizer in terms of food for the plants.

• Nitrogen is like the rice you get on your plate: it fills you up and gives you energy.
• Phosphorus is like the vegetables: they keep you healthy.
• Potassium is like the meat or fish: it helps you grow.
• Trace elements are like the salt and spices: they make the food palatable.

Farmers who could not understand terms like NPK could easily relate to these analogies.