It has been more than three decades since the Sesame Workshop as the producer of one of the most famous children's television show Sesame Street was first launched in the United States of America. With the prime objective if imparting educational training to the millions of children as well as their parents, Sesame Workshop indeed accomplished its pivotal goal, and in doing so expanded its coverage to a number of countries around the world with due adoption in the local languages of the respective countries. By the end of the year 2001, the program was broadcast in more than 150 countries of the world, and co-produced in local languages in some 20 countries. Local actors, writers, musicians, animation and sets were used to maximize the local contribution and inclusion of local culture and traditions of the respective countries.

Analysis of International Growth

Gaining immediate success, wherever it was broadcast the management of Sesame Workshop sought to increase its clientele in countries with huge populations such as Brazil, France and India. The fact that Sesame Workshop was a not-for-profit organization, the task of spreading the network around the world was indeed tedious, yet the impact and accomplishments gained in its first few years in countries where it was launched, it was crucially felt that the program had to be expanded on a global scale. Even though factors such as financing for such a huge expansion program and growth required equally huge financing, not to mention the manpower needed to expand the organization and maintain the standard which had made the program an immediate success in the first place.

One of the first hurdles faced by the management of Sesame Workshop in its endeavors to expand the program on a global scale was to assess it in terms of a real business. This was indeed a difficult task, as special programs for a specific county or a special video could not be prepared keeping in view the time and resources required for developing the business and at the same time maintain the standard of the show. Then there was the issue of addressing the needs of a pre-scholar in France with that of India for example. As both the category and needs of children of both the countries were the same, yet the factors of opportunity and feasibility were at the core, aside from the additional staff and resource for accomplishing such a task.

A brief on some of the primary set of strategies adopted for international growth by Sesame Workshop included a curriculum of goals based on the development of social, moral and effective development, language and reading, mathematical and numerical skills, reasoning, problem solving, and perception. The management also set aside and vigorously followed a mission statement, according to which the objective of the "Sesame Workshop is to create an innovative and an engaging content that maximizes the educational power of media to help all children reach their highest potential.”

Evaluation of And Pursuit of Alternatives For International Growth

In addition to the above set of strategies, the Sesame Workshop also innovated its own set of values for the children and projected them through each of its programs aired around the world. These included for example 'Innovation', which emphasized on seeking new ways to make the media friendlier for the children, as well as create a sense of imagination and inquisitiveness amongst the young audience the world over. Through the value of 'optimism' Sesame Workshop sought to maximize the educational potential of media amongst the children of the world. The value of 'knowledge' was inculcated in such manners that the qualities of research and understanding were presented to expand the children understands, as well as make them appealing. In turn this helped them learn, develop and grow with the material that was presented to them. Then there was the ever-important aspect of 'diversity', through which not only were the children made to realize and appreciate other children of the world, it also created an imaginary world where all the children of the world co-exist with each other.

In analyzing the international growth of Sesame Workshop, one may also observe that Sesame's management also sought to purse a three-fold financial strategy. These included assembling of both public and private funding partnerships for the support of educational initiatives, with Israeli/Palestinian co-production of Sesame Street as being one example. The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ford Foundation and the Israeli Ministry of Education funded this partnership. The second financial goal consisted of supporting educational activities with self-generated revenues, which included for example foreign and domestic product licensing, distribution of local language adaptations and co-productions of Sesame Workshop programs. The third financial goal was to establish 'under-lying financial stability through the maintenance of investment portfolio so that operating costs as well as deficiencies if any may be covered by such activities.

Further evaluation and analysis of the Sesame Workshop through its prime mission, educational strategies, and financial goals showed that another new program, 'Open Sesame' was yet another milestone in the Sesame series of programs for children around the world. Thus, pursuing the notion of "how we will reach the most number of kids?” instead of "how we will make the most money? indeed infused a new set of synergies. Thus, today the same Sesame Workshop is viewed by millions of children in places such as Russia, China, Mexico, Southern most tip of Africa such as the countries of Mozambique and Central African republic of Angola where the program is aired in Portuguese. (Inkpen, 2002)

In presenting a few comments and recommendations, it is the view of the writer that though Sesame Workshop and its sister program such as 'Open Sesame', the organization has indeed come a long way in educating children of the world, as well as creating an atmosphere of diversity, as also experienced in the Israeli-Palestinian co-production. The organization has also opened up new vistas for development of media, as well as created avenues for generating revenues, even though it is and strives to remain an entity as a not-for-profit organization.

As for the recommendations, one may note that there has been considerable set of gains in developing niche markets for such programs to be aired through private or government funding. Yet the need for creating a sustainable source of financing, in particular for countries where financing such programs is nearly impossible, is certainly the need of the hour, as also a pre-requisite for the continuity of such programs. Indeed the mission of educating the children of the world is very noble and worthy of acknowledgement. Yet the competition by private channels airing programs through commercial patronage and financing perhaps makes this noblest of tasks all the more difficult, but not entirely impossible.

Reference

Inkpen, A., (2002), Sesame Workshop and International Growth.