The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | ‘Kwiso Mu Cinema’ is becoming popular among youth in many suburbs of Kampala city – for a good reason.
It is while enjoying publicly availed film and TV through the Kwiso Mu Cinema initiative, that many of them are now getting information about sexual and reproductive health in a ‘language’ they undersand.
While Uganda’s TV and film industry has produced several shows about young people and the challenges they face as they navigate adolescence and young adulthood, it was soon realised that this information about Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights issues (SRHR) were not resonating with this target audience.
Thus ‘Kwiso Mu Cinema’ was born – a new approach to community dialogues and school outreaches through which to reach young people with age-appropriate information.
Leading the change in approach is Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU) a youth-centered organization driven by the need to plug the gaps in access to information about Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights issues (SRHR) among young people to enable them to make informed decisions about their lives.
In partnership with the SautiPlus Media Hub – a social behavioural change communications agency – the two co-created Kwiso Mu Cinema as a screening platform for edutaining feature and short films in the public spaces of local communities like schools, sports grounds, and local cinema halls – usually referred to in the local Luganda dialect as “bibanda”.
So far, the organisations have hosted screenings in at least thirty communities including Kawempe, Kansanga, Nalukongo, Kabojja, Nakulabye, and more, and have visited schools including Central College School Bulenga, Winston Standard School Najjanankumbi, and more – altogether reaching over 2,800 young people.
Nalubega Christine – a student from Central College School Bulenga, said, “From watching When You Become Me, I have learned that disability is not inability and that people living with disabilities should be given a chance because they can work.”
The screened films and video content are selected and vetted according to the SRHR and other socioeconomic issues that young people encounter and act as conversation starters on these issues. These include films like ‘Sabotage’ (2024) – a film about culture and tradition and how they intersect with issues such as sexual assault and abortion rights, and ‘When You Become MM (2023) – a film about disability inclusion.
Following each screening, the audience is engaged in a dialogue about which characters and scenes stood out for them, what themes they picked up on, and how their outlook on these issues has changed as a result.
How it started
One of the challenges Reach A Hand Uganda identified early on was that the SRHR information being disseminated was not resonating with the target audience, and thus came up with a unique idea – to leverage creative platforms like film and TV to tell stories that are entertaining and relatable to young people and incorporating the key SRHR messages within those.
Some of these include Kyaddala – a TV show about young people and the challenges they face as they navigate adolescence and young adulthood. The show – which has so far produced two seasons – received critical acclaim and mass appeal among young people thanks to its casting of social media influencers, socialites, and musicians who were lending their public profiles to driving the key SRHR messages.
The show was aired on mass viewership TV stations, such as NBS TV and Pearl Magic, however, there was another gap affecting the attainment of its desired outcomes – it alienated young people in semi-urban settlements who did not have access to television sets or smartphones.
