Gender Equality South Africa Project #48416

Stop Early and Unplanned Pregnancy in Africa

by PCI-Media Impact

Stop Early and Unplanned Pregnancy in Africa

Project Report | May 15, 2023
Empowering Families Across Africa

By Michelle Lanchart | VP of Communications and Engagement

Thanks to your continued support, we’re able to make a difference in sexual and reproductive health throughout Africa! Here’s a look at some of our current and future programs that are building brighter futures for women, girls, and families in Africa:

Ouro Negro

In 2015, PCI Media partnered with UNICEF Mozambique and Radio Mozambique on a 360-degree communication initiative, Ouro Negro, to address a range of issues including sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and family planning. At the heart of Ouro Negro is an entertaining Portuguese-language serial drama (accessible to low-literacy audiences) primarily aimed at reaching rural audiences. The program has been highly effective in creating positive behavior change. 93% of listeners reported increased use of contraception, spacing children, and continuing their education as a result of listening to the radio dramas, all behaviors which lead to smaller family sizes.

Access Without Barriers (Accesso Sem Barreiras)

Access Without Barriers leverages the reach and infrastructure of Ouro Negro to further improve sexual and reproductive health education and services for adolescents with disabilities. In addition to radio dramas and teen-produced live shows, the program teaches service providers how to talk to adolescents about family planning, especially those with disabilities. 95% and 80% of health professionals and peer educators respectively, say that our training improved their ability to communicate with adolescents and young people with disabilities.

Upcoming Programs

PCI Media is developing a new radio program to address early pregnancy, family planning, and child nutrition in Mozambique as part of a 5-year partnership. The strategy will include a radio drama series, live radio talk shows, radio spots, and community theater beginning in 2024.

We’re also developing a new entertainment-education transmedia program that will reach individuals, families, and communities in South Africa and 5 neighboring countries (Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, and Namibia). The transmedia program is a television drama, which will be adapted for radio and will: shift harmful norms and attitudes that lead to teen pregnancy and create obstacles to accessing contraception; reduce stigma around family planning methods; create spaces for dialogue on the drivers of teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence.

We look forward to sharing more updates on our developing programs soon. Thank you for your continued support improving health and social outcomes for women and girls across the world!

Permalink

Jan 13, 2023
Empowering Teens Involved with Juvenile Justice

By Michelle Lanchart | VP of Communications and Engagement

PCI Media staff leading a program design workshop

Thank you for your continued support in helping us to create better sexual health outcomes for communities, families, and teens throughout the world. We’re taking the lessons learned from our successful programs addressing early and unplanned pregnancy in Africa and applying them to new partnerships in North America.

Access to sexual reproductive health information and services is under growing threat in the United States, which can have a ripple effect for other parts of the world. We are excited to pilot a brand-new initiative in New Mexico that will change the narrative for women and girls involved in the juvenile justice system.

Youth involved with juvenile justice (YIJJ) are at greater risk for teen pregnancy and STIs than their peers. 50% of teen girls in the juvenile justice system experience pregnancy. New Mexico has a significantly higher rate of teen girl incarcerations than the national average, increasing the risk of early pregnancy among this group.

We are developing an entertainment-education pilot to change that narrative. Using our unique participatory approach, we’re producing an evidence-based mini-series that will engage youth in the justice system and result in:

increased behaviors that prevent pregnancy and STIs
increased sexual consent among at-risk youth
reduced rates of teen pregnancy and STIs among teens in JJS in New Mexico
overall better health outcomes and opportunities for Latin and Native American young people in New Mexico

Your support helps us to continue to work with local organizations to produce quality and engaging content that supports a healthier, more sustainable, and just world. Visit our website (Pcimedia.org) to learn more!

Links:

PCI Media Website

Permalink

Sep 19, 2022
Building Brighter Futures for Women and Girls

By Michelle Lanchart | VP of Communications and Engagement

Sign language training to healthcare professionals

Everyone deserves to have access to essential sexual health information so that they can make healthy, informed choices for themselves. Our programs create better outcomes for communities, families, teens, and children throughout the world by educating audiences on important health and sexual health topics. Here are some highlights in our growing portfolio in Africa and beyond:

Communities in Mozambique Creating Change Together

Ouro Negro’s popular entertainment-education radio drama, which promotes the rights, health, and well-being of Mozambican children, teens, families, and communities, surfaces local knowledge to produce positive change. Surveys from the previous year show 93% self-reported behavior change—such as increased contraception use.

Knocking Down the Barriers to Accessing Health Services

We’re creating equal opportunities for people with disabilities in Mozambique. The radio dramas in our Access Without Barriers program are designed to educate teens with and without disabilities about important sexual health topics using storylines that are tailored to what listeners actually experience in day-to-day life. So far, we've seen a 530% increase in young people with disabilities accessing health facilities!

Inspiring Women and Girls Through Storytelling

We’re piloting a brand-new initiative in New Mexico that will change the narrative for women and girls involved in the juvenile justice system. Our new program will use entertainment education to provide essential information about teen pregnancy prevention and sexual health. At the center of the pilot will be an entertaining mini-drama so that audiences become emotionally tied to the stories and characters, influencing values and inspiring healthy behaviors.

Permalink

1 2 3 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.