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Entertainment Education Programs
Hits for Hope: AIDS Prevention Campaign for youth in UgandaIntroduction
Six months later Ray of Hope became the informal theme song for the IXth International Conference on AIDS and STDs in Africa. A music video was produced and distributed to TV stations in Uganda and East Africa and to video halls in the campaign districts in Uganda. Audio cassettes of the most popular songs from the contest were distributed to radio stations throughout the country. 
The multi-media campaign The Hits for Hope contest was just one part of a highly visible and successful AIDS prevention campaign for young men and women in Uganda that began in May 1995. Mass media and community level activities combined to deliver in your hands." Mass media materials include posters, Straight Talk newsletters, radio spots, and a weekly radio programme for youth in English and three vernacular languages. The project produced two issues of Straight Talk in English and three local languages. Each newsletter addressed youth and sexual responsibility issues in an innovative, exciting, frank and informative manner. The project distributed 247,500 copies of the first issue--97,500 in English, 100,000 in Luganda, 10,000 in Rukonzo and 40,000 in Runyankole--to secondary schools, and youth groups, as inserts in 3 national newspapers, and during district campaign events. The second issue was released in May, 1996. The newsletter received wide support from youth, parents, teachers and government representatives. In April 1996 the project began broadcasting weekly radio programs with the same names as the newsletters. Produced in English, Luganda and Runyankole, the program incorporated an ongoing serial drama called "Kafunda Stage", popular music, and answers to listeners' letters by Dear Auntie (for girls) and Dear Big Brother (for boys). District activities included the Hits for Hope music contests, drama contests and tours, video shows, and bicycle rallies. Safer sex bicycle rallies were particularly popular. Contestants were drawn from "boda bodas," the many young men who use their bicycles as two-wheeled taxis. In Mbarara, over 15,000 people attended the local bicycle rally co-sponsored by Coca-Cola. In Masaka district, a school drama entitled "The Lifesaver" was performed for more than 4,000 secondary school students and drew such high praise from district officials that the script was translated into Luganda and distributed to primary schools as well. 
Development of materials and activities The campaign message and media strategy was developed during a meeting of District Health Educators, representatives from the Health Education Division of the Ministry of Health and various non-governmental organizations, with technical assistance from The Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs. It was based on a careful review of research and focus group discussions among youth in six districts. Media Consultants Ltd, a Ugandan advertising agency, designed mass media materials with technical input from DISH Project IEC staff. Project staff pretested all mass media materials among youth of the appropriate language groups in the project districts. District Health Educators and the DISH IEC staff worked with district campaign action committees to plan, organize and implement the Hits for Hope music contests and other local activities. In an August 1995 survey of 1,723 youth in seven districts, 40% of in-school youth and 31% of out-of-school youth had heard about the first Hits for Hope concerts and, of those, 54% had attended. Males were somewhat more likely than females to attend the concerts (38% vs. 33%), an important fact since the intended audience was primarily young men. A second contest took place in September and October 1995. The number of entries increased to nearly 300 and it is estimated that the second round of concerts attracted even greater numbers of young people than did the first. The Safer sex or AIDS campaign has drawn wide acclaim, as the following quotes attest: A youth adjudicator at a Hits for Hope contest: David Sseeppuuya, Associate Editor of Bukedde, the Luganda
newspaper, after the release of Luganda equivalent of Straight
Talk, called Twogere Kaati: Mr. John Mary Kasozi, Administrative Chairman for Masaka
District, after attending a school drama contest: Mr. Expedito Rwakabani, Chairman of St. Mary's Youth Medical
Cooperative in Kasese about the Rukonzo newsletter Okwenene: The Delivery of Improved Services for Health (DISH) Project is a joint project of the Uganda Ministry of Health and the United States Agency for International Development, with technical support from Pathfinder International and the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs. |
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In
late May 1995, six young amateur performers leapt onto a high-tech,
high-powered mobile stage in Kampala, Uganda and performed
before 10,000 young Ugandans. They were among 237 contestants
who entered a contest to find the best campaign song for an
AIDS prevention campaign. A month later this group, House
Lane B, was declared the winner of the first Hits for Hope music contest organized by the Delivery of Improved Services
for Health (DISH) project. Their song Ray of Hope became
the theme song for the Safer Sex or AIDS Campaign. 
© 2005 The Johns Hopkins University. All rights reserved.