The Rwandan radio soap Urunana brings health information to an estimated audience of 10 million people each week through its entertaining storylines. 96% of the country’s population regularly tune in to the twice weekly episodes and 36% now use the radio as their main source of health information.
The show’s actors attracted cult status nationally as they delivered key messages on sexual and reproductive health in an accessible way – targeting particularly rural women and young people.
Expanding the reach
Health Poverty Action distributed radios to listener groups in remote rural communities in the Southern Province of Rwanda to expand its audience. The show tackles subjects such as HIV and AIDS, family planning, domestic violence and rape – issues that were previously considered taboo.
Listeners getting involved
Urunana storylines and scripts are carefully prepared and tested with audience groups from rural communities.
These listener groups were trained to recognise and discuss health issues and feed back their own concerns to the programme. These concerns are incorporated in future storylines and are also shared with local and national health officials.
This regular feedback from listeners ensures that the programme is driven by the needs of the audience – and enables listeners to inform health policy.
Actors regularly put on shows in rural areas, attracting up to 10,000 people at a time, enabling them to address topical health issues in an interactive way.
Health Poverty Action has been broadcasting Urunana in the African Great Lakes region since 1999. This project, which started in 2005 and finished in 2010, specifically targeted more than 100,000 rural women and young people in Southern Rwanda.
Health Poverty Action set up and supported an independent local organisation to produce and broadcast Urunana: ‘Urunana Development Communication’ which now functions autonomously, raising funds and producing programmes.
- Patrick and Agathe are trained peer educators raising awareness about family planning in their community. At first their neighbours thought they were selfish to stop at having two children – accusing them of being greedy for food – but now look up to them as experts and see that their quality of life is better for having a small family.
- Some 3,000 listener groups took part in this project, 570 of them made up of young people and the rest women.
- In September 2008, Urunana celebrated its 1,000th episode with a guest appearance in the soap by the then Minister of Health, Jean Damascène Ntawukuriryayo.
- Urunana beat global competition to win the prestigious One World Broadcasting Trust’s Special Award for Development Media in 2008.
- In December 2007, Urunana Development Communication won a Community Service Award for its contribution to raising awareness on sexual and reproductive health in Rwanda.
Last modified: 16/11/2011
