ShujaazFM - agricultural messages for young people
About


ShujaazFM has been developed by the Nairobi-based communications company Well Told Story. The idea behind ShujaazFM is simple - that getting messages out to young people is easier if you engage them through popular culture and use the right language. The project combines three powerful and accessible youth-focused media:

• nationally distributed free monthly comic books
• daily syndicated FM radio and (planned) television programmes
• interactive SMS (for audience feedback)

Working with FIPS-Africa ShujaazFM has identified a series of relevant agricultural messages, based on previous research. The messages are incorporated into comic book stories which follow the lives of four typical Kenyans.

Additional investment in June 2010 means that circulation has grown to 600,000 copies per month and an anticipated readership of 12 million.

The daily radio programmes and planned televised animated cartoons are complemented by a weekly half-hour radio phone-in discussion programme. There is also a website, www.shujaaz.fm. This multi-media package provides readers with entertainment and information in an eye-catching, cool and inspiring style designed to motivate young people to engage with new ideas.

ShujaazFM means 'heroes' in Sheng, a combination of Swahili and English widely spoken by cool young Kenyans.

The comic, at the heart of the project, delivers powerful messages through stories involving four contrasting characters whose adventures offer chances for young people to learn while being entertained.

In the first issue, one of the characters stumbles across a mini vegetable garden hidden away in an informal settlement, which leads to a new way of earning much needed cash. So, ShujaazFM provides young people with ideas for generating income through agricultural activities alongside a range of other messages. In some cases the messages link directly to the work of sister Best Bet FIPS-Africa. There will be one or two agricultural stories in each edition of ShujaazFM. The agricultural stories have been planned so that they are seasonal and relevant and accessible around the country.

The provisional list of stories for the next few months includes:

• termites as chicken feed
• vaccination of chickens
• multiplication and marketing of new and improved varieties of sweet potatoes and cassava
• new and improved maize varieties and fertiliser supplies to appropriate areas
• seed priming (soaking)
• conservation tillage

Pre-distribution research has shown the comic format and Sheng language to be highly appreciated by the target age group (11-18 years) in both rural and urban areas. Urban audiences were found to be very keen to share agricultural tips with their rural relatives and, in addition, even young urban residents often practice small-scale agriculture - by keeping chickens, for example. Early evidence, after 3 issues of Shujaaz, suggests that the readership is wider than the 11-18 group with the majority of SMS responses coming from people in their 20s.

The comic is distributed as a free insert in the Daily Nation each month, and is also free of charge through mobile phone giant Safaricom's nationwide network of Mpesa (its innovative money transfer service) agents - which will be especially important in rural areas. Additional investment means that circulation is now expected to be 600,000 copies - making Shujaaz the largest circulation publication in Kenya.

Originally, the ShujaazFM youth communication initiative was part of a joint Best Bets bid with FIPS-Africa. However, recognizing that ShujaazFM could be useful to disseminate messages other than for FIPS, RIU decided made it a Best Bet in its own right. It will, however, continue to work closely with FIPS-Africa, which will be a major source of agriculture story lines.

Highlights

• ShujaazFM circulation boost pushes annual readership estimates to 12 million (8 May 2010)
• First edition of ShujaazFM comic book launched on Saturday 27 February 2010: 210,000 copies went out free inside the Saturday Nation newspaper all around Kenya. As part of a sponsorship from Safaricom, an additional 300,000 comic books were subsequently distributed through 9,000 Safaricom Mpesa agents in rural areas and urban informal settlements
• Shujaaz.fm daily radio show launched a few days earlier on Qfm (nationwide) and is being syndicated also to Koch FM, Pamoja FM and Lake Victoria Radio, with other stations expected to join for as wide as possible regional distribution
• In its first days the ShujaazFM SMS service was receiving approximately 100 texts a day from readers of the comic and listeners to the radio programmes
• A short film on ShujaazFM was produced for RIUtv

Hunt Emerson, renowned British cartoonist (amongst other titles, he works on the long-running iconic UK comic The Beano) visited Well Told Story in Nairobi during March 2010 for his second visit. During his first visit last year he worked with the Well Told Story crew to help them develop story lines, stressing the need to start with images rather than words. Second time around he helped to devise the story lines for the next 12 issues of ShujaazFM.