UK MPs hear of ShujaazFM impact and plans for viability
14 September 2010


UK MPs Heidi Alexander and Kerry McCarty talk with the new managing director of Safaricom, Bob Collymore, at the Shujaaz launch on 13 September 2010.

A group of UK parliamentarians from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development visited the ShujaazFM launch last night (13 September), to celebrate the production of the 5 millionth copy of the comic since February 2010. ShujaazFM has quickly become established as one the most read publication in East Africa as it is estimated that each copy is read by 15-20 people. The latest research, announced at the launch, suggests that 58% of 18-24 year old people in Kenya are aware of ShujaazFM.

Rob Burnet the social entrepreneur behind ShujaazFM explains:

"We invited around 150 Kenyan business and development leaders to learn about the unique opportunity ShujaazFM presents as a vehicle for reaching young people in Kenya. We offer a range of options from adverts to product placement in the comic. For example, Safaricom, one of our current supporters, have their logo on many of the billboards featured in the stories in the comic.

To ensure ShujaazFM can survive into the future we want to see the balance of our income shift from 60% donor funding to 60% corporate funding. I have a pocket full of business cards which I collected at the launch and will be following up on these to secure new supporters.

I am delighted we have been able to show the UK parliamentarians how we have been using UKAID, channeled to us via RIU, and explain how we plan to survive as a viable business long into the future."

ShujaazFM was described by Rob Macaire, the British High Commissioner, as a 'great idea, fantastically well executed'. The ShujaazFM approach and early achievements were also endorsed by Bob Collymore, CEO-elect of Safaricom, and the managing director of the Kenyan Nation Media Group, Tom Mshindi, who both pledged their continued support.

The stories in ShujaazFM are driven by four characters who pass on advice to young people in Kenya. A sample of the thousand or so SMS responses ShujaazFM receive each week from readers of the comic and listeners to the accompanying daily radio programmes show that the agricultural research information is making a difference:

• "The idea on making chicken feed has become popular at our place. My friends and I have decided to trap the termites, feed our chickens and sell the rest to our customers. It's easier and cheaper than commercial chicken feed. Thank you for uplifting our lives."
• "I learned and planted sukuma (kale) in a sack and it has provided us with food during the dry season. Fakhi FROM KIBWEZI"
• "God is great. I was almost giving up in life but since I started getting encouraging ideas from ShujaazFM issues, am a changed man holding to a bright future. God bless you all. Mutahi from Kasarani."

ShujaazFM was funded from the RIU Best Bets programme as part of the DFID-funded Research into Use (RIU) programme. The RIU funding enabled ShujaazFM to include agricultural stories but the editorial content also includes stories encouraging better citizenship and tolerance in the wake of the post-election violence in January 2008. These are SMSs to ShujaazFM characters in response to story lines:

• "Hi DJ B, tell Charlie not to give up but to make is father realize how good it is to have neighbors form other tribes around. Our grandpa had the same problem but not anymore". Melly from Webuye."
• "Hi Boyie, I have liked chapta (issue no) 4 and have taught my friends how to end violence in our estate."

Rob Burnet said:

"We knew from the outset that we needed to find ways of supporting citizenship and tolerance - and a big part of this is about giving young people a stake in the future. With too few jobs emerging in the formal economy to keep them employed we wanted to show them another way - RIUs ideas for agricultural enterprises and better production fitted perfectly with this ethos."

British High Commissioner, Rob Macaire, said:

"ShujaazFM is not only a great idea - it is also brilliantly executed. I am struck by the fact that people say that young people in Kenya are the future. The latest census shows that 60% of Kenyans are aged under 25 - so they're not the future, they're the present."

Lord Cameron, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development said of ShujaazFM:

"It's very good. We are here to see how we can help the farmers of Kenya receive the messages of the scientific community. And ShujaazFM going out to the young, through comic books, radio and television in the future, is a really good, cheeky, inspiring way to get these messages across.

The young represent 62 per cent of the nation and they are really important audience and they are the people who are going to be changing the way things are done. I think the DFID money is really well placed here as it really is an important agenda."

Notes

The delegation of UK parliamentarians consist of:

• Heidi Alexander (Labour)
• Lord Cameron of Dillington (Crossbencher)
• Chris Kelly (Conservative)
• Kerry McCarthy (Labour)
• Craig Whittaker (Conservative)

Key facts about ShujaazFM:

• 32-page colour monthly comic books written in Sheng (Swahili-English)
• Print-run of 600,000 per edition (Chapa)
• 220,000 copies distributed free with the Saturday Nation newspaper
• 380,000 copies distributed as free give-aways from 12,000 rural and slum-area Safaricom Mpesa money transfer kiosks
• Four stories in each comic, following the lives and adventures of 4 heroes (ShujaazFM means hero in Swahili/Sheng) - ordinary Kenyan youth learning important lessons for life and prosperity
• 5m ShujaazFM FM Comic books printed and distributed since February 2010

ShujaazFM.FM Radio:

• Daily radio programmes presented by DJB, one of the four ShujaazFM comic book heroes
• Each week of programmes explores one of the stories in the latest comic book
• Half of each 5-minute show is scripted drama delving into the issue of the week, plus interviews with experts
• The other half is interviews with readers and listeners who have texted their own stories and experiences
• ShujaazFM airs daily on 17 radio stations daily (and more stations signing up) and it is Kenya's only syndicated radio programme
• One station alone (Qfm) has 3 million regular listeners countrywide; others are the leading FM stations in their region, district or community

Sign up for RIU highlights