Impact Data - Makutano Junction
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Makutano Junction is a television drama series, broadcast in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. It is produced by the Mediae Trust, a Kenya-based British producer of educational and entertainment television and radio programmes. The soap opera, based in a fictitious Kenyan village, is designed to reach rural and peri-urban audiences and covers information on education, sustainable rural livelihoods, and health in an informative and entertaining manner. The first 13-part series was broadcast in Kenya between October and December 2005. Filming for the second series began in early in 2006 in Nairobi and was broadcast later in the year on KBC.
Methodologies
Makutano Junction staff conducted ongoing research and collected extensive data around the impact of the programmes and its stories. Staff interviewed viewers in the field, conducted market research on viewers and non-viewers, and collected feedback via SMS (text messaging) to find out which topics were most useful to audiences and which stories have helped people change their lives for the better.
Knowledge Shifts
The research demonstrated that Makutano Junction has helped people understand their health and avoid illnesses, improved their farming and livelihoods, supported their schools (and, therefore, their children's education), and helped people fight for their rights to services from government. For instance, after the drama depicted the problem of primary school girls missing classes during menstruation, the research revealed a significant increase in understanding of the key drivers of the problem. For example, 61% of viewers identified lack of proper sanitary pad disposal facilities as a problem, versus 29% of non-viewers. Also, far more viewers (67%) than non-viewers (29%) identified fear of asking permission to use the toilet during class as another issue.
Practices
The programme has also had a positive impact on viewers' behaviour. Organisers say that to counter the common problem of milk being contaminated through poor storage, Makutano Junction modelled best practices for milk storage and transportation. This resulted in significant technology adoption and behaviour change among pre- and post-broadcast audiences. Prior to broadcast, 10% of viewers stored their milk in plastic bottles and 7% in plastic containers. Post-broadcast, only 3% and 5% respectively used those storage methods. In addition, 21% of viewers reported using aluminum milk cans post-broadcast, up from 7% pre-broadcast.
Attitudes
After one of the leading, positive, female characters was successfully elected to the Makutano Primary School committee, pre- and post-test research showed widespread changes of attitude among viewers concerning school governance. Before watching the show, only 36% of viewers agreed with the statement "all parents have the right to become school committee members"; after the show, this grew to 96%.
Access
According to the research, the show has an audience of 6.5 million people, made up of 68% rural viewers compared to 32% urban viewers. It also has a higher female audience than male (53% compared to 47%). Most viewers rate the show as either good (62%) or very good (34%). Only 4% of viewers felt that the show was poor.
Source
Mediae Trust website on March 4 2010; Makutano Junction website on March 4 2010 and December 1 2010; and email from David Campbell to The Communication Initiative on December 2 2010.
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