Singing for Change? Ugandan Youth on Music, Self-efficacy and Agency

”87% of participants recalled messages regarding contributions that could be made in society, and 84% recalled messages regarding young people having a role in making change happen."

This was one of the key findings of an evaluation of the Ni sisi ("It’s us") music-based campaign in Uganda, designed by Twaweza to promote positive social change among youth aged 18 to 30. The campaign was centred on a five-part musical concert series, supported by distribution of posters and T-shirts, as well as audio/ video messages recorded by artists and aired on radio and television stations to endorse the campaign’s key messages encouraging young people to start seeing themselves as agents of change in their communities. This brief focuses on measuring the recall of core messages, as captured through telephone interviews with concert-goers.

The research found that radio was widely effective in promoting the concerts, except in Kampala, where most people heard about the concert from a friend. Nearly 6,000 young people across five different regions of Uganda attended the concerts. Post-concert interviews showed high recall of the core messages focusing on taking care of the environment, bringing about change in society, and young people's role in bringing about change. Although the environment was not an intended core message of the campaign, it was often used as an example by the artists about how young people could positively impact their communities. Aside from briefing the artists on the campaign and providing posters with the specific calls to action for distribution, Twaweza left to up to artists to choose how they would communicate the Ni sisi messages.

The interviews also showed high levels of recall related to seeing the branded t-shirts, hearing the campaign expression Ni sisi, and seeing the various videos and adverts. As a result, "among the participants 93% stated that they had learned something from the concerts..." On the other hand, "despite the high response among people who felt they had learned something from attending the concerts, only 9% of the participants could finish the main slogan ‘we talked yesterday’ that ended with the phrase ‘let’s act today’." The brief also notes challenges from the police in in one location, who encouraged the organisers to tone down the messaging.

Overall, the research found that "the concerts created a buzz and attracted high levels of participation. The participants definitely noticed that messages were being disseminated during these concerts. On the other hand, there was less recall of the core messages or phrases from the campaign than hoped." However, given that pre-campaign research found that 93% of young Ugandans say that their favourite artist is an important role model for them and that a large proportion of respondents (89%) say they like their favourite artist because of the issues they raise, there are still promising for working with artists as important influencers.