Free Public screening of the films and music performances from local talents in Ngong town at the public market and bus park on December 27 targeting members of the public. We intentionally engaged 5 local youth to plan and execute the event in order to test the scalability of our new Vision2030 strategic plan model of devolving activities to Local User and Content Administration (LUCA) Youth Councils with minimal involvement of GAIA team.
Waziza wanajua mi ni mnisa...Don Dochi
Activity objective - what was the main objective of the activity
1. Screening of the 42 new AYRSHS films for free
2. Live music performances by existing and new imara.tv talents
3. Sign up of new users to the imara.tv platform
4. Revenue generation from local business advertisements
5. Piloting a public film screening in an open air venue outdoors
Achievement - key outcome of the activity - how many people participated/were reached e.t.c.
1. Over 1,500 people attended the free public event to watch film and listen to live music
2. Over 25 new content creators registered from Ngong Town
3. Production and publishing of 8 new original music films from 4 of the new content creators
4. 2 small businesses advertised on the imara tv platform at a fee of KES 5,000 each
5. Successfully tested the public film screening concept in readiness for scale up of imara.tv to peri-urban and rural counties to reach offline audiences at the grassroot level
Lessons learnt / Best practices from implementing the activity
1. By collaborating with young people at the sub-county or ward level, we can scale up the public film screening events nationally as the films screening and music performances can be easily done by a team of 5 dedicated people with proper training on how to use the imara.tv platform
2. Small and medium businesses can supplement part of the cost of holding these decentralized public film screening events in return for advertising their goods and services to the local audiences who are the businesses target market. However, the prevailing harsh economic conditions in Kenya limit the number of SMEs willing to spend money on advertising with most businesses committing to advertise in future when disposable incomes in people's pockets increase.
3. Outdoor events require armed police for security
4. Offline events attract and keep audiences engaged better than online events
Challenges - highlight the challenges
Limited funding restricted the number of public film screenings we could do to 1 but it was a successful test of the scalability of the concept.
Recommendations
Training of small groups of young people and resourcing them to screen films for the public in rural and peri-urban centers of population is a scalable and sustainable concept that should be adequately funded for scale up of the imara.tv platform to reach offline audiences.
Conclusion
The event organized by Imara TV, UNESCO and YSW was a critical step toward addressing the challenges faced by the local youth regarding SRHR, online exploitation, and GBV. While the initiative was impactful, the findings highlighted significant gaps in knowledge and awareness that require immediate attention.
It was a succesfull pilot of the new GAIA-LUCA Vision2030 Imara Tv Business Strategy proving Imara TV can reach the target of national engagement with the youth to foster greater awareness on critical issues, and create sustainable jobs and solutions for the challenges youth face in Africa. These efforts will not only empower the youth but also contribute to building a more informed and resilient community across the country.
