GeNextfor Smaller Families Campaign
Uganda has the 4th highest population growth in sub-Saharan Africa. Large family sizes and resulting poverty mean that more than 650,000 households survive on one meal per day, and the country’s labour growth of 6.5% leaves 256,700 youth unemployed every year.
Uganda’s youth account for 68% of the country’s population. The GeNext campaign was the first ever family planning campaign in Uganda to specifically engage this demographic to take action as advocates for smaller families.
Research
Using existing research and new formative research conducted in five regions across Uganda involving university and out of school youths through focus group discussions, a strategy was developed to determine target audiences and the best messengers for the campaign. Findings informed the basis of the campaign as utilising youth-centric platforms (youth clubs, Facebook, Twitter, SMS) to actively engage the youth to take charge of their own future.
Execution
Through Facebook and mass media, youth were recruited, then trained in advocacy skills and deployed in communities across Uganda. 20 media personalities joined the campaign, offering their platforms to advocate for social change.
UHMG developed a three-phased campaign that included interactive mediums. Implementation used three channels: mass media, social media, and interpersonal communication.
Phase 1 saw the launch of the campaign through social media platforms, followed by university activations and mass media. Activists were trained as ‘foot soldiers’ to mobilise more young people as the campaign transitioned in to a peer-to-peer campaign, thus increasing the number of activists across the country.
In phase 2, the GeNext advocacy group had more than 50,000 foot soldiers of which 60 were selected as trainers of trainers, and deployed in 14 districts across Uganda to encourage community dialogue targeting secondary audiences including teachers and community and religious leaders.
Phase 3 saw the GeNext advocacy group growing in to a fully independent movement that continues to engage more members of their generation and advocate for smaller families from community level through to Members of Parliament.
Reach
The GeNext campaign reached over 6 million people through mass media alone. Almost 25,000 people followed the GeNext movement on various social media platforms. Regularly trending on Twitter, GeNext achieved the status of ‘top people’ internationally—a label awarded to Twitter pages of high influence and reach. The GeNext Facebook page currently has more than 12,500 members, with a daily active member use of 800 at its peak in December 2011. During that time it was the second most followed Facebook page in Uganda. Nearly 60,000 members subscribed to the campaign’s platform chat rooms, making the campaign UHMG’s most successful to date in terms of interaction via social media platforms. 15 universities formed GeNext Clubs during phase 1 of the campaign alone, through which 55,000 youth were directly reached.
Impact
A comprehensive behaviour change survey revealed that 33.8% of respondents had been exposed to the GeNext campaign, of which 58% had seen messages on how to have smaller families. Nearly half of respondents exposed to the campaign had joined the GeNext movement.
There are currently more than 150 GeNext clubs around the country, nearly 100,000 active advocates, and over 800,000 ‘foot soldiers’ continuously raising awareness of the dangers of a growing population amongst the campaign’s target audience.
Highlights
Specifically targeting a brand new demographic in relation to family planning campaigns and adapting technologically relevant approaches, the GeNext campaign truly reinvigorated the population growth debate, introducing its consequences to the very people that will be affected. What started as a UHMG campaign, has turned in to a fully independent movement; a fact that became clear when Uganda’s contestant for Big Brother Africa, wearing a GeNext arm band, actively invited all of Africa to weigh in on the debate. Several GeNext advocates and ambassadors have presented campaign facts at a variety of national and international conferences and forums, delivering the youth’s perspective at the highest policy and advocacy levels.