Children's Rights: Storytelling, Entertainment Education & Resilience

Palestinian children are experiencing one of the world's most severe education and protection crises. Years of occupation, restricted movement, and chronic underinvestment have left school-age children exceptionally vulnerable. Since October 2023, the escalation of conflict has devastated educational infrastructure and further destabilized daily life. In Gaza, less than 15% of school-age children are currently receiving formal instruction.  
 
Youm Jadeed is a multimedia SBC program that uses radio, social media, and community-based activities to support psychosocial health and cognitive development among Palestinian children age 7-11. Youm Jadeed centers on a 90-episode audio series, which uses the story of siblings Suad and Iyad to introduce foundational academic content and model socio-emotional skills. Audio content is reinforced through interactive group sessions in community centers. 
 
An evaluation conducted four months after Youm Jadeed's launch found substantial cognitive and psychosocial gains among children exposed to the program, including increased ability to self-calm, express emotions, and collaborate with peers. 

Title: Evaluating Live and Recorded Video Puppetry for Equitable Community-Led Behavior Change on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Western Kenya.
Background: Conventional SBCC for NTDs often uses top-down approaches that marginalize local knowledge and fail to engage communities meaningfully. In Western Kenya, school-age children bear a disproportionate burden of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths, yet traditional SBCC lacks cultural resonance and reach. This study evaluated a participatory, dual-media puppetry strategy co-developed with communities to promote equitable, context-sensitive knowledge and behavior change.
Methods: Guided by participatory and implementation research principles, a quasi-experimental study was co-designed with teachers, health workers, and artists in four counties. Fifteen schools were assigned to Live Puppetry(n=6), Video Puppetry(n=6), or Control(n=3). Interventions included performances in Kiswahili and English, comic books, and digital dissemination. Controls received conventional messaging. Surveys assessed knowledge, attitudes, and practices among 1,529 pupils at baseline and 2,290 at end-line (ages 10–14years). Stakeholder feedback explored acceptability, ethics, and message ownership.
Results: Puppetry-based SBCC significantly outperformed conventional approaches. Video puppetry improved knowledge retention for Soil-Transmitted Helminths(53.5% vs 46.5%,p=0.034) and Schistosimiasis(54.5% vs 45.5%,p=0.001). Swimming in stagnant water dropped from 65.9% to 9.8%. The intervention became the second-most cited health information source(52.4%) and fostered intergenerational knowledge sharing(70.8%). Acceptance was high(99%), with preference for Kiswahili(81.5%).
Discussion: Co-created hybrid-media puppetry is a scalable SBCC tool that drives knowledge retention and behavior change by centering local knowledge and languages. Integration into national strategies and investment in local artist capacity is recommended.

This study measures the impact of two entertainment-education television programs developed for markets in 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. One (N*Gen or Next Generation Television) is a science show aimed at children and families that models female scientists and girls taking an interest in science. The other (Love & Wealth) is a "remixed" telenovela that promotes contraception and positive gender norms. Three randomized groups of 200 viewers each were encouraged to watch either 5 episodes of the science show, 5 episodes of the telenovela, or a placebo show about painting. Viewers watched the programming on their cell phones or other mobile devices. Attitudes and beliefs were measured utilizing a post-test survey conducted approximately 7 days after the viewing period. N*Gen affected both knowledge and attitudes, but Love & Wealth did not. Locally created media was more effective in promoting social change. Additionally, the shorter episodic stories and local experiences incorporated into N*Gen were more influential than the longer serial drama more typical of EE narratives.