PMC produced Umurage Urukwiye (“Rwanda’s Brighter Future”) in Rwanda. This 312-episode radio serial drama aired April 16, 2007 through July 2009 in Kinyarwanda, one of Rwanda’s official languages. Umurage Urukwiye was rebroadcast from October 2012 through October 2014.
Umurage Urukwiye aired three times per week in Rwanda on two radio stations: Contact FM and Radio Salus, the National University of Rwanda’s radio station. Due to the popularity and the continued importance of its messages, Umurage Urukwiye was rebroadcast from October 2012 – October 2014 on Radio Rwanda, which broadcasts throughout the entire country.
As with all PMC radio serial dramas, Umurage Urukwiye was created using PMC’s serial drama methodology.
A nationwide survey conducted just after the original broadcast of Umurage Urukwiye showed:
Family Planning
• The likelihood of respondents saying they “currently use something to delay or avoid pregnancy” was 1.6 times greater at endline compared to baseline.
• Listeners were 1.6 times more likely than non-listeners to say they talked to their spouse or partner “once or twice” or “more often” about family planning in the last three months.
• Listeners were 1.5 times more likely than non-listeners to want three or fewer children.
• Listeners were 2.9 times more likely than non-listeners to say “yes” when asked if they could obtain a condom themselves and would not need to rely on someone else.
• Listeners were 2.1 times more likely than non-listeners to know of a place to get a female condom.
HIV/AIDS
• Listeners were 2 times more likely than non-listeners to have heard about a medication mothers can take to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS to a baby.
• Listeners were 2.2 times more likely than non-listeners to say “yes” when asked “apart from AIDS have you heard of sexually transmitted infections?”
• Listeners were 2.7 times more likely than non-listeners to want to know their HIV status by getting a blood test.
Preservation of Mountain Gorillas and Natural Resources
• Listeners were 1.5 times more likely than non-listeners to cite population growth as the primary cause of environmental degradation and loss of gorilla habitat.
• Listeners were 1.5 times more likely than non-listeners to have talked with their spouse or partner in the past three months about the connection between family planning and conservation of natural resources.
• Listeners were 1.6 times more likely than non-listeners to know that protection of gorillas and their habitat can reduce poverty and bring tourists.