Rapid Effective Participatory Action in Community Theatre Education and Development
The mission of REPACTED is to define ourselves, shape our experiences, identify our strengths, tackle our challenges and celebrate our successes as young Kenyans. REPACTED is a community-based youth-to-youth organization fully registered with the Department of Culture under the Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture, and Social Services. REPACTED is composed of highly qualified youth and community volunteers who form a multi-disciplinary team encompassing the field of behaviour change communication including theatre for development, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, sexuality, gender issues, drugs and substance abuse. The team (currently 25 members) contains strong field experience and profound knowledge of the local community and their cultural behaviors.
REPACTED was formed in 2001 by youth theatre artists from the Nakuru Players Theatre Club within the Impact Project of Family Health International (FHI) under the technical assistance of the Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health-Kenya (PATH-Kenya). The youth thespians formed the organization with an aim of improving their community by encouraging young people to make informed decisions around issues affecting them and to involve them in community development. They achieve this by volunteering their theatrical skills and talents in participatory theatre methodologies, awareness campaigns and peer education and counseling. REPACTED seeks to address a range of youth development issues directly associated with HIV/AIDS: sexuality, abstinence, negotiation skills, gender issues, relationships, reproductive health, safer sexual practices and methods of protection against pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Activities that improve knowledge, attitude, skills, and behaviours are organized in a range of settings: from learning institutions to communities and special circumstance institutions. REPACTED programs target youth between the ages of 15 – 24 as partners, allies, and agents of change and supports youth-adult partnership.
Past and Current Initiatives, Collaborations, and Awards:
- APHIA II Project – funded by USAID June ’07 – Present
- Abstinence and Behavior Change for Youth with ADRA-Kenya (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) funded by USAID 2003 – Present
- School and Prison Outreaches funded by the MTV Staying Alive Foundation. June ’07-Present
- Raising Voices Outreach Grant – present·
- Peace Tiles with Peace Tiles Global Project 2005 – Present·
Act ALIVE actalive.org - New York Film Festivals ‘Best Finalist – Short Stories’ for a film about gender inequality 2007
- Collaborations with Princeton University students and professors 2005 to present·
Founding Member elected to the national CACC (Constituency AIDS Control Committee). - Over 800 Community Theatrical Outreaches since 2001
- Impact Project with FHI – Behavior Change Communication funded by USAID 2001-2004