By Jon Hargreaves

After only one month, the ‘Kickout Teenage Pregnancy” campaign (Piga teke mimba za mapema in Swahili) by HCR partner-station Amani FM in eastern Kenya, has been so successful, the call-in lines are jammed. The team has been hosting talk shows, call-in programmes and getting out and about in the schools of Tana River County, to promote awareness of underage pregnancy. As Station Manager, Harriet Atyang explains, “We’ve been encouraging girls to follow their dreams and be aware of grooming by predatory men. Tana River County is among the four worst hit counties with this menace and is one of the major reasons it performs so poorly in the national exams,” she added

The station receives more than 300 phone calls per day and more than 200 sms text messages. “In fact our call lines are getting so congested we are trying to get a third line and another phone to help ease the congestion,” says Harriet.

The station is using the Una Hakika SMS text reporting system, where listeners are given a short code which enables them to seek counselling or report any incidents where they feel threatened or at risk.

Harriet says the campaign is the talk of town and that the response has been overwhelming, hoping it will result in significant change in the community.

HCR is working across Africa and Asia, supporting communities in crisis, through community centred-media. For more information contact hcruk@h-c-r.org