Participatory photography · Community advocacy · Uganda
While I was at Reproductive Health Uganda, I worked with SafeHands on a simple question: what would young people show us if they held the camera? They made the photographs, wrote their captions and took their priorities to local leaders. I now help organisations train community storytellers and turn the conversations around their pictures into advocacy.
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Project and results
In Fort Portal, Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) and SafeHands asked young people to show what mattered to them about sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Participants chose what to photograph and how they wanted their community to understand it.
The Knowledge and Information on Safe Sex project, known locally as KISS, explored how young people could obtain and share reliable information. In the photography strand, participants documented situations familiar to their peers, from seeking a confidential service to negotiating responsibility within a relationship.
The 80 perspectives are a count reported by SafeHands. The 23 refers to people in the workshop. At the subsequent exhibition, local decision-makers selected five proposals for support.
Cameras in hand
RHU’s Youth Action Movement brought young leaders into a participatory photography workshop. They practised telling a story visually, then chose which pictures their neighbours and local leaders would see.
The participants assembled the community exhibition themselves. Sexual responsibility, treatment for sexually transmitted infections and access to youth-friendly services were among the issues the original chapter identifies.
The exhibition also gave the young leaders a chance to pitch grassroots advocacy ideas. A local panel selected five projects for the small-grants fund. The proposals included visual storytelling to make conversations about menstruation easier to have.
SafeHands reported that young leaders went on to curate health messages for a digital storytelling campaign. The record documents new opportunities to speak, organise and secure resources. Changes in attitudes or service use would require follow-up evidence.
“If you’re age mates, you talk to them, and they feel comfortable.”Elite, RHU peer educator, quoted in the original chapter
The exhibition captions
Five young photographers chose these scenes for the Fort Portal exhibition on 24 January 2020. Open a photograph to read its caption in the photographer’s own words and explore the story behind the image.
National photography competition
RHU invited Youth Action Movement volunteers across Uganda to photograph what young people wanted from sexual and reproductive health information and services. The competition carried the question beyond the Fort Portal workshop.
Angela Fisher, Ashenafi Gudeta, Carol Beckwith, Canary Mugume and Nancy Durrell McKenna served on the judging panel. Three winners were selected. The nine entries below are identified as finalists in the competition records.
Big Picture finalists · 1 of 3
Lubanga Hakim · Naminya
“Peer educators trying to educate fellow peers on how to use a condom”
Lubanga Hakim · Naminya
“Peer educators trying to educate fellow peers on how to use a condom”
Kule Jackson · Kasese
“Some people access information about sexual reproductive health through studying in schools.”
Big Picture finalists · 2 of 3
Kyomuhangi Diana · Kasese
“Social media as avast broad source of information has helped in transforming societies through the products of SRHR.”
Muhindo Boaz kabasa · Kasese
“Peer educators have played a big role in spreading SRH information to young people for they have been so relevant, open to them and have given in their time creating awearness among young people.”
Nawanyaga Gloria · Jinja
“Photos about school and community outreaches and edutainment as a way young people get to know about their sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR).”
Big Picture finalists · 3 of 3
Katende Edward · Kampala
“I Got sexual and reproductive health information from Reproductive Health Uganda busheyi Branch and I became a peer educator at campus which is KIU-WC. After I went in another conference organized by Yospace in conjunction with the Population service international Uganda where I got more information on Sexual and Representative Health. I believe that I have information on sexual and reproductive health and also enger to get more information if opportunity is given to me and I do more sensitization awareness campaigns to the youth in my community and at country at large.”
Shivan Kya
“The pictures involve learning about reproductive health from; mobile phones and other devices that access the internet, from talking to friends, and lastly from reading books, news papers and magazines available around me.”
Manzi Richard · Fort Portal
“Most people my age are very sexual and excited because of the body changes. Most of the information about sex is from fellow young people. They tell you that you are not normal if you haven't had sex, or don't have a girlfriend. They make having sex seem so cool and who doesn't want to be or join the cool group?”
The partners’ draft methodology
In a joint draft dated 11 June 2020, RHU and SafeHands set down five commitments for their visual storytelling work. They are a record of how the partners wanted training to work.
Young people decide what to gather, what to leave out and how to frame the experience. Their captions and interpretation belong alongside the photograph.
The partners recognised young people as experts on the issues affecting them. They wanted participants involved in designing, delivering and evaluating the workshops.
Consent, confidentiality and respect were shared responsibilities. Participants needed to feel safe enough to be candid, including about what should stay private.
The draft called for training, equipment, travel costs, internet data and a stipend. These practical decisions determined who could take part and whether their expertise was valued.
A transparent selection process should reach young people beyond the familiar group already connected to a programme. The partners called for attention to diversity, safety and wellbeing.
Source: RHU and SafeHands, Visual Story-telling Methodology: Values Statement, draft of 11 June 2020, from the project files.
Project credits
SafeHands documented the project in its 2019–2020 annual report. Each finalist’s photograph is paired with the photographer’s name and caption from the competition register.
SafeHands and Reproductive Health Uganda worked with RHU’s Youth Action Movement under the Knowledge and Information on Safe Sex project in Uganda.
The nine competition files are matched to their original entry numbers. Captions appear as submitted, with spacing normalised. A location is included where the register identifies one.
Fortunate Kagumaho worked on the project at Reproductive Health Uganda. La Conteur presents the project and offers PhotoVoice training for organisations working with communities. Each photographer is credited for their own work.
SafeHands. Annual Report 2018–2019, p. 19.
SafeHands. Annual Report 2019–2020, pp. 11–16.
The competition register and its finalist image files were also consulted. Personal contact information from the register is excluded.
La Conteur · Professional practice
Bring us a community issue and the decision you want to influence. We design a PhotoVoice process with participants, train them to make and interpret photographs, and help them put a specific request in front of the people who can act.
Agree on the advocacy question, who needs to hear the answer and what participants want to keep private. Set out how consent, credit and future use of each image will work.
Practise framing a photograph, interviewing a peer and writing a caption. Participants select their own images, check the interpretation and rehearse how they will present a request.
Build an exhibition, an illustrated brief or a digital gallery. A facilitator records what decision-makers agreed to do, who will follow up and when participants should expect an answer.
For enquiries, contact fortunatekay@gmail.com
Fortunate Kagumaho · Research and training
I can work with your team to plan a PhotoVoice workshop, train participants, curate an exhibition and document the actions decision-makers agree to take.
For enquiries, contact fortunatekay@gmail.com