Fighting gender-based violence through drama
As Malawi joined the rest of the world in observing the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence which falls between November 25 and December 10, Chancellor College students through Brother to Brother (B2B) Malawi Project held theatre performances in various colleges, universities and secondary schools to initiate a conversation on sexual violence, rape and abuse. The project uses radio plays, film, theatre, music, outreach programmes and peer to peer education to achieve its goals. This year, the project has clocked a year. The Nation sought to understand what B2B is all about in this conversation with its founder Dr Zindaba Chisiza, who is also the college’s senior lecturer of drama and head of department for fine and performing arts.
Q
: What inspired B2B?
A
: B2B was draw from my PhD research which has focused on using theatre methods to engage young men on issues that affect them. I wanted to use theatre, music, film and radio drama as tools for working with young men to explore what it means to be a man; the harmful ways boys are socialised and to help young men develop gender equitable behaviours and attitudes.
Q
: What is B2B all about?
A
: Brother to Brother is a creative gender transformative programme for young men in Malawi.
It uses arts (music, film, theatre and radio drama) to engage young men on issues relating to gender norms, identity, sexual health and gender-based violence in order to engage young men. B2B has been made possible with support from the Prince Klaus Fund for Culture and Development under their Next Generation 2018 grant.
The grant was given to individual and organisations working with young people using the creative arts in order to give young people a platform to talk issues ranging from social norms, sexual identity, gender relations and culture. In 2018, I was among the first recipients of this grant and the only one from Malawi.
Q
: How many members are in B2B?
A
: We have a core group of 54 young men and women from the University of Malawi, Chancellor College, who through arts-based workshops explore issues about masculinity, sexual health and gender relations.
They create music, short films, theatre and radio drama series. The project is supplemented by an outreach programme in schools and secondary schools in the Southern Region of Malawi.
Q
: What are some of the challenges you meet?
A
: I have been very fortunate to work with a group of young men who are committed and find the issues we are exploring exciting.
The only major challenge that we have faced is the delay in the commencement of the programme due to the change in opening dates for Chancellor College.
We had envisaged the programme to start in August 2018; however, we only got started on 27 September 2018.
Q
: What are some of the positive results of B2B?
A
: Some of the positive results of the programme include seeing positive changes being registered among the core group of young men that I am working with at Chancellor College. Being able to witness them challenge each others’ ideas and to point the way forward for how men and women can live together better is really exciting.
Another positive result has been creating a safe space for discussion about identity, social norms, pressure that young men encounter, gender-based violence and positive ideals of masculinity.
Q
: Can anyone else join B2B?
A
: No. Currently, there is a core group of 54 young men who will participate in the project until they graduate. We initially started with 20 young men, and then we have extended it to women as well, bringing the total to 54.
However, other people can engage with us through our social media accounts on Facebook, instagram, Twitter and listen and watch our content on Soundcloud and Youtube.
We are now carrying out a number of outreach programmes in college campuses and secondary school and this will create another opportunity for people to engage with them. They can also tune in to Yoneco FM for our Brother2Brother radio drama series.
