Participatory approaches to improving sexual and reproductive health and rights

Theatre for a Change (TfaC) is an organisation that, since 2003, has been aiming to improve the sexual
and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) outcomes of women and girls who have been marginalised, through participatory learning and drama.

Owing much to the work of Augusto Boal, Paulo Freire, and Robert Chambers, TfaC’s methodology enables people to tell their stories to peers and those in power, using approaches such as Interactive Theatre for Justice (ITJ), Interactive Legislative Theatre (ILT), and Interactive Radio Drama (IRD). TfaC also uses participatory approaches, inspired by its methodology, for monitoring and evaluation (M&E). TfaC works in sub-Saharan Africa (most extensively Malawi and Ghana), the Middle East, South-East Asia, and Latin America. As part of their New Partnerships Programme (NPP), established in 2015, TfaC also offers onsite accredited training and technical support to partner organisations around the world.

This qualitative meta-analysis was conducted by the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) between December 2022 and May 2023, with the overall objective of exploring what effects TfaC programmes have on individuals, groups, and communities when used as a behaviour change and advocacy tool for SRHR, and which elements of the TfaC methodology contribute to these changes.