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Since its inception, the Siyayinqoba brand has touched the lives of many and continues to instil a culture of positive and responsible living. It has grown to include several forms of communication, training and outreach.

Community Media Trust utilises the Siyayinqoba brand to provide information about HIV and health in South Africa via various platforms including television, radio, print, social media and in the community. Siyayinqoba has changed and developed over time to remain a trusted and respected source of health information in South Africa.

Community Media Trust produced Siyayinqoba Beat It!, a hard-hitting magazine television show dealing with the impact of HIV/AIDS at a time in our history when antiretroviral treatment was not available in the public health sector. Through the inclusion of people living openly with HIV, the series sought to reduce stigma and discrimination while advocating for ARVs to be made available to all. It served as an advocacy tool to push the government to provide ARVs in public health facilities. The series premiered on e.tv in 1999 and aired on the channel for the first three seasons. From season four it was produced in cooperation with SABC Education and aired on SABC1. It finished its ninth season of this partnership in 2017, during which time Siyayinqoba reached almost 14 million viewers and it is estimated that repeat broadcasts on a number of community TV channels reached a further 700,000 viewers.

The primary purpose of the campaign was to capitalize on the 2024 Paris Olympics

The primary purpose of the campaign was to capitalize on the 2024 Paris Olympics, one of the world’s top sporting events, to shine a light on the issue and to start a movement to call for the removal of all sugary beverage sponsorship from sport – starting with the removal of Coca-Cola sponsorship of the Olympic Games.

Community Media Trust, in collaboration with Vital Strategies, handled all aspects of the campaign's production, including location scouting, wardrobe, art and special effects, talent casting, crew management, filming, and post-production. The entire campaign was shot on location over a three-week period.

CHEW ON THIS

The web series is a crucial element of the Better Labels Better Choices campaign, which encourages South Africans to demand warning labels on the packaging of unhealthy food items, and advocates government and the food industry to implement policy to this effect.

Community Media Trust is proud to work with the HEALA coalition, a consortium of organisations that advocate for an improved food environment in South Africa. We joined the coalition in 2022 as the mass media and communications partner and media strategist. South Africa faces significant challenges related to hunger, food insecurity, and obesity. These issues stem from the country's broken food system.

To ensure equitable access to affordable and nutritious food, addressing this broken system is crucial.

COMMUNITY MEDIA TRUST IS PROUD TO WORK WITH THE HEALA COALITION, A CONSORTIUM OF ORGANISATIONS THAT ADVOCATE FOR AN IMPROVED FOOD ENVIRONMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA.

We joined the coalition in 2022 as the mass media and communications partner and media strategies.

Ultra-processed food products can threaten our health with excessive sugar, salt, fats and added sweeteners, leading to diseases like type-2 diabetes and high blood pressure, which in turn can cause strokes or heart disease. Diabetes is a growing cause of illness and death in South Africa. The good news is the government is listening to public health experts and considering regulations that would force manufacturers to put warning labels on their unhealthy products.

  The draft regulations for this labelling also prohibit the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages in schools.

  Community Media Trust completed the brand development and testing phases, conducting participatory workshops and focus group testing with multiple audiences. We worked closely with Media Mix 360 to research and segment the target audience for media placement and scheduling. We produced several high-end advertisements for TV and radio in seven languages as well as digital assets, posters and merchandise to support the campaign.

The Better Labels Better Choices adverts were aired for six weeks on national television and radio in 2022 and hosted a highly successful Better Labels Better Choices campaign launch event, attended by press and social media influencers, which resulted in nationwide press coverage.

COMMUNITY MEDIA TRUST IS PROUD TO WORK WITH THE HEALA COALITION, A CONSORTIUM OF ORGANISATIONS THAT ADVOCATE FOR AN IMPROVED FOOD ENVIRONMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA.

We joined the coalition in 2022 as the mass media and communications partner and media strategies. The Less Sugar More Life campaign promotes the annual increase of the sugar tax and encourages consumers to choose less sugary drinks. Diabetes is one of the fastest-growing diseases globally and saw an increase in the number of people living with this chronic disease rising from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus has rapidly increased in South Africa, from 4.5% in 2010 to 12.7% in 2019, and is expected to continue to rise. In South Africa, diabetes has a high mortality rate and there are roughly 4.2 million people living with the condition.

  The sugar tax policy in South Africa is used as a corrective tool to address soaring figures of obesity and other non-communicable diseases. More front-of-pack warning labels are essential because it makes nutritional information easier to locate, especially for individuals with low literacy levels.

Zwakala is a movement of young people who fought the spread of COVID-19 by choosing to get vaccinated and wear masks, while encouraging social distancing, sanitising and good ventilation to protect themselves as well as the ones they love.

The original Zwakala campaign, developed by UN Verified and piloted in Khayelitsha in Cape Town, focused on young adults aged 18-24 and on non-pharmaceutical messages as above. Building from this, Community Media Trust worked closely with the National Department of Health, UNICEF and UN Verified to further develop and test campaign messaging on vaccine confidence, focusing mainly on South Africans aged 18 to 33.

 Zwakala used a broad spectrum of real people telling their vaccine stories to create content around vaccine confidence and COVID-19 prevention. Other partners and donors, including CHAPS, The Aurum Institute, Accenture, Project Last Mile, and USAID, joined and expanded the Zwakala campaign with Community Media Trust as the central communications partner and media producer.

 In this role, Community Media Trust produced 54 television and 66 radio advertisements in multiple languages for the Zwakala campaign, for national broadcast in four provinces. The campaign further consisted of outdoor media, branded merchandise, posters, daily content creation and social media management. We produced a multitude of high-quality media materials in a short period, delivering on time so vaccine confidence messages reached the right people, at the right time.

The LeKipKip campaign is targeted at girls and young women aged 15-24, as well as female sex workers, and forms part of a research study led by Johns Hopkins University. 

PrEP is an effective pill you can take daily to prevent becoming infected with HIV, lowering the risk by more than 90%.

In developing the campaign brand, Community Media Trust ran a series of workshops and focus groups. In an attempt to find a new word for PrEP which is relatable to the audience, we ran a series of participatory workshops with the target audience and LeKipKip was created. LeKipKip refers to the colourful popcorn found all over the country at taxi ranks and schools – pop one pill once a day – LeKipKip. We produced four digital advertisements in four languages together with Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials, digital posters and branded merchandise. We also developed monthly content for social media and supported the campaign through managing the LeKipKip social media pages and dedicated WhatsApp line. This included collating responses to lead generation adverts and linking those who want to access PrEP to TB HIV Care’s teams on the ground.

 Since the start of the page to date, the LeKipKip Facebook page has had 1,552 page likes and 55,066 page visits with a reach of 925,648.

About Power of Play

Recognising the time constraints and stresses that parents in South Africa face, the campaign focuses on how everyday household activities can be an opportunity for play, learning, and development. When looked at through a child’s eyes, washing the dishes, hanging laundry, and planting seeds become adventures in imagination and opportunities to play and grow.

The primary campaign target audience is parents/caregivers of children aged 0 to 6 across South Africa, with a focus on poorer and rural households.

The campaign uses mixed media channels of video, digital content, radio, and print material and will include a documentary. It also uses in-person communications through play activations with parents/caregivers and children aged 0 to 6.

Community Media Trust was commissioned by The Aurum Institute to test and develop a popular health brand which appealed to youth aged 15-24, particularly young women and their partners in Ekurhuleni district, in Johannesburg.

AS’BANGENE (meaning Let’s Do This) aimed to increase health seeking behaviour among youth, especially in relation to family planning, testing for and accessing treatment for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections; and increasing healthy lifestyle behaviour such as diet and exercise. We used human-centred design methodology, behaviour change communication, and participatory research with the target audience to design and produce a relatable campaign.

 The AS’BANGENE brand was flexible enough to incorporate multiple health themes and reach the desired audience through relevant media channels. All phases of the brand and message development process were done in participation with the target audience using focus groups, workshops, and digital testing.

Community Media Trust adapted our flagship brand Siyayinqoba in the Eastern Cape to Siyayinqoba SHA’P as part of our work to support people living with HIV, in partnership with TB HIV Care

 A highlight has been the Siyayinqoba SHA’P romantic comedy radio drama that we developed and produced. The 2 seasons of six-episodes each, focused on starting HIV treatment, disclosure of HIV status, adherence, and the latest messaging around viral load suppression and protecting your partner from HIV. Community Media Trust shows a unique ability to use story and popular culture with integrated health messaging to reach target audiences.

Siyayinqoba SHA’P aims to increase awareness of antiretroviral treatment (ART), support adherence to chronic medication, and encourage people who have defaulted on their treatment to start again. The campaign also promotes fixed-dose combination therapy, improving adherence through only having to take one pill once a day. Digital materials included photographs of people living openly with HIV telling their stories. The campaign also included a weekly show on Umhlobo Wenene FM, the largest radio station in the Eastern Cape.

Community Media Trust developed and implemented the Man Up communications campaign promoting the uptake of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) as an HIV prevention strategy.

The campaign supported CDC-funded partners to generate demand for VMMC services in districts in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, and was rolled out in various languages and across different demographics and segmented audiences.

  Community Media Trust was tasked with creating a campaign that spoke specifically to VMMC to create awareness about the benefits and deal with barriers, as well target the hard-to-reach men in South Africa. In particular, the campaign needed to appeal to South African men aged 15 to 34 and their influencers. In response, we utilised a human-centred approach, ensuring that the target audience and their influencers were central to the brand name, brand imagery, messaging and campaign materials developed. Man Up was developed in conjunction with the National Department of Health who endorsed the campaign with their logo appearing on all materials, and provincial Departments of Health to ensure appropriate tailoring for different target audiences.

Awareness of VMMC is high in South Africa, and there is fairly strong support for it, based on perceived health benefits. The country has diverse cultures, languages and demographics across the different target districts. Man Up used segmentation at district level - changing images, accent, taglines and logos to best relate to the target audience in a specific area. The campaign had a consistent look and feel but was adaptable to audiences anywhere in South Africa. This made the Man Up campaign dynamic and responsive, as demonstrated through the use of Man Up in the Western Cape, Soka in KZN. In the Western Cape, the target audience was specific to the so-called “coloured” men which is a hard-to-reach audience in areas dealing with violence and poverty. Man Up Western Cape use events and popular culture with the target audience to increase uptake for VMMC and we saw a significant increase.

Community Media Trust developed and implemented the Man Up communications campaign promoting the uptake of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) as an HIV prevention strategy in South Africa in 2019.

In 2020, we expanded further afield with the implementation of the Man Up Namibia campaign. Community Media Trust formed part of the consortium for Scaling up Access for Expanded Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (SAFE) in Namibia, led by ABT Associates and funded by USAID. Our role was to assist with demand creation and mass media to establish VMMC as a social norm in Namibia and encourage men aged 15 to 29 to volunteer for Medical Male Circumcision.

Side-by-Side incorporates health messaging across the entire spectrum of care that children need to develop, along with stresses relevant to life in South Africa today: HIV/AIDS, violence, substance abuse and unemployment. 

In 2018, Community Media Trust was contracted by Ilifa Labantwana to develop and write a 48-part radio drama series about early childhood development, called Side-by-Side. Ilifa Labantwana works to secure an equal start for all children living in South Africa, through universal access to quality early childhood development. Community Media Trust developed the characters, the story, and the series structure. Each episode’s messaging consisted of early childhood development information provided in the updated Road to Health booklet. Community Media Trust tested the material with focus groups and adjusted storylines to produce an effective educational drama while still maintaining entertainment value.

THROUGH OUR HUMAN-CENTRED DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, WE DESIGNED THE S’KHATHI SETHU RADIO AND SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN. S’KHATHI SETHU MEANS “OUR TIME”

Community Media Trust was privileged to develop, test and produce an eight-part radio drama series for PEPFAR - the US President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief). The messaging in the series dealt with issues of living with HIV.

S'khathi Sethu shared relevant health information and support with a specific focus on living with HIV, with the main target audience being people aged 35-49. Topics included promotion of national initiatives and programmes such as Coach Mpilo, MINA for Men, new treatments for HIV, U=U, adherence to HIV medication and many more.

U = U stands for “Undetectable = Untransmittable” and is an important campaign promoting the message that if someone living with HIV is taking their medication as prescribed and is virally suppressed, they cannot pass on HIV to their sexual partner.

Funded by the Global Fund through KZN Treasury, Community Media Trust was tasked with developing a strategy for social and behavioural change communication for young women and girls aged 15-24.

A new strategic campaign and brand for the province called Zithande was designed, implemented and launched in 2018/19. The four key areas addressed by the campaign were HIV, TB, gender-based violence and substance abuse.

A rapid assessment was conducted in five target districts in KZN, which included focus-group discussions and participatory research to engage young women and their partners in the message design. All campaign elements, including media channels, potential brand names, imagery and messaging were tested.

Zithande means “love yourself” in isiZulu; the concept of loving yourself was seen as a positive motivating factor for young people to encourage them to take care of themselves and their own health, and avoid peer pressure and negative influences. Workshop participants recognised that they could only help and love other people if they loved and cared for themselves first. This connected the campaign with the concepts of community care as well as self-awareness and self-care.

Community Media Trust was privileged to be part of the iKapa Cares initiative, supporting the expansion of a public private partnership between Western Cape Government Health and select private pharmacies in the City of Cape Town to expand HIV testing services.

With support from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the US President’s Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), CareWorks, Community Media Trust and TB HIV Care supported this exciting initiative through providing marketing, training, job-aids and on-the-job mentoring and support to 40 nursing sisters to ensure the private sector offers quality and confidential HIV testing services to the public. The service is offered at 20 private partner sites in the City of Cape Town that are convenient to the public, such as Pick ‘n Pay, Dis-Chem, Alpha Pharm and selected private pharmacies, with the hope of expanding access.

Community Media Trust’s role was to develop a campaign name, logo and materials to support the initiative. Through stakeholder engagement, campaign names and logos were tested with iKapa Cares being the eventual final choice. We developed and produced radio public service announcements to market the service, branded signage for pharmacies, and IEC materials. All campaign materials were available in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa.

Community Media Trust was contracted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal to develop a brand and provide communications support for the KZN Initiative for Breastfeeding Support.

We were tasked with developing a brand and implementing a campaign to support and promote breastfeeding and human milk banks. Campaign elements included a documentary video about human milk banks and video public service announcements, together with a radio drama series and public service announcements for radio. All campaign materials were in English and isiZulu.

 Community Media Trust also rebranded existing IEC materials, provided branded signage and stationery for the human milk banks and made branded merchandise to support awareness events to launch the district human milk banks at community level in each of the 11 districts in KZN. We engaged with the mainstream and community press, promoting breastfeeding and human milk banks and generated organic press about this important initiative. We also developed and hosted a blog for campaign resources and provided design support for a report documenting human milk banking scale-up in KZN.

 The project was an exciting one to implement and the Community Media Trust team enjoyed developing the Made by Mom brand, media components and preparing for the launches.

Community Media Trust developed and produced six television adverts in six languages, as well as six radio adverts in 11 languages for the National Department of Health’s She Conquers campaign.

CMT collaborated with TB HIV Care to conceptualise, develop, write and produce the content. Community Media Trust also managed the media buying and scheduling, resulting in the radio and TV content being broadcast across all SABC stations.

Messaging included condom use, starting treatment, adherence to medication, the reduction of gender-based violence and addressing the fears of using health services.

All material included a unique WhatsApp number for clients to contact and be directed to the Department of Health’s B-Wise website.

In South Africa, HIV is most prevalent among youth aged 15-24 and new infections mostly occur among young women. 

The DREAMS programme (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe) funds a core package of evidence-based approaches that go beyond the health sector, addressing the structural drivers that directly or indirectly increase the HIV risk of girls and young women, including poverty, gender inequality, sexual violence, and lack of education.

As a DREAMS partner since 2016, Community Media Trust has worked in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the North West and values collaborations and partnerships developed with a diverse range of stakeholders, including NGO partners, government departments, schools and local community and faith-based organisations.

Currently Community Media Trust employs 284 employees on the DREAMS project, working across five districts in Gauteng and the North West.

Our teams work with priority populations - adolescent girls and young women - and their male sex partners.

We take a holistic approach, empowering young women in particular to overcome some of the socio-economic and structural realities that increase their risk of HIV infection, teen pregnancy and gender-based violence. Our programmes therefore include initiatives to strengthen families and to challenge and change gender norms.

Through funding from TB HIV Care, Community Media Trust launched Coach Mpilo in the OR Tambo district in the Eastern Cape in October 2020. 

Community Media Trust piloted this initiative as part of the national Coach Mpilo programme that aims to improve linkage to HIV treatment and retention in care amongst men newly diagnosed with HIV, men with HIV who never started taking treatment, and men with HIV who have been lost to follow-up. Key to this ongoing programme is that our coaches are people living with HIV, who are able to provide in-depth peer support based on their own personal experience.

By the end of 2020, 11 coaches were trained and deployed, and by early 2021, Community Media Trust had employed 20 coaches who enrolled more than 1,800 men into the programme.

Based on the success of the model and increased funding, the programme expanded and now employs 88 coaches, including female coaches, and 39 HAST Counsellors who provide HIV testing services at community level. Community Media Trust’s teams work alongside the Department of Health and TB HIV Care’s teams to support the national HIV programme in the OR Tambo, Chris Hani and Amathole districts in the Eastern Cape.

The series was directed by Laddie Bosch and Lucilla Blankenberg.

Produced by Community Media Trust and created and narrated by Quanita Adams who hails from Lotus River, the series explores the complexities of growing up in Cape Town through the eyes of 12-year-old Riana Isaacs (Kelly Damon). The young girl embarks on a mission to achieve her personal goals amid the various struggles of the time.

It’s 1989 and the country and the world are in dramatic upheaval. Riana innocently sets out to achieve her own personal milestones: become head girl in her final year at Catholic primary school, star in the school play, and make the boy of her dreams fall in love with her. Like her creator, Riana lives in Lotus River on the Cape Flats, affectionately and rather glamorously referred to as “The Riviera”. Half Riana's family is Muslim and the other half is Christian, which has made her tolerant of both religions, though this often puts her at odds with her family or religious instructors.

Created by Community Media Trust’s Lucilla Blankenberg, and directed by Lucilla and Laddie Bosch, JAB is semi-autobiographical dedicated to Lucilla’s late boxing coach, Conference Johnson.

When an intensely private boxing enthusiast faces the loss of her family home, she's left no other option but to fight for money. Surprising everyone, she sparks an unexpected journey to the top of women's boxing, in which ambition, greed and the harsh realities of working-class life make her struggles outside the ring as dangerous as her fights inside it.

Nineteen-year-old Bee Sondlo lives in a working-class home in Langa, Cape Town, with her mother, Gladys, and disabled older brother, Mandla. A low-key loner who tries to live her life honourably despite the financial hardships of life in an area riddled with crime, drugs and gangsterism, Bee’s private dedication to boxing is her solace.

When the threat of losing her home forces her out of her shell, leaving her no other option but to fight for money, Bee surprises herself and others with the skill and ferocity of her boxing talent. Her dramatic success sparks an unlikely journey towards the top in the seedy, dangerous world of professional fighting, where every fight in the ring is matched by her fight to keep her soul intact.

Counter Culture, a 13-part documentary series saw fascinating groups of people open up about their alternative lifestyle choices. 

Counter Culture aimed to empower and educate viewers with thought-provoking content. The show strived to teach people to respect and understand the cultural beliefs of others, with the hope this would lead to less conflict within our society and eventually eradicate the persecution of marginalised groups.

Narrated by Zikhona Mda, the show followed nudists, cage fighting/martial artists, drag racers, pageant divas, swingers, bodybuilders, cosplay (comic fans), graffiti artists, wiccans, drag queens and many more as individuals let viewers into their private spaces and lifestyle communities. We filmed ordinary people with extraordinary passions.

Executive producer Lucilla felt the show would go a long way to debunking many myths and stereotypes that people have about “the other”: “Counter Culture is all about acceptance, sharing and not judging anyone for their lifestyle or beliefs. ‘Anything goes, we don’t judge’. The series is light-hearted, quirky and entertaining and the characters are open and honest,” she said.

Amaza, meaning waves, aired on SABC1 with a weekly average of 6.5 million viewers per month in early 2014, episode 11 reached 7.6 million viewers and had an audience rating of 17.5 million - second only to popular soapie Generations.

The series was set in a street in Muizenberg, Cape Town, and featured a diverse group of students who had to come to terms with the cultural and historical legacies that moulded each of them. Amaza followed four main characters through 13 episodes as they had to make life-changing decisions as they faced the challenges that life threw at them. Starring Siyabonga Mayola, Shamilla Miller, Zikhona Mda and Sean-Marco Vorster.

Amaza dealt with the universal themes of growing up, family responsibility, dreams and facing reality.