Boda Boda Talk Talk

BBTT (Boda Boda means motorbike taxi across much of Africa) serves more than 30,000 men, women, and children who have lost their homes and been displaced following the conflict in South Sudan that broke out in mid-December 2013. Through BBTT, people living in both camps "are provided with relevant, accurate, timely information, enabling them to make choices and decisions about their own lives.” The Humanitarian Information Service updates the affected community on services and aid provided by various humanitarian agencies, and provides a platform for people to share their views and experiences with camp management.


The roving bike uses low technology to broadcast information across the sites. A speaker is bolted to the bike which also holds a USB flash drive with two new programmes a week. As of June 2014, nearly 40 programmes had been researched, professionally produced, and broadcast in Tong Ping, while more than 15 have been produced in the UN House.

The programmes include practical information about the water supply, health, food distributions; they also seek to raise awareness of issues such as women's and children's potential increased vulnerability following the conflict. Each programme includes a feature story such as advice on how to prevent malnutrition, as well as information about how women can protect themselves from the increased risks to threats and violence (as normal social protection mechanisms are not available). 



According to Internews, "all bulletins and feature stories are specific to the sites - generic messaging is avoided to ensure relevancy and appropriateness of the information shared." Engaging with the community, giving them a platform to air their concerns, opinions, and views of the services provided in the site are central, as is the strategy of "mobilising people around taking actions to protect themselves against disease, violence or insecurity, or it might be to support people through difficult times by sharing the happy moments in their lives with each other."


A 3-minute drama - "Tong Ping Tales" and "Jebel Tales" - also helps communicate issues such as the safety of women who must leave the UNMISS protection area to grinding mills in the main markets of Juba. Carrying food aid makes them easy targets for abuse, kidnap, and attack. One of the episodes therefore included advising women to use a new plain sack to empty sorghum into when they leave the site and going to the market in groups.


In June 2014, the initiative was able to responded quickly to a cholera outbreak by producing bulletins and short information pieces through an existing health campaign called "Our Health is in Our Hands", which BBTT had already developed to help improve hygiene awareness and promote better practices in the sites. The team also wrote and produced a number of public service announcements (PSAs) to make people aware of the cholera transmission routes, let them know how to recognise the symptoms, and learn what to do if they suspected someone was suffering from the illness. 


To ensure the information was delivered in an accessible way to all listeners, the BBTT team also produced a 3-minute drama featuring a child and a mother to demonstrate the risks of defecating in the street and not washing hands with soap afterwards. To reinforce the message, posters with the tagline "Stop. Think. Act. Always Wash Your Hands with Soap" were designed, translated into Nuer, and widely distributed at water points and in clinics. T-shirts with the same message have also been printed with the message "My Health is in My Hands."


Outside of the two sites in Juba, Internews has also worked in partnership with South Sudan Red Cross and the Ministry of Health, and has produced a 10-minute recorded audio programme as a spin off from BBTT. Called Juba Juba Talk Talk, this programme included a cholera song, PSA, and the drama. The South Sudan Red Cross has trained and deployed 100 volunteers who targeted key areas of the city where cholera is concentrated. They will take the audio programme and target markets, schools, and other key places where people gather, playing the programme on large speakers provided by Internews.


The Humanitarian Information Service has also been launched in the northern town of Malakal where a further 18,000 people fled to the UNMISS base.

Click here for more information on the Internews website.

Health, Conflict, Security

A survey of people in the camps showed that 95.8% have heard of BBTT, and 94% have listened to the programme. In addition, 40% of regular listeners stated that they have changed their lives in some way after hearing the programme.

According to Internews, the success of BBTT has created a demand for more humanitarian information services (HIS) across the country. The programme is planning to roll out to a third site next door to the UN House.