Over $65 million is invested annually in SRH initiatives in Kenya to empower social institutions such as schools, NGOs, and churches to educate girls and provide access to healthcare. But, it hasn't been effective.

61% of new HIV Cases are among teenagers. Kenya ranks 3rd highest globally in teen pregnancies.

We knew it was pointless to preach to teenagers. They didn't lack knowledge, they needed to be empowered to use their voice.

SKY Girls tasked us to come up with a campaign that would break the mold and create real change in the attitudes and perceptions of teenage girls. We were set to achieve below objectives:

• Increase girls' ability to make choices that are true to them including the choice to delay sexual debut

• ability to negotiate, refuse and resist pressure

• ability to recognize toxic behaviors in their relationship

• Reduce levels of HIV-related stigma

A Story Made For Girls by Girls

PAA is a story of girls finding their missing voices. We tell the story of Sam and Ciru finding the confidence to speak up and stay true to their beliefs. To make the story believable, it had to be the voice of real teen girls that would have to shine through.

That's why teen girls made PAA for teen girls. A core group of teen girls acted as our collaborators:

- They helped us write the script in a mixture of slang, English, and Swahili

- They helped us create and refine the characters until they saw themselves in them

- They acted as extras and interns on set, learning new skills

-They reviewed our rushes and edits until they felt we had our story right

After months of research and spending time with girls, we learned that knowledge was not the problem; It was power.

Girls did not feel they had the power to say no, ask their partners to wait, or ask for contraception. They were giving in, afraid they would be laughed at by friends or left by their partners.

We had to show them a different reality, where girls just like them face familiar situations, but instead of giving in, they stand true to their convictions.

A traditional campaign 'preaching down' at teenagers would be counterproductive. So we listened to them, learned about their love for dramas, and observed the market's lack of local teen drama. From here, we found our opportunity to capture the hearts and minds of millions of Kenyan teenagers.

A group of teen girls assisted us in the entire creation process.

-We held focus groups to create the characters, define the challenges they should face, and determine what a realistic resolution would look like

-Girls reviewed our rushes for each episode, helping us refine our story to make it more believable

-We held auditions with hundreds of aspiring actors, and we are proud to say the PAA's main cast consists of young actors getting their first break.

PAA was aired on Kenya's largest 2 National TV stations, Citizen TV and Akili Network, for free and went live on YouTube.

We then packaged the six episodes into a movie and organized over 50 screening sessions in lower-income communities and schools where girls couldn't access TV or the internet. Each screening ended with a discussion forum led by a facilitator, driving meaningful conversations about conscious decision-making and refusal techniques.

In the first three weeks, PAA generated over 18 million on TV and 200,000 views on our YouTube channel. Through over 50 mobile movie screening sessions, we reached over 8000 teen girls.

The YouTube series had an impressive 43% view-through rate, with over 30% of our audience completing each episode.

Thousands of girls commented on how PAA inspired them to make the choices that are true to them and stay away from toxic relationships.

Local organizations such as DREAMS (funded by USAID) and I Choose Life (Funded by the Ministry of Health) asked us to bring PAA to their communities.

The program caught the eye of the Ministry of Education, which is currently evaluating the SKY Girls program and intends to bring it to every primary and secondary school in Kenya.