Whitehead Communications
  • Home
  • Services
  • ABOUT
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Blog

Croydon Covid-19 Mutual Aid (CCMA) Community Feedback Survey Results

6/23/2020

0 Comments

 
On March 23rd of 2020, the United Kingdom shut down to stop the spread of Coronavirus. Alongside official government efforts, local community groups quickly began forming to patch the holes in their social safety net. Neighbours reached out to support one another with the resources and information they needed to adapt quickly to a frightening new reality. In a remarkable example of humanity's good will and togetherness, new localised networks emerged to face a common threat.

The Croydon Covid-19 Mutual Aid (CCMA) group was formed in March of 2020 to organize willing volunteers in this South London community to aid each other to overcome new challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. In the following months, thousands of community members joined the CCMA Facebook group, leaflets were delivered door-to-door, a help line was set up and dozens of ward-level WhatsApp groups were formed, which organised volunteer activities and connected members to local aid organisations.

In May of 2020, it became clear that the needs of the community were changing. Some people began returning to work and some CCMA fora became less active, while many continued shielding and new issues began to emerge such as mental health and financial hardship brought on by the massive disruption to people's social lives and the economy. At the end of May 2020, Whitehead Communications collaborated with the CCMA to put together the following survey to gather feedback from the community about how to shift its strategy and hold together while addressing the changing demands of the community.

The survey gathered 234 responses over a two-week period from 28th May to 14th June, 2020. Survey respondents came from across 19 wards, with the largest share from Addiscombe (16.4%) and Thornton Heath (13.4%), and a range of different age groups, the largest share between the ages of 35 and 44 (31.2%).


Picture
Picture
We asked respondents how they would describe their role in the CCMA.

More than half (53.8%) identified themselves as volunteers. This question allowed for multiple responses.

Second to volunteer, people identified themselves as a "resident in need", then a "WhatsApp group admin" and "other", which included descriptions like "resident", "member", "vulnerable person" and "concerned citizen". The survey also gathered responses from people who identified as having roles at a local food banks, soup kitchens, public servants, places of worship, GP surgery staff, local businesses, residents associations, community link builders, local hubs and charity organizations. 
Picture
We asked how people first heard about the CCMA. 

​
Most (54.5%) heard about us through Facebook. This was followed by WhatsApp (17.2%), Leaflets (12.9%), told by a friend/neighbour (11.2%), and other channels including Google search, an email from the local MP Sarah Jones (4.3%), Croydon Council, TV, Newspaper, NARA Residents Association, the Next Door App, CVA, a GP and the survey itself.
Picture
We asked people which services they were aware that CCMA offers.

​Most were aware of shopping services (91.5%). The majority were also aware of phone befriending (67.9%). The third most known service was dog walking (46.2%). Not many respondents knew about the availability of £15 food parcels (23.9%). Other services that people knew about were collecting prescriptions (8.1%), food bank referrals, information sharing, and 6.4% were not aware of any services.
Picture
We asked: "Are you willing to volunteer in your community through the CCMA on an ongoing basis, even as the lockdown loosens and people return to work?" 

Yes - 62.3% (144 respondents)
No - 12.6% (29 respondents)
Maybe - 25.1% (58 respondents) 

The good news is that most CCMA volunteers wish to continue! The "maybes" were mostly also willing to continue volunteering, dependent on the what is needed and their availability.
Picture
We asked: "What are the greatest challenges you expect to face in the coming months that you believe could be overcome through community mutual aid?"  

Some key trends emerged, including:

​- People who remain shielding need support with shopping and other errands
- Community should prepare to respond to any further spikes in cases or lockdowns
- People need referrals to organizations that help with food security, housing, employment, childcare and other types of aid
- People need reliable information, such as: official updates, available support, promoting local businesses and community activities, job opportunities and how others are coping
- Local businesses and people who lost their jobs need help to recover financially
- There is more loneliness, agoraphobia, depression and other mental health issues
- People miss opportunities to socialize, "community spirit" and "togetherness"
​
- The community suffers from inequality, social discord and concerns like racism (note that Croydon is an ethnically diverse community and this survey was circulating during a resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests) 
Picture
We asked: "Is there anything that you think the CCMA could do to help our community in the coming months that it may not be doing already?"
 
Suggestions for what CCMA could do in the coming months included:

​- Continue to seek out and support elderly and vulnerable people in our community
- Share more information about: available support services, educational resources, job opportunities / career advice, buying local, outdoor activities, specific requests for help
- Connect people in specific groups or pairings for emotional/practical support, ex. parents with children, elderly with neighbours, similar skills/interests, shared resources
- Partner with organisations: Postcards of Kindness, Age UK, CVA, Resident Associations
- Organise communications: listen more, report back on what the CCMA is doing, weekly newsletter, put up posters on notice boards and other offline channels, social media ads
- Educate people on community interest, ex. pick up rubbish, maintain social distance
Picture
We asked: "Do you or your organization have any skills or services to offer the local community (or are already doing so), which you think the CCMA should know about?" 

Available skills and services in our community included:

​- Shopping, dog walking and phone befriending
- Youth mentorship
- Elderly support and healthcare
- Legal advice- Data analysis
- Tech support
- Tutoring, English language and referrals to further training
- Meditation and art therapy
- Chef / cooking- Valuing / selling antiques
- Community mobilization and stakeholder engagement
- Marketing and digital marketing 



We asked: "What do you feel is the best method for CCMA to communicate with you?" This question allowed people to select multiple responses. 

​
The majority of respondents selected WhatsApp as their preference (76.8%). However, 75% of the survey responses were retrieved through WhatsApp shares, so this is likely not representative of the overall Croydon community.

Other popular channels of communication included email (55.7%), SMS (28.9%), Facebook (23.2%) and Phone Calls (16.7%). Other communications channels included Slack (9.2%), through local community organizations (7.9%), Twitter (6.6%), Messenger, leaflets, Face-to-Face meetings and places of worship.
Picture
These survey results suggest that the Croydon Covid-19 Mutual Aid (CCMA) members overall do wish to hold together as a community and continue providing support to each other as the crisis develops into a new stage. Emerging community demands include mental health and financial struggles, and making sure that no one is left behind. The CCMA can continue to play its role to connect, inform and serve our community while not forgetting about the vulnerable people who are still shielding. In the coming weeks, CCMA will adapt its communications strategy and ways of working in order to listen and respond to feedback from our community. 

This survey was managed by Anne Whitehead, Director of Whitehead Communications and a CCMA volunteer, in coordination with the CCMA organising committee. We are grateful to all those who responded for taking the time to contribute your ideas, and encourage people who live or work in Croydon to continue engaging with the CCMA.

You can find out more about the CCMA at www.croydoncovid19mutualaid.uk or contact croydoncovid19ma@gmail.com / 020 3322 8379.
0 Comments

Ngalabi Short Film Festival 2019: Celebrating Short Films from East Africa and Beyond

1/23/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Goethe-Zentrum Kampala and Maisha Film Lab are proud to present to you the 3rd edition of Ngalabi Short Film Festival. 

Dates: 1st – 3rd February 2019, 7pm

Venue: Goethe-Zentrum Kampala/UGCS, Rooftop Terrace (Kamwokya, Bukoto Street, Plot 52) FREE ENTRY to all screenings and Q&A Sessions

The festival is supported by British Council’s East Africa Arts programme, The Embassy of Sweden in Kampala, The German Embassy Kampala, Independent Days Filmfesf and Filmboard Karlsruhe e. V.

Ngalabi Short Film Festival will take place from 1st – 3rd February at the Goethe-Zentrum rooftop terrace on Bukoto Street in Kamwokya. Screenings and Q&A Session with Ugandan and international filmmakers will start at 7pm on each day. On the opening day, Friday 1st of February, the audience is warmly invited for an opening cocktail at 5pm before the first screenings. Everyone is invited to attend.
\

Since it premiered in 2017, the main focus of the festival is to promote short films as an art form in Sub-Saharan Africa. Through the festival we hope to showcase the wide variety of genres and styles that the medium has to offer with the hope that it will demonstrate short films’ viability as a storytelling tool in the region.

This year’s edition will boast a rich catalogue of films from all over the African continent; with notable award-winners like: ‘Kyenvu’ by Kemiyondo Coutinho and ‘Maraya Ni’ by Patricia Olwoch from Uganda; and ‘Aya’ by Moufida Fedhila from Tunisia, which collected several awards for Best Short in 2018. We shall also have the world premier of the Ugandan film ‘Hibo & Hoden’ by Nikissi Serumaga. We also wish to celebrate the return of Kampala-based filmmaker Malcolm Bigyemano aka Mr. Mankwa to the festival. His film ‘Jethro x Jethro’ played at the very first edition of the festival. This edition he will be bringing us the thrilling short ‘Mawe’ – a film that we feel pushes the boundaries of authentic Ugandan stories in cinema. 

This edition will also see an expansion of our European film program. We will be welcoming films from Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden. The films will tackle a variety of issues like immigration, climate change, living in the diaspora and many more. You won’t want to miss a single one.

The festival will also be conducting a free three-day workshop for emerging African filmmakers. The workshop will be facilitated by renown film producer and head of the film department of London Film School: Femi Kolade. The workshop will offer the participants access to advanced film-making tools and techniques, while serving as a hub within which they can interface and collaborate with one another. 

Follow on Social Media:

Facebook – www.facebook.com/NgalabiShorts Instagram – @NgalabiShorts
Twitter - @NgalabiShorts #NgalabiShortFilmFestival


For more information, please contact:
​

Lara Buchmann, Goethe-Zentrum Kampala (Cultural Coordinator): 0794303702 / cultural@goethezentrumkampala.org 

0 Comments

EAST AFRICAN RECORDS PRESENTS: MUNGO’S HIFI (UK) UGANDA – KENYA TOUR

10/29/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture

East African Records (EAR) is gearing up to host “MUNGO’S HI FI TOUR” with two reggae- dancehall concerts in Uganda. The UK reggae collective Mungo Hi Fi’s tour is set to feature their new star female artiste, Eva Lazarus, alongside Ugandan artists, first in Kampala on November 9th at The Square, then in Jinja on November 10th at Pit Stop (formerly Laftaz). East African Records will also be rolling out new music with Ugandan, East African and UK artists during the tour as artistes come together to collaborate in studio and shoot videos for new releases.

MUNGO’S HI FI FEATURING EVA LAZARUS CONCERTS

The two upcoming concerts are anticipated to bring together reggae and dancehall artists from Uganda together with international stars from the UK-based collective Mungo’s Hi Fi, with their main act Eva Lazarus as the headliner. Uganda reggae legend Ziggy Dee is expected to perform a new song he is producing with the UK unit, and other Ugandan reggae artistes like Blessed San have already been signed on to perform, as well as Nazizi from East Africa’s top reggae group, Necessary Noize.

The concerts are set to happen at Kampala’s The Square (3rd Street, Industrial Area) on 9th November and at Pit Stop (formerly Laftaz) in Jinja on 10th November, from 6pm until late. Both events will cater to a mixed crowd of local reggae fans and international Mungo’s Hi Fi die hards. Entrance to the Kampala concert is set at 30,000 shs, while the Jinja concert will cost 15,000 shs only.

Kenya Concerts include:

November 16th at K1 Klub House - More on the Facebook event page here

November 17th at Distant Relatives Kilifi's Eco Lodge - More on the Facebook event page here

MUNGO’S HI FI

Mungo's Hi Fi are a Glasgow-based sound system and production unit who pull off that rare trick of making reggae-dancehall that is unique, authentic and quality. True to reggae-dancehall’s DIY ethos, the creators of Mungo’s Hi Fi built their first sound system from speakers found in a rubbish dump and began producing on an old Atari at the turn of the millennium. Following some early recordings on London’s Dubhead records, including debut album Mungo’s Hi Fi Meets Brother Culture, they founded their Scotch Bonnet label in 2005. Today, Mungo’s is a global operation with six core members, all committed to spreading their philosophy of serious, seismic productions plus easy going democratic dancehall fun. Highly collaborative, they’ve worked with everyone from Sugar Minott and Ranking Joe in Jamaica to Major Lazer in America. This will not be the first time the unit has performed in Uganda, having graced the first ever Nyege Nyege festival.
For more information on Mungo’s Hifi, check out the links below:
www.mungoshifi.net https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mungo%27s_Hi_Fi 
​
EVA LAZARUS

A Winner of the 2017 Best Female Vocalist/MC at We Love Jungle Awards, Eva’s powerful voice and musical flavours span across genres from Reggae to Hip Hop, DnB to Jungle and beyond. 2017 saw the collaborative release with Mungo’s Hi Fi Amsterdam EP, which was listed on BBC 6Music and features in David Rodigan’s Scorchers of 2017 list. A string of releases from Eva over the past year has included singles with Nextmen, Gardna X Kreed, Gentleman’s Dub Club, Xoa and a track that featured in Giles Peterson’s list of 2017’s Best Records, Zed Bias ft. Eva Lazarus Restless.
Eva & her Mungo’s Hi Fi crew are primed for a great time in Uganda, packing a stage show jammed full props and confetti canons, and are ready to nice up the dance!

Find more information about Eva Lazarus here:
www.evalazarus.com https://soundcloud.com/evalazarus

More information about the lineup and what to expect will be shared within the coming week. Follow EAST AFRICAN RECORDS on social media to stay up to date.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eastafricanrecords/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eastafricanrecs
You can also follow updates online by searching the hashtag #MungosHiFiUganda 


Picture
Eva Lazarus
Picture
Mungo's Hi Fi

For more information, please contact: Florence Kakatshozi at flo@whiteheadcommunications.ug or Anne Whitehead at +256750501111 (Whatsapp) / anne@whiteheadcommunications.com 

​
0 Comments

Goethe-Zentrum Kampala presents: Mirembe Rhythm DJ dance party!

9/27/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Goethe-Zentrum Kampala is gearing up to host “Mirembe Rhythm,” which is sure to be an energizing and unifying dance party offering a music mix, especially featuring Electronic Dance Music (EDM) and female DJs centre stage. The event will showcase both local and international DJs at The Square, 3rd Street in Industrial Area, on 12th October, from 6pm ‘til late. Mirembe Rhythm is 5k entry only.
 
MIREMBE RHYTHM
 
Mirembe Rhythm is a DJ concert and dance party that will feature guest DJ Sarah Farina and music producer and DJ Yo van Lenz from Germany alongside prominent Electronic Dance Music (EDM) DJs from Uganda like Hakuna Kulala, Catu Diosis, DJ Rachael, The Control Posse (an EDM/Hip Hop Fusion collective of MCs and a DJ), and Kampala’s much loved dancehall spinner, DJ Ciza.
 
The event will offer a blend of EDM, Hip Hop and dancehall, foreign and local, to create a fun and peace-loving vibe for everyone to enjoy. “Mirembe (Peace) Rhythm” represents positivity, peace and unity, music/dance fun and positive vibes!
 
SARAH FARINA AND YO VAN LENZ
 
Both featured foreign artists are certified members of the ‘Through My Speakers’ collective, an international group of friends whose similar mindset, passion and commitment to music organically evolved into an event night and its own label with a common goal to bring people together. Through My Speakers is also about breaking boundaries in club music, bringing people together and creating a musical journey for the crowd. 
 
With 10 years of bonding over the love of their similar influences, Sarah and Yo's enthusiasm to explore, from club tunes to psychedelic guitars, is infectious. And there is no indication of them slowing their creative flow. In June 2018, they released the collaborative album, PEACE DUB, which reflects their ethos to create spaces that feel free of bias or judgment, in real life and online, and to elevate well being, physically and digitally.
 
More about Sarah Farina & Yo van Lenz:
http://www.throughmyspeakers.com
https://soundcloud.com/sarahfarina
https://soundcloud.com/yovanlenz
 
MCing the Mirembe Rhythm Party will be Gloria Kiconco!
 
More information will be shared about the line up and what to expect in the coming weeks. Follow the Mirembe Rhythm Facebook event page for more: https://www.facebook.com/events/311647292747229/
 
Partners of Mirembe Rhythm, Femme Electronic, will also be holding a free workshop together with Sarah Farina and Yo Van Lenz teaching the basics and depths of DJing and production on Sunday, 14th October, 2018. Interested participants can contact Lara at cultural@goethezentrumkampala.org with a letter of motivation to participate. The deadline to apply is: Sunday, October 7th, 2018.
 
 

0 Comments

Présentation du Club rFi: les médias sociaux en Ouganda: logique, méthodes et l’avenir

3/19/2018

0 Comments

 
Ce weekend de la francophonie en Ouganda, j'ai eu le plaisir de faire une presentation aux membres du Club rFi à Alliance Française Kampala. Voici le PowerPoint que j'ai utilisé dans cette présentation qui fournit une introduction aux sujet que nous avons couverts. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
À la fin de la présentation, nous avons eu une excellent discussion sur les tactiques de Facebook pour aider les journalistes Africains à promouvoir leurs histoires en ligne. (Cela fait longtemps que je n'ai pas fait de présentation en français, alors veuillez m'excuser pour toute erreur. )

Does your organization need social media training? Please contact anne@whiteheadcommunications.com to arrange.

0 Comments

5 Lessons learned from conducting a survey in Kampala, Uganda

3/1/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
Field team debrief with pollsters Joshan, Key, Flo and Zex.

Recently, Whitehead Communications shared the results of the Kampala Holiday Survey conducted in January and February of 2018 to gather market research data on how Kampala’s residents spent their December 2017 holidays. We released our results publicly because we identified a great demand for more local data, but the results were not perfect. This survey was a test case meant for our team to learn from, and we sure did learn a lot. We are sharing some of those lessons learned with you here in the hopes that more Ugandans can use this information to improve local data collection, analysis and use.
 
Our total number of survey respondents was 491, which according to a commonly used sample size algorithm can account for an estimated Kampala and Wakiso resident population of about 4 million, with a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of +/- 5%. I am not a statistician, but the stories our field team brought back were full of suspicion, lies and pretence, with some people sharing too much information and good humour also. Our conclusion in debrief was that we got a lot of real answers, but on the other hand, it is not easy to go out into Kampala and get honesty from people.
 
Lesson # 1: Data collection methods matter
 
Whitehead Comm Polls gathered responses in two ways: online and on the ground, in person. We did not use telephone interviews. It became clear early on that online responses alone would not give us a true picture of Kampala residents, because the people whom we reached out to through Whatsapp, Twitter and Facebook tended to be the young elite, reporting to earn a higher income and more male than female. It was necessary to move around Kampala to different areas in order to find a more representative sample of Ugandans. This was more costly, as pollsters had to be paid for their time, surveys had to be printed, and people needed transport and airtime to operate, but it paid off when we were able to survey more Ugandans beyond the minority that is digitally literate.
 
Another challenging but important element of our methodology was the standardization of how we communicated our questions. We sat together in a multi-lingual group talking through the translations from English to Luganda and debating which words better represented the meaning of what we wanted to say. We also learned quite a bit about how to sequence and structure the questions in order to avoid redundancy and take people through the questionnaire in the most consistent and efficient manner possible. Indeed, we will write our questions differently next time.
 
Lesson # 2: Watch out for “response bias”
 
“Response bias (also called survey bias) is the tendency of a person to answer questions on a survey untruthfully or misleadingly. For example, they may feel pressure to give answers that are socially acceptable.” According to Statistics How To.
 
Over half of our surveys were conducted by the Whitehead Comm field team in person, and this experience suggested that respondents might not be entirely truthful when answering questions. We can’t be sure, but all of our pollsters had a gut feeling that respondents were not being entirely honest at least once. I suspect that pressure to meet social expectations gave some of our respondents the incentive to lie in order to save face.
 
Also, many respondents did not understand that their responses would be anonymous. They were not familiar with the concept of aggregated results, and believed that their information might be used for something that could blow back on them personally. Over time, we found more clear and effective ways to explain anonymity, like by saying: “we don't take your name, and once we mix yours with the other papers, nobody will know which is yours.”

Two particularly sensitive questions that may have been affected by response bias were asking whether people were sexually active and how much money they made. In person, Whitehead Comm pollsters found that after ticking “married,” people tended to be confident in saying they had sex, but after they had ticked “single,” they were more hesitant to admit to any sexual activity, probably because this highly religious society might mark a sexually active unmarried person as immoral.

Lesson # 3: Measuring income

In order to create demographic profiles of our respondents, we asked people what was their estimated income per month. It turns out that this is a flawed question, particularly in a society where a lot of work is informal – ex. many people are brokering deals, hoping for commissions if it works out, or working jobs that pay irregularly – and few people can honestly expect a standard salary to arrive each month.
 
This question also aroused a lot of suspicion among respondents. Some people were very open about how much money they made, but others asked if we were government spies sent to tax them! Response bias came in once again, as those who were suspicious of taxes may have low-balled their income reporting, while others made our pollsters wonder if they were just showing off. For example, one of our teammates interviewed someone they described as “a slay queen” with a “show off attitude” who said she made over five million shillings per month, and when he asked her if/how she travelled over the holidays, she said “by plane, OBVIOUSLY,” which made him wonder to whom in Uganda it would be obvious that anyone would fly abroad (according to our results, only 6.3% of respondents did).
 
Just after finishing the Kampala Holiday Survey and debriefing with our team, I bumped into the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Uganda, Louis Austin Kasekende, and he provided some insightful advice on how to measure incomes in Uganda. “Don’t ask people how much they make,” he said. “Ask people how much they spend.” Indeed, the money has to come from somewhere – whether it is debt or work or handouts - but expenses may be a more real and truthful number than what people say when you ask them how much they make. Whitehead Comm Polls will definitely keep Mr. Kasekende’s advice in mind next time we try to find out how much money people have.
​
Picture
Pollsters Joshan and Key
 
Lesson # 4: Prepare pollsters to have a hard time

We sent five pollsters all over Kampala to survey people, and they did not have an easy time. “I expected people to at least be nice and give me a few minutes,” said one of our team members, but she quickly learned what it is like to be viewed as an annoyance and accept a lot of rejection between collecting responses. Several people asked for money to respond to the survey, which we did not give.
 
One unexpected challenge was that, despite printing surveys in English and Luganda to enable people to fill them out privately, very many Ugandans preferred to be read the questions and answer them in public. It was unclear whether the respondents were illiterate or just preferred the service of being spoken to rather than writing their own responses, but either way this was not an ideal method of collecting answers, since the lack of privacy may have increased the risk of response bias. Our field team tried to direct respondents towards filling out the surveys privately, but believed that many felt a sense of entitlement to have the survey read and filled out for them.
 
Our female pollsters faced further challenges in their work as they were repeatedly sexually harassed by male respondents. All three of our female pollsters reported having men turn the questions back on them, especially the ones about relationship status and sexual activity, which made them uncomfortable. When we discussed how to handle these situations, female pollsters said that they didn't want to lose out on the respondent filling the entire survey, so they felt that they had to be sweet and giggle and allow men to flirt with them throughout the process in order to get their job done. This was disheartening, and just one example of the vulnerability of women and corruption of relationships in Ugandan society. We decided that pollsters would work in teams and operate only in public places in order to ensure their safety, and pollsters were advised that if they ever felt unsafe or uncomfortable, it would be better to lose the respondent than continue.
 
Lesson # 5: Kampalans are suspicious people
 
The most common challenge reported by Whitehead Comm pollsters was that they were suspected of being spies for the Government. People did not understand market research and openly voiced their suspicions, with one respondent saying "there is something that Government is planning here." In our debrief, one pollster explained a personal experience when there was an incident in a marketplace and merchants, boda drivers, etc. suddenly began whipping out pistols in response, which made that pollster believe like many respondents did that spies and undercover security operatives were everywhere, so it was only prudent to be paranoid in Kampala. Several respondents questioned why we wanted to know how much money they made, how much they spent on gifts, or what method of transport they used for travel. The survey was intentionally not political, but still politics came into it as respondents asked if we were gathering information to create new tax policy, or if we wanted to know their political opinions (which we did not ask for).
 
We managed this challenge by clearly representing the Whitehead Communications brand and website on survey materials, with pollsters wearing Whitehead Comm t-shirts, introducing themselves as interns and directing people towards our website to increase a sense of clarity and transparency about who we were and what we were doing.
 
On the other hand, despite some people being too suspicious to answer our questions, others were very free with their personal information and would begin talking all about their holiday, providing so much detail, until the pollster would have to stop them and ask that they respond to specific questions. Once pen touched paper, many of those who previously offered too much information then began to hesitate with their answers.
 
In conclusion, we learned a lot from conducting this survey, so in that respect the activity was a success. This article contains only a few highlights, but we hope that by sharing our experience here, other people in Uganda can get a head start in contributing to local data collection.

Is there anything we missed that you would like to share? We are so open to learning, so please share your thoughts in the comments below!
1 Comment

Kampala survey reveals strong link between sex and money

2/21/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Have you ever wondered who is having the most sex, and what may be the difference between those who did it and those who didn't? Perhaps the topic has come up over a couple of drinks with friends, and everyone presented their own theories on what determines a person's sex life. Well, we can reveal to you now what the numbers have to say about people's sex lives in Kampala.

In January of 2018, Whitehead Communications conducted the Kampala Holiday Survey and included the question: "did you have sex over the holidays?" The survey gathered responses from 491 residents of Kampala and Wakiso District: half in person and half online, half male and half female, including a wide variety of people from different age groups, neighbourhoods, financial status, marital status, religion, etc. We wanted to learn more about Kampala residents, and you can learn a lot from breaking down such survey results. Maybe you're not so interested in statistics, but I bet you'll find it interesting to hear how the numbers break down when it comes to sex.

51.1% of the people we interviewed around Kampala reported having sex over the December 2017 holiday season (that is 250 people out of about 2 million residents of Kampala, not a statistically conclusive sample, but a number worth exploring). Considering the 51.1% overall "did it" as a baseline, we broke it down according to respondents' answers to other questions to find out what factors might affect people's sex lives.
Picture

​Gender


Men are having more sex than women in Kampala, with 69% of men having sex over the holidays and only 42.7% of women (which kind of makes us wonder whom the men are having sex with).

Marital Status

Married people are having more sex than unmarried people. 76.3% of married respondents said they had sex over the holidays. 39.6% of non married people (who may be single or in a relationship of some kind) said they had sex over the holidays, and among just the people who said they were single, still 29.4% said they were sexually active. The conclusion is an old one: If you want to have more sex, you may want to get married.
​
Picture
Picture
 
Religion

Which religion would you expect to be having more sex in Kampala? We were interested to learn that the most sexually active religious community, according to our 491 responses, are the muslims. Less than half of our 359 Christian respondents - 47.9% - had sex over the holidays (which is less than the overall average), while 60% of the 74 Muslim respondents did. "Not religious" respondents came out in between, with 53.8% reporting as sexually active.
​

Picture
Picture


Alcohol

57.4% of people who drank alcohol over the holidays had sex.

Travel

Those who traveled out of Kampala over the holidays had more sex than those who did not, with 48.1% of those not traveling having sex, and 53.4% of travellers having sex.

48% of people who travelled in a taxi (matatu) had sex.
50.9% of people who travelled on a boda boda had sex.
58.5% of people who travelled in a private car had sex.

Age

It was interesting to note that, according to our results, sex gets better with age, or at least older people are having more of it. We did not survey anyone under the age of 18, but once reaching adulthood, we found that sexual activity increased with age. (This may be related to the age at which people tend to get married.)

40.8% of respondents aged 18 - 29
 had sex. (Note: 50.7% single, 25% in a relationship)
64.4% of respondents
 aged 30 - 39 had sex. (Note: 47.6% married)
65.5% of respondents aged 40 - 49 had sex. (Note: 76.4% married)
80% of respondents over the age of 50 had sex. (Note: only 5 respondents, 80% male and 60% married)


Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Money

Kampala Holiday Survey results support the theory that money and sex go together, as less than a third of those earning under 100k per month were sexually active, while that number rose to 72% for those who earn between 2 million and 5 million shillings a month. Interestingly, sexual activity trended down again after the 5 million shillings mark. Maybe Kampala's top earners are too stressed or don't have the time for sex; we can't be sure, but according to these results, "middle income status" is the sweet spot for kampala lovers.

​Here is how it breaks down by monthly income:

Under 100,000 UGX: 31.5% had sex.
101,000 - 500,000 UGX: 52.5% had sex.
501,000 - 2,000,000 UGX: 55.9% had sex.
2,001,000 - 5,000,000 UGX: 72% had sex.
More than 5,000,000 UGX: 46.5% had sex.



Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

We went looking for which responses led to people having the most sex of all, and it turned out that gift giving had the biggest impact on whether or not somebody did it.

Gifts

People who bought a gift for  spouse or romantic partner had sex 85% of the time. Only 49.7%  of people who did not buy a gift for a romantic partner did it. The amount you spent on gifts also mattered. Of the people who spent less than 100,000 UGX on gifts (overall), only 43.6% had sex. The highest number of sexually active people we found were also the most generous, reporting to have spent over 2 million Ugandan shillings on gifts over the holidays. They did it 94.7% of the time!



Picture
Picture

Based on the above, one might theorize that the Kampala residents who have the most sex of all are older married Muslim men earning between two and five million shillings a month and are generous in gift giving, while those having the least sex are young and single Christian women who earn below 100,000 UGX per month. The cause and effect in these correlations is not certain, but these numbers do seem to whisper something of what is happening in the bedrooms of Kampala. A cynic might wonder if sex has been corrupted by money in Kampala, Uganda.

What do you make of these results? Are you surprised? Please comment and share.
0 Comments

Whitehead Comm Polls: Kampala Holiday Survey Results

2/12/2018

1 Comment

 
In January of 2018, the Whitehead Communications team set out on a mission to learn more about Kampala residents. We asked 20 questions to 491 people in Kampala about what they did over the recent holidays. We also asked personal questions, first to determine demographic profiles for analysis – like age, gender, marital status, religion and how much money they make per month. We sprinkled in a few other questions too – like: if you had sex over the holidays – just because we thought it might be interesting, and it was!
Picture
Intern pollsters Joshan and Key in the field
Picture
Intern pollster Simon collecting responses in the field
This was the first time that the Whitehead Comm team conducted a survey to this scale – and we did it for the purpose of learning and building our capacity – so please do not consider this data as authoritative. I will release another article full of what we learned and how such a survey could be improved. However, the following results may serve useful to Ugandan marketers, analysts and strategists to illustrate trends and preferences in the Kampala market, so I welcome you to consider and share the results (please compensate us in due credit).
 
The following results should provide a fairly representative sample of Central, Urban Ugandans. Given a Kampala (night) population of approximately two million people and a Wakiso District population of about the same, a sample of 491 respondents leaves a margin error of less than 5% with a confidence level of 95% (according to this tool on Survey Monkey). This survey was conducted in person at the Old Taxi Park, Owino Market, Kamwokya, Kabalagala, Ntinda and various other areas around Kampala, with the polling field team gathering just over half of all responses. The other half of responses were collected online using Survey Monkey and shared through Whatsapp, Twitter and Facebook. The field team was directed to interview older, less "elite" and more female respondents when online results trended younger, higher income and male. Our final tally was 50.61% female respondents, which is close to Uganda’s reported gender distribution as indicated by Uganda's Bureau of Statistics. Only respondents aged 18+ and residing within the areas of Kampala or Wakiso were included, with the majority residing in Kampala.
 
The following are the Kampala Holiday Survey overall results. Things get more interesting when you start filtering answers through each other to find out, for example, the responses of a particular age group or gender, or the profiles of people who drink a certain beverage, etc., but I will share some of these insights in further articles.

Survey Results
 
Gender: 49.39% male and 50.61% female.
Picture
Note: No one in Kampala took us up on selecting "other" as a gender, but one respondent skipped the question.

Age: 18-24 = 21.75%, 25-29 = 35.98%, 30-34 = 19.72%, 35-39 = 10.37%, 40-44 = 8.13%, 45-50 = 3.05%, 50+ = 1.02%​
Picture
Income: under 100,000 UGX = 18.09%; 101,000-500,000 UGX = 36.79%; 501,000-2,000,000 UGX = 25.81%; 2,001,000-5,000,000 UGX = 10.16%; 5,000,000 UGX+ = 9.15%.
Picture
Note: This income question may be flawed due to heavy responder bias and the nature of the informal economy, which we'll break down further in another post.
​
Marital status: In a relationship = 18.7%; Single = 38.21%; Married = 30.89%; Separated/Divorced = 5.49%; It's complicated = 6.71%.
Picture
Note: some respondents requested the addition of "widower," which was not included in possible responses and is not reflected in these results.

Religion: Christian = 72.97%; Muslim = 15.04%; Hindu = 0.61%; Other religion = 5.69%; Not religious = 5.69%.
Picture
Note: some respondents who were Seventh Day Adventist self-identified as "other religion" and not Christian.

50.81% of Kampala residents travelled over the 2017 Christmas Holiday period, while 49.59% did not.​
Picture
Of those who travelled over the holidays, their means of transport included: Taxi/Matatu = 31.25%; Bus = 25.25%; Boda boda = 26.5%; Private car = 35.5%; Special hire/Uber/Taxify/Etc. = 6%; Air travel = 6.25%; Boat = 2.25%; Other = 17.25%.
Picture
Now here is a good one for marketers:

Where did Kampala residents get their information from? TV = 60%; Newspaper = 32.5%; Radio = 38.4%; Facebook = 50.4%; Whatsapp = 57.7%; Google/Search engine = 27.4%; Twitter = 26.8%; Instagram = 22%; Snapchat = 7.9%; SMS/Text messaging = 44.9%; Word of mouth = 55.9%; Other (mostly phone calls, which was not included in possible responses) = 13.9%.
Picture
What did Kampala residents do on Christmas Day? Family gathering = 61.2%; Church/worship = 44.3%; Visited friends = 27%; Out to a bar/club = 15.9%; Shopping = 15%; Other = 14.4%.
Picture
What did Kampala residents do on New Year's Eve? Church/worship = 36.2%; Went out to a bar/club = 21.3%; Went to see fireworks = 26.8%; House party = 13%; Did not celebrate = 23.4%; Other = 11.8%.
Picture
Which events did Kampala residents go to throughout the December 2017 holiday season?

The most popular of our December 2017 events selections were:
​N
one = 55.1%, Wizkid concert = 7.5%; Abryanz Style and Fashion Awards = 6.1%; Blankets and Wine = 6.1%; Pearl of Africa Fashion Awards = 4.5%; Boxing Day at One Love Beach = 4.1%.
Picture
Note: These responses cannot be relied on to judge the attendance of December's events due to the survey's limited event options and sample size, but it still proves interesting when analyzing the profiles of attendees.

​What beverages were Kampala residents drinking? Tea/coffee = 78.3%; Water/juice = 88.4%; Soda = 66.5%; Nile Special = 10%; Club = 9.8%; Bell = 5.1%; Guinness =9.6%; Tusker = 11.4%; Castle Lite = 5.7%; Wine = 30.7%; Cocktails = 17.5%; Uganda Waragi = 16.7%; Other gin = 5.3%; Vodka = 9.1%; Johnny Walker = 6.3%; Bond 7 = 3.3%; Other whiskeys = 5.5%; Rum = 2.6%; Sherry = 2.6%; Brandy = 1.4%; Congac = 2%; Other = 16% (many "other" brands were alcohols sold in sachets, as well as energy drinks).
Picture
Note: how can only 88.4% of respondents drink water? Such are the limitations of survey responses.

​Where did Kampala residents do their Christmas shopping? Supermarket in Kampala = 58.1%; Market in Kampala = 54.1%; Supermarket in "the village" = 14.6%; Market in "the village" = 20.1%; Roadside merchant = 31.7%; Mall = 22.4%; Other = 9.1%.
Picture
Whom did Kampala residents buy a gift for? No one = 37.8%; Spouse/romantic partner = 28.9%; Child/children = 29.7%; Colleague(s) = 8.3%; Friend(s) = 17.3%; Other = 16.5%.
Picture
How much did Kampala residents spend on gifts? Less than 50,000 UGX = 16.3%; 50,000-99,000 UGX = 16.9%; 100,000-499,000 UGX = 22.6%; 500,000-1,999,000 UGX = 6.5%; 2,000,000+ UGX = 4.1%; Nothing = 33.7%.
Picture
19.4% of Kampala residents had a fight or argument over the holidays. 80.6% did not.
Picture
51.1% of Kampala residents had sex over the holidays. 48.9% did not.
Picture
79.4% of Kampala residents prayed over the holidays. 20.6% did not.
Picture
Overall, how was the December 2017  holiday season for people in Kampala? Great = 38.9%; Good = 37.7%; Fair = 17.7%; Not so good = 4.5%; Terrible = 1.2%.
Picture
In my next posts, we'll go deeper into mining these results for insights and review the lessons learned from conducting this survey in Kampala, Uganda. This information is being released free to use by the public, though we request that you not do so without crediting Whitehead Communications. Our polling team is gearing up for more surveys, so if you are looking for an objective and reliable young firm to do such research, contact us at anne@whiteheadcommunications.com

​What do you think of these results? Please leave us a comment and share!
​#KampalaHolidaySurvey #WhiteheadCommPolls

1 Comment

"Your Music Your Voice" to gather African socially conscious artistes in Kampala

9/21/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Goethe-Zentrum Kampala is set to host a special event in the first week of October - “Your Music, Your Voice” - which will bring together artistes from across Africa and the diaspora whose music is all about social justice, with Uganda represented by our own Ghetto President turned MP, Bobi Wine. 
 
In the first week of October, music and social responsibility will come together in a symposium at Uganda Museum on October 3rd, and a public concert on October 4th at the Design Hub Kampala.
 
Attending African artistes will include:
· Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi AKA H.E. Bobi Wine (Uganda)
· Eric 1Key (Rwanda)
· Juma (Kenya)
· Monza (Mauritania)
· Nash MC (Tanzania)
· Outspoken (Zimbabwe)
· Xuman (Senegal)
 
Event Schedule

SYMPOSIUM “ARTS & ACTIVISM”

Tuesday, 3rd October
9:30 am to 4:00 pm
Venue: UGANDA MUSEUM
 
The public symposium in cooperation with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung will define what it means to be a civically engaged artist, sharing best practice examples from different countries, and discussion about different approaches, challenges, and the role of social media.
 
Morning panel: YOUR MUSIC, YOUR VOICE
Bobi Wine (Uganda), Tongai Makawa aka Outspoken (Zimbabwe), Jason Mushumbusi Mutalemwa  aka Nash MC (Tanzania), Eric Ngangare aka Eric 1Key (Rwanda), Kane Limam aka Monza (Mauritania), Makhtar Fall aka Xuman (Senegal)
 
Afternoon panel: ARTS & ACTIVISM IN UGANDA
Ugandan artists from the fields of Hip Hop, poetry, film, photography, and bloggers.
 
CONCERT “YOUR MUSIC, YOUR VOICE”
Wednesday, 4th October
7pm till late
Venue : DESIGN HUB KAMPALA, 5th Street, Industrial Area (next to Bata)
 
Concert headlining the German Hip Hop artistes Megaloh and Ghanaian Stellion and Ugandan Bobi Wine, as well as Monza (Mauritania), Xuman (Senegal), Outspoken (Zimbabwe), Nash Emcee (Tanzania), Eric Onekey (Rwanda), Juma (Kenya) and local acts such as Sylvester & Abramz, Lady Slyke, Yellah MC and St. Nellysade

About The Event
 
“Your Music, Your Voice” will create a platform for Pan-African dialogue between socially active artistes to discuss their role in using music and fame to raise awareness of social issues. Hon. Kyagulanyi AKA Bobi Wine will represent Uganda as a politically vocal artiste and newly elected MP, bringing that point of view to the discussion.
 
The artistes will also engage with festival organizers and other stakeholders in their industries to discuss the different roles in supporting socially conscious music, creating platforms for self-empowerment, and critically analyzing the space they operate in – including funding structures, censorship and self-censorship.
 
At the public symposium, participants will also discuss the role of social media in respect to socially conscious music and freedom of expression.

Behind the scenes, artists will also gather at Firebase Studio to record a collaboration together that will be published on www.musicinafrica.net.

0 Comments

Project 500K kicks off with youth workshops in Ibanda, Uganda

8/17/2017

4 Comments

 
Project 500K has officially kicked off in Ibanda, Uganda with a two-day facilitator training workshop hosted at Ibanda University. Project 500k is a free, practical, inspirational youth education and programme created by the Patrick and Carol Bitature Foundation.
Picture
Picture
Photos by Florence Kakatshozi
The mission of Project 500K is to reach 500,000 Ugandan youth and enable them to contribute towards the country’s vision of becoming a middle-income economy through developing a more productive mindset and useful skills.

The programme builds valuable soft skills like self-awareness, goal-setting and planning, financial literacy, business management and other related knowledge as part of a holistic and motivating educational programme. Project 500K connects members to resources and other members to encourage collaboration, hiring and investment. 

The programme aims to empower Ugandan youth aged 18 to 35 to assist those at the beginning of their career, both job searchers and entrepreneurs. First, Project 500K will launch its activities in Ibanda, and later expand to the rest of Uganda. Project 500K will also build and share a catalogue of partners and other resources. It will build an alumni network to facilitate further learning, collaboration, mentorship, hiring and investment. Finally, Project 500K will encourage members to become change agents in their communities, passing on their knowledge to change mindsets.


Picture
Picture
The programme uses multiple communication channels to deliver an empowering curriculum to its members in Ibanda, Project 500k has partnered with Eiraka FM to broadcast weekly educational programs. It also engages members through SMS messages, for which about 2000 Ibanda residents have already signed up. Project 500K will also engage beneficiaries through weekly in-person workshops, which local youth leaders are now being trained to facilitate.
 
Project 500K is meant to compliment ongoing activities by other organizations like Uganda's Youth Livelihoods Programme by empowering youth with developmental skills. Project 500K is creating partnerships with local organizations like Ibanda University, Alliance Vocational School and others. The programme wishes to work not in a silo but develop strong partnerships with Local Government and relevant Community Based Organizations. 

Follow Project 500K on Facebook and on Twitter to access updates on how the programme is rolling out.


Please contact me at anne@whiteheadcommunications.com if you wish to collaborate with us.
Picture
Picture
4 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.