The Soul Beat 212 - Games for Social Change
In this issue of The Soul Beat:
- Games about malaria, maternal health, and HIV awareness...
- Games addressing gender-based violence...
- Games to promote a culture of peace...
- Game to improve natural disaster risk management...
This first issue of The Soul Beat e-newsletter for 2013 is about games for social change. The newsletter includes a selection of programme experiences and resources from the Soul Beat Africa website that look at how games on mobile phones and computers can be used to educate about a range of issues such as health, gender empowerment, conflict resolution, and disaster management.
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1. Half the Sky Movement: Mobile Games - East Africa and India
In September 2012, the Half the Sky Movement, a global multi-media, multi-partner initiative addressing gender empowerment, launched three hand-held mobile games - Family Choices, 9-Minutes, and Worm Attack!. They are designed to educate women and girls about essential health issues, increase awareness about gender equality, and empower them to bring about social change in these areas. Complementing each game is a short video on the topic and a facilitator's guide developed for use by community groups with their audiences.
2. Mosquito Masher Game
Created by Plan Canada, this malaria awareness game revolves around the idea of mashing enough mosquitoes to earn a real insecticide-treated mosquito-repellent bed net that will be distributed in Africa to save lives. The online game motivates people to help stop the spread of malaria, while also learning about it.
3. Investigation of a Yellow Fever Epidemic Game - Africa
The Investigation of a Yellow Fever Epidemic Game is part of a range of training tools developed by World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with Agence de Médecine Préventive (AMP) for health professionals facing yellow fever epidemics across Africa. The game, based on video game principles, is designed to convey educational and operational WHO recommendations and messages by presenting them in a form that is entertaining and engaging and that imitates real-life situations.
4. Pamoja Mtaani (Together in the Hood) - Kenya
Pamoja Mtaani (which in Swahili means Together in the Hood) is a multi-player computer video game designed to educate young people in Kenya about HIV prevention. Developed by Virtual Heroes for Warner Bros Entertainment in partnership with the United States (US) President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the game was launched in December 2008 in 4 sites around Nairobi. Following a review in June 2009, the game was also made available in more sites around the city and throughout Kenya.
5. Freedom HIV/AIDS Game - India and East and Southern Africa
Freedom HIV/AIDS is a gaming initiative that uses mobile telephones to engage people in entertaining, awareness-raising activities regarding HIV/AIDS. This project draws on information, education, and communication (IEC) methodologies to educate people in India and in Africa about HIV/AIDS. It was launched on World AIDS Day (December 1) 2005 by ZMQ Software Systems, a Delhi, India-based company specialising in using information and communication technology (ICT) to develop communication solutions, with a focus on entertainment-centred, interactive learning to raise awareness about issues such as HIV/AIDS.
6. BREAKAWAY: A Global Electronic Game to Address Violence against Women - Global
The Emergent Media Center (EMC) at Champlain College in Vermont, the United States (US), in collaboration with Population Media Center has developed "BREAKAWAY", a free, narrative-driven online football (soccer) game. Designed for boys age 8-15, the "BREAKAWAY" Game and toolkit tackles violence against women with three tools: a fun and interactive football game, a Facilitator’s Guide to enhance what was learned in the electronic game, and a facilitator's edition of the game.
7. MoRaba Mobile Game - South Africa
MoRaba is a free game for mobile phones designed to educate South Africa’s township youth on gender-based violence. Multiple choice questions like "A girl will claim she has been raped because..." are designed to help youths navigate tricky situations they face every day, in a relevant and entertaining way. The game is a quiz adaptation of the hugely popular Southern African board game Morabaraba – also known as Umlabalaba or Zulu Chess.
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GAMES FOR PEACE, GOOD GOVERNANCE, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
8. GETH2O: Serious Games
GETH2O is an online flash, mobile phone, and board game which deals with the themes of poverty, corruption, water scarcity, crime, and community development. Butterfly Works has developed this game with co-designers in Kenya as the first of their Serious Games series. The mobile game is available to download via various mobile portals in Africa.
9. Sambaza Peace Game - Kenya
Sambaza Peace is an interactive, digital, and mobile learning game programme designed to develop a culture of peace among young people by providing them with knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes needed for harmonious co-existence and non-violent living. The project has been running from 2007 and was developed by NairoBits, Mama Bits, and Butterfly works, and includes online, mobile phone, and board game versions.
10. Bana Dukine (Kids, Let's Play!) - Rwanda
Launched in 2010, Bana Dukine (Kids, Let's Play!) is a computer game designed to teach Rwandan school children how to deal with conflict in their lives - what causes conflict and some effective ways to handle it. The game was developed by Search for Common Ground in partnership with Serious Games, the United States Institute of Peace, and the Rwandan Ministry of Education, and is played on laptops donated by One Lap Top per Child (OLPC) programme. Bana Dukine is set near a water hole and the characters in the game are the animals that use the water hole; when the water becomes scarce, they must find a way to resolve the conflicts that arise.
11. Darfur is Dying - Sudan
In partnership with the Reebok Human Rights Foundation and the International Crisis Group, mtvU in April 2006 launched the Darfur is Dying online video game. This edutainment initiative aims to bring together students, technology, and activism to help stop the genocide in Darfur. It was designed to increase both awareness of and activism around the situation in Darfur in which hundreds of thousands have died and more than 2.5 million people have been displaced. The game does this by placing players in the shoes of a Darfurian refugee and requires that players keep their refugee camp functioning in the face of possible attack by Janjaweed militias.
GAME FOR DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT
12. In Harm's Way: Oxfam America's Game on Rethinking Natural Disasters
This interactive game by Oxfam America is designed to help raise awareness of the causes and consequences of disasters, as well as the positive ways that communities can work to lessen the impact. The planning kit provides step-to-step guidance in how to conduct a role-playing game, including a script designed for two speakers.
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