BOHOKA SRHR Project

In Rwanda, adolescents still have limited access to high-quality family planning and reproductive health information and care to prevent unplanned pregnancies and HIV/STIs especially in rural areas. This is demonstrated by high number of recorded teenage pregnancies.In 2021 the number was about 23,000 while in 2020, the number was 19,701 countrywide. Joint efforts and researches need to be developed to ensure that SRHR issues become heard in Rwandan population. 

A lot of interventions have been made in addressing these problems but Sexual and reproductive health in Rwanda remains an issue for discussion and action. In Rwanda, there is a stigma and lack of openness in expressing our struggles especially in relation to sex and sexuality. This is attributed to the cultural myths, conservative beliefs and privacy issues. 

On other hand, studying based on the personal experience remains a key to increasing community awareness especially youth. We have limited number of platforms which covers the testimonies of those affected or struggling by the sexual and reproductive health, allowing the amplification of their voices and fighting Misinformation. 

Misinformation and under-information is one of the key challenges to accessing sexual Reproduce health and rights services. On the other hand digital platforms present an important opportunity to better understand and address young people’s SRH.

The power of story-telling in driving public change and addressing health issues have been pivotal for years.The Columbia University highlighted this by stating that” we must bring compassion and empathy back into public health and use the lived experiences of our most affected populations to drive healthcare decision-making” through stories for change.

To address the issues, we propose a development of a digital-offline health platform that teaches SRH by basing on the experience of past victims while maintaining their privacy.

BOHOKA (a kinyarwanda's word literally meaning "Be free")digital Health platform aims at providing information on sexual reproductive health and rights issues in Africa, with a focus on sexually transmitted infections, teen pregnancies, and Gender-based violence using real-life stories of individuals who have been affected by these issues in order to provide insight and understanding into the impact they have on individuals and the community. 

Bohoka is Web and mobile app- based while also providing printouts to people from areas with low internet connectivity or those who struggle to reach the above mentioned technologies. 

The platform will be primarily be made for youth and adolescents who struggle to get SRHR information and those who were affected in the past. It is rare in Rwanda and other African countries to find victims of SRHR issues opening up and share their mind, struggles and aspirations. On the other hand, the lived experience play a critical role in bringing awareness and driving decision-making in the country. Every month we will be holding a field visit to those people. We Will encourage them to share their experience and ambitions.   To preserve the anonymity and privacy, we will produce  short movies from their stories that will be shared on our BOHOKA mobile app platform. the idea of movies or short plays came in this project because most of the major video streaming platforms have little to none of these found in our local languages. 

The team has over 18 members and 40 volunteers who have vast experience in various areas of life. We have a team actors that specialize in public health education through sketches and movie production. To involve target population, we will be collaborating with health institutions like Ministry of health to maintain the accuracy and relevance of our content.We use various media platforms to collect ideas, recommendation and question from the community 

through BOHOKA SRHR Project we are upgrading our own website to fully functions to the level of supporting some of these content. we have also been testing the approach(storytelling) in our various SRHR campaigns and it has been promising to be of impact. we are also trying to find funds for developing the mobile application. 

In Rwanda, there is increasing demand for utilization of technology especially smartphones. Bohoka project explore this trend and provide easy to access and youth friendly technology through mobile application and web based reach. having some of our stories portrayed into movies will increase the global outreach. The fact that it offers free offline access to various people will be an added advantage.   

1. Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation
2. Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation
3. Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life
4. Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws

1. the project will allow women and other oppressed individuals to leave the shells and speak up their heart
2. It will promote exchange of ideas, experience and collaboration
3. it will reduce the number of people experiencing GBV and teenage pregnancies 

30 volunteers, no paid staff currently 

We have been working on this project for 1.5 years

The Bohoka SRHR project do not tolerate any form of discriminations but promote inclusion of all people especially marginalized population to reach equity. all voice will be weighed equally.  

We basically focus on the people in rural and underserved communities. Most of the time they struggle to get various health and education services. Our work to these communities are free. We work with government institutions, NGOs and other agencies that wants to lift these individuals to achieve equity among citizens. 

As a nonprofit organization, we basically not sell our products to our beneficiaries. We depend on donations, grants, service contract with the government and other organizations. We try our best to provide quality products that can be used by other organizations and institutions through financial sharing.