Applied Mental Health Group, Center for International Health and Development, Boston University School of Public Health (Bolton)

This is an independent evaluation assessing the impact of FilmAid’s programme in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. FilmAid International (FilmAid) is a nonprofit organisation whose mission is to use the power of film to promote health, strengthen communities, and enrich the lives of vulnerable and uprooted populations. FilmAid seeks to offer programming that aims to facilitate social change by providing communication tools, information, and opportunities for people to come together to explore, debate, and express ideas. The purpose of this assessment was to evaluate the impact of the FilmAid International programme in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kakuma, Kenya, which is the longest running of FilmAid’s programmes and serves over 90,000 refugees from nine African countries (as well as the local host community) in one of the largest camps in the world.

The researchers used a three-phase approach employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. The assessment was led by an independent consultant assisted by faculty at the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) and the staff of FilmAid.

Overall, findings indicate that FilmAid is effectively:

• educating people about the prevention and resolution of conflict, HIV/AIDS, human rights, domestic violence, and gender equity;
• providing people with knowledge and examples of how to take action in those areas; and
• helping people cope with their problems and restoring hope.

The quantitative phase assessed the prevalence of the opinions expressed in the
qualitative study, as well as the prevalence of key changes in knowledge and behavior that were among the objectives of FilmAid programming. Findings from this phase showed that FilmAid is well known within the Kakuma refugee camp, with 99% of respondents stating they know what FilmAid is. Furthermore, 85% of respondents stated that they had attended at least one daytime and/or evening screening.

The data suggest that FilmAid has made an impact on knowledge and behaviour change. Regarding conflict resolution and peace building, the findings show that 94% perceived FilmAid films to provide assistance with problem solving and 96% perceived a positive impact on conflict reduction and community building. With regard to reproductive health, family planning, HIV/AIDS and gender equality, the research showed:

• a perceived positive impact on family planning and a marked increase in level of knowledge of family planning;
• a perceived positive impact on HIV knowledge and behaviour and whether or not people decide to get tested; and
• a positive impact on women’s quality of life: more than 50% of respondents felt that FilmAid films have increased women’s participation in the community; the majority of respondents indicated that their attitude towards women’s issues had been positively affected; 50% perceived a large impact on attitudes toward female education; and 64% expressed more willingness to discuss women’s issues.

Respondents also described some negative effects of the FilmAid programme related to programme implementation. These concerns primarily focused on issues surrounding safety and security related to evening screenings such as children getting lost at films and men taking advantage of young girls. Additionally some respondents reported a lack of understanding of the films and twenty percent of respondents perceived FilmAid as not being respectful to religion and culture.


The report recommends that FilmAid use these findings to improve current operations and factor them into new programme design.

FilmAid website on October 6 2009.