Disaster Risk Reduction Through High-quality, Original Stories from Africa
Zulani Africa is a digital media company committed to build smart media products based on emerging communications technologies. Our focus is to tell high-quality, original stories on disaster risk reduction, climate change, and sustainable development, among others.
Description
Zulani Africa was founded in 2009 with bases in Kenya, Uganda, and Burundi. We aim at becoming Africa’s next-generation media production company, working with the biggest talents online, broadcasters and co-creators to produce cutting edge programming and ground-breaking communications solutions; enriching lives and upholding brands.
Our focus is to tell high-quality, original stories across platforms and formats that our audience can find wherever they are. One of our main areas of work is related to stories on disaster risk reduction, climate change, and sustainable development. For this purpose, we use smart media products based on emerging communications technologies. We plan to achieve this by: Professional and experienced personnel; State of the art technology and equipment; Enabling and supporting innovation; Identifying and growing great leaders; and Ensuring great working conditions for retention of best talent.
Zulani TV also enables and provides a platform for community journalism that has seen ordinary folk in far flung rural communities and hard-to-reach areas tell their stories to our audiences.
As a result, we produced media content related to fire disasters (The Sinai Fire), protecting ecosystems (Water Hyacinth); the Africa Regional Platform for DRR (Mauritius), Science for DRR, Tanzania’s Urban Resilience Programme, recycling and plastic waste, UNDRR’s SRSG visit to Kisumu City, Making Cities Sustainable and Resilient, and Private sector and DRR, among others.
Did the Sendai Framework change or contribute to changes in your activities/organization? If so, how?
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction called for media to take an active and inclusive role at the local, national, regional and global levels in contributing to the raising of public awareness, understanding, and disseminating disaster risk information in a simple, transparent, easy-to-understand and accessible manner. The work of Zulani TV aims to contribute to this important call.
What led you to make this commitment/initiative?
What was your position before making this Voluntary Commitment / prior to the Sendai Framework?
We are motivated by the the possibility that our media products could influence the public opinion and the processes related for the adoption of specific disaster risk reduction communications policies, early warning systems and life-saving protective measures while also stimulating a culture of prevention and strong community involvement in DRR, in accordance with local/national/international practices.
We also believe in the message shared by the Sendai Framework to strengthen the utilization of media, including social media, traditional media, big data, etc., to support national measures for successful disaster risk communication.
Deliverables and Progress report
Deliverables
Deliverables are the end-products of the initiative/commitment, which can include issuance of publications or knowledge products, outcomes of workshops, training programs, videos, links, photographs, etc.
The 6th session of the Africa Regional Platform for DDR was conducted in Mauritius. This short film covers the event.
A short documentary related to the ASFV.
Years have passed by since the worst fire disaster in the history of Kenya claimed a hundred and thirty lives in a slum village. More have died from internal injuries sustained from the fire, as many others struggle to find alternative livelihoods, having lost their mainly casual jobs as they nursed injuries others unable to do the heavy physical industrial jobs they had before.
A visit to Sinai slum tells a story of broken promises, shattered dreams, abandoned projects, forgotten people and lessons never learnt. Nothing has changed in the village, not even the ten metre long open drainage line from which tens were scooping fuel that fateful morning, to the pollution by a major government corporation that wrecked lives, habitation continues undeterred; but deep in the hearts and realities of the people, everything has changed.
In the documentary "Water Hyacinth:The Anatomy of a Stubborn Weed," we highlight the importance of protecting ecosystems as a way to avoid negative impacts in the livelihoods of local communities.
A short presentation on the Tanzania Urban Resilience Programme – #URTZ2018.
Special Representative to the UN Secretary General on Disaster Risk Reduction Ms Mami Mizutori met city leadership and county officials to discuss progress made in the ‘Making Cities Sustainable and Resilient’ project that Kisumu City is part of.
A short documentary on the role of the private sector in disaster risk reduction as a result from the coverage of the Global Platform for DRR in 2019.
In this short documentary, we feature the Making Cities Sustainable and Resilient Campaign promoted by UNDRR.
A short film covering the importance of Early warning Systems (EWS) for Benin.
Within the initiative for Building Resilience in Africa, this short film covers the training of journalists for disaster reporting.
