Filmscreening of the edutainment drama Choices & Consequences, Part 2

The role of this series of three cinematic edutainment dramas titled, Choices & Consequences, was to engage youth by creating a space for reflection on sexuality, contraceptive use and abortion through the making of these films as well as through discussions of the messages in the films. In line with what Jo-Ann M. MacDonald and colleagues call ‘arts-based tools’ (MacDonald et al. 2011), this method for youth engagement also encourages creativity. In the process, the youth learned more about sexual and reproductive health as well as filmmaking. In fact, this method is counter to the dominant teaching-learning strategy in Ethiopian schools, based on memorisation and providing ‘correct’ answers with little space for critical thinking. Competing norms on contraceptive use and abortion were not, then, studied only in the responses to the films in the individual and group interviews carried out with female and male students, parents, teachers, health workers, religious leaders and other community members, but also through the process of making the edutainment dramas.