Theatre for a Change: Malawi's Forum Theatre for Sexual Health Rights

Theatre for a Change (TfaC) uses participatory, Forum Theatre-style drama — adapted from Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed — to change attitudes around gender, HIV and sexual health in Malawi, where it has worked since 2007. Its Access programme trained around 2,000 pre-service teachers in government Teacher Training Colleges between 2007 and 2022, equipping them to run participatory sexual-health lessons that reach at least 10,000 children a year. Its Leave No Girl Behind programme worked directly with 5,000 marginalized girls across three districts between 2018 and 2023, combining drama clubs with mobile health services. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Malawian government asked TfaC to lead its national behaviour-change messaging, doubling the charity's interactive radio drama broadcasts.