Soul Program

The Soul program revolves around issues youth face and how young people can use circus and arts to advocate for solutions. With Input from the Youth Circus Zambia has identified 5 areas of focus. These are Human and Women’s Rights, Sexual Reproductive Health Rights, Climate Change, Alcohol and Drugs prevention and Social Inclusion. Through a range of partnerships experts come and work with the youth to fully understand these issues, identify possible solutions and pathways to advocacy. With these knowledge the youth use their talents in circus, theatre and arts to engage their communities and call to action local and national leaders. Such activities can include workshops with peers, performances in communities, radio advocacy, street art or other forms of creative intervention.

Check out some projects

Nyamukani akazi means Rise up Girls. This project which is funded by Comic Relief, runs from 2021 to 2024. The project is all about elevating the confidence and knowledge of the female (and to some extent the male participants) of Circus Zambia in the field of gender equality and Womens rights. Each year 20 girls are selected to participate in intensive circus training at Circus Zambia to boost confidence, trust and communication. In addition they engage with experts in the field of Womens Rights and SRHR to learn about how these topics influence the roles and possibilities of women in Zambia. Lastly, they engage with positive role models and work with peers and community leaders to share their knowledge and establish themselves as positive role models in their community.

“I really enjoyed being part of year 1 group of Nyamukani Akazi. I got a lot of information that I didn’t knew and I felt happy to be with my fellow girls.  ” – Jane

Check out this video to learn more.

 The Localizing the SDG’s project is about creating best practices on how to make the SDG’s locally relevant to the youth and communities. This project is a collaboration between Ghana Community Radio Network, Open Space Uganda, Crossing Borders (Denmark), supported by CISU. All countries are working on how to create more understanding and buy-in of the SDG’s and the Agenda 2030. Youth Tasks Forces are formed that use different methods such as debate, radio and circus to engage youth and communities in understanding and upholding the SDG’s. This also includes involving stakeholders in government offices, local leaders and non-governmental organizations.

“The localizing SDG project is interesting cause we deal with many different issues and how that affects us locally.” 

Want to learn more? Check out this website.

This project is all about the rights of Children. Sadly, many children and youth in Zambia see their rights abused, including physical, sexual and emotional abuse. This often happens because there is a lack of knowledge about what constitutes abuse and what avenues exist to report abuse. In this project youth from Don Bosco and Circus Zambia work with experts from SHARPZ (Serenity Harm Reduction and Prevention Zambia) to learn about these issues. They then organize community events to share this information, as well as a radio production.

‘I really enjoyed the radio episodes, getting to talk about what is going on and sharing knowledge.’ 

Check out this video of the Samalani Ana project 

Clowns for Condoms is our award-winning program that uses circus and clowning to break taboos surrounding SRHR and use of contraceptives. In its four years of existence the Clowns for Condoms have reached over 10.000 young people through engaging workshops, radio programs and of course Circus Shows. Not only did young and old learn about HIV prevention, SRHR and condoms, in collaboration with our partner AHF 10.000 people had access to VCT testing and free condoms. In 2019 Clowns for Condoms won the Life+ Award in Vienna, for its innovative and effective approach. 

Read more about Clowns for Condoms in this Article 

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