Siri ya Mtungi Television Drama

Siri ya Mtungi airs weekly on the ITV and EATV television stations, with plans for future release on DVD, dubbed in English, French, and Portuguese, to enable greater reach across Africa. According to MFDI, the production was the culmination of 18 months of storyline development, scriptwriting, filming, and editing, with a crew of 40 professionals and a cast of 20 actors. A complimentary discussion guide for communities and listening clubs is designed to facilitates group reflection, discussion, and action after each episode. The discussion questions are intended to support individual behaviour change intention, group support for changes, and collective action on specific issues.

According to the drama synopsis, "Siri ya Mtungi’s cast of colourful characters, related by blood or marriage, or simply by love, make up a community that is inspired by love, brought down by fear, superstition and betrayal, lifted by comedy and joy, and strengthened by the intimate bonds of family and friendship. Characters include Cheche and his wife Cheusi, daughter of well-known community leader and polygamist, Mzee Kizito, deejay Duma, amorous Lulu, viperous Farida, lecherous Masharubu, and many more."


The story centres on Cheche, who is gifted a commercial studio by the late photography guru, Habibu. He finds himself not only taking pictures but becoming the focus of what other people want from life. In his portraits of individuals, families and friends, Cheche captures the soul of a community on its journey of hopes, dreams and personal crises. Cheche’s position as a photographer also puts him in a situation where he finds himself drawn to many of his female clients, along with becoming involved with his teenage sweetheart, Tula.

Along with disseminating health messages and encouraging dialogue, the production was intended to develop new skills and opportunities for local actors, musicians, artists, and crew in entertainment-education production in the Tanzanian film industry, known as Swahilliwood.

Videos from the series are available on the Siri ya Mtungi website and viewers can interact with the programme through the Siri ya Mtungi facebook page

Health, HIV/AIDS

Tanzania Capacity and Communication Project (TCCP) is a five-year, USAID-funded project led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (CCP). TCCP’s vision is a Tanzania where people take charge of their own health, thus creating healthy households where individual changes in health lead to healthier families and communities. TCCP’s areas of focus include HIV prevention, reproductive health, and maternal and child health.