project
Child to Child had been working in partnership with the Sierra Leonean NGO, the Pikin-To-Pikin Movement, to implement a 5 year community-based Early Childhood Development project in the remote Eastern district of Sierra Leone, when the Ebola outbreak halted all activities in March 2014. The project couldn’t continue as it was originally designed because it required children to come together in groups – a major public health hazard. So Child-to-Child turned to radio. Radio minimises the risk of Ebola transmission as no public gathering is required and allows larger numbers of beneficiaries to be reached.
In December 2014, Child to Child commissioned an award-winning radio production team to produce the radio educational series Pikin to Pikin Tok (which means Child to Child Talk in the local language Krio). In line with the objectives of the original project, the Pikin to Pikin Tok radio series is intended to enhance children’s social, numeracy, literacy and life skills. It is made up of three different programmes – Story Time, Under the Mango Tree and Messages Through Music – each of which target different age ranges. Many of the programmes address health and hygiene, critical issues in the wake of the Ebola outbreak.
