Background Info
CHAPS have trained over 300 puppeteers and helped establish more than 40 local puppet groups in Kenya.
The Family Planning Private Sector (FPPS) programme was established in Kenya in 1984 at the request of the Government. Over the next 12 years it evolved into one of the leading reproductive health organisations in Kenya, using local cultural forms to communicate reproductive health messages.
In 1993 and 1994, the African Research and Educational Puppetry Programme, under the leadership of South African puppeteer Gary Friedman, trained 15 Kenyan puppeteers. The Community Health and Awareness Puppeteers (CHAPS) thereafter held regional workshops and over 250 puppeteers were soon trained and formed about 40 regional puppet troupes throughout the country. FPPS provided the infrastructure that allowed for the supervision, monitoring and evaluation of these programmes.
The puppet performances soon branched into other health and development related issues covering immunization, drug abuse, gender issues, refugees, street children, conservation and corruption.
Given its experience in cultural communications, FPPS created the Utamaduni Institute - the Centre for Cultural Communications. It encompasses CHAPS, folk media, public community murals, puppetry, training and the production of materials based on local cultural forms in Kenya.
