Eh!woza

Eh!woza operates at the intersection of public engagement, youth education, advocacy, and skills development. Projects are primarily youth focussed and driven by a desire to engage people and areas most heavily impacted by infectious disease. This is accomplished by connecting young people to high impact biomedical research conducted locally, and by providing the skills and equipment to produce industry standard health-related media that reflects the individual, social and emotional cost of disease. The organisation aims to encourage positive health seeking behaviour, engender trust, and ultimately decrease associated stigma. Established in 2013 as an informal collaboration between local artists and scientists, Eh!woza exists today as a trans-disciplinary initiative involving biomedical researchers at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM), University of Cape Town (UCT]), conceptual artist, Ed Young, social scientists, and youth from Khayelitsha, a peri-urban township situated on the outskirts of Cape Town. Since its inception, Eh!woza has developed multiple inter-related community and public engagement projects, Eh!woza doccies, MSF/Musos/DR-TB Collab and Eh!woza Schools. Eh!woza also places strong emphasis on capacity development both among junior biomedical researchers and previous participants of Eh!woza projects to facilitate knowledge. Training concentrates on the conceptual, logistical and creative aspects of Eh!woza work, ensuring critical sustainability as well as a mechanism for creation of media that is situationally relevant, and informs co-production and dissemination of knowledge. Enhanced by strategic collaborations with local partners, Eh!woza successfully applied to the Wellcome Trust for a Discretionary Award in Public Engagement in 2019.