Kwanda is a revolutionary prime time docu-reality television series commissioned by the Soul City Institute for Health and Development, and broadcast on SABC1. Five teams from five very different communities are given the challenge to improve their neighbourhoods by using the resources they can find.

They have to address issues relating to HIV, vulnerable children, alcohol abuse and were tasked with creating sustainable livelihoods. The series followed this remarkable journey of change.

What is Kwanda?
The Kwanda TV series documents this extraordinary social development project. The Kwanda project is about people who take action and change their communities for the better. It inspires ordinary people to act together and get results that are tangible and sustainable. Kwanda is real people in real communities turning their challenges into opportunities, uplifting their neighbourhoods, changing lives and inspiring hope in the nation.

TV Series
The Kwanda television series is a record of the project. The journey begins with five teams attending a learning camp where they learn by doing: good organisation is key to the success of any self-motivated enterprise. The five teams then take the skills they have learnt back to their communities. There they set out their goals for change. Goals can be anything from ensuring every child in the community goes to school, to planting sustainable community vegetable gardens, to feeding orphans and vulnerable children. The series records the ups and downs of this amazing set of challenges.

The series was designed together with a national network of support for both participants and viewers. Viewers who are inspired by the teams are assisted with tools to take action, through advice, mentorship, tool kits and a comprehensive communication network. The message of the series is: communities can 'do it' for themselves.

Series overview
The Kwanda TV series was broadcast from 2 September to 25 November 2009.

  1. Episode 1 introduced the audience to the five communities and showed their experience at an intensive learning camp.
  2. Episodes 2-11 followed each community's journey (each of the five communities featured in two episodes).
  3. Episode 12 reviewed all five communities together and featured updates from each locale. Episode 12 also marked the start to Kwanda Week, a week of media awareness, with an invitation to the nation to vote for a favourite community to win the Kwanda grand prize of R1,000,000 (the winning community was Kwakwatsi).
  4. Episode 13 was a live show special where the participants in the five teams came together to reflect on their achievements. Other awards were made to the total prize value of two million rand.

Development and support
Ochre Moving Pictures developed the Kwanda TV series together with Soul City and its partners in line with our commitment to providing entertainment television that is educational and that inspires social change. The project is supported by international and local donors, the Department of Social Development, the Department of Health, and the Department of Trade and Industry, various government agencies as well as a number of local authorities.

Soul City Institute
The Soul City Institute is a dynamic and innovative multi-media health promotion and social change project. The Institute's other media brands include Soul City, targeted at adults, and Soul Buddyz, aimed at children. Through drama and entertainment media Soul City reaches more than 16 million South Africans.

Kwanda was among SABC1's most celebrated shows for 2009 according to SABC1 Acting General Manager, Leo Manne.

Visit the Kwanda website http://www.kwanda.org or the Kwanda page on the Soul City website http://www.soulcity.org.za/programmes/kwanda-communities-with-soul/kwanda-week-by-week

Kwanda Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kwanda/118735351447