Family Empowerment Media

Every two minutes, a woman dies from complications of pregnancy or childbirth. Seventy per cent of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2020, Family Empowerment Media was founded to meet one of the most cost-effective, neglected opportunities in global health. We enable informed family planning through clear, engaging, and accurate radio campaigns. Radio airwaves can carry life-saving information to people who might not otherwise hear it, and our campaigns are regionally tailored to meet our listeners’ real-life concerns.

In 2021, we launched in northern Nigeria. Working with the Kano State Ministry of Health, we ran our first pilot. An external evaluator found that this pilot correlated with a 75% uptake in contraception. In 2022, we ran a nine-month campaign and expanded to new states. In 2023, we developed our capacity to implement across larger regions. We conducted 1,500 interviews to better understand our listeners. We received encouraging cost-effectiveness evaluations. And we took concrete steps toward international expansion.