Social Justice Centers Travelling Theatre (SJCTT) is a collective of Artivist from the Social Justice Movement who use Theatre as a means of transforming society to a social just Society.

The Social Justice Centers Travelling Theatre’s  (SJCTT) advocacy is shaped by its surrounding; since most of the members are from the informal settlement area, most of the human rights violation they focus on includes, Police excesses, including harassment, extortion and enforced disappearances.

The Social Justice Travelling Theatre Initiative was founded in 2019 as part of the organs of the Social Justice Movement which has been in the forefront addressing Social and Political issues affecting the Kenyan Population. The Social Justice Travelling theatre has been pioneered by young people who organize in various informal settlements in Nairobi and around the country. 

It has adopted both street performances and stage performances to reach their audiences. Majority of the issues that the organ has organized against includes performances on state brutality that is prevalent in informal settlements and where majority of the members come from. 

The Social Justice Movement has monitored and documented key violations involving Police harassment and Police excesses including extortion and enforced disappearances. Additionally, Social Justice Travelling Theatre pays key focus involves deconstructing normalised harmful practices such as Gender-Based Violence which is rampant in various areas in Kenya. 

Degree of difficulty 

Most members of the Social Justice travelling theatre come from the informal settlements, unemployed, and they depend on theatre as their form of sustenance. Raising resources for conducting performances and sustaining their membership is a big pain point for Social Justice Centers Travelling Theatre (SJCTT.

Moreover, the team has on several occasions encountered resistance from various duty bearers who perceive their work as challenging the state. This has exposed them to push backs such as illegal  arrests when coming from training sessions and propagation of negative rhetoric about their work. 

Scope, reach, and Impact of the Work

“The theatre as a unit has inspired the forgotten history of the theatre and has sparked a renewed hope in organizing social movements and alternative methods of organizing the community today. It has also brought together the different kinds of arts including music, poetry, spoken word and progressive cultural dance. It has also transformed aspects of community education and awareness in the sense that it has brought a different view towards mobilizing and recruiting members to the Social movements and building strong organizations in the civic and political duties.”

Why the HRD stands out from others working on Similar issues.

The innovation within this group is trailblazing in the frontier of the use of art for social change by communities. For this team, art and sports is an advocacy tool for awareness accretion as well as persuading communities to support human rights defenders in their work. 

Over the years, this Social Justice Travelling theatre have successfully unpacked

numerous rights among citizens for them to remain vigilant and active in the promotion and protection of human rights. Moreover, they have evolved as talented actors, utilizing street theatre as a means to reach communities, drive campaigns, and counteract the shrinking civic space in Kenya.

The use of theatre has a rich history of human rights advocacy;I Will Marry When I Want (Ngaahika Ndeenda)is a Gikuyu play co-written by Ngũgĩ wa Mirii and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. was showcased in Kenya in 1977. The government banned the playand arrested Ngugi. The use of theatre makes Social Justice Centers Travelling Theatre (SJCTT) to stand from other awardees.