My Jorley Ghana

The number of teenage pregnancies and illegal abortions in Ghana is very high. To help solve these problems one might not consider a mobile game. We did. Before the development of the digital mobile game My Jorley Ghana (2016) we employed boardgames to battle similar health issues in other countries. For us it was natural to think of a game confronted with Ghanaian problems. Strong growth and numbers in Mobile cellphones and data we just had to create a mobile game.

The My Jorley company is characterized by research and co-creation. In Ghana we acted in character and spent time and energy in mapping a network and building strong relations with them. For the network to work it needed to encompass youth (organizations), schools, health centers and more. Basically all the stakeholders were represented in the co-creation teams we worked with. We also wanted to work with a local game developer and designer. Accra based LETI Arts is now a regular partner in our projects.

The first designs were created with valuable input by Ghanaian youth, reviewed by them and adapted to fit them perfectly. The subjects we wanted to discuss in the game were presented to local youth and contextualized with and by them for usage in the game. This conversation gave us insights in illegal and unhealthy practices and misconceptions concerning SRHR, relationships between adolescents and “what is done” and “what is not done”. It gave us input for our concept and storyline and made our game authentic, believable and REAL.

Adolescents created content for My Jorley Ghana. They worked together with a professional film maker and created their own short films that enrich the game, but can also be viewed as standalones. The film maker helped them develop skills in writing, filming and editing.

As some of our subjects and content is sensitive, trust or confidentiality between parties is of great importance. My Jorley is a game developer who understands this. We invest time and energy in relationships based on equality and respect for one another.

The game was developed for Android and launched in 2017 in the Google Playstore. It was accompanied by a (social media) campaign locally executed. The game was and is a success. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs branded our game as a “best practice in sexuality communication”.

Downloads

The game can be downloaded here:

A scientific article describing the process, content and impact of the game, can be downloaded here: