For more than a decade, SAWBO (Scientific Animations Without Borders) has been at the forefront of democratizing knowledge through scientifically accurate, easy-to-understand animated videos. These animations address some of the world’s most urgent challenges in agriculture, health, women’s empowerment, climate resilience, entrepreneurship, and more. At Kataru Concepts Africa Farming Technologies, our collaboration with SAWBO has grown into a powerful movement centered on increasing access to knowledge, especially for smallholder farmers and low-income households who depend on accurate information for survival and economic progress.
One of the most transformative aspects of this collaboration has been our continued work in translation. For many communities, information is only useful when it is delivered in a language they understand deeply. This understanding inspired us to invest time, energy, and passion into translating SAWBO animations into local dialects spoken by farmers, pastoralists, youth, women’s groups, and community leaders across Kenya and beyond.
Why Translation Matters
Across rural Africa, Asia, Latin America, and even parts of China, millions of people mostly communicate primarily in their mother tongues in addition to English, Kiswahili, Mandarin, French, Spanish, or Portuguese. Traditional extension systems often fail because the knowledge being shared is delivered in languages that many cannot easily follow. As a result, vital agricultural and health innovations never reach the last mile communities that need them most.
Mtama Nurdhin and Abdul Aziz Chipera, two of the three dedicated translators leading the exercise to translate SAWBO animations into Mijikenda languages, aimed at helping coastal communities access vital knowledge in their local dialects.
Translation bridges this divide. It turns global scientific knowledge into local, usable, and relatable information. When a farmer watches an animation in their own language, spoken with familiar dialect, accents and expressions, they instantly connect with it. They are more confident, more willing to try new techniques, and more likely to adopt innovations that improve their yields, incomes, and overall livelihoods.
Our Recently Translated SAWBO Animations
In our latest phase of work, we successfully translated the following high-impact SAWBO animations into local Mijikenda languages:
- Investing in the Soil: This animation guides rural farmers on building and maintaining soil fertility through affordable and sustainable practices.
- Late Blight Resistant Potatoes: Helping potato-growing communities adopt disease-resistant varieties to reduce losses.
- Bean Row Planting: Simplified instructions on spacing, planting depth, and arrangement for maximum bean productivity.
- Jerrycan Bean Storage: A step-by-step airtight storage method that prevents weevil infestation and chemical use while using readily available household items.
- Rotating Your Crops: A vital message on preventing nutrient depletion and reducing pest cycles.
- Deep Tillage and Micro-dosing: Practical training on land preparation and precise fertilizer application to boost yields while saving costs.
- East Coast Fever: A lifesaving animation for livestock farmers battling one of the most destructive cattle diseases in East Africa.
- Block Licks: Training livestock keepers on making and using mineral blocks to strengthen animal health.
- Bean Powder Nutrition: Showing households how to process beans into nutritious powder that is added to porridge to improve nutrition hence fighting malnutrition.
These translations will go a long way in supporting farmers to understand complex agricultural practices in a simple, direct, and culturally relevant format.
Our Impact on Farming Communities
Every translated animation has ripple effects in the Kenyan coastal region where Mijikenda languages are spoken and across the country where Swahili is widely used. Women’s groups are using the knowledge to improve household nutrition. Youth farmers are adopting improved crop management techniques and turning them into small enterprises. Pastoral communities are learning better livestock management methods, while mixed farmers are making informed decisions on soil health, seed choice, pest control, and climate-smart practices.
Farmers in counties across Kenya, such as Kilifi, Kwale, Bungoma, Tana River, Migori, Kitui, Kakamega, Busia, Vihiga, Homabay, and others where we’ve worked with communities have repeatedly expressed how much easier it is to implement recommendations when instructions are delivered in local languages and languages and dialects which they understand clearly. Community-based volunteers and extension officers have also shared that translated videos reduce training time and increase adoption rates, particularly among communities with historically limited access to formal education.
SAWBO as a Universal Global e-Extension System
While traditional government extension systems are often underfunded, understaffed, or limited by geographical reach, SAWBO has emerged as a universal digital extension (e-extension) system accessible to anyone with a phone, tablet, projector, or community kiosk.
SAWBO’s commitment to animation translation has allowed it to break through linguistic boundaries and empower millions across the world. With animations now available in hundreds of languages, SAWBO has created a borderless learning network where a farmer in rural Kenya can easily learn the same life-saving practice as a farmer in India, Brazil, Burma, Nigeria, or China.
This global accessibility is what makes SAWBO unique. Its dedication to producing free, research-based, scientifically vetted animations and making them universally accessible reflects a profound commitment to global development and human dignity.
As we celebrate the progress made in our translation efforts, we also wish to extend a broad and heartfelt invitation to all SAWBO volunteers, users, and supporters across Africa, Asia, Latin America, China, the Caribbean, and everywhere else SAWBO’s impact is felt.
If you speak a local language or dialect, no matter how small or marginalized, your community needs you. We encourage you to:
- Volunteer and translate a video
- Share translated animations with your community
- Introduce SAWBO to local leaders and training groups
- Seek to join your group to our expansive WhatsApp based network
Your contribution, no matter how small, could empower thousands. Translation is not just a technical task, it is an act of service, leadership, and community building. It is a way of multiplying knowledge and ensuring that no one is left behind simply because of language barriers.
Acknowledging SAWBO’s Global Leadership
We also recognize and sincerely appreciate the enormous effort, resources, and time SAWBO has invested to build what is now one of the world’s most effective, inclusive, and impactful e-extension systems. Their model: producing culturally adaptive, scientifically accurate animations has transformed how information flows from researchers to communities.
SAWBO has proven that digital tools, when properly implemented, can uplift millions and help entire regions become more resilient to climate change, pests, disease outbreaks, and economic shocks.
Our translation work continues, and the demand for more localized content remains high. Communities are requesting more video translations on poultry, irrigation, composting, aflatoxin prevention, market access, and climate adaptation. We remain committed to expanding our translation library and ensuring that more communities receive the knowledge they deserve.
Together with SAWBO, volunteers, translators, farmers, youth, and global partners, we are building a world where knowledge flows freely and equitably.
