It’s 2021 in Nairobi, and Khadija is diligently preparing to give birth to her first child. It will all happen in the same hospital where her mother and grandmother delivered their babies. Kenya’s public health system has transformed considerably since 1965, when Atenio, Kadhija’s grandmother, gave birth to her mother. Back then, services were modest, but accessible.

Now, there are modern hospitals filled with state-of-the-art technology which is barely used. Many say that the public-private partnerships brought “progress” to the country. But how can there be progress when a large part of the population still has no access to electricity or clean water?

Join us for the premiere of our new animated film, “Beats of Time,” a story of PPPs and reproductive justice in Africa, threaded through three generations of Kenyan women and their dealings with their country’s public health system. This short film is part of a series of animated and live-action films produced under the project “Old Dog, New Tricks: Neocolonialism & Public-Private Partnerships in the Global South” that highlights the effects of PPPs on women’s lives.