The Drum Beat 402 - The South Pacific
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We are saddened by the untimely death of our colleague Kari Blackburn, who was Director of International Operations at the BBC World Service Trust and a former BBC World Service Africa Editor. Kari was a hugely talented journalist with a long history of working in Africa. She was closely affiliated with The Communication Initiative as a member of The CI Partners Group. We send support and our deepest sympathies to those closest to her. She will be much missed by all her colleagues and friends.
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This issue of The Drum Beat explores communication initiatives, trends, and thinking emerging from the South Pacific region. This issue particularly focuses on issues related to youth - the expression of their problems and solutions, issues related to the rights of women and indigenous populations, the need for and use of technology - particularly in an island environment, and issues related to health and nutrition.
We are very interested in expanding our database of communication for development information and resources specific to the South Pacific region. Please send any information you have to Deborah Heimann dheimann@comminit.com
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YOUTH
1."Going Back to Country with Bosses": The Yiriman Project, Youth Participation and Walking along with Elders
by David Palmer
This approach to youth participation and development used by the Yiriman Project in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia describes how people from isolated communities in the north of Australia organise bush trips to bring together the young, elders, and other community members. The Yiriman project is designed to help young people deal with a range of social troubles by participating more fully in their community through land care work, traditional culture, walking and other forms of physical animation play. According to the article, this tradition of removing troubled youth from their normal social settings for periods of time has long been a critical part of life and cultural practice for the Nyikina, Mangala, Karajarri and Walmajarri.
2.Polarizing Participation in Local Government: Which Young People Are Included and Excluded?
by Karen Nairn, Judith Sligo, Claire Freeman
in this paper, the authors analyse recent youth participation in local governments in New Zealand. Their analysis of the workings of selected participation initiatives in one urban and one rural setting examines youth inclusion issues. They argue that inclusion, in this study, depended on which groups of young people the adults in local government deemed important to include and, by default, which young people would therefore be excluded, resulting in polarisation. They show how two "types" of young people, are chosen: "achievers," who are considered future leaders, and "troublemakers," whom the local government would like to "meaningfully occupy with particular types of participation."
See Also:
3. Youth Visioning for Island Living - Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Regions
RIGHTS
5.Blue Ribbon Campaign - Suva, Fiji
In November 2006, civil society groups launched a campaign calling on all Fiji citizens to show their support for peace and democracy by wearing a Fiji blue ribbon. This campaign draws on public mobilisation for advocacy. By asking women, in particular, to wear Fiji blue ribbon (from the colour of that island's flag), organisers hope to create a unified stand toward promoting peace, reconciliation, and unity based on the principles of human rights, democracy, and the upholding of the 1997 Constitution. femLINKPACIFIC continues to convene the Blue Ribbon Silent Peace Vigil on a weekly basis in Suva and informs rural women about the Blue Ribbon Peace Initiative through mobile community radio broadcasts.
Contact femlinkpac@connect.com.fj
6.Crime Prevention and Indigenous Communities: Current International Strategies and Programmes
This paper provides a brief review of current policies, strategies and projects relating to crime prevention among Indigenous communities in Australia, Canada, the United States and New Zealand. These four countries were selected because of their similar historical experiences, as well as for pragmatic reasons of language and the availability of information. The purpose of the report is to assist in the exchange of information on effective crime prevention strategies, and the identification of good practice, as well as problem areas concerning this very important issue. The report includes crime prevention initiatives developed in Indigenous communities (e.g. on reserves), as well as, where possible, those addressing the needs of indigenous peoples living in urban areas, or off reserves.
7.fem'LINKpacific: Media Initiatives for Women - Suva, Fiji Islands
fem'LINK pacific is a Suva-based women's non-government organisation (NGO) committed to "Linking Women with the Media" to bring the stories of Suva women and their communities to the forefront and to share these stories with the rest of Fiji, with the hope that through this community-centred initiative they will not only increase awareness of critical social, political and economic issues, but also serve as a means to promote reconciliation and peace in Fiji. fem'LINKpacific: Media Initiatives for Women has distributed a fem'TALK community video to over 50 women's groups, their civil society partners and political parties. The community video, titled "Not Just Sweet Talk" features more than 20 women and young women addressing topics such as: "How Can a Woman Best Use Her Vote" and "Poverty: Hunger, Housing, Health and Violence Against Women / Women Against Rape".
Contact femlinkpac@connect.com.fj
HEALTH and NUTRITION
8.Talkabout Magasine
Talkabout is a bi-monthly, online magazine produced by the publications unit of People Living With HIV/AIDS New South Wales in Australia. The magazine includes general news items, letters to the editor, informative articles, treatment briefs, poems, and listings for events and awards/contests. People Living With HIV/AIDS New South Wales is a non profit community organisation working to promote a positive image of people affected by HIV/AIDS in New South Wales with the "aim of eliminating prejudice, isolation, stigmatisation and discrimination arising from AIDS".
9.Communication Components: Avian Influenza and Pandemic Planning - New Zealand
In December 2005, the New Zealand Ministry of Health (MoH) began implementing various communication strategies as part of an initiative to raise public awareness about bird flu, in the context of a possible/impending global pandemic. The national initiative involves using the mass media, information and communication technologies (ICTs), research, and printed materials to share information and foster pandemic planning on the part of health professionals, businesses, and members of the general public. Radio New Zealand is creating a series of public service announcements (PSAs) advising people on how to prepare for an influenza pandemic; two 2-minute informational videos will be distributed broadly; a 10-day TV-based campaign is being developed; and a toll-free, pre-recorded line gives callers 4 options for further information: Preparing for a Pandemic, Protecting Yourself in a Pandemic, Tamiflu and Travel Advice.
Contact birdflu@moh.govt.nz
10.Let's Work Together to Beat Measles - Australia
In 1998, the Commonwealth of Australia launched a public health initiative in an effort to eliminate measles in Australia. The 4-month national vaccination campaign focused its efforts on primary schools for mass vaccination. Information and advocacy messages were designed to inform parents, teachers, and school principals of the benefits and risks of vaccination - involving them in the process of developing informational materials and seeking their consent. The campaign also worked to bolster the knowledge of physicians regarding vaccination, and then relied on them to talk with parents about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. The components of the programme included a 'mop-up' approach (providing the MMR vaccine - based on parental consent - to all children in primary schools throughout Australia); a 'catch-up' campaign (encouraging all parents and physicians of preschool-age children to ensure that this cohort received at least one dose of the MMR vaccine); and a campaign to encourage parents of high-school age children to ensure that their children had received two doses of measles vaccine by age 12.
Contact phd.frontdesk@health.gov.au
11. New South Wales Interagency Plan to Tackle Child Sexual Assault
This is a plan written by the government of New South Wales, Australia, to put in place strategic programming initiatives for community, police, legal system, and agency-based work on child sexual assault. The prevention aspects of the document are summarised in the article "Plan to Tackle Sexual Assault in Aboriginal Communities, New South Wales" from the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime's (ICPC's) An International Bulletin: Community Safety and Indigenous Peoples, Edition #3, March 2007.
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PULSE POLL
It's time we stopped dividing the world into North and South.
Do you agree or disagree?
[For context, see The Drum Beat #401.]
Please ALSO participate in a DISCUSSION on the above topic through the month of July within the Drum Beat Chat forum - click here!
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COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY
12. Barbouzes, Bullets and Beat-ups: South Pacific Media Realities
This report emerges from a Media-Asia Research Group conference held in November 2006 at the Curtin University of Technology (Perth, Western Australia) titled "Media: Policies, Cultures and Futures in the Asia Pacific Region". In it, journalist and educator David Robie reflects on media trends in the South Pacific, with a focus on the Melanesian sub-region. His key premise is that simplistic notions and prejudices about the region are increasingly posing challenges for journalists in this region who are attempting to report with depth, context, and analytical skill.
13. Radio Pasifik-Nauru - Republic of Nauru
Radio Pasifik-Nauru is a community-based educational radio station designed to help University of the South Pacific (USP)-Nauru students and secondary students with their course work while also creating a springboard for other civil society groups, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and others to use in service of the people of the Republic of Nauru. With its first broadcast in April 2007, Radio Pasifik-Nauru represents the culmination of a 2-year project designed to adapt existing traditional, digital, and satellite-based radio communication resources to serve educational and development needs in Nauru. This project (February 2006-February 2008) is also designed to assess the installation and overall effectiveness of solar-powered radio facilities - as well as the impact of audio-based instructional methods - in remote island locations.
Contact Ms. Linda Austin austin_l@usp.ac.fj OR Ms. Alamanda Lauti lauti_a@usp.ac.fj OR Radio Pasifik-Nauru volunteers radiopasifiknauru@gmail.com
14.Greening the Screen Environmental Toolkit: An Environmental Toolkit for the New Zealand Screen Production Industry
by Ann Smith and Emma McConachy
In the introduction to this toolkit, the authors explain that because film production has became a key industry in New Zealand, the focus on sustainability and environmental protection are industry objectives. The toolkit is designed to help production companies add value to their businesses by adopting practices that are environmental improvement measures. Chapter 6, entitled "On Screen," is about the potential influence of this medium among audiences of millions of people. The toolkit suggests how to embed environmentally sound behaviour in films so that audiences see it being modelled by on-screen characters.
15.Vibe Australia - Australia
Vibe Australia Pty Ltd (Vibe) is an Aboriginal media, communications and events management agency specialising in the implementation, production, and dissemination of projects involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. A key focus is on the implementation, production, and dissemination of targeted, culturally sensitive communication products and services for Indigenous communities through products that include a website, a printed magazine, a nationally syndicated weekly radio show, a basketball challenge, and a music awards ceremony. Vibe is committed to reinforcing the importance of completing a full secondary education and continuing with further education, as well as securing employment and training opportunities. In addition, the organisation is committed to showcasing contemporary Aboriginal culture through music, the arts, and sport, and regularly spotlights people from all walks of life achieving in their chosen fields.
Contact Gavin Jones gavin@vibe.com.au
16.Fiji: Implementation Of ICT In Teacher Training
This case study indicates that currently the educational institutions in Fiji are attempting to integrate ICT into education in a fragmented manner. Furthermore, the institutions are isolated in their attempts. Collaborative action between the institutions, under the guidance of the Ministry of Education, is needed. In addition, there needs to be a systematic plan for incorporating ICT into Fiji's education system. The following are the recommendations resulting from the analysis of Fiji's ICT teacher-training system: an accreditation system; national ICT standards; capacity building; greater access; an integrated approach to ICT in education; and distance education.
17.Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF) - Australia
This is a national non-profit organisation that has been working since 1982 to encourage development, production, and dissemination of television programmes, films, and other audiovisual media for children. It promotes these productions in the Australian community, sharing information through media such as the Learning Centre available on its website. The ACTF's aim is to create products that are entertaining, educational, and identifiably Australian. This organisation's major emphasis has been on the development of children's drama programmes for educational and commercial purposes.
Contact info@actf.com.au
18.Maori Television Boosts Kiwi Culture and Language
According to this article, prior to the 1970s, Maori language - and therefore Maori culture - was almost totally lost. Since then, efforts have been made to revive the language through such strategies as Maori radio stations, cultural festivals, and schools. However, despite these initiatives, the number of fluent Maori speakers has not increased. In April 2004, the new Maori television channel was launched. Broadcasting about 8 hours per day, the station broadcasts programmes in both Maori and English languages.
19.The Pacific Journalist: A Practical Guide
This book from the Journalism Programme, University of the South Pacific, looks at regional careers in the media. It is meant to answer: "The Pacific is littered with instances of publishers and journalists being chastised and chased... Why do Pacific Islanders want to become journalists?" It covers some of the core courses of the programme, such as news values, basic news gathering, news writing and style, media law and ethics, print and online media, radio and television journalism, photojournalism, and political reporting and editorial balance. In the final section, several chapters raise contemporary issues facing the region - trauma and conflict reporting, health reporting and HIV/AIDS, the growing importance of the environment, and NGOs as news sources.
20.Tok Blong Pasifik Magasine
Started in 1982, Tok Blong Pasifik was published by Pacific Peoples' Partnership from 1982 to 2003, as a quarterly magazine, and was read by subscribers in over 40 countries. It featured a variety of "talk that belongs" to the Pacific: news, views, debates and insights from "some of the most critical thinkers in the region" on development issues across the islands including issues of poverty, underdevelopment, social justice and indigenous peoples' struggles." Tok Blong Pasifik is now being published as a semi-annual newsletter available in hard-copy, or on the Internet in PDF format.
21.Ancient Traditions Preserved
by Nicolas Rothwell
On the north-east coast of Arnhem Land at the Galiwinku Knowledge Centre, an initiative being carried out by a number of Echo Island's clan members preserves and revives one of Australia's indigenous cultures. It is described as a multi-level database. "[W]ords, music, dance-steps, will all live on in the software and the server computers of the Knowledge Centre." Offering a historic perspective through comparing the end of assimilation: the 'homelands movement' of the 1970s returning Aboriginal people to their own country, with the rise of information technology, the author states, "...endangered songs and obscure, secret patterns, held until now only in the minds of old men, are being safely stored and kept for future generations." Richard Gandhuwuy Garrawurra, one of the animators of the Galiwinku project describes the Centre as "a kind of university for instruction, a virtual museum, where images of objects held elsewhere can be kept, a gallery for returned masterpieces, an electronic information hub."
22.Indigenous Stock Exchange (BAMA ISX) - Australia
The Indigenous Stock Exchange (BAMA ISX) is an effort to foster economic development in Australia by using communication to create a strong culture of Indigenous entrepreneurship led by sustainable Indigenous enterprises. Created in 2003, BAMA ISX is a proprietary limited company owned by the Broome Aboriginal Media Association (BAMA) that seeks to support and develop Indigenous start-ups nationally throughout regional and remote Australia. BAMA ISX is not a financial market and does not sell or trade financial products of any kind; rather, the in-person and web-based effort highlights social and commercial investment opportunities of Indigenous Australia.
Contact Kira Fong kira@gme.com.au OR BAMA ISX info@isx.org.au
See also:
23.Small Islands Voice - Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Regions
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This issue was written by Julie Levy.
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The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.
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