The Drum Beat 284 - Communication and Change News and Issues

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Dear Drum Beat readers,

We wanted to let you know a little about how information in The Drum Beat is being distributed in an ever-widening circle of "drums".

The Drum Beat, The Soul Beat and Son de Tambora are now being included in list serves and on various websites all over the world. For example, information has been distributed through the ActAlive coalition list serve, the Health Communication Materials Network HCMN Update, Bytes for All Readers, Ghana Information Networking and Knowledge Sharing (GINKS) members mailing list, the GENDER-AIDS Forum, several education and publishing list serves (see Edufax and the Professional Editors Group - PEG), through the ASHOKA Fellow's Bulletin and on the Kabissa Bulletin Board. Issues of all 3 Communication Initiative (CI) publications have been re-printed on several websites and information from The CI websites has been used, for example, in trainings held by the aha! Process, Inc. and within the Development Communication Course at RAU University in South Africa, among others.

It is a source of pride for us when we hear that information from The CI websites led a small community-based domestic violence group in Africa to share their experiences with a similar one in the United States and when we are told that professors in Australia, the Philippines, South Africa, Denmark, Colombia and the United States (just to name a few) are doing research and printing information from The CI for their courses. It is intriguing to us when a student tells us he passed his social marketing course only because of the resources he found through The CI websites (!) and when we hear that a training course posted within the DB Classifieds - Training, Consultants, Materials and Events caused the organisers to be flooded with requests for applications. It is thrilling to us when we listen to stories such as one of Son de Tambora being printed, floated down the Amazon and read over the radio in a small village in Peru.

Let's keep sharing the beat!

Deborah Heimann
Director, Editorial Policy & Content Development
The Communication Initiative

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EXPERIENCES

1. Home Alone - León, Nicaragua
This participatory action research project addressing children who work as caretakers for younger siblings in León, Nicaragua was developed by a Spanish non-governmental organisation (NGO) called CrozzCom - in collaboration with the Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine of the University of Umea (Sweden) and the Center of Demographic Investigation and of Health (León). The purpose of the project is to help León's home-working children improve their situation by involving them in the identification of their problems and empowering them to propose interventions and solutions based on their own experience. The project's central approach is encouraging and enabling children to share their knowledge and ideas, both about their own situation and about how to support other children in taking part in the issues that affect them. This approach is based on the premise that children have the potential and capacity to contribute to their own development.
Contact Lena Wall [email protected] OR [email protected]

2. Saadhan HIV/AIDS Helpline - Mumbai, India
As part of its Operation Lighthouse Project, Population Services International (PSI) India runs a Saadhan Helpline for HIV/AIDS prevention in Mumbai, India. In operation since December 2002, the helpline employs counselors who provide information, support, and referrals. It also features customised software designed to improve the communication with callers. The software, which operates on 4 computers at the call-in centre, contains a data bank with a list of possible questions and appropriate responses, as well as a contact list of health and social services for referral. The software tracks clients so that counselors can follow up with repeat callers, as well as a local lingo list that enables counselors to access slang and vernacular terminology that clients may use. In addition to serving as an HIV/AIDS information and counseling resource for counselors, the software programme documents information on callers and call content for monitoring purposes. Organisers explain that information extracted from the monthly reports can be used for developing HIV/AIDS prevention interventions.
Contact [email protected] OR [email protected]

3. Primary Health and Sanitation Training (PHAST) - South Africa
The South African waste company Pikitup has engaged in a project called Primary Health and Sanitation Training (PHAST). Live theatre is used to communicate waste management solutions. Pikitup, in association with a community theatre group, present a play about waste management that suggests how citizens can help improve the environment in which they live. The 30-minute play can be staged by arrangement at any function and venue within the Johannesburg area.
Contact Baldwin Matsimela [email protected]

4. Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) - United States
A USA-based nonprofit organisation working to increase immunisation rates and prevent disease by creating and distributing educational materials - including 2 listservs, 3 newsletters, and 4 websites - to health professionals and the public. IAC also engages in advocacy work and facilitates communication about the safety, efficacy, and use of vaccines within the broad immunisation community. Its goal is to enhance the delivery of safe and effective immunisation services in the United States.
Contact Deborah L. Wexler, MD [email protected]

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Looking for examples of or opportunities to assist in SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT?

See our newest "window" on The Communication Initiative website - SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WINDOW

(no longer available)

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5. Radio with Pictures Show - Global
An effort to use a tool called interactive broadcasting to support community learning. It is a combination of radio or television broadcasting and web conferencing that is designed to transform any radio or television station into an interactive broadcaster quickly and cost-effectively with no capital investment or expertise needed. The purpose of this tool is to create a richer broadcast experience in which audience members can interact with each other and any studio guests; it has potential educational applications and is an effort to address digital divide issues.
Contact David Wortley [email protected]

6. Communication for Healthy Living (CHL) - Egypt
A health communication project aimed at enabling families and communities to protect and maintain their health. Through its affiliation with the global Health Communication Partnership (HCP) and with technical assistance by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP), USAID is promoting behaviour change by providing communication support toward improved health outcomes at the community level. The family-focused project, conducted in collaboration with local community development associations, is an effort to improve a wide range of health indicators, including those of family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH), maternal and child health (MMHC), infectious diseases (IDSR) including HIV/AIDS, and healthy lifestyles and practices in support of health reform.
Contact Ron Hess, Chief of Party, Tel/Fax (202) 519-2547

7. Election Documentaries - Indonesia
In July 2004, Indonesia's METRO TV broadcast short documentaries in an effort to highlight what the 2004 elections meant to Indonesians in Aceh, Ambon, Yogyakarta, and Jakarta. In partnership with Yayasan Masyarakat Mandiri Film Indonesia (YMMFI)'s In-Docs, the non-profit organisation Internews Indonesia sponsored 15 Indonesian journalists and independent filmmakers to produce five documentaries. This programme was centred on community participation. Internews Indonesia and In-Docs launched an Elections Documentary Grants Program in August 2003 with a call for submissions published in the Kompas newspaper. In November, a selection committee chose the 5 best story ideas of the 38 submissions. The televised films were broadcast in Bahasa Indonesian. For the Jakarta film fest screenings, English subtitles were added. While the films covered a wide range of themes, all focused on the life of ordinary Indonesians during extraordinary times. In addition to awarding grants that covered all aspects of the production of the documentaries, Internews and In-Docs conducted technical and story development training sessions with each group. An ongoing mentoring process followed the training, with editorial support provided by In-Docs and technical support by Internews.
Contact Wayne Sharpe [email protected]

8. ShoutOut - California, United States
A newspaper written by and for teens on California's Central Coast, ShoutOut features in-depth reporting on cutting-edge issues, personal essays, day-in-the life documentaries, photo journals, and poetry, with an underlying focus on reproductive and sexual health for youth. An associated website is designed to enable sharing of stories, articles, and artwork from each edition. Approximately 20 local teen journalists meet for 2 hours each week to develop the publication; community members are invited to attend. The group seeks submissions - stories or artwork - from local youth. The ShoutOut website is an additional means of disseminating stories from the printed editions. ShoutOut also has an associated group of peer educators - Teen Advocates - who deliver interactive workshops on issues raised in the newsletter, such as teen sexuality, at schools, after-school programmes, or youth group meetings. ShoutOut seeks to reach adults, as well, to the end of enhancing their ability and willingness to communicate with young people about issues such as safe sex. "Habla Conmingo/Talk with Me" is a series of free comprehensive workshops for local parent groups.
Contact [email protected]

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ConunDRUMs

NEW Feature!!

Miming Development - The Shortest Distance and International Development

Warren Feek examines the favoured short-term, rational, "straight-line" approach of most international development agencies, suggesting that this approach may be overly simplistic. He argues for a more creative approach, with a specific example of social change through live drama (mimes) in Bogota, Colombia.
Click here to access "Miming Development".

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THINKING

9. Learning by Doing: Uganda's AIDS Control Project Empowers Local Managers
by Joseph J. Valadez & Peter Nsubuga
In this "Development Outreach" article published by the World Bank, the authors assert that the "learning by doing" approach to the management of HIV/AIDS programmes empowers local managers to guide their own programmes, so that solutions can be tailored to specific local conditions.

10. Broadcasters' Symposium and Documentary Conference: summary and recommendations for future steps
In June 2004, the World Bank sponsored a Broadcasters Symposium in Washington DC, USA; approximately 100 public television and radio broadcasters from 60 developing and developed countries attended. Participants discussed the media's response to the challenges of poverty and equitable development, on a global scale.

11. Operationalizing Key Family Practices for Child Health and Nutrition at Scale: The Role of Behavior Change
by Alfonso Contreras, Yaya Drabo, Lora Shimp, Patricia de Quinteros, Miguel Angel Linares, Mamadou Mbaye, Safietou Touré, and Vicky Alvarado
This paper offers a behaviour change communication (BCC) model and planning tool for child health, with a focus on immunisation. Presents the STEPS framework (Steps Towards Expanding Partnership at Scale), a 5-step framework that "has been instrumental for the BASICS project in operationalizing key practices in maternal and child health at scale by focusing implementation on a core set of high-impact, easy-to-change behaviors".

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Pulse Opinions

Explicit attention to culture - both of the implementers and the stakeholders - is crucial to the success of all development projects.

Do you agree or disagree?

[For context, please see The Drum Beat 281]

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E-MAGAZINES: ENVIRONMENT

12. Fostering Sustainable Behavior Newsletter

13. ICIMOD eNewsletter

14. WWF International - Passport Action Alerts

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Coming soon - special issue on Millennium Development Goal (MDG) #1: Eradicating Extreme Poverty & Hunger!

Please send any relevant articles, publications, events, project details, etc. related to communication for social development and change and this first MDG to Deborah Heimann [email protected] for possible inclusion within this future Drum Beat issue.

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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.

Please send material for The Drum Beat to the Editor - Deborah Heimann [email protected]

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