The Drum Beat 124 - Communication and Change News and Issues

PROGRAMMES

1. Yellow Card - Africa - a movie created to address issues of teen pregnancy and safe sex explores what happens when a boy is held accountable for his actions. Traveling road shows bring the movie to rural, hard-to-reach locations. Trained facilitators travel with the road shows, teaching leaders at schools, churches, and youth clubs to use a Yellow Card support video and manual to guide adolescents through discussions about the movie's themes - including relationships, sex, AIDS, responsibility, communication, and life goals. There is also a website about the process and characters of Yellow Card. Contact [email protected]

2. Information Center and Advisory Services in Health (CISAS) - Nicaragua - offers educational, informational and social communication services in the field of community health. They disseminate publications, pamphlets and flyers to sentitise and raise awareness of health issues and they hold trainings and workshops among the communities in which they work. A main component of their overall strategy includes 'Investigation, Systematization, & Monitoring' directed at the knowledge of the situation by the communities as a point of departure for initiating processes of change. Contact James Campbell [email protected]

3. Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) - an international Network that provides information, solidarity and support for all women whose lives are shaped, conditioned or governed by laws and customs said to derive from Islam. They work to promote exposure of women from one geographical area to another in and outside the Muslim world and facilitate common projects identified by and executed through network participants. Contact [email protected]

4. Chevron Workplace AIDS Prevention Programme (CWAPP) - Nigeria - to address the problem of HIV/AIDS as a result of, among other things: a survey that revealed high levels of ignorance and misconceptions about the disease; the presence of sexual networking at oil locations; and the high level of sexually transmitted diseases detected at these locations and community health centers. Consists of a lecture of basic facts blended with jokes, cartoons, poetry, drama, music video shows and story telling. Q&A sessions and handouts on HIV/AIDS/STDs, safer sex practices, condom promotion and positive living complement the lecture. Workshops on HIV/AIDS in the workplace for health workers, managers and union leaders are ongoing. Contact Bode-law Faleyimu [email protected]

5. Telemedicine project - Brazil - includes 2 main applications. A Diagnosis Radiological Station - software that allows remote access to radiological images of a hospital. And a Virtual Diagnosis Room - software that can be used with the Radiological Station to let many physicians in different places see and analyze the same image set, interact with the images, and to share a report editor in a chat mode and common audio channel. Contact [email protected]

6. UNESCO's Community Radio Stations - Mozambique - UNESCO is working to establish 8 new community radio stations, in addition to supporting the 4 stations that they already have on-air. 4 factors were identified to minimise vulnerability and ensure sustainability of these stations: a strong community ownership; an effective training and capacitation; a technical sustainability system; and financial sustainability through community commitment and limiting costs. Contact Birgitte Jallov [email protected]

7. Boys' Talk Radio Series - Global - a series of 5 features from around the world that give young men the chance to talk freely about their attitudes to sex, drugs, alcohol and girls - and growing up alongside the AIDS epidemic. Series titles are: 1) Growing up in Africa; 2) Injecting HIV In Ukraine; 3) Macho young men in Brazil; 4) Beer & casual sex in Zambia; 5) Young & Old in Uganda. Contact Kelly Hawrylyshyn [email protected]

WEB SITES

8. December 18 - an online network for the promotion and protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers. Provides interactive tools, including databases, documents and a search engine.

9. Health Communication Materials Network (HCMN) - provides a forum for health communication specialists to share ideas, information, and samples of materials with their colleagues, and to seek advice and suggestions from others. To apply, contact [email protected]

MATERIALS

10. 'Participatory Communication to Strengthen the Role of Grandmothers in Child Health' from the Journal of International Communication, by Aubel & Sihalathavong. Presents a case study from a community project in Laos in which a participatory health education and communication strategy was used to promote changes in community norms related to child health by strengthening the role of grandmothers. Methodology involved stories, songs and group discussion which elicited collective critical thinking and problem-solving. Contact Judy Aubel [email protected]

AWARDS

11. Jonathan Mann Award - presented annually to a leading practitioner in health and human rights, be it an individual or organisation. Cash prize of US$20,000 to allow recipients freedom to pursue their work in the area of global health and human rights. Deadline: Feb 1 2002.

12. Sound Partners for Community Health Grants (US-based) - for the creation of radio and television programming and outreach that encourages citizen action in 5 key health care areas: Strengthening the Community during Difficult Times; Providing Health Care for Children; Caring for the Chronically Ill; Improving Quality of Care; and, New Approaches to Reducing Addiction. Deadline for preliminary proposals: Feb 1 2002.

13. Gold Quill Awards - includes development communications, with a new division covering communication programmes focused on economic, social, environmental, and 3rd World development, including population and health issues. Deadline: Feb 6 2002.

PLANNING MODELS

14. CISAS Child-to-Child Methodology - The basic unit of the Child-to-Child project is the community team. Each team is made up of 10-15 children between the ages of 7-12 years. One or two adults from the community support each team. Each team has a CISAS Educator assigned to it, who meets regularly with the team. At the end of the projects, the teams will have acquired the necessary skills to continue to work independently of CISAS...

EVENTS

15. The Hoot, South Asia's media watch web portal is hosting an online community radio conference focussed on India, which does not as yet permit community radio broadcasting. The conference runs up to Jan 31 and brings in policy makers, practitioners and supporters of community radio to discuss what can be done to make community radio a reality in India. Contact Sevanti Ninan [email protected]

TRAINING

16. "Make a Difference": A Strategic & Multisectoral Approach to HIV/AIDS Communication Workshop will be in Maryland, USA from April 22 - May 10, 2002. For US and International decision-makers, administrators, health educators, programme officers, managers and donor agency field staff working on HIV/AIDS. Deadline for applications: Jan 15 2002. Contact Nicole G. Bouver [email protected]

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