The Drum Beat 352 - Communication and Change News and Issues
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1.Jalsankalp Project - India
India's Centre for Environment Education (CEE) and the Water and Sanitation Management Organization (WASMO) are using video to seek out and share village perspectives about water care, sanitation, and hygiene. The project involves recording a broad spectrum of community members' views about the work carried out by their water committee ("Pani Samiti") so that they feel they have a voice and a role in that committee's efforts. As is reflected in the video's production process and title ("All Stars All Castes"), a key strategy involves making all community members aware of the importance of their perspectives; this is seen as key for helping build the capacity of the Pani Samitis to take charge of the project's progress within their village, as well as to achieve equity and transparency.
Contact Sanjay Joshi [email protected]
2.Hope Ambassador Doll Project - Botswana
This art therapy programme uses dolls - such as "Hope", the doll that functions as ambassador for the project - in an effort to reduce the anxiety and stress children may experience as a result of HIV/AIDS. "'Hope' is used as an educational tool, giving the many children infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS, a face and a voice to spread awareness and education about HIV/AIDS." The project aims to provide an element of fun within the clinic setting while fostering communication, connectedness, HIV education, group support, adherence to medication, and destigmatisation of HIV/AIDS among children, caregivers, and health care professionals. The project also aims to communicate across geographical borders: Children affected by HIV/AIDS paint faces on dolls and exchange them with peers around the world.
Contact [email protected]
3. Wakaponi Mobile - Quebec, Canada
This motorised motion picture training and production studio has been touring Quebec's Aboriginal communities since June 2004. Initiated by Productions des Beaux Jours and the National Film Board (NFB), Wapikoni Mobile trains young Aboriginals living on reservations in film-making techniques. The programme features an onboard (mobile) recording studio, digital cameras, editing stations, and a projector. Participants are supported at each stage by professional guides; however, creation is always left to the young Aboriginal screen writers. Once the motorised training programme/vehicle has departed, youth-to-youth communication is fostered via the internet. The goal is to help break through the isolation that young Aboriginals can experience, enabling them to develop their creativity and acquire new skills relating to cinematography.
Contact Marie-Claude Desrochers [email protected]
4.Mozaik - Macedonia
Initiated by Search for Common Ground, Macedonia (SFCG) in 1997, Mozaik is a model of multilingual and multicultural pre-schooling in public kindergartens. The broad aim is to teach tolerance and respect for the diversity of cultures and to help different ethnic communities collaborate and communicate. Mozaik works to reach children at an early age, with a focus on social and emotional development. Specifically, the project involves introducing a bilingual approach in kindergartens and developing a child-centred approach that includes age-appropriate training in conflict-resolution skills. Children learn through games and play, using modern interactive methods and non-competitive models. As of June 2006, the project has entered the final phase of institutionalisation, aiming to incorporate Mozaik methodology within the public educational system by the end of 2007.
Contact Vilma Venkovska-Milcev [email protected] OR [email protected]
5.Media Discussion: Coverage of HIV/AIDS - Cambodia
In late 2004/early 2005, media editors and managers from approximately 50 of Cambodia's print, radio, and television outlets participated in a training session that culminated in a gathering in Phnom Penh for a dialogue on responsible media coverage of HIV/AIDS. The Internews initiative sought to stimulate informal discussions on HIV/AIDS by exposing top media executives to personal accounts from women and media professionals living with HIV and AIDS, as well as to a photo exhibition and a theatrical performance. The aim was to draw on the media's power to reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination, nurture a clearer understanding of the nature of the virus, and advocate for increased information about and access to anti-retroviral treatment (ART).
Contact Lyndal Barry [email protected]
6.Early Learning Resource Unit (ELRU) - South Africa
South Africa's ELRU strives to make information regarding early childhood development (ECD) widely available by providing a variety of training courses, as well as carrying out research and development, in the field of ECD and by publishing multilingual books and games for children, parents, and teachers that promote diversity and non-biased attitudes. In all of its work, the building of parent and community support for ECD is a key strategy. In this sense, ELRU's focus is on developing a holistic approach that incorporates the entire context in which children grow, learn, and develop.
Contact Freda Brock [email protected]
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Call for Papers & Book Reviews: New Journal - Communication for Development and Social Change
The journal Communication for Development and Social Change premiers in Spring 2006, and will be published quarterly. The journal is seeking papers that present empirical research, theory, and practice-oriented approaches on subjects relevant to development communication and social change, such as globalisation and media, development policy, international and intercultural communication, identity and ethnicity, and programme design, implementation, and evaluation.
Authors may submit inquiries and manuscripts electronically to Jan Servaes, Department of Journalism and Communication, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, at [email protected] Manuscripts should be between 5,000-8,000 words, include a 100-150 word abstract, and conform to the Harvard system of referencing. Manuscripts also should include a title page with complete contact information (address, telephone, fax, and email), as well as a brief biography (full name, highest earned academic degree, institution granting that degree, current academic title) for each author. Book reviews are also solicited and may be sent to Tom Jacobson at [email protected] or Junhao Hong at [email protected]
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7.The Impact of Farmer Field Schools on Knowledge and Productivity: A Study of Potato Farmers in the Peruvian Andes
by Erin M. Godtland, Elisabeth Sadoulet, Alain de Janvry, Rinku Murgai, & Oscar Ortiz
This study evaluates the impact of a farmer field school (FFS) programme on Peruvian Andes potato farmers' knowledge about pest management techniques. FFS is a participatory strategy in agricultural extension programmes aimed at helping farmers acquire analytical skills, critical thinking, and other knowledge resources. Participants learned integrated pest management techniques, and were expected to attend 12 training sessions. On average, the knowledge test scores of FFS participants were 14%-points higher than farmers participating in Andino, a more common extension programme based on "training and visit" or transfer of technology approach. An exercise simulating the potential impacts of FFS on potato productivity found that FFS participation would result in a 32% increase over the average output-input ratio.
8.Consulting with Prime Time TV Writers on Infectious Disease Topics: Role of County Health Officials with the Media
by Elizabeth A Bancroft, MD, SM, Vicki Beck, MS, Amanda Shaivitz, MPH, Jennie Greene, MS, Laurene Mascola, MD, MPH, Louise Walshe, RN, MPH, & Mitchell Cohen, MD
This presentation was delivered at "What's in/on the Air: A Multi-method Evaluation of TV's Effect on Environmental Health", a session at the American Public Health Association (APHA)'s 132nd Annual Meeting (November 8 2004). The lead presenter (Dr. Elizabeth A. Bancroft) notes that for many writers telling a good story is more important than strict adherence to the facts of diseases, but observes that "Writers, when they come to you, are also very eager to have you tell them of your experiences". A proposed strategy, then, is to encourage writers to come to public health officials to get the facts right.
9.SDC's Human Rights and Rule of Law Guidance Documents: Influence, Effectiveness and Relevance within SDC
by Laure-Hélène Piron & Julius Court
Commissioned by the Evaluation & Controlling Division of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), this study aims to provide recommendations to further SDC's human rights and rule of law orientation. By focusing on SDC's operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Pakistan, Peru and Rwanda, the research is designed to explore the effectiveness of SDC's human rights documentation and communication - in the areas of awareness-raising, policy and programmatic guidance. Among the conclusions: "Guidance documents on their own cannot achieve policy change....Official policy statements should be short and should be distinguished from operational guidance documents or tools. A dynamic approach to preparing and sustaining policy guidance would be more effective."
10.Do Participatory Programs Work? Improving Reproductive Health for Disadvantaged Youth in Nepal
by Anju Malhotra, Sanyukta Mathur, Rohini Pande & Eva Roca
This paper reports on a study that tested the ability of participatory approaches to improve reproductive health outcomes for the most disadvantaged youth in Nepal - where youth reproductive health needs are "acute". Evaluators implemented programmes in urban and rural study and control sites; in the study sites, there was a focus on involving the community and actively engaging disempowered groups through community-based groups set up during the project. In short, the evaluation finds that participatory approaches can effectively provide disadvantaged youth with the means to negotiate accurate information and services from parents, providers, and policy makers; one reason given is that young people were made active players in their own health. A key strategy was tapping into and strengthening their existing social networks for information exchange and counseling.
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Please participate in our PULSE POLL
Listening to parents is the most important thing communities can do to better support early child development.
Do you agree or disagree?
[For context, please see The Drum Beat #350]
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11.Washirika: Raising Awareness without Mass Media
by Paul Vare
This paper examines a strategy developed by the UK-based Living Earth Foundation (LEF) to empower local people to take an active role in addressing environmental issues. LEF has worked to create an alternative to use of the mass media, with its tendency to enable only top-down, one-way communication "from 'the authority' to 'the community'". According to the author, the process of developing this strategy of learning through dialogue is crucial to ensure an atmosphere of trust - and the community awareness and action that trust can support. In 4 pilot villages, volunteers - washirika - were sought to develop and promote dialogue with their neighbours through listening and questioning as part of an effort not simply to respond to a lack of awareness about unsustainable resource use but, rather, to "bring all local people into the decision-making system, to elicit their ideas and their support in developing resource management patterns that will benefit both wildlife and local livelihoods."
12.Reduction of HIV Transmission Through Outreach: Evidence for Action on HIV/AIDS and Injecting Drug Use
The World Health Organization (WHO) commissioned international literature and programme reviews on the effectiveness of HIV prevention for injecting drug users. The evidence obtained in more than 15 years of evaluation involving various types of research design in different country settings strongly indicates that outreach-based interventions are effective in contacting out-of-treatment injecting drug users and providing them with the means for effective behaviour change. The evidence supports the view that face-to-face contact between outreach workers and the groups being addressed is associated with reduced risk behaviour and reduced exposure to HIV. Among the policy and programming lessons shared here: The implementation of effective outreach programmes requires the creation of an enabling environment...
13.Sustainability: Does Evaluation Have a Role?
by Julia Coffman & Marielle Bohan-Baker
"Evaluation can support initiative sustainability by: Facilitating a focus on sustainability during strategy development [and] tracking progress and regularly feeding back information that can be used to ensure that sustainability is on course....The model does not propose that evaluators actually make decisions about what the initiative's strategy should be. Rather, it proposes that evaluators...play a supportive and advisory role in its development....Evaluation can also support sustainability by treating it as a variable to be operationalized and tracked over time, encouraging learning from an initiative's early stages..."
14.Parliament and Access to Information: Working for Transparent Governance
by Toby Mendel
Between 2000 and 2003, the World Bank Institute (WBI) and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) collaborated on a series of projects that aimed to foster a better relationship between Parliament and the media as a crucial component of any functioning democratic society. The WBI and the CPA organised a Study Group on the topic of Access to Information in July 2004, hosted and supported by the Parliament of Ghana. This working paper highlights the ideas and presents the conclusions of the Study Group; among them: there are a number of ways in which Parliaments should operate transparently, and Parliamentarians should play a larger role in ensuring openness. One strategy involves a concerted effort by government and public bodies to address the problem of a culture of secrecy. This should include comprehensive training programmes on implementation of the access to information regime, as well as the importance of openness in society. Among the other recommendations: public education campaigns should be undertaken.
LINKS: Media
15.Media Diversity Institute (MDI)
Mobilises the power of media to lessen inter-group conflict, advance human rights (especially minority rights), and support deeper public understanding of all types of social diversity through its Reporting Diversity Network and other interactive processes.
16.ResearchSEA - Asia Research News
A specialised research news dissemination service for Asia designed to provide access to daily news and local experts in the areas of science, technology, medicine, business, culture, and people.
17.YPulse
A blog for teen/youth media and marketing professionals offering news, commentary and resources on commercial teen media, entertainment for teens, technology used by teens, and civic youth media.
18.BothAnd
Uses talk radio in an effort to shift the national (United States) conversation from destructive debate to creative, collaborative problem-solving.
19.Press Freedom Network
An online tool (in Portuguese only) to monitor and denounce press freedom violations in Brazil.
20.Knight Digital Media Center
Provides competitive fellowships to traditional journalists from print and broadcast media who seek multimedia skill training, as well as to multimedia and online journalists seeking to focus on professional growth, critical thinking and topic training.
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