The Drum Beat 577 - Communication and Change News and Issues
This issue includes:
- EVALUATIONS: ending violence, media freedom, preventing malaria...
- New CI ASSOCIATE!
- EXPERIENCES: forest dialogues, radio 4 change, science/art x-change...
- BLOGGING contest: role of media in democratic development.
- Advertise your publications through DEVELOPMENT CLASSIFIEDS.
- MATERIALS: peace media, governance assessment, farming innovation...
This October 2008 report offers lessons learned from the "Stop the Bus" campaigns which were run to raise awareness about and contribute to a reduction in violence against women. Community involvement and ownership of the campaign initiatives was found to be essential to their long-term success. In addition, the campaign should stick to 3 or 4 key messages to be included and promoted in all campaign materials, media interviews, and advocacy work.
2. Evaluating the Evaluators: Media Freedom Indexes and What They Measure
by John Burgess
Published in September 2010, this report from the United States (US)-based Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) examines the strengths and shortcomings of existing media freedom indexes - for instance, those compiled by Freedom House, the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), and Reporters Without Borders - and offers recommendations to improve them. It suggests that organisations that evaluate press freedom continue to refine their methodology by increasing technical sophistication, cultural neutrality, and transparency, and that they incorporate digital media into their evaluations.
3. The Evaluation of Guidance Counselor Training for Vibes
From 2005, this evaluation explores the "Vibes" methodology as introduced to 108 guidance counsellors in Jamaican schools. "Vibes" is described here as a "creative method of teaching...where young people dance out myths related to sex and sexuality, act out stereotypes, and sing about preventing unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV..." The guidance counsellors described Vibes as an interesting, informative, and creative way for children to learn that encourages more class participation and gives students confidence to discuss topics they were otherwise too shy or too scared to talk about. They also saw changes in classroom behaviour, which they attributed to the trust and self-control exercises in the Vibes manual.
by Graham Mytton
In 2006, the Gambia's Centre for Innovation Against Malaria (CIAM) undertook a nationwide qualitative assessment of Bolongodala, a 26-episode radio drama series designed to disseminate key messages on malaria control and prevention. The report suggests that radio in general, and the drama Bolongodala in particular, is able to convey information and knowledge that encourage behaviour change. However, the evaluation also pointed out that economic poverty can prevent the most vulnerable from acting on the messages, and that language, gender, and work hours are factors influencing access to radio messages.
This report examines an intercultural theatre exchange whose goal was to strengthen and broaden science-theatre connections already partially in place in the United Kingdom (UK) and Bangalore, India. As part of this exchange, theatre practitioners collaborated with scientists to create 2 new pieces of theatre that explored how current biomedical science developments are affecting lives of people in India and the UK. The scientists found that presenting their work to theatre practitioners helped them discover new ways to communicate their work to the public, and also said that it inspired them to reflect upon their own research practices.
Welcome to our newest CI ASSOCIATE!
Our thanks to International Public Health Communication for contributing to the support of The CI Network by recently becoming a NEW CI Associate.
Please consider joining them and other CI Associates who are helping preserve, sustain, and advance this growing knowledge sharing and strategic development process. Many levels of participation are open!
For a full list of current CI Associates, please click here.
For details and to sign up, please click here or contact Warren Feek at [email protected] Thank you.
6. The Forests Dialogue (TFD) - Global
TFD is an ongoing, civil-society-driven, multi-stakeholder dialogue platform and process working to catalyse a broader consensus on forest issues and encourage constructive, collaborative action to improve the condition and value of forests. TFD has convened international multi-stakeholder dialogue processes - using both information and communication technologies (ICTs) and in-person events - to support and reinforce existing efforts related to participatory and other approaches to forest management.
7. Peuan Jai Vai-Noom [Youth Heart Friends] - Laos
This project revolves around a 30-minute radio series that combines music, drama, and youth conversation to convey and discuss life skills issues. Each of the 3 involved secondary schools formed radio teams who then received life skills training and learned how to carry out the entire planning and production process. Each broadcast, heard through the school loudspeakers, highlights the stories of teens grappling with issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention, health, education, and peer pressure.
8. Most Significant Change Web Portal - Global
In April 2010, the Communication for Development programme of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) India launched an online initiative focused on the Most Significant Change (MSC) technique for participatory monitoring and evaluation (M&E). The portal is envisioned as a means to foster communication and networking among MSC practitioners, managers, and researchers so that experiences are exchanged, best practices are shared, and knowledge is managed within and across countries.
9. Middle East e-Learning Association (MEEA) - Middle East
MEEA is a regional independent, non-political, non-profit association established for the purpose of expanding the understanding, practice, and knowledge transfer of e-learning in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It creates various collaborative means for the sharing of best practice applications in e-learning and supports the MEEA membership group with their quest for developing, enhancing, and impacting with e-learning.
10. Community Media Association (CMA) Arts Strategy 2010-2012 - United Kingdom
This advocacy project focuses on establishing creative and enduring collaborations between community media practitioners and the arts. It involves activities such as bringing the community media sector and the wider arts sector together in a series of regionally based symposia, with the goal of enhancing participation and engagement in the arts.
11. Dagu Addis Youth Programme - Ethiopia
Launched in December 2008 and broadcast on a radio station in Addis Ababa, as well as via school-based media in 15 government-owned high schools, Dagu Addis uses a mix of reality radio, listener group discussions, vox pops, personal narratives, and games to highlight the challenges young Ethiopians have with managing their day-to-day lives in a world where HIV prevalence is high.
The project was designed to create dialogue about ethics, social responsibility, and fisheries conservation in select communities on Costa Rica's Pacific coast. In order to share documents relevant to the artisanal fishing sector in an accessible format, organisers printed and distributed a number of materials, intended to be used as information and communication tools. They also used interpersonal communication - training and discussions - about social and environmental responsibility to foster local activism.
13. Radio XHIDZA (Zapotec Air) - Mexico
This community radio station seeks to serve the interests of 25 communities which use the El Rincón dialect of the Zapotec language, one of the indigenous languages of Mexico. It is designed to be a tool for the community to share their views, common needs, and contributions to society, as well as a means to advocate for the type of development that indigenous people value and consider appropriate to their needs. Programming includes debates, reflections, news, and announcements, including a range of events and commercial endeavours of local interest, broadcast from a Zapotec point of view.
SEEKING YOUR OPINIONS
The Communication Initiative (The CI) and the BBC World Service Trust (WST) invite entries for their blogging contest on the role of media in democratic development. This contest solicits persuasive critiques and discussion on the relationship between media, communications, and international development policy. Submit your opinion pieces to the Communication, Media, and Development Policy collaborative blog site. Click here for more information.
Extended contest deadline: March 15 2011.
If you'd rather not enter the contest, but would like to engage in discussion on the blog posts, please see the most recent posts.
Why limited government in Nepal makes sense
What are the development education implications of news?
Where do the mass media have stronger effects?
Advertise Your Publications through The CI
Does your organisation produce publications or videos for which it charges a price? Please consider marketing your publications online through the Development Classifieds website and e-magazine. For the direct submission form, click here or contact [email protected] for assistance.
This online clearinghouse provides a central site where educators, students, organisations, and the community of practitioners working in the conflict management field can access multimedia materials that support conflict analysis and prevention, conflict resolution, and post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation.
15. Governance Assessment Portal (GAP)
This virtual resource centre features data, articles, tools, statistics, and case studies on measuring democratic governance.
16. Inventory of Innovative Farmer Advisory Services using ICTs
Published in February 2009, this inventory is an attempt to document innovative farmer advisory services or systems currently in the design stages, already existing, or recently completed in Africa. It is focused on projects and services that provide agricultural training and information to farmers directly, through the use of ICTs.
The Editor of The Drum Beat is Kier Olsen DeVries.
Please send additional project, evaluation, strategic thinking, and materials information on communication for development at any time. Send to [email protected]
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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