The Drum Beat 210 - Communication and Change News and Issues
EXPERIENCES
1. Zanempilo Trust's Disability Awareness Drama Group - South Africa
Aims to educate and inform communities about disabled people through drama. The drama group consists of 14 members, 12 are people with disabilities and 2 are community rehabilitation workers (CRWs), each of whom has a disabled child. The group created a play with disability as its focus, which was performed at a number of schools. This play was intended to educate the public on the life of a disabled person.
Contact [email protected]
2. Pisotón - Colombia
The Psychological & Emotional Development Programme, Pisotón, is the product of work and investigation which the Universidad del Norte de Barranquilla began in 1990. Its goal is to promote, through psycho-emotional education, strategies for the whole health of students. The programme attempts to prevent psychological problems through the use of stories, games, psychodrama, and the relating of personal experiences. The programme permits children to express all their emotions, feelings and conflicts, in addition to educating parents, teachers and the children themselves about the process of their own development. The themes which are dealt with in each story are: separation anxiety, socialisation, sexual identity and development, moral development, autonomy, and discipline.
Contact Programa Pisotón [email protected]
3. Bhartiya Dnyanpith Bahuudeshiya Gramin Vikas Sanstha Wadgaon (BDBV) - India
Works towards economic development in rural areas of India, especially watershed development and self-help solutions to poverty and hunger. Recent projects focussed on women's empowerment, credit for self-employment services, human resource development, and youth and social development. BDBV's strategies include hosting of conferences and seminars, advocacy, partnership-building activities, awareness-building efforts within the community (including workshops and printed materials), and monitoring policy developments (followed by meetings with government officials).
Contact Shirish Umre [email protected]
4. World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) - Global
A global network working to protect and promote the right of breastfeeding for all children and mothers. Through information sharing and advocacy, WABA fosters cooperation at community, regional, national, and international levels between supporters of breastfeeding (grassroots groups and individuals, UN agencies, governments, and NGOs). WABA provides information through documents and articles on the WABA site. Task forces function as specialised support arms of the network to gather and disseminate this information, as well as to organise advocacy efforts. The World Breastfeeding Week (WBW), in August, is WABA’s main global campaign for social mobilisation to generate public awareness and support for breastfeeding.
For a list of regional focal points, and for more details see the WABA website.
5. Computer Based Functional Literacy (CBFL) Programme - India
Aims to use technology to address the needs of illiterate adult populations in rural slum areas around major cities in India. Focusing primarily on reading skills and making use of the primers developed by government programmes, 400-450 commonly used words are selected. A puppet show method then serves as the foundation for stories, music, and pictures for adult learners (ages 20 to 50). Many of these learners have missed schooling and are speaking some dialect of their mother tongue. Newspapers and posters are also used to help learners recognise words. The purpose of the programme is to supplement and facilitate the governmental National Literacy Mission/State Literacy Mission.
Contact Major General B.G. Shively [email protected]
6. Alternative Media-Tech Convergence - Latin America
Communication Rights in the Information Society is planning a convergence to take place in conjunction with the Fifth WTO Ministerial (Cancun, Mexico, Sept 2003). Intensive sessions for experienced media activists will form the basis of workshops for members of alternative media movements that are just getting started. It is anticipated that the latter will test and discuss issues related to their newly acquired skills during the WTO ministerial. The goal is to build a network of alternative communicators who can disseminate voices, views, and events related to popular struggles at local, regional, and international levels.
7. BMW - African Pen Pals - Africa/Global
A series of 10 television programmes (15 mins each) that look into the daily lives of African children. The series follows the lives of one boy and one girl, from an urban and/or rural area in each of these countries: South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and Tanzania. Produced on video for TV broadcast, the series features children whose backgrounds cross barriers of race, class, and gender and shows intimate moments of the children's home and family life in order to give others a clearer picture of what it is like to grow up in Africa. Children have also conducted workshops to teach their peers to use video cameras to tell their own stories.
Contact Firdoze Bulbulia [email protected]
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Coming Soon - from Soul City and The Communication Initiative, supported by SANGONeT, with a specific FOCUS on Africa - Soul Beat Africa - September 10, 2003.
Subscribe to The Soul Beat, with its exclusive FOCUS on Africa - email your details to [email protected] - first issue will be September 10, 2003.
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IMPACT DATA
8. Impact Data - Nashe Maalo Children's TV Programme - Macedonia
Researchers interviewed 240 Ethnic Albanian, Macedonian, Roma, and Turkish children at 8 schools in the Skopje region prior to and after viewing the series' 8 episodes. After viewing, ethnic Macedonian children expressed an increased willingness to invite others into their homes, namely, Albanians (30% vs. 58%), Turks (38% vs. 60%), and Roma (32% vs. 58%)...
9. Impact Data - Journey of Life Radio Show - Ethiopia
A final impact evaluation of the 26-wk radio soap opera by researchers surveyed 792 respondents before Journey of Life (JOL) aired and 662 of those same respondents after the show was broadcast. Over 60% of respondents reported talking with their friends about JOL episodes; 40.5% talked with their family about JOL episodes; 32.3% talked with a romantic partner about JOL episodes. Personal risk perception rose to 66.2% after listening to JOL. While almost all listeners (97.6%) believe that HIV/AIDS is a serious health threat in Ethiopia, they also believe strongly (96%) that they have the power to avoid HIV infection...
10. Impact Data - Energy Conservation TV Programme - Roanoke, Virginia, USA
175 households were recruited through door-to-door contact; they were randomly assigned into 5 groups... A 12-item multiple-choice questionnaire was distributed to measure how well participants were informed before and after viewing the television programme. Exposure to the programme, and not personal contact, was the most important element. In fact, contact with participants was not beneficial. The first follow-up indicated that the participants who viewed the programme, but who were not contacted by the project (no phone call, no home visit), reduced their energy use by 17% - those who were contacted reduced by only 6%...
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Interested in exploring different theoretical approaches to communication in the context of different natural resource management (NRM) projects?
FAO's Communication for Development Group in the Extension, Education & Communication Service has published a resource entitled Communication & Natural Resource Management: Experience/Theory with the Communication Initiative
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TRENDS
11. Journalist Training and Education in Kirgizstan by Raushan Marat
Details trends related to the state of journalism training in Kyrgyzstan. The central conclusion is that the professional and educational level of young journalists in that country remains low, despite the growth of journalism departments...
12. The Hall of Mirrors: The Internet in Latin America by Ricardo Gómez
Discusses the degree to which the Internet, together with the information and communication technologies that support it, has impacted Latin America. Its primary focus is: "What are the social implications of the Internet's explosive growth in Latin America?"...
13. Iraqi Media Audit: 8-City Report - The Current State of the Broadcast Media in Iraq - prepared by: BBC World Service Trust
BBC WST carried out 2 surveys of Iraqi broadcast media in Basra, Umm Qasr, and Amara between April 4 and May 3 2003 and in Baghdad, Hilla, Najaf, Kerbala, and Kut between June 6 and June 14 2003. One of their central findings: The process of developing a strategy for the rebuilding of the Iraqi media is just getting underway. The report details media trends in each of several regions...
MATERIALS
14. A Modest Proposal: On Street Children
A 70-min documentary film focusing on young members of the Argentine People's Children National Movement ("Movimiento de los Chicos del Pueblo"). The film also sheds light on the reality of life on the streets for Argentinian children...
15. Technologies for Education: Potential, Parameters and Prospects edited by Wadi D. Haddad & Alexandra Draxler
Reviews trends and introduces examples from around the world on issues related to ICTs and how they can be used to meet education needs. Case studies are included which examine how ICTs are integrated into learning systems in different settings.
16. Positive Thinking [Video reports and PSAs]
A series of short video reports on HIV/AIDS awareness. Featuring examples from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia - this series discusses HIV transmission and prevention, while challenging misconceptions,attempting to dispell fear, and educating young people on the importance of safe sexual practices, through a non-judgmental, youth-friendly approach.
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Pulse Poll
The most important development communication question is "Why"?
If you agree, please elaborate. If you disagree, please indicate what you think is the most important development communication question and for what reason.
VOTE
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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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