The Drum Beat 228 - Communication and Change News and Issues
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PROGRAMMES
1. Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCCG) - Ukraine
Active projects include:
* Restorative Justice Initiative: working to raise awareness about restorative justice approaches in the Ukraine legal system and training a team of volunteer victim-offender mediators, among other activities.
* Radio - Conflict Resolution Drama: 13 pilot episodes, called "Nasha Ulitsa" ("Our Street"), for young adults in Crimea.
* Crimean Dialogue: 2 local mediation groups were established in Crimea to resolve issues and concrete problems of common concern.
* Problem Solving Education Initiative: conflict resolution skills trainings at the elementary-, middle-, and high-school level.
* Conflict Resolution & Prevention Network: an electronic list server providing a forum for the exchange of information and ideas.
Contact Roman Koval [email protected]
2. Time to Get Online: Simple Steps to Success on the Internet - West Africa
Involves developing learning materials to enable non-profit organisations to use the Internet more effectively in their work. It will initially address organisations that focus on human rights, freedom of information, responsive government, and democratisation. Capacity-building workshops support learning materials. Learning materials were developed from Nov 2002 to Jan 2003 and then piloted in workshops with Nigerian rights groups in Feb 2003. The on-site workshops were designed to give these organisations the opportunity to ask questions and interact with an Internet expert, while at the same time providing Kabissa, the implementing organisation, with an opportunity to distribute materials and collect feedback.
Contact [email protected]
3. Water and Sanitation Extension Programme (WASEP) - Pakistan
Undertaken in selected villages in northern Pakistan between 1997 and 2001, WASEP was designed to deliver an integrated package of activities to improve potable water supply at village and household levels. Community-based education efforts were used to inform villagers about the existence of sanitation facilities and their use, and to build awareness and practices about hygiene-related behaviour. The Community Health Intervention Program (CHIP) educated villagers, primarily women, about the collection and use of water and proper use and maintenance of sanitation facilities. WASEP's Health & Hygiene Promoters (HHP) addressed women in education sessions and visited households to discuss health and hygiene, causes of disease, prevention of food- and water-borne illness, and treatment of diarrhoea. The School Health Intervention Program (SHIP) designed special awareness programmes aimed at children attending primary schools.
Contact Dr. Karim Alibhoy [email protected]
4. Oyez Project - United States
A multimedia archive that makes audio of US Supreme Court cases available on individual citizens' computers, free of charge. Oyez's central strategy is bringing the judicial process "home" by enabling citizens to hear the voices of Supreme Court justices deliberating about various issues. Audio, case studies and panoramic images of the building are available on the Oyez website. Also available on this site is an "iCalendar" that details court events such as cases being argued and justices being appointed. They have also created Oyez news items and "On This Day" reports. A discussion forum, which will accommodate sharing of the MP3 files, is designed to bolster peer-to-peer networks.
Contact Jerry Goldman [email protected]
5. Youth and Peace Contest - Azerbaijan
In Aug and Sept 2003, the youth NGO Reliable Future, with the support of United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Azerbaijan, organised a youth contest focussed on peace. The competition involved the creation and submission of 1-minute films and newspaper articles on the part of young Azerbaijanians between the ages of 8 and 22. Young people were asked to submit entries for the contest; the best 10 films and 20 articles were honoured on Sept 20 2003 (UN International Peace Day). To support the contest, the media was used as a broader strategy for peace education. Television, radio, newspapers, films, posters, and other media activities were designed to encourage young people to enter the competition. In addition, one-day seminars for children and young people were organised.
Contact [email protected] OR [email protected]
6. Corporación Encuentro - Chile
Works to provide the most deprived sectors of Chilean society with access to technology with the aim of generating community experiences and networks. 16 telecentres, a radio programme, and a website are designed to bring people together to interact. The telecentres are designed to be places where people not only access the Internet, but learn to use technology appropriately and in ways that strengthen the relationship between users and their communities. Internet beginners receive instruction from their peers. Users are invited to serve as trainers in exchange for free navigation time and a percentage of the money earned from the training. Broadcast in the evenings, Radio Encuentro has a young radio controller and is broadcast in real time on the Corporación Encuentro site.
Contact Claudio Orrego [email protected] OR Cynthia Soto [email protected] OR José Baeza [email protected]
7. The Binti Pamoja Center - Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya
Designed to create a safe space for girls and young women to discuss reproductive health issues and to address problems such as gender discrimination, domestic abuse, and rape. The Center uses group discussion, art, and photography to enable young participants to speak out about difficult issues. Discussion topics have included violence against women, sex, contraception, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and ethnic conflict. To further discussion, field trips to NGOs addressing some of these issues have been organised. To complement the discussions, members were given disposable cameras and assignments that paralleled the topics.
Contact Emily Verellen OR Karen Austrian [email protected]
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The Pulse Opinion Poll
Do you agree or disagree?
For more effective development communication interventions we need more artistic creativity and less performance based results planning.
[For context, please see The Drum Beat #226]
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STRATEGIC THINKING
8. ICT and Poverty: The San Bushmen
by Earl Mardle
According to the author, up until now, the San people have relied on their knowledge of where they live to survive comfortably. With changes including fences that brought new boundaries, they fell into poverty until a "CyberTracker" was introduced to them. This is a device that takes their traditional knowledge about the migratory movements of wild animals in southern Africa and makes it accessible by means of handheld portable computers. As a result, The San people's skills are benefiting the national parks, which can now reliably monitor their game stock.
9. Working with Young Men to Promote Sexual and Reproductive Health
by Kim Rivers & Peter Aggleton
This report explores the issue of young men's sexual health in developing countries. It suggests that alternative role models are needed "to replace the existing macho stereotypes, which endanger both the health of young men and their partners. Young men will be more likely to come to a group that covers wider issues than sexual health such as employment, sports and other leisure activities."
10. Africa's Orphaned Generations
This report outlines the context and current situation of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Africa, examines the impact of orphaning on families, communities, and on the orphans themselves, and describes a framework for priority actions that includes community mobilisation, sharing of information, and raising awareness of the issues on a regional and global scale.
MATERIALS
11. Participatory Workshops: A Sourcebook of 21 Sets of Ideas & Activities
Covers topics such as getting started, seating arrangements, forming groups, managing large numbers, helping each other learn, analysis and feedback, dealing with dominators, evaluation and ending, coping with horrors, and common mistakes.
12. Sustainable Agriculture Training of Trainers: A Resource Book
This resource book is designed for trainers in sustainable agriculture. It is in response to what is seen as a growing need for sustainable agriculture training institutions to do a better job at imparting and sharing the sustainable agriculture concepts, principles and experiences.
13. Bollywood: Victim or Ally? A WHO study on the portrayal of tobacco in Indian Cinema
This study offers an overview of the linkages between tobacco and the film industry in India where there are "nearly 250 million tobacco users." The Indian government prohibits tobacco manufacturers from advertising on television and has a partial ban on print advertising. "For transnational tobacco companies, India’s film industry offers a huge opportunity to reach out to millions of film-crazy youngsters. This is particularly significant because increasingly tobacco brands are finding it difficult to advertise in the mainstream media."
LINKS: COALITIONS
14. Amazon Alliance
An alliance of members from the Amazon Basin working to defend the rights, territories and environment of the area. It is coordinated from Washington DC, USA and offers an e-mail list-serve with news.
15. Chiapaslink
A web-based information resource linking the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico with a grassroots solidarity campaign in the UK. The issues range from ecological direct action to human rights groups, women's struggles and abolishing "Third World" debt.
16. Toxics Link
An informal network of over 350 NGOs, voluntary organisations, and individuals exchanging information in an effort to strengthen campaigns against toxics pollution, help push industries toward cleaner production, and organise a National Toxics Movement in India.
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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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