The Drum Beat 231 - Communication and Change News and Issues

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PROGRAMMES

1. Aang Serian - Arusha, Tanzania
Aang Serian, which means "House of Peace" in the Kiarusha language, is a non-profit cultural organisation founded by a group of Tanzanian youth in Arusha town. Their purpose is to promote and protect indigenous knowledge. Aang Serian focuses on education in an effort to raise the self-esteem of young people, to empower them to work together for a peaceful future, and to promote environmentally and socially sustainable development. A key undertaking has been the establishment of a community college.
Contact Lesikar Ole Ngila [email protected] OR Gemma Enole Ngila [email protected] OR Yunus Rafiki [email protected]

2. Forgotten People - Global
This is a Refugees International (RI) programme to address the issue of forgotten humanitarian emergencies. Each month, RI spotlights a humanitarian crisis by posting a detailed report on its website. The purpose of the programme is to explore the question of why people afflicted by one humanitarian emergency receive less attention than another, to the end of increasing public awareness of the costs of this pattern. Research reports begin by exploring why the group in question has failed to receive its share of international humanitarian aid. The reports then present information about the problems that this ignored group faces, and present recommendations.
Contact [email protected]

3. Community Empowerment Network (CEN) - Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan & Azerbaijan
Aims to build the capacity of communities to design, implement, and monitor community-based projects. Consisting of community representatives, government officials, and development stakeholders, the network exchanges experiences and strategies in an effort to support projects that foster community-driven development. The CEN does not directly fund community projects, but instead implements projects to support the efforts of communities. Each such project is implemented by a local partner organisation or National Network Coordinator under the guidance and supervision of a Steering Group.
Contact Gulnara Febres [email protected] OR Marcos Mendiburu [email protected]

4. "Keep Your Head, Wear Your Helmet" Campaign - Bangalore, India
Friends for Life launched a public road safety awareness campaign to promote the wearing of helmets among riders of 2-wheeled motorbikes. This advocacy campaign relied on the Internet to create awareness, increase interaction, and foster behaviour change. In addition to individuals, the campaign reached out to corporate managers, who were encouraged to bring the message to their employees. The Communi-Kit contains posters, stickers, logos, and wallpaper. These materials highlight the effects of head injuries; messages like "save your head now, or save it for posterity" (accompanied by an image of a brain in a jar) and "helmets ruin my hair" (on a tombstone) are designed to shock people into taking responsibility for their own safety.
Contact Anish V. Koshy [email protected] OR [email protected]

5. Cyber-Café Initiative - El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemal
Advocates for Youth worked with 3 NGOs in Latin America to develop 3 cyber-cafés for Latino gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) youth meant to serve as safe spaces for GLBT youth to gather and exchange sexual health information without fear. Organisers claim that young people visiting the cyber-café have also increased their computer skills. They say that some youth have been promoted in their jobs as a result of the skills they have obtained; others have made the switch from being sex workers to holding jobs in offices or banks.
Contact Alex Franka [email protected]

6. Freedom to Read Week - Canada
A national annual volunteer event designed to celebrate Canadians' open literary culture and to raise awareness of the issue of censorship in Canada. The central strategy of Freedom to Read Week is public advocacy events. These events might include readings, displays, dramatisations of banned materials, video showings, essay contests, panel discussions, etc. Citizens are asked to participate in the effort by organising events and engaging in advocacy endeavours in their own communities. The Freedom to Read Week site provides suggestions and offers updates on upcoming events. The Challenged Book List is part of the Freedom to Read Kit, which is updated each year and is intended for year-round use. The kit consists of material based on current controversial issues related to intellectual freedom, as well as appendices that provide basic information. Freedom to Read Week 2004 is Feb 22-28.
Contact Franklin Carter [email protected] OR Anne McClelland [email protected] OR Michele Collins [email protected]

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Survey

The Communication Initiative is supporting the Communication and Development Studies programme at Ohio University by hosting a brief survey to explore the demand from working professionals for on-line courses and training.

Please Participate!
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EVALUATIONS

7. Impact Data - Environmental Information Service (Servicio de Información Ambiental or SIA) - Latin America
In the year 2002, SIA sent 1552 information packages. 17.72% of these requests were from schools, 9.79% from NGOs, 5.22% from university professionals, 3.9% from governmental organisations, and 1.42% from the media (radio, television, and websites). The remaining 62.05% went to people who did not identify themselves as belonging to any of these categories. Conclusion: sending information packages by post seems to be a useful alternative for users who lack easy access to internet technology.

8. How Can Evaluations of Public Communication Campaigns be of More Use to Social Change Efforts?
by Dr. Sharyn Sutton & Elizabeth Heid Thompson
The authors call for a shift away from a causal evaluation paradigm to one of "social change." Social change evaluations, the authors claim, more closely track and assess a campaign’s activities and interim results and link them to its ultimate goals. They not only look at what happened before and after the campaign, but also assess interim tactical progress so that it can feed data back into the program to improve its chance of success.

9. 5 A Day for Better Health Program Evaluation Report
by Potter JD, Finnegan JR, Guinard J-X, et al.
A United States based initiative that approaches Americans with this message: Eat 5 or more servings of vegetables and fruit daily for better health. This evaluation of the programme includes 6 chapters. The final chapter, "Evaluation of the Program", is divided into these sections: evaluation of the implementation of 5 A Day; evaluation of the programme using process measures (primarily, communication of the 5 A Day message); evaluation using outcome measures - namely, measures of dietary change and factors that mediate dietary change (such as knowledge of dietary recommendations); and evaluation of randomised, controlled trials of dietary interventions.

STRATEGIC THINKING

10. Hearing the Voices of the Poor: Encouraging Good Governance & Poverty Reduction through Media Sector Support
by Dr. Ann Hudock
To participate effectively in policy formation, citizens and their representatives need timely, relevant, and clear information and analysis of political and economic issues. Among society’s institutions, an independent media is best positioned to disseminate information, educate the public and policymakers, create a platform for diverse views, and keep the citizenry informed about socioeconomic developments, especially as they relate to the PRSP process. Yet, in most developing countries, the media are not prepared for this role.

11. Missing the Connection? Using ICTs in Education
by Yusuf Sayed
This article summarises the benefits, drawbacks and questions relating to information and communication technologies (ICTs) depending on how they are used, where they are used and how they make a difference in the areas of development and education.

12. The Evaluation of Conflict Resolution Interventions: Framing the State of Play
by Cheyanne Church & Julie Shouldice
A pilot project seeking to examine the current state and utilisation of evaluation in conflict resolution interventions. The 1st part of the project consisted of a literature review, calls for information and a series of field interviews. That research resulted in the publication of this document. The 2nd phase involved convening an international working group to begin addressing the questions and challenges of conflict resolution evaluation.

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Do you agree or disagree?

The use of the term "target group" is inappropriate in the context of economic and social development.

[For context, please see The Drum Beat #231]

VOTE & COMMENT!
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MATERIALS

13. Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission Training Curriculum
This course was developed by many different experts including an obstetrician, pediatricians, lactation management specialists, counselors and an adult educator. The training curriculum consists of 5 modules, and takes 10 days to complete. All 5 modules are downloadable as PDF files.

14. Communicating Public Health Information Effectively: A Guide for Practitioners
Aims to assist health practitioners in both the public and private sector improve their ability to communicate with different audiences. It provides practical recommendations and examples on how to communicate public health information to nonscientific audiences more effectively.

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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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