The Drum Beat 245 - Communication and Change News and Issues

PROGRAMME EXPERIENCES

1. CFK Youth Sports Association - Kenya
Carolina for Kibera (CFK) Youth Sports Association uses sports to promote youth leadership, community development, and ethno-religious cooperation. The project works with the Kenyan youth in Kibera's 11 villages. The project’s mission is to prevent ethno-religious violence by using sports to promote youth leadership, ethnic and gender cooperation, and community development. It also works to improve basic healthcare and education in Kibera.
Contact [email protected]

2. Nepalese Health Fairs - Nepal
Part of a broader campaign that includes press and radio advertisements, wall paintings, posters, leaflets, this series of health fairs aims to generate demand for and spread the word about the Sun Quality Health (SQH) network and its clinics and trained providers around the Kathmandu Valley. Designed to promote healthy sexual behaviour, the 12 fairs offer free general health check-ups as well as affordable family planning services. The health fairs are intended to be fun for the entire family. They feature street plays, a short drama film, games, and magic shows to entertain and educate crowds on family planning issues.
Contact Steven Honeyman [email protected]

3. Party Y - United States
A coalition of young American leaders (all in their 20s) who joined together in 2002 to launch a virtual independent political party designed to engage young people in politics and the process of running for office. In addition to endorsing and promoting young candidates for office, the Party Y website links up young voters with young political candidates across the United States. The party is working to inspire youth candidacy and voter turnout in the November 2004 presidential elections. 
Contact Thomas Bryer [email protected]

4. Osu Young Women's HIV/AIDS Radio Project - Ghana
Community Media For Development worked with a group of young women to develop a series of HIV/AIDS radio messages, with accompanying activity books for literacy groups. The audio programmes were reproduced on CD and cassette and distributed free of charge to radio stations and literacy groups in Ghana. In creating the messages the group discussed HIV/AIDS in general as well as issues that young women face that are often different from their male peers. To promote the use of the programmes, and encourage airplay, members of the group went to visit radio stations, and actively promoted the series. A background sheet, which provided information useful for developing an on-air programme, accompanied each audio CD or cassette. A literacy package was also distributed through a Ghanaian network of community libraries that offer literacy programmes.
Contact Daniel Walter [email protected]

5. Russian Community Education Development Centre (RCEDC) - Russia
An educational resource centre that supports non-profit civil society initiatives in the field of education in Russia. Its goal is to provide communities with the necessary information and training to develop projects related to civic education. RCEDC's strategies are based on community engagement in addressing local problems. Individuals and organisations at the local level are considered equal partners in their own development. Communication strategies include: distribution of hard copy materials, organisation of conferences, seminars, and training programmes, as well as creation of a free-access Internet hall.
Contact Anna Gasteva [email protected]

6. Micro-Finance and Marketing Project - Benin
A project that uses radio as the channel for the broadcasting of marketing information to the people of Benin. The project organisers work in partnership with the private or public sector, the farmers' organisations, and non-governmental organisations which carry out activities in the field for the project. Each station broadcasts the prices of food products that it has gathered in the markets in its locality. The broadcasts are made in the national languages of the locality in which the radio station is situated. The objective is to increase income, well-being and participation in local development by poor rural households, and by women in particular.
Contact Balogoun Marius [email protected]

7. Children in Newspapers: A World Study - Global
The World Young Reader Network of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) engaged schoolchildren as participants in research to evaluate the portrayal of children in newspapers worldwide. The goals of the survey, which was conducted in 2003, were to increase consciousness about children's diversity and to look at the way children believe that newspapers reflect this. Findings are now available.
Contact Jan Vincens Steen [email protected] OR Aralynn McMane [email protected]

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If we can just get the message out there, things will get better, regardless of context.

[For reference, please see The Drum Beat 242]

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STRATEGIC THINKING

8. The Sound of Silence: Difficulties in communicating on HIV/AIDS in schools - Experiences from India and Kenya
by Tania Boler, co-written by Amina Ibrahim, Ranjin Adoss, Margaret Shaw
This report attempts to elucidate how HIV/AIDS education is implemented and received by schools in India and Kenya - two countries chosen partly for their differences, but also a similarity: the existence in each of the chosen regions of a state-sponsored HIV curriculum. Through a mixture of quantitative and qualitative approaches, the research catalogues the reported attitudes of teachers, pupils, parents and other key stakeholders in the educational community.

9. Discovering the Magic Box: Local Appropriation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
Prepared by Sabine Isabel Michiels & L.Van Crowder
Objectives were:

• to provide information in support of the area of research and discourse on ICT appropriation, namely that of "local appropriation."
• to draw attention to the need for a greater focus on grassroots, community-driven projects and initiatives involving ICTs.
• to highlight the pressing need for monitoring, evaluation and participatory impact assessments of ongoing ICT projects and initiatives, especially with regards to their effect on the economic and social livelihoods of communities.
• to present a selection of "good practice" cases with the aim of promoting sustainable community development through the local appropriation and application of ICTs
• to draw on a review of the cases in order to identify some guiding principles for promoting socially and culturally appropriate community-based ICT initiatives.

10. Making Evaluation Results Count: Internalising Evidence by Learning
by Paul Engel, Charlotte Carlsson & Arin van Zee
This brief draws substantially on a recent workshop entitled 'How can we learn more from what we do? Evaluation and evidence-based communications for development'.

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The MAGICbank is a database of media initiatives from around the world, which showcase 'best practice' by, with and for children. The bank is searchable by a variety of categories and aims to provide models for organisations working with children, or those who are looking to develop projects. There is also the opportunity to add further projects to the bank.
Click here for the MAGICbank.

Please join and read the archives of the Voices Of Youth & MAGIC web-dialogue leading up to the 4th World Summit on Media for Children and Adolescents. Click here for the discussions.

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MATERIALS

11. Close to Home: Case Studies of Human Rights Work in the United States
edited by Larry Cox & Dorothy Q. Thomas
Examines the work of U.S. organisations that are using traditional human rights tools - such as fact-finding, litigation, organising and advocacy - to reduce poverty, promote workers' rights and environmental justice, abolish the death penalty and end discrimination. With 13 case studies, this publication aims to shed light on the emerging human rights movement in the United States and provide new points of view and tools for seeking positive social change in communities.

12. How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas
by David Bornstein
From an American who has helped thousands of low-income high school students discover their potential, defy test scores, and attend college, to a South African who designed a home-care model for AIDS patients and subsequently altered the government health policy, to a Brazilian who combined the environmental needs of the country with the economic needs of some of its poorest citisens by delivering solar energy to rural Brazil, "How to Change the World" spans the globe telling the stories of social entrepreneurs.

13. War and Accountability
Explores the issue of accountability and its relevance to those involved in providing humanitarian assistance in times of war and violence. Decision-makers, journalists, and academics from humanitarian and political sectors consider questions like - should those who benefit be more involved in their own aid?

14. Children and Young People as Citizens: Partners in Social Change
by Claire O' Kane
Comprised of 4 booklets and a discussion paper, "Children & Young People as Citizens: Partners in Social Change" examines children's different backgrounds in South & Central Asia and demonstrates a diversity of ways children have organised themselves and influenced their own situations. It provides examples of children's participation and citisenship in families, communities, schools, work places, local government bodies and other settings.

15. Linking Policy to Practice Video Project
As part of Responding to Conflict's work to "assist people to achieve social and political change", they have produced 5 videos to assist peacebuilding practitioners in their work.

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Have your say on World Bank - Civil Society engagement

Do you work or live in a country in which the World Bank is active? Do you have any dealings with the World Bank? If so, take 10 minutes to speak out and share your views by joining the global survey on World Bank-Civil Society Engagement. The questionnaire was prepared and is being circulated by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, the Secretariat for the World Bank-Civil Society Joint Facilitation Committee (JFC). CIVICUS and the JFC civil society participants would like to hear your views on these issues to be better informed to take further appropriate action.

For more information and the survey, please click here.
Deadline: April 22 2004, 5pm EST
Extended to May 6, 2004, 5pm EST.
Contact Tuya Altangerel [email protected] or call +1 (202) 331 8518

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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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