The Drum Beat 413 - Communication and Change News and Issues

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This issue of The Drum Beat features a small selection of summaries available on The Communication Initiative website - project experiences, evaluations, and planning models - illustrating how communication is being used for social change, around the world.

If you would like your organisation's communication work or research and resource documents to be featured on The CI websites and in The Drum Beat newsletters, please contact Deborah Heimann [email protected]

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EXPERIENCES

1. Disaster Reduction and Prevention - Asia-Pacific In 2005, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) partnered with the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) to develop radio and television broadcast information in an effort to reduce the impact of natural disasters in Asia-Pacific countries. The goal was to respond to the December 2004 Asian tsunami by increasing the rate and accuracy of information flows from meteorological and disaster management organisations to broadcasters. The ABU and UNISDR implemented a series of regional workshops for radio and television broadcasters to help build their capacity to air public service announcements (PSAs), produce special programmes to mark the anniversaries of previous disasters, and create other content. The goal was to foster the development of faster, more effective early warning systems in the region. Contact Francyne Harrigan [email protected] OR Brigitte Leoni [email protected]

2. Drawing It Out: International HIV/AIDS Cartoon Exhibit - Global In an effort to help de-stigmatise HIV/AIDS, the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR) has teamed up with the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to offer a public exhibit featuring cartoons about the disease. Contributed by 50 graphic artists, the cartoons reflect an "edutainment" strategy that is based on the following philosophy: "While overwhelming statistics and urgent public health messages can paint a grim picture, there is a colorful and positive vision possible as well. This is an image of society in which laughter is a part of sexuality, where economic circumstances do not determine one's health and where as global citizens, we take up the charge to care for one another. This is the creative vision offered by the exhibition...". In addition, cartoons are envisioned as being a form of communication that is understood almost universally, thus being an effective way to spread HIV/AIDS information. Contact [email protected] OR Newton Kanhema [email protected] OR Franck Kuwonu [email protected]

3. Swat Youth Front - Pakistan This youth-oriented non-governmental organisation (NGO) uses communication, advocacy, training, and service delivery to foster poverty reduction, gender equity, literacy, youth employment, women's empowerment, and disaster management in Malakand range, North Western Frontier Province, Pakistan. Interpersonal approaches are central to SYF's efforts; for example, SYF trained 63 women in teaching methodologies and then implemented 63 non-formal schools. In an effort to protect the environment by encouraging use and reuse of waste household material, SYF has conducted trainings for women so that they might learn to produce finished products while gaining an income. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are also used as learning and empowerment tools: SYF established a Learning Institute For Employment (LIFE) which provides training in information technology (IT) to economically poor youth. SYF has also developed various advocacy campaigns, with a focus on women's and children's rights and socioeconomic issues. Contact Badar Zaman [email protected]

4. Covering Freedom of Expression: Resources for Journalists - Latin America According to the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), increasing public awareness of the importance of a free press can strengthen democracy, bolster freedom, and help protect human rights. As part of a 3-year programme that was motivated by this belief, a series of workshops were conducted, each with approximately 25 print, electronic or broadcast journalists from Latin America as well as leading local editors, publishers, news directors, producers and media owners. Journalists were taught in the local language about issues related to freedom of the press in their countries and were given the tools to cover them in an independent, balanced, and unbiased manner. Contact Luis Botello [email protected]

5. GRACE - Africa Carried out in 12 African countries, GRACE aims to bring together African researchers to study ICTs and women's empowerment in an effort to influence debates on gender and ICTs as well as national and provincial policies. Managed and implemented by Research for the Future, with funding from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), this programme uses research as a tool to build capacity and foster exchanges on topics ranging from mobile telephone use, to the ways in which women could use e-commerce, to barriers to ICT use and women's strategies to overcome these obstacles. A key element informing GRACE's knowledge construction process is participation and capacity building: creating the space and skills for the research teams to develop their own methodology for understanding what "empowerment" and "gender" may mean in multiple African contexts. Results will be documented in a professionally edited online and printed publication. Contact Ineke Buskens [email protected]

6. Queen Rania Family and Child Center (QRFCC) - Jordan This community centre provides services and support to families in Jordan's Jabal Al-Naser area. QRFCC's "ecological model" is built on the premise that preventing child abuse requires going beyond attempting to change individuals' behaviour. By working to foster a broad social context that adopts "a culture of prevention" and that respects Jordanian traditions, QRFCC attempts to ensure that strong community networks and healthy families support vulnerable members of society. QRFCC has developed awareness-raising, capacity building, and interactive, participatory initiatives which draw on a variety of communication strategies. Children are not "taught" through lectures; instead, they are encouraged to be self-learners who can deduce knowledge through real-life experiences and situations. For example, the Salhouf Tales Series is a puppet show developed in collaboration with both experts and children that is designed to spread awareness about child rights, self-protection from abuse, and neglect. Contact [email protected]

7. Participatory Intervention with Women's Groups - Nepal A team from Mother and Infant Research Activities (MIRA), an NGO based in Kathmandu, Nepal, undertook a low-cost, community-based participatory intervention with women's groups to test the impact on birth outcomes. The communication approach emphasised participatory learning, rather than instruction, and was designed to fully involve women in community-focused problem solving. In each intervention cluster, a facilitator - a literate locally resident woman - was selected to guide women in discussing problems related to neonatal and maternal care in their community and in figuring out ways to address these problems. Based on the priorities identified by these groups, MIRA took concrete actions, such as organising training in essential newborn care for all cadres of government health staff and for female community health volunteers and traditional birth attendants. Contact Prof. Dharma S. Manandhar [email protected] or [email protected] OR Prof. Anthony Costello [email protected]

8. Prison Media - United Kingdom Run by Media for Development (MFD), this prison-based project aims to reduce re-offending by improving participants' self-confidence, sense of self-worth, and ability to communicate through media-based training and employment. It was launched in 2004 in the United Kingdom (UK)'s largest prison, and was replicated and expanded at a women's prison south of London in 2006. Prison Media centres around a broadcasting unit that functions as an internal prison radio or television station. The unit provides a 'real work' environment where participants can access on-the-job training and work that is designed to be creative, challenging, responsible, and rewarding. The project also seeks to provide routes into employment or further education on release, and provides work placements to graduates of the courses. Contact James Greenshields [email protected]

9. Caribbean ICT Stakeholders Virtual Community (CIVIC) - Caribbean CIVIC is an online venue for sharing information, holding discussions, networking, and linking ideas, actors, and projects related to ICTs and development in the Caribbean. CIVIC also aims to contribute to the building of a common vision/perspective on ICTs, and to promote a Caribbean strategy and/or regional Caribbean-wide actions to foster social change in this area. CIVIC is Caribbean managed and Caribbean owned, and is member-driven. It is open to those in all Caribbean countries. To foster participation, CIVIC accepts postings, messages, discussions, and documents in all the Caribbean languages; the web platform itself may be accessed in English, French, and Spanish. The goal is to create a community with stakeholders from all over the region who are interested in the topic of how to use technology for development. Contact [email protected]

10. Eye to Eye - Lebanon/Occupied Palestinian Territories This multimedia project was designed to enable fourth-generation Palestinian refugee children living in refugee camps in Lebanon and Occupied Palestinian Territories to express themselves through photography and the internet. The project aimed to raise public awareness and increase understanding among audiences in the UK of the needs and rights of Palestinian children and the negative impact of the stalled peace process. Eye to Eye also sought to increase awareness among Palestinian communities of the value of children's work in presenting their situation to the outside world. Six photography-based workshops were conducted in refugee camps; they used a "powerful, highly participative, expressive methodology which enabled the children to learn new skills and gain self-confidence, think for themselves about their lives and communities, and represent themselves to external audiences." A website provided information and offered a controlled message board system to facilitate interaction and exchange between Palestinian refugee children and others around the world. Contact Aimee Ansari [email protected]

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EVALUATIONS

11. Impact Data - Eye to Eye - Lebanon/Occupied Palestinian Territories Anecdotal evidence shows that the project's photo exhibitions changed perceptions about children in their communities; they appear to have increased belief in children's abilities and respect for children among parents/other family members, community leaders and national leaders. In Balata Refugee Camp, one teacher commented: "This is the first time we have seen the children's ideas. There are no adults translating this work - it shows the children's perspective". The local exhibitions have also had some impact outside the Palestinian community. For example, one Lebanese national commented: "I didn't know the conditions in the camps were so bad".

12. The Overmarketing of Social Marketing by Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron In this piece, published in 1991, Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron assesses social marketing as a communication for development strategy, from a developing country perspective. He begins by exploring the history of social marketing, which was, he contends, developed, promoted, and marketed by specialists who did not seek the perspectives of communication for development practitioners in developing countries. The scenario might have been different, he indicates, if practitioners in Latin America, for example, had been consulted; for instance, those who developed the social marketing strategy would have learned that there is no translation for "social marketing" in this region, and the concept does not cohere with the practical or theoretical work being done there. He concludes by urging that development communicators from developing countries and those from industrialised countries make concerted efforts to learn more about each other's practice and theory - in order to prevent communication breakdowns such as those that led to the "overmarketing of social marketing".

13. Assessing Change in the Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Youth in Two Districts of Imereti, Georgia, Regarding Healthy Lifestyles and Reproductive Health: Mid-Point Report for the BCC Component of the Healthy Women in Georgia (HWG) Project by Larry Dershem This report details the implementation and impact of a 5-year project designed to improve reproductive health outcomes in Georgia. The author focuses on Healthy Women in Georgia (HWG)'s behaviour and communication change (BCC) component, which involved healthy lifestyles sessions, health awareness activities (e.g., sport competitions, health quizzes, art exhibitions, and newspaper wall displays), radio programmes and spots, theatre performances a telephone hotline service, and printed materials such as booklets, posters, calendars, and peer educator guidelines. Various impacts are described; for instance, there was a significant increase in the percentage of youth who could identify one or more negative consequences of having an abortion. Based on qualitative data gleaned from case studies, the author concludes that "barriers have been lowered and taboos overcome about discussing their concerns or problems related to puberty, sexual relations and reproductive health".

14. Mid-Term Evaluation of Search for Common Ground (Centre Lokolé) "Supporting Congo's Transition Towards Sustainable Peace" Programme in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Final Report by Mary Myers and Judy El-Bushra The key thrust of the programme being evaluated in this report is on using communication to lay the foundations for sustainable peace by enhancing dialogue around the post-civil-war transition process and by contributing to the reduction of tensions in the Republic of the Congo (DRC). Search for Common Ground (SFCG)'s DRC Programme, locally known as Centre Lokolé (CL), "combines practical peace-building with the power of the mass-media (i.e. radio), to inform and encourage Congolese participation in the ongoing peace process, as well as influencing knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of the audience in ways that can facilitate peace. In particular, 'Jirani ni Ndugu' (a soap opera) and 'Sisi Watoto' (magazine programme on children's rights prepared and produced by children) both attract large audiences owing to their entertainment value and capacity to reflect the language and outlook of ordinary people in eastern DRC. CL has promoted conflict transformation communication through its...participatory theatre (in which field it has become an important resource), and to a less evident degree through its on-the-ground community work. CL has contributed to media development through the training of professionals - including the young 'Sisi Watoto' reporters."

PLANNING MODELS

15. Communicating about Biodiversity Ten tips are listed and described here, including: define the word "biodiversity"; talk about biodiversity in the context of real places and real issues; use local examples and experiences to provide context and meaning; illustrate and explain how healthy ecosystems sustain human life; draw on a sense of "stewardship" for starting conversations (after which the facts can be introduced); know which values your audience embraces; offer hope that humans can help reduce the trend of loss of species and natural areas; talk about species or particular habitats in terms of relationships (explain the links to human well-being whenever possible); expand ecological literacy by explaining basic concepts related to the concept of nature as a balanced system; and avoid scientific, technical language and other jargon.

16. Crafting Effective Messages Ten tips are listed and described here, including: be clear about your communications goals; determine your audience(s); determine why should they care about your issue; articulate your message in a short paragraph; use language that speaks to your audience(s); determine your choice of messenger depending on your message and your audience; be ready with anecdotes; use images to tell your story as well as words, but make sure facts are handy; distill the essence of your message into a slogan, a media "hook", or a soundbite; and determine how you will get this message to your audience(s).

17. Eight Cs of Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) Eight "C"s are listed and described here, including: connectivity, content, community, culture, capacity, cooperation, commerce, and capital.

18. Photovoice Methodology Photovoice blends a grassroots approach to photography and social action by providing cameras to people with the least access to those who make decisions affecting their lives. Photovoice has 3 main goals: to enable people to record and reflect their community's strengths and concerns; to promote critical dialogue and knowledge about personal and community issues through large and small group discussions of photographs; and to reach policy makers. Thirteen stages are outlined here.

19. Social Transformation Framework Built on the observation that all communities are dynamic, this is a process of engagement leading to transformation involving new relationships between the capacities, linkages, and processes of that community. For example, in the event of a hurricane, this framework would urge recognising that the individual must be supported and integrated within emerging social support structure. The framework is designed to then empower the community to actively engage in supporting each other by giving them the knowledge and resources they need (e.g., by understanding the processes that influence the receipt or mobilisation of post-disaster support, and by implementing a long-term plan to prevent decline in psychosocial and transformational resources).

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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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