The Drum Beat 423 - Hues of Communication

From The Communication Initiative Network - where communication and media are central to social and economic development.

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Communication and media for development is a vibrant field. Colours help provide the vibrancy of life. To conclude 2007 we celebrate the vibrancy of all of your work through the colours inherent and explicit in many of your initiatives. We were honoured to support your important creative efforts in 2007 and look forward to a highly successful and vibrant 2008 for everyone in this vital community.

This will be our final issue of The Drum Beat in 2007. As we end this year and transition to the next, we wish all of you and yours peace, prosperity, and joy.

The final DB Classifieds - Vacancies issue of 2007 will be published on Wednesday, December 19th.

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1.RED for Life - South Africa
This is a music-based AIDS awareness and advocacy campaign developed by Levi's® and the South Africa-based Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). The campaign aims to combat HIV/AIDS on 3 fronts: by instilling a sense of responsibility among youth through education and awareness, by breaking down the stigma associated with the disease, and by raising money to treat those living with HIV/AIDS. The campaign's first event was a live music concert on February 12 2005 titled 'Rage for the Revolution', featuring South African artists. The concert hoped to reach non-black youth, whom the organisers believe have excluded themselves from awareness initiatives. In a second wave, Levi Strauss South Africa and SONY BMG Music Entertainment brought together 14 South African top music artists to produce a CD called CD4. "What sets this collaboration apart from other compilation CD's is that each of the artists have taken one of their most recognized tunes, songs that have touched people and made an impact and reworked them acoustically for the album." A dedicated website enabled visitors to listen to selected tracks, watch music videos, and read selected quotations from the artists featured on the album, such as "One moment of laziness can't be worth cutting your entire life short".
Contact: [email protected]

2.GREEN Seed Radio Hour - United States
This is a weekly radio programme that broadcasts in the state of California and focuses on the green building industry. The programme offers a round-table format designed to enable everyone - from homeowners to business professionals - to learn and share information, insights, and the latest news and discoveries in "green", or environmentally friendly, building and living. It features interviews with prominent people in the green building industry along with current news events relating to environmentally sustainable building practices. Green building vendors are among those participating in the broadcasts.
Contact: [email protected]

3.YELLOW Card - Africa
Yellow Card is a movie created to address issues of teen pregnancy and safe sex. Produced in Zimbabwe by Media for Development Trust, the movie uses the theme of sport in an effort to arm young men, in particular, with knowledge and awareness that might help them avoid AIDS and teen pregnancy. Yellow Card is a light, comic story that avoids lecturing youth by using the image of "a young guy playing football with a baby on his back". The movie centres around the story of Tiyane Tsumba, a young soccer star who becomes a teenage father, to tackle the issues of unplanned pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and HIV/AIDS. While addressing these serious topics, the movie uses comic relief, popular music, and a strong story line to draw teens' interest. Traveling road shows bring the movie to rural, hard-to-reach locations. Trained facilitators travel with the road shows, teaching leaders at schools, churches, and youth clubs to use a Yellow Card support video and manual. A Yellow Card music video was aired on Channel O, a South African teen music show that is broadcast across Africa. Additionally, a 19-minute trailer and "making of" video for the film is available on the film's official website.
Contact: [email protected]

4.GREEN Energy TV - Global
This is an online clearinghouse of videos highlighting successful "green" energy initiatives. It is a participatory initiative drawing on information and communication technologies (ICTs) to raise awareness and inspire action around environmental issues worldwide. By inviting citizens to upload videos of green energy projects that are happening in cities and countries all over the world, organisers hope to facilitate honest and fair reporting of environmental initiatives and strategies, enabling consumers to learn about the energy choices available and empowering them to make the educated switch to clean energy.
Contact: Craig J. Zamary [email protected]

5.End Malaria - BLUE Ribbon Campaign - Global
As part of an awareness campaign launched in November 2006 by the United-States-based Malaria Foundation International (MFI), blue ribbons with the words "end malaria" are being created and disseminated around the world as a universal symbol in the fight against malaria. The goal of the campaign is to ignite a sense of unity among individuals, organisations, and global partnerships aiming to research and control malaria. The strategy is to encourage concerned individuals to wear this visible symbol of support for efforts to fight malaria, thereby heightening awareness about the disease, and hopefully stimulating solutions.
Contact: Dr. Mary R. Galinski [email protected]

6.GREEN Belt Movement (GBM) - Kenya
This is a civil society organisation for women, based in Kenya, advocating for human rights and supporting good governance and peaceful democratic change through the protection of the environment. The organisation addresses the challenges of deforestation, soil erosion, and lack of water by advocating for and training women to plant trees. According to GBM Kenya, this activity empowers women by making them environmental champions and by providing them with income-generating activities. GBM Kenya's 6 core programmes include: environmental conservation/tree planting; civic and environmental education; advocacy and networking; Pan African training workshops; Green Belt Safaris (GBS); and the Women for Change Programme (capacity building).
Contact: [email protected] OR [email protected]

7.The BLACK Tigers Comic Book
This is a 26-issue comic book series produced by the March Project of the National Defense Force of Ethiopia (NDFE), an initiative that aims to encourage behaviour change among the armed forces in Ethiopia in order to prevent the transmission of HIV. The comic uses drama, humour, and tragedy to highlight how HIV and AIDS affects Ethiopian servicemen. The series, written in Amharic, follows 4 servicemen as they confront difficult issues and decisions related to HIV. Seven episodes are currently available for download in PDF format.

8.BLUE Ribbon Campaign - Suva, Fiji
In late November 2006, femLINKPACIFIC and members of the Suva Peace Vigil collective revived the Blue Ribbon Campaign in response to rising tensions between the military and the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) Government, calling on all Fiji citizens to show their support for peace and democracy by wearing a Fiji blue ribbon. This campaign draws on public mobilisation for advocacy. By asking women, in particular, to wear Fiji blue ribbon (from the colour of that island's flag), organisers hope to create a unified stand toward promoting peace, reconciliation, and unity based on the principles of human rights, democracy, and the upholding of the 1997 Constitution. In addition to the blue ribbons, in 2007, during rural radio broadcasts about the campaign, women in Ba, Nadi, Labasa and Nausori created peace banners and produced radio stories titled "My Life, My Issues, My Peace".
Contact: Sharon Bhagwan Rolls [email protected]

9.Powerful GREEN Map - New York City, NY, United States
Launched in February 2006, the Powerful Green Map of New York is a printed citywide map focusing on energy conservation, renewables, and climate change. In concert with an accompanying interactive website, it is meant to provide information and ideas for those living in New York City (NYC), New York, USA wishing to take action to make smart energy choices - hopefully having a positive impact on the environment and saving money at the same time. This community media project is carried out as part of the Green Map System (GMS), a global eco-cultural mapping organisation. With its 3 views of NYC's energy environment, the map charts hundreds of sites around NYC and links users to 200 online resources. The project's website features a free digital (PDF) edition of the Powerful Green Map, plus resources in English, Spanish, and Chinese. This website is interactive, inviting visitors to contribute their own ideas for new websites and energy conservation tips.
Contact: Wendy Brawer [email protected] OR [email protected]

10.Women in BLACK - Global
This is a worldwide network of women committed to peace and actively opposed to injustice, war, militarism, and other forms of violence. According to the movement's website, Women in Black (WIB) is not an organisation, but is a means of communicating and a formula for action. WIB proposes that women in regions differently situated in relation to armed conflicts, including those that perpetrate violence and those that are victims of it, can lend support to each other. The idea is that, by working together, women can educate, inform, and influence public opinion, and so try to make war an unthinkable option. The WIB strategy is made up of non-violent vigils and actions, organised by and including women. The WIB website provides information about the movement, as well as information about vigils around the world and how to start a vigil.
Contact: [email protected]

11.GREEN.tv - Global
This is a global broadband television (TV) channel and website dedicated to environmental issues. It aims to offer a comprehensive "one stop shop" for environmental TV programming. green.tv carries over 500 films from around the world produced by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community filmmakers, public sector bodies, and companies with an interest in protecting the environment. green.tv has 7 online "channels" covering: air, land, water, climate change, people, species, and technologies. In each of these "channels" there is a feature, a news item, and a kids' story. Collaboration with like-minded organisations is a key strategy for gaining and communicating information through green.tv.
Contact: Mike Lamond [email protected]

12.(RED) - United States
(RED) is a marketing/communication-centred campaign drawing on private sector (business) involvement and the use of ICTs to raise awareness about, and funding to fight, HIV/AIDS. The campaign seeks to galvanise consumers around the world to buy branded products to support The Global Fund - capitalising on celebrity involvement to bring visibility to the underlying issues and to spur participation. The ultimate goal is to help women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. (RED) is an effort to engage the private sector and its marketing prowess in mobilising consumers to think responsibly when they choose to spend money - thereby supporting such initiatives as HIV training for peer educators working to address AIDS in Africa.
Contact: [email protected]

13.GREEN Map System (GMS) - Global
The Green Map System (GMS) is a locally adaptable, globally shared framework for environmental mapmaking. Collaborative tools offered in an online format are designed for community-based teams of all ages and backgrounds who are seeking to illuminate the connections between natural and human environments by mapping their local urban or rural community. These maps are designed to function as practical guides to greener living while helping disseminate model initiatives. Through its interactive website, GMS offers a shared visual language in the form of a set of 125 icons and adaptable mapmaking tools representing different kinds of green sites and cultural resources.
Contact: [email protected]

14.The GREEN Pendelu
The Drum Beat Issue #55
The Dioro Child Survival Project began in Mali in 1989 with the specific goal of reducing mortality rates among children and women of reproductive age. The Dioro Approach is based in the philosophy that, in order for health projects in Africa to be meaningful and sustainable, they must actively support African cultures to incorporate positive cultural values, knowledge, and practices. This project draws on and incorporates local cultural symbols and meanings in order to promote and support positive change. The Pendelu, a short cloth undergarment worn by married women, carries deep cultural significance. It is both perceived as a symbol of marital roles, duties, and privileges and interpreted as a non-verbal cue for gender-specific attitudes and behaviours. Because of the Pendelu's place in cultural folklore, it was identified as a potential tool for facilitating communication between husbands and wives. As part of this project, a modified white Pendelu, dyed green, was to be worn to symbolise a woman's pregnancy and to signal the husband's role as protector.

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