The Drum Beat 148 - Communication and Change News and Issues

PROGRAMMES

1. Stepping Stones Africa Exchange - UK and Nicaragua - a series of workshops designed to help UK and Nicaraguan practitioners involved in gender and HIV work share information about sexual and reproductive well-being and domestic violence. Trainers from Gambia, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe met with UK and Nicaraguan practitioners for a 2-day workshop, a 10-day on-site exchange programme in Nicaragua, and then a further 2-day workshop. Contact Andrew Chetley [email protected]

2. Russian Audio Exchange Network (RAEN) - Russia - a network for independent radio stations in various regions of Russia to exchange programmes on a regular basis. RAEN will eventually be open to any independent radio station; however, currently members are selected on a competitive basis. The pool of programmes is accumulated at a website accessible to the member broadcasters. The download feature is especially designed for the stations that use dial-up connections to the Internet. Contact [email protected]

3. 2002 World Cup - Global - this year's event has been dedicated to "Say Yes for Children". The campaign is based on the belief that football can help secure the right of children to play. Some campaign examples include: In Nairobi, Kenya, young people spend an afternoon playing football and then get a lesson on safe sex and HIV from peer educators. In Afghan refugee camps, many children play football for the first time in their lives. Because the Taliban banned games, UNICEF workers explain to children not just how to play the game but how to interact with other children, especially children of the opposite sex. In Ethiopia, UNICEF supports a football league that conducts HIV/AIDS awareness activities during half-time. Contact Sascha Segan [email protected]

4. Barcelona YouthForce Project - Spain - a movement to increase the visibility of youth at the International AIDS Conference in July, 2002. The Campaign includes: a t-shirt and sticker visibility campaign; a YouthForce Rally & Reception; a Satellite Meeting; a newsletter printed daily; a press conference; and, an MTV Global Discussion Forum on HIV/AIDS. Contact Hally Mahler [email protected]

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Survey for those dealing with Media in Conflict Situations in Africa

Part of a project designed to assess organisations working with the media to help promote peace in Africa. Click here to download the survey in PDF format. Deadline June 20. Contact Karoline Hutter [email protected]

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5. Community Animation and Development Organisation (CADO) - Sierra Leone - uses a participatory development approach through the process of 'Community Animation' to assist people in translating 'perceived possibilities' into action. Some of their projects have included facilitating viable cooperative societies, and training in participatory development approaches, advocacy and research in community development and human rights issues for animators, civil servants and staff of both International and local NGOs. Contact Solomon Alex S.A. Kargbo [email protected]

6. Nile Basin Society (NBS) - Eastern Africa - works to help local NGOs capitalise on information technology to increase interaction between them. NBS works to provide information about appropriate technologies in communications, water management, irrigation and agriculture and the companies that can supply them. They provide success stories in agricultural/water management that may be replicated elsewhere within the basin. Contact Desalegn Eyob [email protected]

7. UN ICT Task Force - Global - In Nov 2001, the UN established an ICT Task Force whose main role is to advise the UN Secretary-General on coordinating UN work on digital divide issues. Specifically, the Task Force is directed to find new, creative, and immediate means to spread the benefits of the digital revolution and avert the prospect of a world that can be divided into 2 tiers on the basis of access to information. Contact Mr. Sarbuland Khan [email protected]

IMPACT DATA

8. Prevention of Drug Use and Abuse through Art - Colombia - Participants compose stories on the basis of their own experience that are related to prevention of drug use. These are then dramatised and performed in a public forum at the community level. The results suggested a greater understanding of promoted values. Specifically, comprehension and internalisation of 'solidarity', as a value, jumped from 60% to 90%, 'respect' from 62% to 93%, and 'a sense of belonging' from 42 to 90%. There was a reported decrease in drug use from 25% to 7%. Contact Mario Zapata [email protected] OR Fabio Serrano [email protected]

9. Mass Media and Health Practices Project - Honduras and Africa - Mothers were asked to adopt Litrosol, an oral rehydration solution, that they were then supported in utilising. Print materials and radio ads had basic messages related to Oral Rehydration Therapy and an associated training programme. 16 months after the project's start, 39 percent of all of the cases of diarrhea within the prior 2 weeks among the sampled families had been treated using Litrosol. Between 1981 and 1982 mortality rates for children under 5 had decreased from 47.5 to 25 percent. Contact Dr. William Smith [email protected]

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Coverage of the XIV International AIDS Conference

Kaisernetwork.org, a free health policy news service of the Kaiser Family Foundation, will feature special daily coverage of the XIV International AIDS Conference July 7 - 12, 2002.

Contact Barbara Becker [email protected]

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STRATEGIC THINKING

10. Working Toward Greater Equity in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis - "There is need both to modify the inequitable patterns of disease risks and consequences and to pursue aggressively a more equitable distribution of benefits from programs dealing with HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis...."

AWARDS

11. Global Junior Challenge Award - to identify and reward 'best practices' on the use of new technologies in youth education and training. This year's award will pay special attention to initiatives that tackle the gap between those who have access to the knowledge generated by new technologies and those who are excluded. Deadline: June 30.

12. Clarence H. Moore Award for Voluntary Service - candidates may be national or local NGOs or private voluntary organisations operating in Latin America or the Caribbean, or individuals associated with them, whose work has resulted in outstanding contributions in a public health area of importance to the work of the Pan American Health Organisation. Deadline: Aug 31.

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NEW PULSE POLL!

There is an apparent trend in international development towards major private sector companies having a seat at the policy and strategy tables alongside governments, NGOs and not-for-profits.

This is a positive trend in international development.

Do you agree? Disagree? Unsure?

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Results from the most recent poll:

Because it underpins all development issues, addressing economic poverty should be the only international development priority and programme.

29.81 % Agree

64.42 % Disagree

5.77 % Unsure

Total participants = 104

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MATERIALS

13. Transforming Health Systems: Gender and Rights in Reproductive Health - a training resource for health trainers. The curriculum contains 6 teaching modules: 3 foundation modules on gender, the social determinants of health, and rights, and 3 application modules on available evidence, on policy, and on health systems. Includes case studies and practical material.

14. Education for Self-Reliance: A Training Manual on Reproductive Health and Entrepreneurial Skills Development for Youths - developed to assist youths to acquire necessary skills which will help them start, own and run businesses of their choice.

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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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