The Drum Beat 384 - Communication and Change News and Issues
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Final Draft Available!
The Rome Consensus: Communication for Development - A Major Pillar for Development and Change
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1.Outer Voices - Pacific Islands, Asian Pacific Rim, United States
This is a multi-media organisation whose core programme includes documenting the lives of women working globally for non-violent social change. Their first radio documentary series profiles women in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim. In collaboration with the 6 women peace activists and their organisations and communities, Outer Voices has created a series of six 1-hour-long radio broadcasts for airing on public radio, to help bring international attention and support to their work. Once a host community has begun a working relationship with Outer Voices, they themselves guide the content of the radio sound-portrait, selecting the issues that are most important to share with Western audiences via the media. A basic tenet of the project is that the content of each programme and the interactions with the host communities are shaped and supervised by project advisors from within the host communities. To locate and make initial contact with the communities, Outer Voices collaborates with non-profit organisations with a strong working knowledge of the region. The radio broadcasts will be complemented by other activities including a website to download additional texts and audio, and participate in discussions.
Contact [email protected]
2.Accion 17 - Latin America
This is a virtual community of journalists, communicators, human rights experts, teachers, and students interested in reflecting on, stimulating the exchange of ideas about, and spreading public information related to childhood and adolescence - and the intersection of these populations with the media. Acción 17 uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) in an effort to create a strong international alliance working to enrich the practice of communication around child rights issues in Latin America. The website (available only in Spanish and Portuguese) is designed to work as a virtual meeting space for people and activists interested and committed to high-quality and socially responsible journalism. It includes: personal pages for members; discussion forums; a virtual dialogue chat tool; a library of resources on childhood and adolescence; and surveys.
Contact [email protected]
3.Project Troubador - Global
Based in the United States, Project Troubador sends musicians, clowns, jugglers, mimes, dancers, etc. to perform in collaboration with local organisations in cultural centres, schools, hospitals, orphanages, town squares, churches, and marketplaces in developing countries. Project Troubador assists development initiatives and grassroots non-governmental organisations (NGOs) seeking to communicate specific information on issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention, rain forest preservation, literacy, the building of wells, maternal-child health, and family planning. Where possible, performances are presented on an intimate scale in public locations; laughter and song are used in an effort to allow those assembled to gain a comfort level with the performers in their midst. Mime and movement - with a musical underpinning - are used to help initiate a dialogue with the audience. At the conclusion of these discussions, the audience is encouraged to expand this dialogue with family and friends, and any information on how, when, and where they can find the representative of the partner organisation is reiterated.
Contact [email protected]
4.Get the Message?
by Melissa Healy
This article examines a growing collaborative social marketing effort in the United States to address nutrition, safety, and healthy decisions. The author finds that successful campaigns have drawn on market research to craft strategies that are tailored to the sensibilities and media consumption habits of particular groups, often using humour or sexual imagery and piggybacking on entertaining ways of learning more about an issue. The strategy involves creating pro-health messages that emphasise social acceptance and status - not scare tactics or lectures. A number of lessons learned are included.
5.Facilitated Learning in Soil Fertility Management: Assessing Potentials of Low-external-input Technologies in East African Farming Systems
by A. de Jager, D. Onduru, and C. Walaga
This study assessed the effectiveness of low-external input technologies (LEIA), as an alternative to conventional soil management techniques requiring higher capital expenditure and extensive infrastructure development, in alleviating soil nutrient depletion through a case study of 4 districts in Kenya and Uganda conducted between 1997 and 1999. Communication strategies, in the form of dialogues and information sharing between farmers and the project implementation groups through oral and visual means, were framed within a larger participatory project design and employed at different project stages. The findings illuminate the importance of developing effective communication strategies enabling horizontal interactions between the beneficiaries, project staff, and policy makers.
6.Cost Effectiveness Analysis of Strategies to Combat HIV/AIDS in Developing Countries
by Daniel R. Hogan, Rob Baltussen, Chika Hayashi, Jeremy A. Lauer, and Joshua A. Salomon
This paper assesses the effectiveness and costs of a variety of interventions for preventing and treating HIV/AIDS. Data are provided related to communication-centred strategies that were implemented in 2 regions with high HIV/AIDS burdens: countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and in South East Asia, with very high adult and high child mortality. Their analysis is based on an epidemiological model, and uses as an outcome measure the costs per disability adjusted life year (DALY) averted in year 2000 international dollars ($Int). The HIV/AIDS interventions considered in this analysis include: mass media; voluntary counselling and testing (VCT); peer education and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for sex workers; school-based education; treatment of STIs (general population); prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT); and highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).
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Please participate in our PULSE POLL
Do you agree or disagree?
Measuring participatory dialogue, as proposed by Tom Jacobson, would provide a good quantitative assessment of participatory communication.
[For context, please see The Drum Beat #381.]
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on the above topic - click here.
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7.Connectivism
"Principles...:
- Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
- Learning is a process of connecting specialised nodes or information sources.
- Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
- Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.
- Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
- Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
- Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
- Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision..."
8.Commitment to Change Model
This model consists of 3 developmental phases - Inform, Educate and Commit - and several progressive commitment stages in each phase. "Each stage represented contains critical junctures where commitment to change can be threatened or advanced. For example, if you fail to build awareness of change, an individual or group may not support the change because of confusion regarding its purpose or intent. Similarly, if an effort is not made to generate a positive perception about the change, a negative perception will usually prevail resulting in reduced or no commitment to the change."
9.John Kotter's Transformation Process
- Increase urgency
- Build guiding team
- Get the vision right
- Communicate for buy-in
- Empowering action
- Create short term wins
- Do not let up
- Make change stick
10.CDCynergy
This is a multimedia CD-ROM used for planning, managing, and evaluating public health communication programmes. Originally created for use within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the idea of an institution-wide planning model found its way outside of the agency. CDCynergy has been adapted for use by public health professionals on a national, state, and/or local level.
11.SCALE (System-wide Collaborative Action for Livelihoods and the Environment)
A 5-step management process:
- Map the Context;
- Catalyse Coalitions and Partnerships;
- Create Collaborative, Sustainable Solutions;
- Act; and
- Value
12.Cultural Indicator Tree Model
In this model, based on the visual image of a tree, the leaves provide a visible indicator of an organisation's or community's culture. The trunk and branches indicate the unwritten expectations, values and norms. The roots are core beliefs and commonly held assumptions.
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13.Community Based Communication
by Obadiah Tohomdet
In this article the author proposes a paradigm shift in communication to encourage community-driven communication. Community Based Communication (CBC) is defined as "a system of communication developed over time by a community, about the community and primarily for the community...a system used by a collective group of people to propagate, protect, project and sustain community values, cultures, traditions and communal forms of interrelationships." This system allows for information to emanate from the communities and flow outward and upward rather than the usual top-down pattern. According to the author, to operationalise the concept there is need for well-strategised capacity building using training materials inspired from the community. Communities can be assisted to build on already existing traditional information gathering and dissemination techniques. They can be assisted to develop their own news programmes and present discussions on matters affecting their communities in the languages they understand.
14.Culture, Local Traditions, and Taboo - Challenges to the Full Expression of Women's Voices
by Graciela Selaimen
This article focuses on popular female communicators who work in community radio telecentres in different states of Brazil. As members of the Cyberela Network (Red Cyberela) developed by the feminist organisation Cemina Digital Inclusion Project (Proyecto de Inclusión Digital), the communicators explain the reasons behind their self-censorship and how they gradually overcome taboos and prejudices through their association and work with community radio. There are some subjects that are off limits due to religious and cultural traditions and taboos; these subjects include abortion, pornography and prostitution. Telecentre insiders indicate that the women involved do discuss these issues, but with their microphones turned off; they are "off the record". When these issues come up, the women try to be careful how they answer and primarily end up referring people to websites where they can find in-depth information on the issue. The article implies that the women would be in danger within their communities if they were to question religious or cultural principles related to these issues, but it also indicates that the communities themselves - primarily the women within them - are becoming frustrated with the silence.
15.Climate Change and Nature: Adapting for the Future
This report argues that climate change requires an adaptive management style that focuses on transparency and learning. It suggests that such an approach needs to address stakeholders in decision making and implementation at the level of landscapes and seascapes. Coalitions - including governments and their agencies, NGOs, local communities and research institutions - can support immediate actions, plan for the medium term, and establish key priorities for the longer term. Several recommendations are included within this report, including 2 that are communication-specific: developing awareness campaigns to highlight the value that ecosystem services provide (both as buffers against climate variability and as a means to secure public acceptance for climate change adaptation); and sharing information between governments and their agencies, NGOs, communities, and research institutions on potential and observed climate change impacts and extreme events.
16.Why the Media Matter: Ensuring the World's Poorest People Have a Say
by James Deane
In October 2005, James Deane spoke at the Global Forum for Media Development conference in Amman, Jordan. In this excerpt report, he outlines some of the key trends shaping the media landscape over the past 5 years, with a particular focus on developing countries - and the role of media in development and development policy. Though he acknowledges that trends are inconsistent and vary from country to country, Deane cites the following as key changes: liberalisation and commercialisation of media over the last decade in many parts of the world, which has led to "a much more democratic, dynamic, crowded and complex media landscape..."; growing concentration of media ownership - at the global, regional and national levels - which "is squeezing out independent media players and threatening to replace government-controlled concentration of media power with commercially and politically-oriented ownership"; and increasing developing country reliance on Northern news providers for their international news and information, particularly on stories of globalisation, trade and international politics.
17.Tobacco in Movies and Impact on Youth
by Hemant Goswami
Delivered at the July 2006 World Conference on Tobacco or Health, this presentation explores research on tobacco in movies that was undertaken by the India-based Burning Brain Society (BBS). BBS Chairperson Hemant Goswami traces trends in the degree to which, and the way in which, tobacco use is depicted in the film medium in India. His insights are offered in the context of a 2004 advertising ban imposed by the Indian Government. Goswami shares the results of a qualitative analysis of 110 movies released in 2004 and 2005 in India. Volunteers watched the movies to identify the instances of tobacco brand visibility; to analyse the association of tobacco with glamour, style, and emotions; and to record specific instances where statements facilitating tobacco consumption and situations where tobacco warnings were mocked. Responses from 1126 young people were collected through a survey questionnaire and evaluated.
18.Transparency and Silence: A Survey of Access to Information Laws and Practices in 14 Countries
by Helen Darbishire and Thomas Carson
This report details the results of a study undertaken by the Open Society Justice Initiative and its partners to discover how government offices and agencies in 14 countries respond to specific requests for information. The purpose of the study was to explore the strategy of, and trends in, one specific aspect of transparency: the passage of laws on freedom of information (FOI), or public access to government information and records. This report documents how various countries did - or did not - honour the right of access to information. As part of the study, partners of the Justice Initiative in Latin America, Europe and Africa filed a total of 1,926 requests for information; the Justice Initiative and its partners then evaluated and analysed how the people who made requests were treated, how government offices and agencies responded, and the nature and quality of the responses to the requests. The report concludes with a number of specific suggestions to help countries implement effective FOI laws and regulations.
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SURVEY
NGOs, Development, and Media
This survey is part of a study about the relationships between media, development communication, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other agencies. It is an effort by Nancy Van Leuven, a Communication PhD Candidate at the University of Washington, under the supervision of Dr. C. Anthony Giffard.
By taking this survey, you would be agreeing to participate and would be affirming that you are at least 18 years of age. Please note that your name will not be linked to the study data in any way and that Nancy would use your organisation's name only with your permission. Furthermore, you can withdraw from the survey at any time by closing your browser window. For questions, contact
Nancy Van Leuven [email protected]
For the survey, please click here.
Survey closes March 21 2007.
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19.Corruption Fighters' Tool Kit
This is a collection of anti-corruption tools developed and implemented by Transparency International (TI) National Chapters and other civil society organisations from around the world that aim to create public awareness about the problem of corruption; monitor public institutions; encourage citizens' participation in key decision-making processes; and open channels of communication between governments and their citizens.
20.Polishing the Diamond: Values, Image and Brand as a Source of Strength for Charities
by Joe Saxton
This report discusses the importance of image and branding for charities and non-profit organisations. It argues that having an image that leaves the right impression can make a charity, pressure group or community organisation much more effective. According to the report, it is necessary to ensure that an organisation is actively managing all the different communication channels which create the overall image of the organisation. The essential components of the delivery of a strategy include identifying the following: the various services, routes or activities that create the image of the organisation in people's minds; the products or services that can be created so as to package the inherent beliefs and values of the organisation; and the communication vehicles (newsletters, meetings, etc.) that can be used to proactively develop the image to key audiences.
21.Insights into Participatory Video: A Handbook for the Field
by Nick Lunch and Chris Lunch
This booklet aims to be a practical guide to setting up and running participatory video (PV) projects. Based on the authors' experience using PV in several countries, it offers an outline for facilitators to explore how to use video to encourage a lively, democratic process. Descriptions of games and exercises to introduce PV and case studies are illustrated with cartoons and photographs. A selection of videos made by local people and a training film are included in an accompanying CD-ROM.
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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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