13,365 Communication and Change News and Issues – The Drum Beat 746 November 15 2017

• 1. Domin Nakloke (Unlocking Love)
  As a key part of its violence prevention work, the Timorese non-governmental organisation (NGO) Ba Futuru utilises methods like film in an effort to create changes in attitudes and behaviour. Launched in July 2017, Domin Nakloke (Unlocking Love) is an entertainment-education film series in Timor-Leste that explores issues of domestic violence, sexual assault, gender equality, and healthy relationships. Centred around the trials and tribulations of a group of best friends, its intended audience is young people.
• 2. 3 Read ’23
  3 Read ’23 is an initiative to get every third-grader in Del Norte County and Adjacent Tribal Lands, Northern California, United States (US), reading at grade level by 2023. ThinkPlace set up a design team of educators and key community agencies to engage with families and teachers to build a deep understanding of what was impacting on a child’s capacity to learn. The empathy research had a strong focus on the cultural inclusion of Native American, Hmong, and Hispanic people in the community engagement initiative.
• 3. Climate Change and Community Radio Project
  Communities in rural areas are often most affected by the impacts of climate change, and this is compounded by the absence of accurate and timely information in languages of the area. To address this, Developing Radio Partners (DRP) is working with community radio stations in four African countries – Cape Verde, Rwanda, Cameroon, and Zambia – to help farmers and local communities adapt to the effects of climate change.
• 4. Peace through Arts
  This project aimed at creating a forum for Pakistani youth where they could interact with one another, discuss various issues pertaining to their everyday lives, and express their desire for peace and prosperity through different art forms. Conducted in the Muzaffargarh district of Punjab, Peace through Arts was a youth-led project, with Bedari staff there to facilitate them. In the second phase of the project, the messages of peace and tolerance were taken to the public domain.
• 5. Zan TV (Women’s TV)
  Launched in May 2017 after a high-profile marketing campaign on billboards in Kabul and on social media, Zan TV (Women’s TV) is a television channel in Afghanistan that is dedicated to women. The channel employs 50 women aged 17 to 28 to create its daily mix of news, politics, and lifestyle shows. Zan, meaning «women» in Arabic, seeks to train the next generation of female Afghan journalists.

SBCC and entertainment-education professionals are also encouraged to submit abstracts related to the overarching conference theme: Shifting Norms, Changing Behavior, Amplifying Voices: What Works? Deadline for abstract submission is November 27 2017.

Click here for more information.

• 6. Ukraine’s Health Sector: Sustaining Momentum for Reform
  by Judyth L. Twigg
  This report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Global Health Policy Center describes a paradigm shift happening in Ukraine, representing what may be a narrow window of opportunity to overcome corrupt, entrenched interests in a country that still clings to the remnants of the Soviet system of health care. The reform’s public relations strategy has featured an energetic social media presence (in addition to the ministry and the minister, the reform legislation itself has active Facebook and Twitter accounts), radio and television blitzes, and extensive outreach to Ukraine’s regions and localities. [Aug 2017]
• 7. Lights, Camera, Action: The Participatory Video Experience in Nicaragua
  by Shadi Azadegan and Manon Koningstein
  This report examines the participatory video (PV) project «Lights, Camera, Action: Participatory Video to Empower Rural Women and Youth», which was implemented in 2015 in Nicaragua by the CGIAR Research Program on Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics (Humidtropics) and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) through the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). By addressing what the PV project entailed, how it was conducted and with whom, what results were obtained, and what lessons were learned, the report aims to provide a practical, contextualised example of the application of the PV methodology for other partners as they apply the tool within their own agricultural research for development (AR4D) contexts. [Jul 2016]
• 8. Storytelling and Evidence-Based Policy: Lessons from the Grey Literature
  by Brett Davidson
  It has been recognised by those interested in how to translate evidence into policy that advocates of scientific evidence need to tell good stories to grab the attention and appeal to the emotions of policymakers. This article outlines some of the ways in which an understanding of policymaker psychology and factors such as group dynamics and political context are reflected in the «grey» literature and the implications of this for understanding the role of storytelling in political advocacy. It highlights practical advice about storytelling that emerges from the literature and presents four case studies illustrating aspects of storytelling in action. [Sep 2017]
• 9. A Citizenship in Crisis: Voice, Welfare and Other Contestations in the Digital State
  This paper examines the nature of e-governance in India, presents the implications of the changing nature of governance and state-citizen engagement (particularly for groups at the margins), and makes suggestions for a digitalisation that strengthens participatory democracy in the country. According to the researchers, the vision, design, and implementation of e-governance in India – with its attendant «datafication» – leads to many questions about the changing nature of governance and state-citizen engagement. The brief argues that data-based decision-making in India is part of a larger trend that seems to displace the core ingredients of participatory governance – dialogue, deliberation, audit, and answerability – in favour of an approach that disempowers citizens. [Jun 2017]
• 10. The 12 Essentials for System Change
  The ’12 Essentials’ focus on what would need to happen for participation in a humanitarian emergency to be authentic, and for there to be a genuine shift in power toward those caught up in a crisis so that they feel communicated with and fully involved in the humanitarian response. The document emerged from a May 2017 global forum, «The authenticity challenge to the Participation Revolution», organised by the Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities (CDAC) Network and the Standing Committee on Humanitarian Response. [Jun 2017]

What organiser doesn’t want full attendance at their workshop or conference? Promote your events and training opportunities through the Development Classifieds website and e-magazine. You can directly post online or contact vmartin@comminit.com for assistance.

• 11. Changing Media Landscapes in Transitional Countries – Handbook on Mapping Media Landscapes
  by Morten Toustrup and Poul Erik Nielsen
  Produced with the support of International Media Support (IMS), this handbook is designed to provide a brief introduction to how a basic mapping of the media landscape in transitional countries can be established so that civil society, politicians, media owners, and journalists can make informed decisions. [Oct 2016]
• 12. Wildlife Consumer Behaviour Change Toolkit
  This toolkit from TRAFFIC seeks to support efforts to influence purchasing preferences and buyer behaviour for illegal wildlife products. It is both a repository of technical information and social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) resources, and also a communication platform and coordination hub for a demand reduction «Community of Practice» (CoP) – all those with a stake, passion, interest, or mandate in changing change consumer behaviour and reduce demand for illegal wildlife products. [2016]
• 13. Improving Data Quality in Mobile Community-Based Health Information Systems: Guidelines for Design and Implementation
  by Liz Nerad, Michelle Li, and Dawne Walker
  Intended for those designing a mobile application or planning an mHealth programme, these guidelines from MEASURE Evaluation focus on strengthening data quality in mobile community-based health information system(s) (HIS) around the world. [Jun 2017]
• 14. Peacebuilding, Governance, Gender, Protection and Youth Assessments – A Basic Guide for Busy Practitioners
  From Catholic Relief Services (CRS), this basic guide seeks to help development planners and implementers better understand the communities they are working in, offering assessments to unearth: the conflicts people are facing; their governance challenges, gender-related inequalities, and power imbalances; and means of protecting those most vulnerable from harm and attending to the concerns of youth. [May 2017]
• 15. Digital Technologies for Resilience Inventory
  This inventory includes information and resources developed by FHI 360 to support resilience practitioners and the broader development community to identify digital technologies that have the potential to enhance resilience outcomes, particularly in Asia. It was primarily populated through a crowdsourced call for submissions that took place in March 2017. It contains entries of technologies that are being used to enhance the resilience of individuals, families, communities, businesses, and/or governments.

Full list of the CI Partners:
ANDI, BBC Media Action, Bernard van Leer Foundation, Breakthrough, Citurna TV, Fundación Imaginario, Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI), Heartlines,Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs, Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP), MISA, Open Society Foundations, Oxfam Novib, PAHO, The Panos Institute, Puntos de Encuentro, SAfAIDS, Sesame Workshop, Soul City, STEPS International, UNAIDS, UNICEF, Universidad de los Andes, World Health Organization (WHO), W.K. Kellogg Foundation

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.

Chair of the Partners Group: Garth Japhet, Founder, Soul City garth@heartlines.org.za

Executive Director: Warren Feek wfeek@comminit.com