The Drum Beat 387 - Caribbean Communication
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This issue of The Drum Beat explores communication in the Caribbean region on a variety of development issues. In addition to projects and resources focusing on networking disparate island countries together using information and communication technologies (ICTs), this issue includes strategic approaches, projects and resources that address HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health issues, and education of both children and youth in the region.
We are very interested in expanding our database of communication for development information and resources specific to the Caribbean region. Please send any information you have to Deborah Heimann dheimann@comminit.com
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NETWORKING/TECHNOLOGY
1.Virtual Network Of Cultural Entities In The Eastern Caribbean - Eastern Caribbean
This initiative uses networking in an effort to enhance understanding and appreciation of the diverse cultures, customs and arts of the Eastern Caribbean countries by connecting people, ideas and resources. The network is made up of cultural organisations operating in Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Martinique and Guadeloupe. An internet portal and associated provision of access to computers and technology training are meant to enable the cultural organisations of the region to work directly with one another. The bilingual (French-English) Eastern Caribbean cultural gateway website is made up of an Extranet and an Intranet including: a newsletter, a calendar of events, thematic pages relating to the arts (theatre, music, etc.), a searchable database of cultural organisations, libraries, how-to's for internet users, and so on. The portal both facilitates exchange of experience (e.g., through interactive fora) and shares information (e.g., through access to related links to national and international websites). Participation is a key strategy: the portal operates as a "community" site.
Contact oesec@oecs.org
2.FUNREDES - Dominican Republic
Fundación Redes y Desarrollo (Networks and Development Foundation) - FUNREDES - was created in 1993 as an independent non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to the dissemination of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in developing countries, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. In its early years, FUNREDES coordinated many programmes and activities inspired by the theme of the social impact of ICT - and how to make it positive. Over time, FUNREDES has evolved into a think tank which works to support the establishment and management of virtual networks with social objectives, as well as to research their social impact. FUNREDES activities are designed to open up of new possibilities of communication and transparency - toward democratic use of ICTs. The intention is to create more space to research and study - broadening its introspective work in order to affect public policy and yet also serving as a catalyser, facilitator and companion of other projects.
Contact Daniel Pimienta contact@funredes.org
Also see:
3.Diversifying Network Development: Microtelcos in Latin America and the Caribbean
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CALL FOR PAPERS
Caribbean Child Research Conference
Oct 23-24 2007
The Caribbean Child Research Conference is a regional interdisciplinary conference covering a range of child-related themes. It aims to share research findings on issues related to children, to strengthen the network of researchers on these issues, and to encourage research in both priority areas and in other important but neglected areas. The theme for 2007 is "Promoting Children's Rights Through Research".
All abstracts pertinent to the theme will be considered. Abstracts should not exceed 150 words, must be accompanied by a brief biography, and can be sent via email. Email submissions should be headed CALL FOR PAPERS. Deadline is May 16 2007.
Contact Doreen Blake doreen.blake@uwimona.edu.jm or Marva Campbell marva.campbell@uwimona.edu.jm
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HIV/AIDS
5.Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS (CBMP) - Caribbean
This is a coordinated regional public awareness initiative reaching out to all residents of the Caribbean with programming and messaging that aim to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS and fight AIDS-related stigma and discrimination. It unites 37 broadcasters from over 20 Caribbean countries in a coordinated response to the region's HIV/AIDS pandemic. With the goal of expanding HIV/AIDS-related programming and public education activities across the Caribbean, the CBMP was launched in May 2006 at a regional summit meeting of media executives on HIV/AIDS. At this summit, participating executives signed a Partnership Declaration, committing to the following: making HIV/AIDS a business priority; integrating HIV/AIDS communication across programme genres; providing for dedicated and substantial broadcast time to HIV/AIDS programming; and seeking co-production opportunities to extend the reach of HIV/AIDS messages.
Contact Allison McKenzie allisonm@kff.org
6.Blind Spots and Wasted Effort in Caribbean HIV/AIDS Policy Making: Communication and Behaviour Change
by Marjan de Bruin
Published in the June 2006 issue of Glocal Times, this article is an attempt to examine communication strategies for addressing HIV/AIDS through a policy analysis of the National Strategic Plans (NSPs) of Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados, the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) Regional Strategic Framework (RSF), and the PANCAP Regional Plan of Action for the Fight against HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean. De Bruin reviews several Caribbean policies, which identify HIV/AIDS as a "complex development problem" and tend to advocate for a multi-sectoral response. In terms of communication, however, de Bruin notes that the strategies identified tend to be simplistic (e.g. producing and disseminating information and communication materials [Jamaica] and partnering with the media advertising industry [Trinidad & Tobago]), or, when more complex [Barbados], they are not placed within a coherent or consistent framework.
7.Getting on with Life - Jamaica
In September 2006, Jamaica's Ministry of Health launched an HIV anti-stigma campaign, which is aimed at reducing the discrimination that is associated with the disease. Getting on with Life will involve the use of television and radio advertisements, posters and billboards which highlight the voices of HIV-positive Jamaicans in an effort to combat HIV/AIDS stigma and to encourage people to disclose their status to friends, co-workers, families, and neighbours. The strategy here involves communicating the stories of real people grappling with HIV/AIDS in an effort to help Jamaicans understand that the growing number of persons living with the disease "are like you and me, who have their lives to live, and wish to do so free from the stigma of HIV and free from any discrimination that may arise due to their HIV status." TV and radio public service announcements (PSAs) as well as posters and billboards are being used as tools to help offset the fear of stigma and discrimination, which can prevent people from getting tested, seeking treatment, or admitting their HIV status publicly, which can exacerbate the spread of the disease. By putting a "human face" on the disease, the campaign also strives to prevent human rights violations such as people with HIV being turned away from healthcare services, educational institutions, or employment, or being refused entry to foreign countries.
Contact webmaster@moh.gov.jm
8.Health Promotion Approach to Reducing Stigma and Discrimination: A Framework for Action
This health promotion framework summarises several options to be applied in the fight against stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean.
9.The Mainstreaming of HIV/AIDS Issues in the Caribbean Media: Addressing Stigma and Discrimination
by Wesley Gibbings
This document examines the positive and negative impacts of media reporting on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean, related to the quality of media content and production. The author cites studies that focus on the media "mainstreaming" of informational campaigns on HIV/AIDS and their impact on preventative behavioural changes. Gibbings discusses the nature of Caribbean broadcast media, analysing what social, cultural, and economic factors drive their development. Having provided this context, he moves to discussion of a survey conducted in preparation for the presentation of this document and resulting strategies and recommendations.
Also see:
10.Wan Lobi Tori: Lesley and Anne (A Love Story) - Suriname and Guyana
11.HIV/AIDS in The Caribbean Basin
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Pulse Poll
Do you agree or disagree?
The pace of technological change is outpacing older established organisations' ability to absorb and use the new tools for social change.
[For context, please see The Drum Beat #385.]
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JOIN A DISCUSSION
on the above topic - click here!
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SEXUAL/REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
12.El Sexo No Es Un Juego (Sex Is Not a Game) - Dominican Republic
The objective of this campaign was to encourage delaying the onset of sexual activity and to promote communication about sexuality between parents and their children between 10 and 14 years old. The national mass-media campaign used an animated group of friends to raise awareness and encourage discussion. This campaign had two parts - one designed to raise awareness among young people about sexual health and encourage the delay of first sexual activity, and the other to encourage parents to speak with their children about sex. The youth-focused campaign centred around a group of animated friends who spoke honestly and with humour about the consequences of having sex at an early age, as well as about the importance of talking about sex with parents. The campaign directed towards parents took the key message that "El Silencio es Peor" (Silence is Worse) and represented it in various support materials that were designed to encourage and enable parents to talk with their kids.
Contact info@psi.org
13.Dominican Republic and Mexico: Promote Condom Use by Emphasizing Personal Benefits
This report from the Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program seeks to show how research conducted in the Dominican Republic and Mexico helped these countries better understand the reasons for a higher usage of condoms than in many other places. From 2001 to 2003, the Population Council, the Interagency Gender Working Group, and the Moriah Fund supported studies which took place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to explore the behaviour of individuals who use condoms successfully. One recommendation to emerge from their collaborative research is that condom use initiatives promote the positive aspects of condom use and depict condom users as responsible role models.
14.Evaluating Information on Oral Contraceptive Use: A Randomized Controlled Trial to Assess Missed Pill Instructions
by D. Chin-Quee, E. Wong, and C. Cuthbertson
Published in Human Reproduction, this paper presents research designed to explore strategies for helping women understand what to do when they forget to take their daily contraceptive pill. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and carried out by Family Health International (FHI), this study found that unintended pregnancies could be reduced if instructions explaining the steps to take when pills are missed are communicated in graphic format, featuring simplified information. A randomised controlled trial was conducted with 864 current and past pill users of 21- and 28-day oral contraceptive pill packs at 12 sites in Kingston, Jamaica, to assess the comprehensibility of 4 types of instructions in graphic and text formats. Each participant was provided with scenarios of missed pills and one version of the instructions; they were then asked what they should do to avoid pregnancy. More than 60% of respondents knew what to do when one pill was missed, but most did not give correct answers for missing 2 or more pills in a row, regardless of the instruction type.
15.Is it Time to 'Promote' Sex in Schools?
by Brandon Allwood
This editorial argues that sex education and contraceptives are needed in schools in Jamaica and that students themselves are calling for this change. The focus of the argument is that prohibiting distribution of condoms in school and lack of sex education are not deterrents to student sexual activity, as shown by teen pregnancy rates and HIV/AIDS infection rates.
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DISCUSSION:
Strategic Communication for Behaviour Change Globally: The Power of the Media
March 26 - May 4 2007
Register by clicking here.
Sponsored by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)'s Division for Arab States, Europe and Central Asia together with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's INFO Project, the objective of this discussion is to share effective strategies in the area of popular culture and youth-led media for sexual and reproductive health promotion, drawing on Y-PEER's expanded, innovative partnerships (for more information on Y-PEER, please click here). The 6 weeks of discussion will cover channeling the power of the media to effectively implement strategic behaviour change communication, touching on young people in the spotlight through youth-led and interactive media, theatre and concerts, individual face-to-face testimonials and screen-to-screen dialogue, and radio-based interventions.
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You might also be interested in:
The Drum Beat - Issue #179 - "The Caribbean Region"
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EDUCATION
16.Yele Haiti - Haiti
Because the government of Haiti cannot afford to operate the school system, 95% of all schools in the country are fee-based. At present there are almost one million children and youth out of school, and an equal number are under constant threat of dismissal because their parents have trouble making regular payments. Launched in 2005, Yéle Haïti is an NGO established by multiple Grammy Award-winning hip hop musician Wyclef Jean to assist his native land through community- and arts/music-based projects. The organisation's mission is to use the combination of music and development to create small-scale, manageable, and replicable projects to contribute to Haiti's long-term progress in the areas of education and the environment, in particular. While the provision of funding and/or direct humanitarian assistance - e.g., school scholarships - is one component of Yéle Haïti's work, the organisation has also developed various communication strategies to get Haiti's citizens involved in learning about community problems and figuring out how to resolve them in collaborative ways. The use of music, especially of the hip hop variety, is mean to support the mission of helping to "project a new forward-thinking image that accurately reflects Haiti's youthful population and their unique and irrepressible spirit, which is an integral part of their culture."
Contact info@yele.org
17.Story-Telling Project for Early-childhood Parenting Support (STEPS) Project - Caribbean
Launched in early 2004, this is a 30-month initiative to meet the developmental needs of at-risk children (birth to age 8) in selected Caribbean territories through community-based projects drawing on storytelling. The lead agency - the Arts-in-Action Unit of the Centre for Creative and Festival Arts (University of the West Indies) - is liaising with, collaborating with, lending creative and technical support to, and coordinating the activities of local agencies in Belize, Cayman Islands, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. Interpersonal, face-to-face communication is the key means of building the capacity for the use of storytelling as a development tool. Specific project objectives include: to create a cadre of trainers in the field of story telling for parenting and early childhood development (ECD); to increase the use of, and awareness and appreciation for, storytelling in parenting, education and ECD; to collect and adapt culturally appropriate materials/stories for ECD, disseminating these materials to caregivers and parents, etc.; and to establish a regional network of storytellers.
Contact Samantha Pierre steps_aia2004@hotmail.com OR steps_aia2004@yahoo.com
Also see:
19.Lend Your Hand to Educating Jamaica's Children - Jamaica
20.Formative Research on Youth Peer Education Program Productivity and Sustainability
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DISCUSSION
Evaluating the Impact of Disseminating Advocacy and Communication Materials
Beginning on March 23, The CI will be hosting two evaluation and communication consultants (Wendy Quarry and Ricardo Ramirez) as moderators of a forum titled 'Evaluating the Impact of Disseminating Advocacy and Communication Materials: Real World Experience'. Wendy and Ricardo hope you will join them in a discussion designed to analyse experiences in the areas of planning, producing, disseminating and evaluating the impact of advocacy or communication materials.
The findings of this e-forum will contribute to a review they are preparing of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC)'s In_Focus projects. The discussion contributions themselves will remain permanently on The CI website discussion section.
We hope you'll be able to participate in an important discussion on how we measure the impact of the materials we create.
If you have further questions please feel free to contact:
Chris Morry cmorry@comminit.com
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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.
Please send material for The Drum Beat to the Editor - Deborah Heimann dheimann@comminit.com
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