"This incisive Handbook critically examines the role and place of media and communication in development and social change, reflecting a vision for change anchored in values of social justice. Outlining the genealogy and history of the field, it then investigates the possible new directions and obje
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ctives in the area. Key conclusions include an enhanced role for development communication in participatory development, active agency of stakeholders of development programs, and the operationalization of social justice in development." (Publisher description)
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"The Handbook of Global Health Communication offers a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the role of communication processes in global public health, development and social change. It brings together 32 contributions from well-respected scholars and practitioners in the field, addressing a wid
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e range of communication approaches in current global health programs; offers an integrated view that links communication to the strengthening of health services, the involvement of affected communities in shaping health policies and improving care, and the empowerment of citizens in making decisions about health; ddopts a broad understanding of communication that goes beyond conventional divisions between informational and participatory approaches." (Publisher description)
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"The Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication—a South African multi-media health promotion project—together with the National Network on Violence Against Women, formulated an intervention to address domestic violence. Recognising that behavioural change interventions aimed so
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lely at individuals have limited impact, the intervention was designed to impact at multiple mutually reinforcing levels; individual, community and socio-political environment. The intervention and its evaluation results are presented. Soul City successfully reached 86%, 25% and 65% of audiences through television, print booklets and radio, respectively. On an individual level there was a shift in knowledge around domestic violence including 41% of respondents hearing about the helpline. Attitude shifts were also associated with the intervention, with a 10% increase in respondents disagreeing that domestic violence was a private affair. There was also a 22% shift in perceptions of social norms on this issue. Qualitative data analysis suggests the intervention played a role in enhancing women's and communities’ sense of efficacy, enabling women to make more effective decisions around their health and facilitating community action. The evaluation concluded that implementation of the Domestic Violence Act can largely be attributed to the intervention. While demonstrating actual reductions in levels of domestic violence was not possible, the evaluation shows a strong association between exposure to intervention components and a range of intermediary factors indicative of, and necessary to bring about social change. This paper reports on the evaluation, discusses its limitations and challenges as well as lessons learned regarding multi-level interventions on domestic violence." (Abstract)
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"This article describes the evaluation of the HIV/AIDS communication aspect of the multi media Soul City health promotion intervention in South Africa. The intervention consists of a television and radio drama and print material. The evaluation was multifaceted with a before and after national surve
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y and a national qualitative study. In the before and after survey change was measured and then multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the variables associated with the change. The qualitative study consisted of focus group discussions, which were analysed thematically. The studies show that there are numerous instances of community change and how the change is mediated at the community level. The studies also describe the change at a number of levels of the described behaviour change model for individuals." (Abstract)
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"This collection of eighteen essays of uneven richness underserved by an overly thin two-page introduction brings together some of the best known names in Development Communication in an attempt to understand African aspirations, experiences, challenges and the place of communication in development.
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Coming at this stage in a debate that has generated much conventional and critical scholarship, one would have expected the editors to aim at much more than simply providing space for contributors to offer "a fillip and not necessarily a panacea for development" (Page x). The "desirable and useful" (Page x) approaches the book explores would certainly have served their purpose better, within a framework of the need to critically rethink conventional scholarly assumptions about communication and development, especially in relation to Africa [...] Nonetheless, a good number of the contributions competently discuss competing perspectives on development communication (e.g. Pye, Servaes, Jacobson), drawing attention to how practices on and in Africa have tended to impair or enhance the participatory and emancipatory potential of development communication. Some focus closely on communication technologies and their applications (e.g., de Beer, Melkote and Steeves, Eribo), advocating strategies and approaches informed by varying degrees of faith in the capacity of modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) to transform individuals and societies in the name of development. Most of the book makes a strong, even if not always substantiated or negotiated, case for the importance of "indigenous African cultures," if media and communication practices are to adequately serve and service African thirsts for development (Asante, Mazrui and Okigbo, Okigbo, Hachten, Stevenson, Amienyi, Akhahenda, Moemeka, Singhal et al., Okumu, Nganje and Blake). A conscious effort to engage similar debates in anthropology and cultural studies for example, could have yielded further insights." (https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10843)
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"The Johns Hopkins University Population Communication Services (JHU/PCS) project has been the Office of Population’s leading project for communication and behavior change since 1982. Now working under its fourth cooperative agreement* with USAID, JHU/PCS and its subcontractors provide technical a
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nd financial support for communication projects in all stages of design, implementation, and assessment, including audience identification, message design, determination of appropriate media mix, materials development, and program evaluation. Previous versions of the PCS project (i.e., those carried out under the first three PCS projects) emphasized production of and training for the development of posters, brochures, flip charts, and other materials for providers and facilities materials which were largely lacking at that time. The earlier projects also pioneered the use of mass media, music, and drama for family planning and health promotion. The design of the current PCS project recognizes the importance of community mobilization and interpersonal communication and counseling (IPC/C), and incorporates all three elements in a three-pronged strategy wherever possible. In addition to these planned additional areas of responsibility, PCS IV has become increasingly involved in functional areas that were not anticipated when it was awarded in 1995. These include child survival (including polio eradication), prevention of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), environmental health, and—representing the most obvious departure from the project’s traditional orientation—democracy and governance. PCS has assumed responsibility for virtually all of these unanticipated new tasks in response to field support–funded requests from USAID Missions. Indeed, the field support–driven nature of the PCS project is one of its central characteristics. At present, approximately 80 percent of PCS funds are derived from Mission field support funds—a substantial portion of which (approximately 30 percent) has been provided to address communication needs in the areas beyond family planning/reproductive health noted above. The evaluation presented herein was designed to assess JHU/PCS performance in meeting the objectives set forth in the current cooperative agreement, as well as to examine the project’s effectiveness in responding to these new and unforeseen challenges. The evaluation team was asked to review the tools and methodology that JHU/PCS and its partners apply to these tasks, as well as the communication science that underlies PCS’s strategic approach." (Executive summary)
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