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Warren Feek's blog

Presentation - Northern Nigeria QCA Research

Presentation by Dr. Sebastian Taylor: Principle Investigator - Local and Household Decision Making on Health in Northern Nigeria, Polio/Routine Immunization Research Insights. An innovative use of QCA methodology for health communication

Date and Venue: 26th May, 2015; 2-00pm to 4-30pm; in the MCSP Conference Room, 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Suite 300, Washington, DC, USA

To register and attend: Email me at wfeek@comminit.com

Understanding how local communities and households make health decisions is vitally important for the planning and implementation of health strategies that seek to engage those communities and households

Success in polio eradication means reaching every child with polio vaccines. Understanding reasons for vaccine refusals and missed children is at the heart of eradication and turning refusal households into households and communities approving and accepting immunization is critical for success. Too often health programs make incorrect assumptions about the underlying issues and decision patterns and select ineffective influencers to address chronic problems.

Dr. Taylor's innovative application of QCA research methodology seeks to gain an enhanced understanding of local and household decisions related to health in high risk areas of Northern Nigeria. Though there was a specific focus on Polio vaccination, with a related emphasis on Routine Immunization, the questions were structured to allow for more general insights related to the full range of health and development issues. As the polio eradication programme moves forward there is an increasing emphasis required on engaging some of the most challenging communities and households.

Update: Research Methodologies Event - March 16th, 2015

To: Participants - Research Methodologies Event- March 16th, 2015 at BBC Media Action.

From: Warren Feek - Executive Director - The Communication Initiative

NOTE: You may also have received an email version of below. Just want to make sure all communications are being received. Please let me know of any issues - thanks - Warren

INTERACTION TIME!

Best wishes. I very much look forward to working with you at this event in London in 2 weeks time! We are asking all participants to please commence the very important pre-meeting interaction. This week everyone is being asked (required!) to please share 2 contributions related to any of the links below - for example advance questions for the presenters, comments on the agenda, contacting other participants who may be of interest to your work (click Contact on their profiles when you are logged in), or seeking clarification on any of the administrative items. This note will be duplicated through email to check that you are receiving the platform messages OK. Please either enter your comments/questions through the links below when you are logged in or simply reply to this email and we will post for you.

Many thanks. We are trying to ensure that the 16th March is as relevant and useful as it can possibly be for you to gain added value for your important work. Please note that demand for this event has outstripped the meting room capacity. There are about 30 people who are disappointed by not being invited to attend. We look forward to see you at 8-30am sharp for the full day on Monday 16th March. Plus I understand BBC Media Action will host a reception at the end of the day's proceedings.

AGENDA: Credible Research Methodologies Dialogue - March 16th, 2015

To: Participants - Credible Research Methodologies - March 16th, 2015, BBC Media Action, BBC, London

From: Warren Feek - Executive Director - The Communication Initiative

Resending the agenda below as there is a clarification of the final session at 4-30pm. The agenda has been edited to include the new description. We have also added the reception on Monday evening. If you have not already done so, please send your two questions/comments. This link is a good place to start. Look forward to seeing everyone at the BBC Media Centre, White City on Monday. At reception please ask for Catharine Buckell - BBC Media Action - 07889-264-198 (mobile)

Many thanks for participating in this meeting on the 16th March, 2015. It will be excellent to have your knowledge and insights as we critique the presentations and collectively seek to build stronger research and evaluation related to the vital communication and media/social and behavioural elements for effective development action across all of our priorities.

The agenda follows.

If you log on to this community of practice platform you will be able to access background information/profiles on people who will attend or are otherwise involved in this event.

AGENDA - Research Methodologies - Communication and Media for Development; Social and Behavioural Change

Date: 16 March, 2015

Venue: Media Centre Boardroom, BBC Media Action, BBC London

CONTEXT: Local, national, and international development requires impact evidence.

How and where do you identify the knowledge and networks to improve your work?

To: The Communication Initiative's Children and Equity Network
From: Warren Feek - Executive Director - The Communication Initiative

Hi and best wishes. Just a quick prompt if I may to please ask you to complete the SURVEY: Knowledge and Networking Needs and Practices of People Engaged in Local, National, and International Development at this link.

The more people in the network who complete this survey, the better the data produced. The results will be shared with the network so that we can all benefit for all of our communications.

With many thanks for completing the survey - really appreciated.

Warren

How and where do you identify the knowledge and networks to imrpove your work?

To: The Communication Initiative's Media and Communication for Development Network
From: Warren Feek - Executive Director - The Communication Initiative

Hi and best wishes. Just a quick prompt if I may to please ask you to complete the SURVEY: Knowledge and Networking Needs and Practices of People Engaged in Local, National, and International Development at this link.

The more people in the network who complete this survey, the better the data produced. The results will be shared with the network so that we can all benefit for all of our communications.

With many thanks for completing the survey - really appreciated.

Warren

Schools. Communication, Children - South Sudan

To: The Children, Equity Network within The Communication Initiative

From: Kerida McDonald, UNICEF Senior Advisor, Communication for Development - New York

Last month, traveling on roads punctuated by armed soldiers, I attended a workshop on Conflict Sensitive Programming and Peacebuilding Message Development in Juba coordinated by the UNICEF South Sudan Communication for Development (C4D) and Education Sections, together with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology as well as the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.

South Sudan - the youngest independent nation in the world - recently emerged from decades of conflict only to erupt in an unprecedented outbreak of violence starting in December 2013. Since then, ethnic power struggles and heavy fighting have contributed to the displacement of more than 1.2 million people, including over 900,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and another approximately 300,000 people who are seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

Within this precarious context, education is pivotal to mitigate further conflict and promote lasting peace. UNICEF is supporting Communication for Development in peacebuilding as a social process that facilitates dialogue and meaningful conversations to reduce and prevent the risk of conflict or relapse into it.

Developing messages on peacebuilding

To generate themes for peacebuilding messages, workshop participants identified both drivers of conflict and possible "connectors" that might help to motivate people to put aside differences and work together. The group brainstormed on how to apply these elements towards development of a comprehensive Vision for South Sudan. Many children from neighboring schools participated actively in the discussions.

Test Blog - Children Communicating

Test blog - Children communicating

Assessing Media Development Effectiveness related to Democracy and Governance

To: The Media Development Network within The Communication Initiative Network

In the description of Sema Kenya, BBC Media Action outlines these three purposes for this initiative:

Create a national conversation...
Play an 'inform and educate' role ....
Increase the diversity of views in public debates....

In your opinion do those three elements constitute the key measurements for assessing the effectiveness of any media development initiative related to democracy and governance?

Thank you for engaging and sharing your critique, views, opinion, questions and analysis

*Please reply by email and/or click the Read More link below and comment online.

Our Right Stuff

To: The Children, Equity network within The Communication Initiative

How many times have you been asked to prove the "impact" of your programmes? It is of course a natural question. If we accept public funds. If we have the privilege of entering other communities and countries. If we profess to be "making a difference". Then we open ourselves up to the "show me" question. And we need answers.

But you do have to worry if the omnipresent nature of that question has pushed another vital element of the core rationale for development action into the margins? That we do things because they are the right thing to do.

It drives me just a little bit (more) bonkers when I see the justification for investing in girls' education being stronger, future, local and national economic development! If we could not make that correlation then we would not seek to ensure that girls have equal educational opportunities to boys?

On numerous occasions I am asked to provide the "impact" data for community action and engagement. Well, hello! Whose communities are they that we enter as strangers and within which we work? If we can not show the "impact" of community action and engagement strategies on anything from GDP growth to neo-natal mortality then what? Would it justify the Development community just wandering in and doing whatever "we" assess is best for "them".

RFP - Major Entertainment-Education Initiative - UNICEF India

To: The CHILDREN, EQUITY network network within The Communication Initiative platform

Request for Proposal - A Multi-Media Communication Series based on an Entertainment-Education Approach (72 episodes) on Gender and Adolescent Girls - UNICEF India

Please note that full details, including the background document and creative brief along with the contact person information for this RFP, are included as an attachment which is available through the Read More link below. (You will need to log in. Your user name is at the beginning of this note. There is a password recovery system. If you have any issues at all please just reply to this email,

UNICEF India is seeking proposals for the entertainment-education component of a multimedia communication series based on entertainment education. The goal of this communication initiative is to create a conducive environment so that adolescent girls and their immediate influencers are able to have an open and uninhibited dialogue about gender roles and norms. The deliverables include: a 72-episode (half-hour) entertainment education TV and radio series respectively; 5 pilot episodes for both TV and radio series developed and pretested; the 72 TV series episodes adapted for preview on mobile phones and tablets; and, an innovative, interactive and user-friendly social impact game/application.

A reminder that the attachment online has very detailed information concerning this opportunity. Thanks - Warren

PS - Apologies for posting to multiple networks. As this is such a major initiative we wish to ensure that all are aware so will risk a few email duplicates.

HIV/AIDS Communication