Report on the recent review of communication reviews

The Communication Initiative together with UNICEF have just released a report that captures the perspectives of people who have been involved in various ways in polio communication reviews over the past several years. These people are senior polio programme staff, government officials, former communication review panelists, representatives of foundations and bi-lateral funders and front line polio programme staff.

Their views capture not only essential elements that have made past reviews successful but also areas that need to be strengthened if future reviews are to continue to be relevant to the programme. Some of the key recommendations from the report are:

• panel members need more time in the field to improve their understanding of ground level challenges and realities;
• greater emphasis should be placed on selecting panelists with the appropriate mix of skills including experience in the programme, understanding the country context and knowledge of local realities;
• more time has to be set aside for a full discussion of findings and recommendations between programme partners, staff and panelists;
• greater accountability for monitoring and implementation of recommendations;
• communication review reports need to be shared quickly and widely with all partners to build broad support and understanding of communication programmes and strategies;
• and more continuity should be developed between reviews to improve analysis and tracking of recommendations".

You can read a full summary of the report and download the complete report at: http://www.comminit.com/polio/content/looking-backlooking-forward-survey-results

Let us know what you think. Are these recommendations sufficient to ensure communication reviews remain relevant to the polio programme in its end game?