PROGRAMMES

1. National AIDS Control Programme, Phase II - India - from BBC World Service Trust, this project involves 2 long-running TV programmes, a radio magasine show, TV and radio spots, and an interactive video-based strategy to reach rural areas that combines community participation and health-service delivery. Year 1 will begin with a national press conference in June 2002 about the project and mass media promotional ads. In Year 2, the Trust will invite executives from both the private and public broadcast sector to attend India's first "Summit on the Media & AIDS". Panel discussions will be held on the role of social issues in popular TV and radio programming. Contact Natasha Montagu natasha.montagu@bbc.co.uk

2. Photojournalism Exhibition - East Timor - Internews sponsored a photography exhibition of works by East Timorese photojournalists in Dec 2001. The exhibit, televised by national broadcaster TV Timor Loro sa'e, used photography to communicate cultural messages about the East Timorese people. The event was the culmination of a 3-week intensive photojournalism training programme for 16 East Timorese newspaper professionals. The photojournalists produced a large format calendar for 2002 entitled "Finding Our Voice." Contact Martin Hadlow m.hadlow@unesco.org

3. Digital Divide Task Force Pilot Programmes - Ghana - At the meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Task Force proposed 3 initiatives to be piloted in Ghana. The projects include: an Internet Service Provider (ISP) experimenting with a business plan that would place telecenters in rural schools to provide students with free internet access; a team of Ghanaian NGOs installing used computers in 38 rural schools to connect them to the internet; and partnerships developed between 2 universities in Ghana in order to accomplish content adaptation, teacher training, and computer/network maintenance for neighboring primary and secondary schools. The Ghana Steering Committee is a private sector and NGO collaboration. Contact Timothy Anderson TAnderson@WorldComputerExchange.org

4. Studio Ijambo - Burundi - an independent radio studio that produces programmes to promote dialogue, peace, and reconciliation. The studio produces 28 programmes per week, which are broadcast on various state and private radio stations in the Great Lakes region. They employ Hutu and Tutsi staff to produce about 15 hours a week of programmes, offered in Burundi's national language, Kirundi, as well as in French, dealing with current events and processes related to Burundi's transitional period. Messages about social and political change are integrated into the development of characters and story lines. The website offers 5 weekly programmes in streaming audio. Contact Lena Slachmuijlder lenas@lantic.net

5. Zimbabwe Teachers Association Membership AIDS Education Project - Zimbabwe - ZIMTA and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have entered into a partnership in order to implement intervention strategies and activities to help curb the spread of HIV and AIDS among teachers in Zimbabwe. The initiative will mobilise teachers and principals through study sections that focus on the topic of initiating and sustaining change. Teachers are among the 3 groups infected at the highest rate in Zimbabwe (others are the army and the police). This phenomenon has led to a loss of experienced personnel and a decline in the quality of education.

6. Journey Through Life Radio Show - Ethiopia - a radio serial drama that began airing Nov 2001, designed to encourage young adults at risk to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancies by depicting characters engaging in either risky or safe sexual behavior. Developed by the National Office of Population in Ethiopia, the 26-episode series targets young married couples and unmarried adolescents in urban and semi-urban areas. Public health messages are interwoven throughout the series. Contact Kate Stratten kstratte@jhuccp.org

7. Men to Men Consultation on Gender Based Violence - Kenya - The African Women's Development & Communications Network (FEMNET) developed a consultation conference as part of their Men Against Gender-Based Violence initiative. The conference brought together 27 men from Kenya, Malawi, Namibia and South Africa. Sessions included a keynote address addressing the concept of male identity, a concept paper followed by open discussion, and country-specific presentations of programme achievements and challenges. Though emphasizing gender-specific dialogue, the conference included a session on "Men & Women Dialogue" that pointed to the value of facilitating discussion between women and men, and between boys and girls. Contact admin@femnet.or.ke

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IMPACT DATA

8. Impact Data - Arcandina - Ecuador - this national TV show to promote awareness of and mobilise support for environmental conservation among children and adolescents was broadcast weekly throughout the country. At the end of its first season in Dec 1997, 40 shows had been produced and were aired nationally and internationally. 8,400 phone calls were received by the TV show within 6 months. A pre- and post-evaluation with the control group revealed that students ages 6 to 12 who worked with the Arcandina curriculum in their classrooms for 6 months improved their knowledge of population and environment. Contact Marcela Aguilar maguilar@jhuccp.org

9. Impact Data - EQUITY Photovoice Project - South Africa - a participatory community assessment programme that enabled people to photograph and write narratives about community issues from their perspective and to communicate their findings to policymakers. Most participants had never done any community work before and had never worked in teams or groups. There is increasing awareness of problems, and resources available to address them. Project leaders, participants, and policymakers all commented that they see the problems identified in these photographs and narratives every day but tend to ignore them. Dissemination efforts have produced a newspaper article about the project as well as 4 exhibits. Contact Laura Lorenz llorenz@msh.org

STRATEGIC THINKING

10. Promoting youth employment through information and communication technologies - focus is on best practice examples from mainly Asia-Pacific ILO member countries of the use of ICTs to generate youth employment. The initiatives are presented against a background that acknowledges the differences in the technological and socio-economic capacity between countries...

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EVENTS

12. Bamako 2002 - Preparations for the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) - May 25-30 2002 - Mali

13. World Environment Day - Jun 5 2002 - Global

15. Mid-Year Meeting of the Advisory Group on Communication for Immunization and Polio Eradication - Jun 11-13 2002 - USA

16. Conference on Parents' role in girls' education: experience sharing between parents from the North and parents from the South - Jun 24-27 2002 - Burkina Faso

LINKS

17. Population and Reproductive Health Portal (POP/RH) - managed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), aims to be a community-built database of shared population information, including data, publications, research, projects, ideas and dialogue.

18. The CHANGE Project - develops and applies practical solutions to behavior change problems relevant to health and nutrition through collaborative partnerships with local governments, private voluntary agencies, non-governmental organisations and USAID cooperating agencies.

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