Sections

OneLove Campaign: Youth Perceptions on the Bwana Ishi and Tuli Sketches Featured in Fema TV Talk Show

aventh — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:38:03 -0800

Midterm Assessment: A Community Empowerment Success Story: Nigerian Communities Taking Action to Improve Health and Education

aventh — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:10:55 -0800

Soul Buddyz - Tomorrow Is Ours: Evaluation Report 2008

aventh — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:41:34 -0700

Impact Data - Soul Buddyz [2001 Data]

dheimann — Thu, 31 Jul 2003 06:12:54 -0700

Impact Data - Soul Buddyz [2001 Data]

Country

South Africa

Date

December 15, 2001

Stop The Bus! I Want To Get On: Lessons From Campaigns to End Violence Against Women in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Ghana

aventh — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:43:56 -0700

The Effectiveness of Mass Media in Changing HIV/AIDS-related Behaviour among Young People in Developing Countries

kdevries — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 10:54:33 -0700

"Given that adolescents are so attuned to mass media for information and cues about how to behave, the media have tremendous potential for reaching them with messages about HIV and AIDS..."

This 37-page report reviews the strength of the evidence for the effects of 3 types of mass media interventions (radio only, radio with supporting media, or radio and television with supporting media) on HIV/AIDS-related behaviour among young people in developing countries. Its purpose is to assess whether these interventions - defined here as "any programmes or other planned, time-limited efforts that have the explicit goal of changing knowledge, attitudes and behaviours that are related to preventing the transmission of HIV and that disseminate messages among an intended population through channels that reach a broad audience" such as radio, television, video, and/or printed materials - reach the threshold of evidence needed to recommend widespread implementation.

The authors evaluate the strategy of using mass media of various types to address HIV/AIDS among youth through a systematic review of studies published or released between 1990 and 2004. Studies were included if they evaluated a mass media campaign that had the main objective of providing information about HIV/AIDS or sexual health (8 quality criteria were developed and applied for methodological rigour). To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to use a pre-intervention versus post-intervention design or an intervention versus control design, or had to analyse cross-sectional data comparing those who had been exposed to the campaign with those who had not been exposed. Studies also had to comprehensively report quantitative data for most of the "outcomes of interest" - which as identified here included:

increase awareness and knowledge of information on how to avoid HIV infection
increase access to the skills needed to avoid HIV infection (measured, by self-efficacy)
increase access to the health services needed to avoid HIV infection (measured by awareness and use of services)
decrease young people's vulnerability to HIV (measured by more accurate perceptions of personal risk, and changes in social norms)
decrease HIV prevalence (measured by its proximate behavioural determinants, such as use of condoms)

Of the 15 programmes identified, 11 were from Africa, 2 from Latin America, 1 from Asia, and 1 from multiple countries. One programme used radio only, 6 used radio with supporting media, and 8 others used television and radio with supporting media. The data support the effectiveness of mass media interventions to increase the knowledge of HIV transmission, to improve self-efficacy in condom use, to influence some social norms, to increase the amount of interpersonal communication, to increase condom use and to boost awareness of health providers. The studies reviewed in this article did not tend to show significant effects with regard to creating awareness that healthy looking people may have HIV/AIDS or improving self-efficacy in terms of abstinence. They also did not show significant
effects in terms of increasing the proportion of adolescents who delay their first sexual experience or decreasing the number of sexual partners.

Based on these findings, the authors conclude that mass media programmes - particularly those that are comprehensive - can be valuable in influencing HIV-related outcomes among young people, although not on every variable or in every campaign. They note that campaigns which include television require the highest threshold of evidence, yet they also yield the strongest evidence of effects. They also observe that - when comparing interventions that use radio together with other media, on the one hand, and those that use radio and television together with other media, on the other - "for most outcomes, the two types of interventions showed a surprisingly similar pattern....It might be tempting to conclude that radio used with other media can produce the same results as radio and television used with other media. However, this
presupposes that the settings for the different mass media programmes are comparable; this is a tenuous assumption...." They stress that "Given that television is generally more costly than radio...radio used with other media may be a valuable means of reaching young people when budgets are constrained....Thus, our findings...point to the value of both, depending on the media habits and preferences of the intended audience and the costs involved in programming."

The authors conclude with a chart identifying several recommendations: for policy-makers
(e.g., large-scale campaigns must be closely coordinated with other interventions
(such as those that are school- or clinic-based) to maximise their effects), for programme development and delivery staff (e.g., mass media interventions should be tailored for young people, and campaign materials should be pre-tested among young people), and for researchers (e.g., recognise that randomized controlled trials are not the method of choice for evaluating full-coverage mass media programmes. Instead, use strong quasi-experimental designs and analytic approaches that build a case for inferring causality.) They also discuss a few of the factors that either facilitate or obstruct effective HIV/AIDS-related media campaigns for youth, such as cultural sensitivities and availability of local talent (to develop the entertainment-education intervention).

Note: This article is Chapter 7 of the World Health Organization (WHO) publication Preventing HIV/AIDS in Young People: A Systematic Review of the Evidence from Developing Countries - ed. David A. Ross, Bruce Dick & Jane Ferguson. To access it online, click here for the full book in PDF format; this chapter begins on page 205 of the publication.

Theatre for Life: Health Information, Community Mobilisation and Child Rights - A Qualitative Evaluation

aventh — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:45:44 -0700

Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Mass Communication Programs to Change HIV/AIDS-related Behaviors in Developing Countries

kdevries — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 09:06:53 -0700

"Even though international donor agencies and governments have invested millions of dollars in different types of communication interventions in developing countries, relatively few have been subjected to any type of rigorous evaluation to date..."

This 31-page resource examines the effectiveness of 24 mass media interventions from developing countries in changing HIV-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours. It provides data on a question that may shape the nature and direction of the work of HIV/AIDS programme managers, communication researchers, donor agency staff, and others: to what extent do communication programmes impact HIV/AIDS-related behaviours? In short, it examines the strategy of using mass media interventions to effect change in the HIV/AIDS arena. The authors distinguish between "broadcast" interventions, which include radio and/or television, and "small media" with more local reach (e.g., posters, pamphlets, audio programming, dramas, and puppet shows) that tend to be face-to-face, interactive, and community-based, with greater involvement of local stakeholders.

Following a concise presentation of the conceptual framework of this research - that is, how communication programmes are expected to change HIV-risk behaviours - the authors discuss the research methodology. In short, they selected intervention studies that were published from 1990 through 2004, that reported data from developing countries, and that compared outcomes using (i) pre- and post-intervention data, (ii) treatment versus control (comparison) groups or (iii) post-intervention data across levels of exposure. The research reviewed here represents experiences from around the globe, with the largest concentration of studies from Africa (12), followed by Asia (7) and Latin America and the Caribbean (5). The authors then selected a subset of 7 variables for purposes of this review:

knowledge of HIV transmission
perceived personal risk of contracting HIV/AIDS
self-efficacy to negotiate condom use or protect oneself
discussion with others about HIV/AIDS or condom use
abstinence from sexual relations
reduction in high-risk sexual behaviour
condom use

The most frequently reported outcomes were condom use (17 studies) and knowledge of modes of HIV transmission (15), followed by reduction in high-risk sexual behaviour (8), perceived risk of contracting HIV/AIDS (6), interpersonal communication about AIDS or condom use (6), self-efficacy to negotiate condom use (4) and abstaining from sexual relations (3). The results yielded mixed results; on most of the outcomes examined across studies, the authors found no statistically significant impact. Where statistically significant, the effect size was small to moderate (in some cases as low as 1-2% point increase). However, on 2 of the 7 outcomes, at least half of the studies did show a positive impact of the mass media:

knowledge of HIV transmission - example: "After watching an educational theater performance, subjects of Trykker et al...significantly increased their 'rejection' of incorrect modes of transmission, such as 'using secondhand clothes from a person having AIDS' (48-68%), 'drinking from the same cup as a person having AIDS' (42-60%) and 'kissing a person having AIDS' (26-37%)."
reduction in high-risk sexual behaviour - example: Peltzer et al...found that those exposed to the Soul City campaign in South Africa had significantly fewer non-commercial and commercial sex partners in the past year."

The authors stress that the studies included in this review "do not capture the current state-of-the art for mass media campaigns for HIV/AIDS prevention....The current analysis did not include a single study that evaluated what communication experts would consider a comprehensive behavior change program: one that uses the full gamut of media".

The Discussion section includes various reflections on a question that is beyond the scope of this paper: what makes some campaigns more effective than others? The authors explain some of the methodological challenges prohibiting the honing of techniques for establishing "what works" in the context of efforts to evaluate media-centred HIV/AIDS programmes designed to change social norms or behaviours in developing countries. They conclude that "This review...underscores the need for researchers working in this area to ensure that their work finds its way into the published literature to help us better understand (i) the outcomes on which communication programs have the greatest effect, (ii) the magnitude of these effects, (iii) the elements of a communication program that contribute to its effectiveness and (iv) the cost effectiveness of communication programs in HIV/AIDS prevention. Given the emergence of communication programs with national scope in many developing countries, we need further evaluation of programs that go to scale and refinements in the methodologies for evaluating such programs when randomization of subjects is not an option..."

Click here to access a related peer-reviewed summary on the Health e Communication website, and to participate in peer review.

Through Our Eyes: Participatory Video in West Africa

kdevries — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:08:50 -0800

Impact of FilmAid Programs in Kakuma, Kenya: Final Report

aventh — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:20:22 -0700

A Mobile Cinema Experience in Niger: Reach and Impact

aventh — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 04:43:52 -0800

Malawi Teacher Training Activity: HIV and AIDS School Club Initiative (HASCI) Assessment Report

aventh — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:18:48 -0700

Impact Data - Soul Buddyz 2

nombuso — Tue, 02 May 2006 05:39:17 -0700

Impact Data - Soul Buddyz 2

Country

South Africa

Date

December 15, 2005

Communication for Polio Eradication: Presentations from the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) Meeting in 2005

dheimann — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 07:50:36 -0700

The summaries and presentations below were part of a June 2005 joint United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)/World Health Organisation (WHO) meeting dedicated to examining communication in the context of the final global push to eradicate polio. At this meeting, country-specific presentations were made by communication practitioners in 16 of the 21 countries which have experienced cases of wild poliovirus in 2004 and/or in 2005 (to June). The total number of global poliovirus cases increased from 784 cases in 2003 to 1,255 cases in 2004, with 1,004 cases reported to August 9 2005 (548 for the same period in 2005). Communication strategies presented at this meeting were primarily focused on:

Analysing the results of programmes implemented to June 2005, and
Detailing the planned communication programme for the next 6 to 12 month period, designed to support a reversal of the above trend and achievement of the goal of eradicating polio worldwide.

Presentations and Summaries

Polio Eradication Initiative Overview

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation as a PDF file.

Summary Report

Click here for a copy of the English report as a PDF file in English.

Click here for a copy of the report as a PDF file in French.

Afghanistan

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for Afghanistan as a PDF file [in English].

Benin

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for Benin as a PDF file [in French].

Burkina Faso

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for Burkina Faso as a PDF file [in French].

Cameroon

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for Cameroon as a PDF file [in French].

Central African Republic (CAR)

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for the Central African Republic (CAR) as a PDF file [in French].

Chad

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for Chad as a PDF file [in French].

Côte d'Ivoire

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for as a PDF file [in French].

Egypt

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for Egypt as a PDF file [in English].

Guinea

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for Guinea as a PDF file [in French].

India

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for India as a PDF file [in English].

Mali

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for Mali as a PDF file [in French].

Niger

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for Niger as a PDF file [in French].

Nigeria

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for Nigeria as a PDF file [in English].

Pakistan

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for Pakistan as a PDF file [in English].

Sudan

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for Sudan as a PDF file [in English].

Yemen

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation for Yemen as a PDF file [in English].

Post Eradication Working Group Report

Click here for a summary of the presentation [in English].

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation as a PDF file [in English].

Changing Gender Norms Among Women and Men in Uganda

aventh — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:02:18 -0700

Preventing Student Pregnancy in Guinea's Forest Region

kdevries — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:25:08 -0700

Study of Parents Perception of the TV-Series 'Soul Buddyz 1' Across Race

nombuso — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 03:30:31 -0800

This 60-page document details the purpose, methodology, and results of a reception study exploring how parental viewers from specific racial groups in Johannesburg, South Africa perceived the TV series Soul Buddyz 1. Produced by Soul City and SABC Education, this series is a multi media "edutainment" vehicle that aims to promote the health and well-being of children 8-12 years old. The study explores how Soul Buddyz 1 encouraged and became part of communication between parents and their children. The research was carried out as a qualitative study based on focus group interviews.

Excerpts from the Conclusion - organised around each of the aims of the study - follow:

"1) To explore why parents watched Soul Buddyz 1 and what they got out of it.

The parents had watched Soul Buddyz 1 because they found the programme entertaining and educational. A lot of them felt that they were being educated alongside with their children...

Another reason for watching was that the parents felt that...they could reflect themselves as parents in relation to the parent/child relationships represented on Soul Buddyz 1 and that the programme provided them with insight into ‘a children’s world’....

What especially made Soul Buddyz 1 provide useful solutions and models for action in the eyes of the parents was the programmes close relation to their own and their children’s life circumstances....It was this relevance and authenticity that made the parents able make use of the models for action that Soul Buddyz 1 represented as they could mirror themselves and their children in the narratives.

2) To explore how Soul Buddyz 1 encouraged communication between the parents and their children....

According to the parents Soul Buddyz 1 had instigated discussions between parents and children related to the narratives and the issues taken up. Soul Buddyz 1 was imbedded in the communication between parents and children as a reference point for ‘truth’ that provided explanations and functioned as an authority regarding moral judgements.

The programme had fuelled communication between parents and children by introducing issues relevant to people’s life circumstances into their living rooms....Especially in relation to sex education the parents emphasised that Soul Buddyz 1 had helped creating a greater openness because the programme had worked as an ice-breaker subsequently making it easier to talk. The parents felt that Soul Buddyz 1 had...made them see things from their children’s perspective and as such made the parents feel better equipped to deal with them. Hence Soul Buddyz 1 was...able to bridge this generation gap, by speaking ‘modern children’s language’ and by providing parents with a trust in their children’s abilities to cope with the challenges ahead of them.

3) To explore whether there were any differences in the way the series was perceived across race.

Soul Buddyz 1 had the capacity to speak to the parents from all the race groups included in this study. It was largely perceived the same way - the parents more or less emphasised the same things in relation to the series and there were not any great differences in the way the parents related to the issues taken up. They all felt the issues taken up were relevant to their children and to themselves...

4) To explore how parents related to the values espoused by Soul Buddyz 1

...Soul Buddyz 1 was regarded as a programme that reinforced morals and values that helped keeping the society together and helped equipping the children to stay clear of social problems.

Soul Buddyz 1 was appreciated for espousing values such as unity, support, openness, accept and respect. The programme was perceived to look to the future and communicate to ‘the new generation’. In this respect the values espoused by Soul Buddyz 1 were perceived to create a supportive environment for children to grow up in and to encourage unity between people across race and socio-economic backgrounds....

Soul Buddyz 1 was highly valued for its capacity to both criticise culture and provide cultural identity....This ‘cultural flexibility’ was seen as a value that was necessary to adopt in today’s South Africa.

5) To explore how parents perceived the way Soul Buddyz 1 dealt with sex education.

...The parents regarded the programme to provide children with the needed information to know their bodies and they didn’t perceive the education children got from Soul Buddyz 1 to encourage them to have sex...

The parents all felt that their children should know about sex. The need for openness about sex was especially associated with the threat of HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, and sexual abuse...

The parents perceived their children in general to be very exposed to sex in the public space. This greater exposure to sex and as such also the sex education on Soul Buddyz 1, had made it easier for the parents to speak to their children about sex. On the other hand however, they felt that this greater exposure to sex was also what had pushed the openness...

Communicating into this field, the parents perceived Soul Buddyz 1 as a programme that could be trusted for reliable information and as a programme that educated their children in a responsible manner..."

Soul City 4 Evaluation

dheimann — Sun, 01 Oct 2000 00:00:00 -0700

1.BACKGROUND

Series 4 Components

Author: Shereen Usdin

Highlights of Soul City Series 4

Author: Sue Goldstein

Soul City 4 Evaluation Advisory Panel Workshop

2. EVALUATION DESIGN

Impact Evaluation Soul City 4 - Overview

Authors: Esca Scheepers, Sue Goldstein and Shereen Usdin

Evaluation of Soul City in partnership with the National Network on Violence Against Women (NNVAW)

Author: Nicola Christofides, Women's Health Project

Sentinel Site Studies, and (National) Qualitative Impact Assessment

Author: Katharine Hall & Karen Daniels, Social Surveys

An evaluation of the (broader) environmental/ societal impact of Soul City: Primarily from an institutional / organisational point of view

Author: Matthew J Smith, Strategy and Tactics

Media Monitoring and Analysis

Author: Esca Scheepers & Nicola Christofides

Cost Effectiveness Study

Author: Debbie Muirhead, Centre for Health Policy

National Survey

Author: Tanya Samuels et al, The Community Agency for Social Enquiry

National Survey Analysis

Author: Dhaval S. Patel

3. ILLUSTRATIVE RESULTS

Soul City 4 - Illustrative Results

Assessing Community Change: Development of a ‘Bare Foot’ Impact Assessment Methodology

kdevries — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 05:19:27 -0700

Media Development Indicators

jlevy — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:54:44 -0800

Media Development Indicators

A Framework for Assessing Media Development

Family Planning Around Environmentally Sensitive Regions in Madagascar

kdevries — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:39:36 -0700

Innovative Practices of Youth Participation in Media

kdevries — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 10:42:20 -0800

A Participatory Assessment of Ashreat Al Amal, an Entertainment-Education Radio Soap Opera, in the Sudan

aventh — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:43:41 -0700

Crime Prevention and Morality: The Campaign for Moral Regeneration in South Africa

kdevries — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 05:13:09 -0800

Published by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), a non-profit regional research institute operating across sub-Saharan Africa, this 32-page report charts the development and effectiveness of a national crime prevention campaign initiated by former President Nelson Mandela in 1997 through an engagement with religious leaders of various faiths in South Africa.

Officially launched in April 2002 in a high-profile ceremony including over a thousand people from government, parliament, provincial legislatures, political parties, religious organisations, traditional structures, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM) originated through the establishment of an NGO which was funded by the government. As detailed here, the MRM has, since that time, evolved in various ways - with various degrees of effectiveness. The purpose of this document is to trace the evolution of MRM's messages - which have taken on political, religious and secular, ethical, and nation-building aspects - and to explore the campaign's impact on rebuilding the social fabric in post-apartheid South Africa.

The hallmark of this campaign is its rooting in messages that make explicit appeals to morals, values or ethics as part of a strategy to address a particular conflict-related development issue: crime. This approach reflects one of the 4 "pillars" articulated by the 1996 National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) - one that focused on public values and education, with the intention of tackling "the prevailing moral climate within communities, the attitudes towards crime, and the tolerance towards crime". The approach taken was that moral regeneration could be accomplished through an ideological/political "campaign" designed to stimulate a mass mobilisation through which a large number of people and organisations would unite against a common enemy: moral malaise and criminality.

Despite its valiant intentions, the MRM initiative has suffered from a lack of clarity about both its mission and its strategy - according to this evaluation. To begin, the speakers at the launch did not provide any guidance on exactly how "the people" could get actively involved in moral regeneration; approximately a year was spent on setting up the organisation and generating a vision of its role. Further, "a definition of what kinds of moral issues to focus on, and the drawing of any clear lines about what constitutes 'immoral behaviour' has not even been possible" within the MRM, the evaluation finds. The author also notes that, while over time campaign materials became less explicitly religious in phrasing, MRM is still associated with a religious initiative, and perhaps for that reason still viewed with some skepticism by those who are uncomfortable with the language and practice of organised religion.

As explained here, the movement also suffered from failed attempts to collaborate with existing crime
prevention initiatives (e.g., the 1996 NCPS) and - while MRM has engaged occasionally with
other government anti-crime campaigns - efforts to build meaningful civil society participation in the campaign have fallen short. "The campaign’s failures to engage with non-state initiatives are significant lost opportunities. They may, once again, be a result of the organisation's limited capacity and consequent failures to build effective networks, or may be related to the campaign's own uncertainty and ambiguity about the role of NGOs and civil society."

Efforts undertaken in mid-2004 to re-vision the campaign to avoid perpetuating these difficulties involved grassroots mobilisation and facilitation work such as awareness-raising workshops held all over the country, but this advocacy work "was hard to quantify and its impact hard to demonstrate. Little had been achieved in the critical arena of public communication...." In response, the new board of the MRM, in its presentation at the 2004 First Annual Conference, recommended that the MRM office become more focused on advocacy work, an effort which is detailed here. In short, this new direction was underpinned by an implicit acknowledgement that there is a need to advocate around moral regeneration issues, rather than assuming (as had been the case in earlier incarnations of the campaign) that there was organic public support for these issues.

According to the author, one key challenge facing MRM in moving forward is whether this campaign can be sustained as a civil society initiative in the absence of a popular, organic support base. The movement also faces the problem of defining and identifying activities as morally regenerative; it will be extremely difficult, the author predicts, to empirically demonstrate that its activities actually enhance morality. Along these lines - and more broadly - the report also considers whether a largely ideological campaign of this type can deliver meaningful results in terms of strengthening social fabric and reducing crime.

Improving Breastfeeding Practices on a Broad Scale at the Community Level: Success Stories From Africa and Latin America

nombuso — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 01:13:15 -0700