The Drum Beat 417 - Highest Priority Development Focus?

from The Communication Initiative...global forces...local choices...critical voices...telling stories...

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In a world in which there are so many development issues - and so many of those issues are so complex and difficult - it is vital to prioritise. That prioritisation imperative becomes even more crucial given limited financial and personnel resources at all levels - from local communities to the United Nations and bilateral, government, and foundation board rooms.

At The CI we are very interested in learning, sharing, and communicating your opinions about the major priorities - your individual views and the collective 'vote' of the network!

While we can all rattle off a long list of priorities, it sharpens the individual and collective experience to identify the number one priority.

And of course we have a particular interest in the communication and media perspective on what those development priorities might be. Too often we, as a community, react to the priorities set by others - economists, scientists, epidemiologists, etc. But what are our priorities?

This is the intent and the focus of the main poll on the top right of our front page. A number of options are given. Please vote and express your opinion. At the time of this writing over 260 votes have been received and the relative percentages of the votes can be seen - but you will need to vote in order to see those results!

After voting, please outline the reasons for your choice and any further analysis or comments you may have by joining in the Drum Beat Chat Forum. Register by clicking here, and either participate online or send your contributions via email to drumbeatchat@comminit.com (you must be registered to participate). If connectivity is an issue for you, you may also send your contact information via email to the moderator, Deborah Heimann - dheimann@comminit.com - who can assist you with the registration process.

So - what will it be? Democracy, HIV/AIDS, poverty, trade barriers, local analysis and action, co-ordination, corruption...or something else - natural resource management, children, overall health, rights, gender or others??

The knowledge summarised below, shared by others in the Drum Beat network, is structured around the core poll options. We hope this knowledge is supportive of and helpful to your work, encourages you to complete the poll at the top right of our website, and prompts you to submit your views to the Drum Beat Chat Forum.

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PRIORITY: ADVANCING DEMOCRACY

1.Tonga.Online - Zambia, Zimbabwe
This project uses media, information and communication technology (ICT) and art to address the development needs of Tonga people living along the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. Initiated by the Austria Zimbabwe Friendship Association (AZFA) in Linz, Austria, in close collaboration with Kunzwana Trust, Harare, the project goal is to promote a Tonga voice on the internet and to provide the Tonga minority with advanced information and communication tools. According to organisers, Tonga.Online serves to bridge the gap in technological development in less-developed countries (LDCs), and thus encourages an exchange of cultural and intellectual goods that can empower the less fortunate and enrich the empowered. "The project reflects the divide and uneven development in the 'global village'. Its gaps and imbalances are not only a question of resources but also of access and the capacity to use modern communication tools. Access has become a crucial question of political rights too."
Contact Peter Kuthan argezim@silverserver.at OR Pottar Muzamba kunzwana@mweb.co.zw OR Penny Yon maryyon@mweb.co.zw

2.Covering Freedom of Expression: Resources for Journalists - Latin America
This was a 3-year initiative by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) that aimed to increase awareness of freedom of expression issues throughout Latin America. ICFJ conducted a series of workshops in the capital cities of 22 Latin American countries, giving journalists skills and tools to better report on freedom of the press. According to ICJF, increasing public awareness of the importance of a free press can strengthen democracy, bolster freedom, and help protect human rights. A free and independent media can be directly linked to less corruption, better economic policies, and stronger financial markets as well as greater political rights and services for citizens. This was the basis on which the Covering Freedom of Expression: Resources for Journalists project was developed.
Contact Luis Botello or Lucia Miglionico libertad-prensa@icfj.org

PRIORITY: EFFECTIVE HIV/AIDS ACTION

3.HIV Awareness Games
The South African social enterprise company CompuTainer has developed an edutainment initiative involving the creation of a deck of playing cards and various board games in an effort to raise levels of HIV and AIDS awareness in the workplace, home, and community centres throughout Africa. This initiative revolves around the use of games to stimulate people to learn, talk, and retain information about HIV and AIDS - particularly for use as a teaching tool for those seeking to open discussions with pre-teens and teens about how HIV and AIDS works, and how to prevent infection.
Contact Mark Van der Merwe markvdm@telkomsa.net

4.Antiretroviral Drugs for All? Obstacles in Accessing Treatment: Lessons from India
by Anushree Mishra
According to this 123-page document from Panos India, access to antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) has become the subject of a major debate in India. As a result of campaigns by civil society activists and groups of HIV-positive people, as well as commitments at national and international levels, today more people in India have access to ARVs than two years ago. Yet, as stated in this report, a collection of viewpoints by journalists from 14 Indian states indicates that a great majority of people living with HIV/AIDS, particularly the most marginalised, still cannot obtain these drugs. This report, part of a worldwide study conducted by the Panos Global AIDS Programme, contains a collection of articles from 14 states and union territories in India on issues around access to ARVs.

5.Positive Women: Access to Care and Treatment Theatre Campaign - Zimbabwe
This theatre campaign aims to promote gender equality and to advocate for improvements in the availability and accessibility of care and treatment services on the part of resource-poor HIV-positive women in Gokwe South Rural District of Zimbabwe. Live performance is used in an effort to create community awareness about the gender discrimination that affects access to treatment for many rural women. Positive Women: Access to Care and Treatment is an initiative of the Nhimbe Trust (NT), a theatre for development (TFD) non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Bulawayo.
Contact Joshua Nyapimbi ntfd@mweb.co.zw

PRIORITY: REAL ANTI-POVERTY PROGRESS

6.Deepening Voice and Accountability to Fight Poverty
This 11-page summary note is from a conference in France of 80 representatives from government, civil society, think tanks, and media organisations in developing countries, as well as representatives from multilateral and bilateral donor agencies, academic institutions, and international civil society organisations. They participated in a dialogue about deepening voice and accountability to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of national poverty reduction strategies. Conference sponsors were the Department for International Development (DFID), The World Bank Group (WB), and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

7.World Bank Campaign - Europe
Launched in early 2007 by a coalition of European NGOs, this advocacy campaign uses ICT and in-person events to gather European voices together to call on their governments to ensure that development aid is spent in the interests of the world's most impoverished people. Specifically, the campaign involves an online petition urging European governments to put pressure on the World Bank to undertake substantive reforms in the areas of economic policy reform and fossil fuel lending.
Contact contact@worldbankcampaigneurope.org OR Juliane Westphal jwestphal@eurodad.org

8.Jirapa Project - Ghana
Run by the RAY Foundation, a Ghanaian-Italian NGO, this project aims to tackle rural poverty by supporting orphans through the use of ICT. The initiative is an effort to equip Jirapa orphanages with telecentres featuring tools that nurture orphans and help them become village leaders and micro-entrepreneurs. The RAY Foundation believes that orphans are fundamental in creating human capital to stimulate and self-sustain a village. The Foundation's activities include:

• building orphanages equipped with modern schooling facilities, including AC generators, access to drinking water, and telemedicine programmes;
• integrating children's national curricula with vocational training programmes in village enterprising and management; and
• creating micro-credit opportunities for students holding a diploma in order to encourage them to start their own business in their respective villages (at the same time, limiting rural emigration).

Contact Paul de Sio Naebo info@rayfoundation.org OR inforay@hotmail.com

PRIORITY: REMOVING TRADE BARRIERS

9.What Works: ITC's e-Choupal and Profitable Rural Transformation
This case study, part of the World Resources Institute's Digital Dividend project's What Works case study series, examines web-based information and procurement tools for Indian farmers and demonstrates the role information technology can play in fostering transparency in pricing, grading, and weight of agricultural products, thus increasing access to information and improving the productivity and incomes of rural farmers.

10.Ensuring a Food Secure Future
This media toolkit of 6 pages, published by Panos London, attempts to answer the question: What can journalists do to ensure that hunger is a prominent issue in the media? According to Panos, 600 million people will regularly go hungry unless there are changes in food security policies. The document explains that, not only weather conditions, but also conditions set by international financial institutions, socio-economic inequalities, corruption, agricultural trade, and HIV/AIDS can all contribute to a decline in food security, which can in turn lead to famine. According to researchers, violent conflicts are behind many food crises. Issues of social inclusion and gender often dictate who has access to food and to the land, financial credit, and education to obtain it.

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PRIORITY: INVESTING IN LOCAL ANALYSIS AND ACTION

11.Village Level Awareness Campaign on Devolution and Local Government System
This 32-page report details and assesses the [Canadian International Development Agency] CIDA Devolution Support Project (CDSP), analysing the motivation behind, process of, and lessons learned from the undertaking. The purpose of CDSP, which is being carried out by a consortium of Canadian and Pakistani organisations, is to strengthen local governments in two districts of Punjab Province, Pakistan, by 1) creating an enabling environment for local governments (LGs) and citizen participation; 2) building LGs' capacity to plan, mobilise resources, and make decisions; and 3) ensuring improved, accessible, accountable, and sustainable service delivery at the local level. The key focus of CDSP is on using communication to ensure the full participation of Pakistani women in the political process. The main objectives were to enhance awareness on the part of women and men about roles and responsibilities of LGs, to educate people about the role of Citizen Community Boards (CCBs) in devolution at the grassroots level, and to mobilise groups of women and men to form CCBs for the development of their respective areas.

12.Gender, Local Knowledge, and Lessons Learnt in Documenting and Conserving Agrobiodiversity
by Yianna Lambrou and Regina Laub
This paper explores the linkages between gender, local knowledge systems, and agrobiodiversity for food security by using the case study of LinKS, a regional Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) project in Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania. The 8-year project was designed to raise awareness on how rural men and women use and manage agrobiodiversity, and to promote the importance of local knowledge for food security and sustainable agrobiodiversity at local, institutional, and policy levels by working with a diverse range of stakeholders to strengthen their ability to recognise and value farmers' knowledge and to use gender-sensitive and participatory approaches in their work. This was done through 3 key activities: capacity building, research, and communication.

PRIORITY: IMPROVED AGENCY COORDINATION

13.EVENT - Global Health and the Internet: How Can We Save More Lives? (Nov 13 2007) Washington, DC, United States
The internet has revolutionized how global health professionals convey information, coordinate efforts, and collaborate on shared initiatives. This seminar explores innovative projects and best practices in applying web-based approaches to global health challenges.

14.Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) Project - South Pacific
Launched in 1999 by the Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) Division of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), this satellite-based vessel monitoring system project (VMS) is an effort to benefit local fishermen and the tuna industry in the Pacific. The VMS project draws on technology - in the form of an automatic location communicator (ALC) - to ensure that foreign fishing vessels comply with regulations designed to promote the sustainable management of tuna fisheries of the region. Here is an example of the way in which officials might draw on the VMS project to protect the environment: A Constable in the Vanuatu Police Maritime Wing would log on to the internet and download a report showing a satellite map. One ship - say, a foreign tuna fishing vessel - may not be following routes stipulated in its fishing agreement with the island stat (in all probability to catch extra fish illegally). This Constable then alerts colleagues; the Police Maritime Wing's patrol boat prepares to intercept and inspect the suspect ship.
Contact info@ffa.int

15.Media Should Help in the Fight Against Negative Propaganda
This article details some of the actions taken by Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) provincial Health Department, in collaboration with the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), to eradicate polio during the January 16-18 2006 polio campaign throughout the province.

PRIORITY: REDUCING CORRUPTION

16.Network for Integrity in Reconstruction (NIR) - Afghanistan, Bosnia Herzegovina, East Timor, Lebanon, Mozambique, Palestinian Territory, Sierra Leone
Since May 2005, the international NGO Tiri has worked with NGO partners in 8 post-war countries to produce a body of research that aims to lay the groundwork for a systematic civil society effort to improve transparency and accountability in aid delivery and policymaking in post-war reconstruction. Formally launched in January 2007 with the release of a policy paper and country studies based on this research, NIR is a growing network of civil society leaders from post-war countries committed to integrity in the reconstruction process.
Contact Martin Tisné martin.tisne@tiri.org

17.Corruption Fighters' Tool Kit
This compendium of civil society anti-corruption experiences presents anti-corruption tools developed and implemented by Transparency International (TI) National Chapters and other civil society organisations from around the world that aim to create public awareness about the problem of corruption, monitor public institutions, encourage citizens' participation in key decision-making processes, and open channels of communication between governments and their citizens.

OTHER PRIORITIES?...for example:

Addressing gender issues?

18.EVENT - Dynamic Cities Need Women: Actions and Policies for Gender Equality (Dec 3-5 2007) Brussels, Belgium
The main objectives of this international forum are to promote a gender-sensitive approach and to present and discuss the best practices to empower women as citizens and decision-makers. The event will draw over 700 participants from around the world, including: elected representatives; executives, and decision-makers from central, local, metropolitan, and regional governments; members of various organisations; and academics. They will discuss best practices and innovative policies and their impact on gender development and equal access to services in urban areas in order to make cities and metropolises livable for all.

Addressing child mortality?

19.Rx for Child Survival Campaign - Afghanistan, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Vietnam
This United States-based campaign seeks to raise awareness of and encourage involvement in activities that will have a positive impact on child health and survival worldwide. Rx for Child Survival is a complementary campaign to the 6-hour PBS television series Rx for Survival - A Global Health Challenge. The organisers created the campaign out of the belief that people watching the TV series would want more information about, and be inspired to become involved in, health - to help make a difference in the world. In order to focus these potential responses on one issue where individuals could have an impact, the issue of child survival was chosen. To further focus the campaign, 5 key intervention areas were identified:

• vaccinations to fight childhood diseases, including measles and tetanus;
• insecticide-treated netting to stop mosquitoes that carry malaria;
• Vitamin A and other micronutrients to help fight infection and prevent nutritional deficiencies;
• oral rehydration packets to help reduce diarrhoea-related illness and deaths; and
• antibiotics to fight pneumonia and antimalarial drugs.

Addressing natural resource management issues?

20.Leipzig Workshop Recommendations for a Knowledge-Policy Interface for Biodiversity Governance
by Dr. Christoph Görg, Dr. Heidi Wittmer, Dr. Silke Beck, Dr. Felix Rauschmayer
To reverse the ongoing loss of biological diversity, this 2-page summary paper from the Leipzig workshop of the Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany, seeks to identify "the optimal niche and conditions for the creation of an independent and effective international knowledge-policy interface for biodiversity governance." This workshop took place from October 2-4 2006 as part of a series of consultative meetings. The workshop sought to respond to the call for a new global coordinating mechanism to provide a united scientific voice to stop, as stated here, the "major biodiversity crises". The authors argue that an independent and effective advisory body to examine the crosscutting issue of biodiversity change needs to be created, and that it should be made up of representatives from a broad variety of institutions - from the local to the global level - well-versed in scientific as well as traditional knowledge.

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