Transcript Communication for Development

Communicating for Development?
- Media, Young Adults, and Public Health
Communication in Tanzania
Prof. Thomas Tufte, Ph.D
Roskilde University
Halle Speaker Series Lecture
Emory University, Atlanta, USA
April 14 2011
Today’s presentation
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Communication for Development
– Trends and paradigms
The Case of Femina HIP
– From Health Comm Projects to Civil Society
driven Media Platforms
– Refocusing the attention to the
citizen/user/audience
People Speaking Back? Media,
Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa
(MEDIeA 2009-2013)
– Research design & Preliminary findings
Orecomm.net
- a Communication and Glocal Change Research Consortium
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2 universities (Roskilde & Malmø), 2 countries
(Denmark & Sweden), many internat’l partners
Hosting research projects (Writing Transition,
MEDIeA, Tanzania Diaspora…)
Organize Seminars and Festivals in
Communication for Development: Upcoming: 6
June + 9-13 September!
A web-based MA in ComDev (a large and active
alumni community)
An online journal: Glocal Times
Approaches within
Communication for Development
Structural Causes/
Participation
Individual/Diffusion
Dissemination
/Persuasion
IEC
BCC
UNAIDS
Convergence model
No magic formula
Diversity of frameworks + diversity of strategies
+ multiplicity of interventions = Growth of the field =
New conceptual approaches
CFSC
The aim of
communication for social change
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CFSC is horizontal and strengthens community bonds by amplifying the
voices of the people who are poorest
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people within poor communities must be the protagonists for their own
change and manage their own communication tools
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rather than persuasion and info dissemination, CFSC promotes dialogue
among equal voices, and debate and negotiations within communities
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Seeking outcomes beyond individual behaviour - depending on social
norms, values, current policies, culture and the overall development context
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CFSC strives to strengthen cultural identity, trust, commitment, voice,
ownership, community engagement and empowerment
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CFSC rejects the linear model of information transmission from a central
sender to an individual receiver, and relies instead on a cyclical process of
interactions focused on shared knowledge and collective action
Types of Social Change Outcome
Indicators
• Leadership
• Degree and Equity of Participation
• Information Equity
• Collective Self-Efficacy
• Sense of Ownership
• Social Cohesion
• Social Norms
The emergence of civil society
media platforms
25 years of HIV/AIDS Communication
experience
 Media platforms developed – radio and tv
genres, print media, websites, blogs
 A relationship of trust established with
large-scale constituencies
 Expertise in comm-strategy development
 Partnerships with civil society
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Introducing Femina HIP
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Tanzanian NGO, 1999Youth focused
Focuses on RH and
HIV/AIDS
Many donors on board, but
is a ’homegrown’
organisation
EE through real life stories
Media outlets include: Two
large magazines, tv talk
show, radio drama,
interactive website
Femina clubs
I am called Sister N. I was born 28 years ago. I completed my
primary education in 1993, my secondary education in 1997. I was
selected to join teachers college but could not continue due to
economic limitations. I stayed home doing petty activities to eke out
a living. In 1998 I got a man who put me in a family way in 2002. I
gave birth in January 2003. Since I gave birth, the child has always
been sick. Everyday we were at hospitals. The child was too thin,
you despair. Meanwhile I was in good health.
This magazine completely changed my life. It had cleared my worries
about testing for HIV/AIDS. Initially I did not want to hear anything
about testing. I was worried stiff from the poor health of my child.
I got this magazine from children who were playing with it. They did
not know its importance. After reading from the cover HIV/AIDS and
treatment, I was attracted. I asked the children to give me and they
relented without hesitation. I read it seriously from the start to the
end and it gave me the courage to go for HIV testing. The fear
evaporated and I went for testing with my child and discovered that
we were infected. However unlike the past, I now have enough
awareness about this disease and I understand that having HIV is
not the end of life.
Strategic Aims of Femina’s
Edutainment Strategy
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Articulate processes of building trust and
raising awareness
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Articulate the voices of marginalized
groups
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Facilitate social mobilization
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Contribute to the creation of an enabling
environment where the ‘ordinary citizen’
can feel a sense of agency
Femina HIP Objectives
To build supportive
environments in Tanzania
where:
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Young people in their
communities enjoy their
right to access information
& services and are
empowered to make
positive informed choices
around sexuality and lead
healthy lifestyles in order
to reduce the negative
impact of HIV/AIDS.
What began happening?
 Many
readers (recycling of
magazines)
 Very positive response from youth:
gratitude, interest and growing ’talk’
about health issues
 Rejection from authorities – no
collaboration
 Growing popular demand nationwide
What did Femina then do and what
further happened?
- Nationwide distribution via
secondary schools, read in Femaclubs and used in class
–Developed Fema-club structure
–Increased youth talk about the
broadening array of subjects
–Changing authorities: collaboration
with MOE, also on Zanzibar
–Political clout
10 years down the line…
FEMINA HIP today: high volume/reach
25% of the population
 Partnership with Soul City
 Conceptual sharpening
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– Participatory Communication/CFSC
– Exploring citizenship and governance
perspectives on an HIV/AIDS communication
initiative
– Exploring CFSC-oriented process indicators
(ownership, leadership, particpation, social
norms, etc)
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Improving M&E
Femina HIPs 2nd Objective
To build supportive
environments in
Tanzania where:
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Communities exercise
their right to express
themselves,
participate in public
debate & engage in
civil society. (Femina
HIP Logical
Framework, 2007)
FEMA
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FEMA. A glossy
magazine, 64 pages,
170.000 copies
Published 4 x year.
Targets youth aged
15-24 especially
secondary school
students in every
region of the country
SiMchezo
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Si Mchezo! 32
pages,175.000
copies.
6 x year. Targets
out of school youth
and their
communities
particularly in rural
areas.
Tanzanian Context
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Changing and growing
civil society
Still low but growing
levels of participation
in public life and
decision-making
Much more diverse
media infrastructure –
new media emerging
Comparative
advantage: Femina
HIP became a visible
NGO early on
Media Synergies
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Pilika Pilika. A radio soap opera. Carries messages from
Femina as well as two other organisations. Airs on national
radio 4 times a week.
FEMA Tv Talk Show. Half ½ hour talk show. Broadcasts
on national TV 4 times a week. Mobile phones are used for
feedback and voting, particularly around the TV.
ChezaSalama (‘play it safe’). Interactive website with a
series of activities and information in English and Swahili.
First of its kind in Tanzania.
Individual Publications: Range of specialist publications
produced on for example HIV-testing, Treatment (500.000
copies distributed to all CTC clinics), youth empowerment
(Watata Bomba, for children/youth was produced in
90.000).
A New TV Program on Social Entrepreneurship (2011)
What Femina claims to have
achieved
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Femina influence stretches from behaviour
change, over community participation to
public debate and social change
Increased knowledge, changing attitudes and
practice
Established and growing ’discursive spaces’
Strong media vehicle for any subject/developed
media infrastructure
Grown NGO with huge network of stakeholders
Embryonic civil society at community level
Social Media beginning to be used
MEDIeA:
Exploring Contexts, Claims and Audience Perspectives
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KAP: Is there increased knowledge,
changing attitudes and practice?
Voice: Are there established and growing
’discursive spaces’ for young Tanzanians?
Media: Are they de facto a strong media
vehicle that can carry any subject?
Exploring
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Organisational Strength: Is Femina HIP
a strong NGO with many stakeholders?
Embryonic civil society at community
level – is this happening in the clubs?
Advocacy, Accountability and Good
Governance. Has Femina achieved:
– Public sphere engagement amongst youth?
– Strengthened dialogue with opinion leaders
and decision makers?
– Clout & political responsiveness?
MEDIeA Research Design
- exploring contexts, claims and audience perspectives
 From
researching health
communication to researching civil
society development and civic and
public sphere engagement of young
Tanzanians
 From
evaluation of an NGO to
embedding civil society practice
within an ethnography about youth
MEDIeA Research Design:
- 3 components
 Ethnography
of youth everyday lives
and media uses
 Survey
– public health specific
 Stakeholder
analysis putting Femina
into context of mediascape, political
context, civil society development
and socio-economic contetxt of youth
Methodology
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Ethnographic fieldwork amongst select groups of
young girls (2 groups in Dar) – using
EAR/tracking media ecology and social uses of
the media
Content and reception analysis of selected media
products
Survey in the same areas
FGDs with young people in 4-5 places in the
country (typology of youth – from marginalized
rurual youth to bloggers in Dar)
Ind. Interviews with key public and private
stakeholders
Key methodological challenges
 How
to access and conduct fieldwork
in lifeworlds of youth
 What
 What
data can be produced?
can the data say about our
research questions?
Emerging Issues
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Youth – narratives of everyday life:
– gender differences/sexual harassment and unwanted pregnancies ><
public sphere involvement and engagement
– unemployment and entrepreneurship in a country with a legacy of
paternalism and top-down communication: changing relations between
citizen, public sphere and governing structures?
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Mobile phones in enabling interactive and participatory
social processes
Social media (bloggers in particular) opening new public
spheres
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The emergence if transnational horizontal networks
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Synergies and competition in civil society
 Thank
you!