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Communication Matters!

Light for the World
January 2019

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The research Communication Matters! shows which obstacles persons with disabilities face in accessing public information and services. The research took place in three districts in the province of Pursat. 1171 persons with disabilities in 229 villages are reached.

Due to the research, many persons with disabilities were able to share their stories for the first time. Many persons were also found for the first time, because the team made an effort to visit everyone in the village.

Access to assistive products in Kurigram and Narsingdi, Bangladesh. Policy brief 2.

HUMANITY & INCLUSION BANGLADESH
et al
August 2018

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This ‘policy brief’ outlines findings on Assistive technology and Products (AP) needs, unmet needs and access patterns arising the Rapid Assessment of Disability (RAD) study conducted in 2016 and 2017, in partnership between the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and Humanity & Inclusion (HI) Bangladesh, with technical oversight from the Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne, Australia. The study was part of the HI project: Towards Global Health: Strengthening the Rehabilitation Sector through Civil Society funded by the European Union. Findings from the 4254 adults surveyed in the two districts are reported here.

 

The purpose of this component of the RAD study was to learn about the usage of AP, characteristics of AP users, barriers to use of AP, unmet and met needs of AP, and to highlight major policy implications for AP service provision, in two target areas of Kurigram and Narsingdi. The survey includes an adapted version of Washington Group (WG) ‘short set’ of Disability Questions. A modified version of the WHO’s draft Assistive Technology Assessment Tool (needs module) – or the ‘ATA-needs’, was also implemented. Findings from this study also helped modify and improve the draft ATA-needs tool

Towards Inclusion - A guide for organisations and practitioners

VAN EK, Vera
SCHOT, Sander
2017

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This guide is the result of collaboration between Light for the World (LFTW), Mission East (ME), and ICCO Cooperation.

Based on decades of experience of working with the most marginalized and excluded communities, the three organizations cooperated to record their experiences in a publication which can be used in a variety of relief and development contexts. ‘Towards Inclusion’ is designed to be an easy to use reference for organizational and program/project development with a focus on gender responsiveness and disability inclusion.

The guide is made up of three parts:
• the first part guides users through the process of organizational self-assessment to determine readiness to change and identify key steps towards becoming a more inclusive organization.
• the second part introduces the ACAP framework, as a means of improving inclusion in programming via Access, Communication, Attitude and Participation. A range of tools for measuring and improving inclusion at all stages of the project cycle are provided.
• the third part provides guidelines for the people or ‘change facilitators’ who will guide organizations through the process of change towards becoming more inclusive.

The publication can be found at “Towards Inclusion Guide” and the accessible version of the publication can be downloaded. Both are free of charge.

Possibilities for organisation trainings and/or webinars on the practical application of the guide are under consideration. Contact ACAP@gmail.com.

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities (theme: access to rights-based support for persons with disabilities)

DEVANDAS, Catalina
December 2016

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In her report, the Special Rapporteur provides an overview of the activities undertaken in 2016, as well as a thematic study on access to support by persons with disabilities. The study includes guidance for States on how to ensure the provision of different forms of rights-based support and assistance for persons with disabilities, in consultation with them. In preparing the study, the Special Rapporteur convened a regional expert consultation in Addis Ababa in September 2016 and analysed the responses to a questionnaire sent to Member States, national human rights institutions, agencies of the United Nations system, civil society organisations and persons with disabilities and their representative organisations. As at 5 December 2016, she had received 114 responses. 

How to talk about disability and human rights

FRAMEWORKS INSTITUTE
March 2016

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"This MessageBrief summarises and comments on the framing strategies currently in use to communicate information about disability and human rights. The recommendations presented here are based on framing “best practices,” gleaned from more than 15 years of communications research on a wide range of social issues, and represent important opportunities for disability rights advocates to communicate more effectively". This brief reviews more than 55 communications materials sampled from 20 organisations involved in the disability rights field. Five primary framing strategies: Unframed Facts and Numbers, Description Instead of Explanation, Problems Without Solutions, Crisis Stories, and Vivid Cases in current communications are identified and 8 recommendations are presented. Gaps in existing research precluding the ability to make more specific reframing recommendations are identified.

A guide for community health workers supporting children with disabilities

ADAMS, Mel
et al
2014

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"This resource is to be used as a guide for Community Health Workers (CHWs) to support parents in promoting the development and independence of their child with neurodevelopmental disabilities...In line with current thinking, this resource places the emphasis on promoting activity and participation in a child’s daily life activities rather than therapies that try to fix ‘the problem’ (Skelton and Rosenbaum, 2010). As such, this manual provides ideas on how to support the child during activities of daily living – taking particular account of their physical and communication abilities and needs – and does not include hands-on rehabilitation techniques that focus on specific impairments. It does however provide guidance on overall management and prevention of further disability. The materials in this manual can be used as the basis for a programme of intervention that progresses through two stages"

Note: As indicated when clicking on the resource link below, the manual is available once contact details are entered or alternatively user can contact mel@maits.org.uk to receive a free pdf copy of this resource

Grassroots comics by disabled people

WORLD COMICS FINLAND
2010

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This article presents information about a series of four Grassroots Comics workshops for its members organised by Shivyawata Mwanza, an umbrella organisation for disabled people's organisations in Mwanza region Tanzania in January 2010. The workshops were designed to work with disabled people to create a series of short comics that highlight issues related to disability in Tanzania

Breaking barriers : effective communication for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010

VINCENT, Robin
October 2006

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This report is a review of the communication challenges to HIV prevention, treatment and care. It acknowledges the existence of multiple informal responses but sees a need for them to be strengthened and supported through a renewed emphasis on communication for social change and a greater understanding of existing cultural and social responses. It makes a number of recommendations to maximise the role of communication in support of universal access by 2010

Electronic resources for media on HIV and AIDS

DAVIES, Jackie
July 2006

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This paper outlines e-resources for HIV and AIDS communication, identifies gaps and challenges and presents conclusions and recommendations. Evidence suggests that media workers in developing countries are not taking up the electronic resources about HIV and AIDS that are aimed at them, and that there is a significant gap between the resources provided and what media workers find useful in their local context

Inclusion of persons with disabilities in China

GUOZHONG, Eric Zhang
2006

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This article presents a situation analysis of disability in China. Over the last few years the conditions of over 60 million persons with disabilities in China have progressively improved, but they remain a vulnerable group often excluded in the transition processes currently taking place in the country. The paper analyses the legislative framework and explore how inclusion is promoted in areas such as education, employment, housing and culture

We are one, but we are many : new thinking on how communication can support HIV social movements to achieve inclusive social change

STACKPOOL-MOORE, Lucy
2006

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"Social movements have been identified as powerful forces for inclusive social change in local, national and international responses to HIV and AIDS. They have generated spaces where people can come together for mutual support and to raise awareness about an issue affecting their lives." This paper explores recent research about social movements, public debate and communication and makes the case for analysing social movements within communications and social change frameworks

Social movement communication

The Communication Initiative
Ed
July 2005

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This issue of The Drum Beat focuses on 12 articles summarised from peer-reviewed journals which examine the communication strategies of various social movements around human and civil rights, health campaigns and ethical issues

Counting on communication : the Uganda Nutrition and Early Childhood Development Project

VERZOSA, Cecilia
April 2005

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This publication presents the activities and lessons learned from a project which sought to halve malnutrition among preschool children, raise primary school enrollment, reduce dropout and repetition rates, improve psycho-social and cognitive development, and increase the number of mothers practicing appropriate childcare. A strategic communication programme was designed to help mothers and other caregivers adopt new behaviours needed to achieve project outcomes. It helped the project team identify necessary changes in behaviour, knowledge or attitude for all target audiences; frame project-related issues relevant to different stakeholders, such as parliamentarians, mothers, community leaders, educators, and local government administrators; craft persuasive messages according to their needs, concerns and perceptions; and use the most appropriate communication channels. The communication strategy included a: national advocacy effort aimed at parliamentarians, health and education ministry officials, district and community leaders; multi-media campaign that emphasized three behaviour change interventions; training programme for health workers and pre-school teachers on their role; and monitoring and evaluation component to ensure that materials were disseminated via cost-effective channels of communication and that messages reached target audiences. Lessons learned emphasize the value of developing a comprehensive communication strategy during project design.

Who measures change? an introduction to participatory monitoring and evaluation of communication for social change

PARKS, Will
et al
2005

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This guide is an introduction to participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) and how to establish such a process and identify and use context-specific indicators for communication for social change on HIV and AIDS, (although the principles and steps may have broader applications). Following an overview, it looks at PM&E and how best to implement it and provides M&E tools for methodologies and indicators and sample data collection techniques

Hygiene promotion in Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe : new approaches to behaviour change

SIDIBE, Mynam
CURTIS, Val
August 2004

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After years of debate, most people working in water and sanitation now agree that hygiene promotion is vitally important. But even now, many programmes either ignore it or do it badly. This field note describes two African hygiene promotion programmes that have successfully used new approaches: Saniya in burkina Faso and ZimAHEAD in Zimbabwe. Both programmes concentrated on understanding how people actually hehave and hence hot to change that behaviour. Both programmes demonstrated ideas that can be applied at a larger scale. Changin human hygiene behaviour is a long process that is difficult to measure and both of these programmes still have obstacles to overcome. However, this work indicates that systematic and carefully managed hygiene promotion programmes can achieve improvement in hygiene behaviour and hence reduction in diarrhoeal diseases

The journey of life : a community workshop to support children

REGIONAL PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT INITIATIVE (REPSSI)
June 2004

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'The Journey of Life' is a community workshop curriculum to support children. This workshop seeks to address the increasing psychological and social needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS, war, and displacement. Its objective is to raise community awareness of the problems that children face growing up in a time of HIV/AIDS, war, and family disintegration. 'The Journey of Life' assists the community to identify children in need of social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and physical support. Through dialogue and reflection the community better understands how to use available resources in solving the problems that children encounter and to strengthen the resilience of their children. The workshop covers the areas of meeting children's needs; understanding children's problems; identifying children who need help; building children's strengths; and community mobilisation. The workshop manual can be used without additional training, though further training has been found to be helpful. A Facilitator's Guide accompanies the workshop

Rethinking conceptual approaches to behaviour change : the importance of context

PARKER, Warren
April 2004

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This concise article critically reviews the concept of behaviour change as it has been applied to individual behaviour in relation to HIV/AIDS. It notes the limits of cognitive approaches to behaviour change when applied within complex contexts and variations of risk to HIV infection. With regard to communication there is a need to move beyond top-down approaches and to incorporate horizontal and participatory approaches. These include recognising and resourcing the role of civil society responses to HIV/AIDS

Appropriating the internet for social change : towards the strategic use of networked technologies by transnational civil society organizations

SURMAN, Mark
REILLY, Katherine
November 2003

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This research report argues that analysis of the Internet focuses too much on technology and on overcoming a "digital divide" in access to the Internet. The report looks at examples of how people in international civil society organisations have used e-mail, websites and databases to help them collaborate, publish information, mobilise people in their networks, and access information for research. The report does not cover local or national civil society organisations

Tied up in a rope of sand. TFD : cultural action or development utility?

MAVROCORDATOS, Alex
2003

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Discusses the tension and synergy of culture and participatory development through examples of theatre for development experiences in Mali and Namibia. The author describes performances and processes for setting up performance activities in villages, some of which had their own forms of narrative drama, and others which developed these with external support. The article discusses the implications of importing and imposing cultural forms to achieve project goals, and contrasts this with the ethos of theatre for development, which seeks to engage community members in a dialogue with development workers in order to foster participation in and ownership of development activities

Missing the message? 20 years of learning from HIV/AIDS

SCALWAY, Thomas
2003

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This report focuses on the way in which the response to the HIV pandemic has been shaped, with a particular emphasis on the way in which communication has been used.
Often the emphasis is on information dissemination, and the distribution of health messages. While information is vital, past successes in fighting AIDS suggest that approaches need to be far broader than this. A politicised civil society, with communities able to take ownership of the response to HIV/AIDS, can catalyse extraordinary change and mobilisation. Similarly, a media able to support informed, inclusive debate will also be critical to future successes.
This report provides an overview of these issues, and suggests how the problems can begin to be addressed through work with policymakers, civil society and the media

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