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Achieving millennium development goals (4, 5 &6) in Africa south of Sahara : BCH Africa's strategic vision

Building Capacities for Better Health in Africa (BCH Africa)
2007

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This is document outlines BCH-Africa's strategic vision to help countries in sub-Saharan Africa to meet three of the millennium goals by 2015. These goals are: to help to reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; and combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases. The strategy sets out four main areas of focus: promoting social ownership of immunisation, to contribute to a rapid reduction in infant and maternal mortality; promoting national partnership and developing community skills to roll back malaria in Africa sustainably; developing individual and community skills to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS and tuberculosis; and using communication approaches that achieve long-lasting social changes to help control HIV, malaria and tuberculosis and resolve other health problems. Accompanying strategic priorities are: integrating health communication interventions; and building human resource capacity in community health promotion with a firm commitment to involving all the main actors and partners to create greater social ownership and sustainability

ICTs for poverty alleviation : basic tool and enabling sector

GREENBERG, Alan
November 2005

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This report acknowledges the crucial role that information and communication technologies play in the fight to reduce poverty. It focuses in particular on the impact that "older" technologies such as radio and telephone can have in addressing poor communities' problems. The study investigates the linkages between ICTs and four key areas: education, livelihoods, healthcare and government. It reports on pilot studies which have shown that use of technologies can help reduce child mortality and maternal mortality by nearly 50 per cent. It suggests that ICTs can enable people's empowerment and ultimately strengthen human rights

Community television for the poor : a scoping study. Final technical report. The one to watch, literally?

BACHELOR, S
SCOTT, N
EASTWICK, G
et al
2005

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A technical report on the use of community television. The purpose of the research was to explore the opportunities presented by digital convergence for locally produced and broadcast integrated television and radio for development education, development communication strategies and local content capture among the poor. The research confirms the starting premises of the research, that community radio is known to have strong developmental benefits; that there is a strong trend towards television, even among the poor; and that there will be new opportunities for audiovisual media presented by digital convergence. The report concludes that community television could play a huge role in empowering local communities

Involving the community : a guide to participatory development communication

BESSETTE, Guy
2004

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This manual argues that communication facilitates the development process. It conceptualises communication as interaction between and among the people whose development is being considered. In this way, communication becomes the development process itself, and the stakeholders - community members or their supporters who share an interest in the outcome - are development communicators as well. Using examples from environmental and natural resource management to illustrate participatory development communication, the manual is adaptable to other development areas, including health. It describes the root concepts of participatory development communication, a ten-step methodology for its application, and suggests communication tools appropriate to the approach. In an annex appended to the book, the author presents a summary of the changing perception of the relationship between the twin processes of communication and development. This adds a theoretical background to the material that gives it more depth for development researchers and practitioners for whom the book is intended, and will also be useful for development communication students

Revisiting the "magic box" : case studies in local appropriation of information and communication technologies (ICTs)

BATCHELOR, Simon
O’FARRELL, Clare
2003

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This book looks at the way communities and groups in developing countries are appropriating information and communication technologies (ICTs) to address their needs. It finds that ICTs are being integrated into wider community-based activities and adapted to fit different contexts. It follows on from the paper "Discovering the Magic Box". It finds that there are still few examples of community-driven and locally appropriated ICT initiatives and an absence of standards or guidelines to evaluate ICT-based projects. The book includes some analytical frameworks and indicators to identify good practice and evidence of impact A significant development has been in the growth of telecommunications, in particular mobile phones, that are relatively cheap and powerful tools for poor communities, even in remote areas. The book concludes that the power of oral communication through telephones and radio cannot be underestimated. The book proposes that the main challenge is to adapt the new, usually computer-based ICTs to the needs of poor, predominantly oral-based communities so that they can be appropriated effectively and quickly

Livelihoods approaches to information and communication in support of rural poverty elimination and food security

CHAPMAN, Robert
SLAYMAKER, Tom
YOUNG, John
2003

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FAO, DFID and ODI undertook a study in 2001/2 to analyse the role of information in livelihoods, and make recommendations on how agencies can capitalise on and integrate the best elements of traditional communication methods and new information and communication (ICT) technologies within the livelihoods approach. This publication provides the results of the initial literature review, comprised of a 30 page paper followed by 20 pages of heavily annotated references. The key conclusions were that information and communications systems are most likely to improve livelihoods in rural areas if they: share costs appropriately; ensure equitable access to all; contain a high proportion of local or appropriately localised content; build on existing systems; build capacity; use realistic technologies; and build knowledge partnerships

Collecting and propagating local development content : synthesis and conclusions

BALLANTYNE, Peter
May 2002

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Drawing from a consultation process to examine how local content in developing countries is created, adapted, and exchanged, this report provides some answers to these questions. It is a synthesis of lessons; the case stories which are reproduced in an accompanying report provide details on actual experienses and lessons from the ground

Unlocking economic opportunity in the South through local content : a proposal from the G8 Dotforce

ARMSTRONG, Peter
et al
March 2002

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A detailed proposal for contributing to the G8 Dotforce process to bridge the digital divide, through local content and applications creation. It explores the ideas of freely available information versus creating a local market for development information, retaining intellectual property rights and stimulating a new kind of trade. The proposed creation of an 'Open Knowledge Network' reflects the need to try and support different initiatives and approaches to local content creation and sharing, in different sectors and environments

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