Books, Journals and Media

African Women's Unique Vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS: Communication Perspectives and Promises

Margie Kainer — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:11:00 -0700

AFRICAN WOMEN'S UNIQUE VULNERABILITIES TO HIV/AIDS: Communication Perspectives and Promises, by Linda K. Fuller, examines the biomedical, socio-cultural, economic, legal/political, and educational aspects faced by real women in Africa, at the same time offering areas of hope in terms of communication for development case studies and role models.

Based on the author’s hands-on experience working in West Africa with a number of HIV/AIDS and media organizations, it is reader/researcher friendly, providing more than 800 references and helpful appendices with some 900 acronyms, contact data for 450+ African HIV/AIDS-related organizations, African terms, websites, African embassies and liaisons, media, billboards, African AIDS-related films, and much more.

Back to the Village: A Documentary Film

lpalmer — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:29:36 -0700

Working in consultation with Dr. T. Scarlett Epstein, Nagathihalli Chandrashekar, and Mr. T. Thimmegowda, the director of this 26-minute documentary film intends to document, through a villager's eyes, what globalisation means for India's rural population. The urban migration of the rural economically poor, as predicted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Population Report of 2007, in Africa and Asia will cause the urban population to double between 2000 and 2030; and, as a result, the developing countries' urban centres will make up 81 percent of urban humanity. Small villages in South India are undergoing migration, as documented here, due to lack of investment. The film spotlights the growing urban middle class and the entrepreneurs from the textile industry, whose workers are urban immigrants from the countryside.

The film is the result of longitudinal anthropological style socio-economic studies of two South Indian villages. Its major theme centres on the cause and effect of rural-urban migration, taking the position that governments, pushed on by investment, in India and elsewhere, are building industrial centres, draining funding for the rural sector.

The film is available for purchase from Dr. T. Scarlett Epstein through the contact information below.

Communication for Another Development

lpalmer — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:53:15 -0700

This book challenges development thinking, arguing that in the development process, communication is everything. The authors, experts in this field as teachers, practitioners and theorists, argue that Communication for Development is a creative and innovative way of thinking that can permeate the overall approach to any development initiative. They illustrate their argument with case studies, drawing on the stories of individual project leaders who have championed development for communication, and using a range of situations to show the different possibilities in various contexts.

This book is intended for for development practitioners and policy makers, as well as for students.

Contents

Introduction

Communication for development: Setting the scene
The meaning of Another Development
Planners and searchers: Two ways of doing development
Why communicators can't communicate
Working in the grey zone
Early champions: Uncovering principles
New activists: Principles that travel
The forgotten context
Training and negotiating in the grey zone: A collection of touchstones
Searching and listening: Good development breeds good communication

Postscript: Cultivating common sense on the farm

Community Media Sustainability Guide

lpalmer — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:34:42 -0800

Launched by Internews, this guide addresses the challenge of how to make community media financially sustainable in countries around the world. The Community Media Sustainability Guide: The Business of Changing Lives covers topics such as incorporating new online platforms and using alternative energy to power radio stations, all with an eye to sustainability.

Case studies of community media outlets and networks featured here include creative solutions to the problem of finding enough funding to stay in business. For instance, the Coffee Lifeline project in Rwanda relies on partnerships with international groups to supply agricultural news to coffee farmers, and Desi Radio, serving London's Punjabi community, thrives on a mixed business model that includes selling advertising, conducting media trainings, and hiring out volunteers to dance at weddings.

The guide is designed for community media practitioners and activists, trainers, and the donors and development agencies that support them. It provides different perspectives on sustainability, practical approaches to achieving it, and a comprehensive list of resources for practitioners and activists. The publication was funded by a grant to Internews Network from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) via a subgrant from Pact.

Click here to freely access the guide in PDF format.

Internews Network is an international media development organization whose mission is to empower local media worldwide to give people the news and information they need, the ability to connect, and the means to make their voices heard. Founded in 1982, the organization has worked in over 70 countries and trained over 70,000 media professionals worldwide.

EQUITIERRA

Margie Kainer — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:17:00 -0700

EQUITIERRA is a quarterly electronic magazine that promotes a new vision and appropriate strategies that are socially inclusive, environmentally sustainable and economically viable for Latin America´s rural areas.

The fourth issue of EQUITIERRA was published in September 2009, and is now available online for download free-of-charge.

EQUITIERRA's September 2009 issue:

Rimisp presents the #4 issue of Equitierra magazine. In this issue, there is need to face urgent matters without ignoring what is important in the near future. World Bank´s proposal to focus on economic growth without taking into consideration the social and environmental aspects of development are questioned in the article that analyses the World Report 2009. The study conducted by Rimisp on the impact of the global crisis on rural poverty in Latin America shows evidence of short term policies implemented by affected governments in the region, but challenges their failure to use the crisis as an opportunity to promote long term initiatives that will allow rural populations to overcome poverty in the long run.

Also, readers can learn about climate change, biodiversity and food security through Yolanda Kakabadse´s interview (former Minister of Environment of Ecuador and current president of the WWF International). In addition, Equitierra shows two experiences of local development focused on cultural identity assets in San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia, and two municipalities in Bolivia. As usual, opinion columns, publications, videos and photo essays can be accessed through Equitierra's website: www.rimisp.org/equitierra

Gacaca: Living Together Again in Rwanda?

jwalton — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:32:02 -0700

This 55-minute documentary film features a Rwanda-based grassroots justice system called the Gacaca Tribunals. Gacaca is an attempt to unify a nation that in the early 1990s experienced politically motivated ethnic killings - more than 800,000 of the country's Tutsi minority, and many Hutu moderates, died in the genocide. Citizens will act as judges in an attempt to democratise the justice system. By exploring the process of building and sustaining this new justice system, the film portrays the Tutsi and Hutu peoples' struggles to rebuild their lives and communities by dealing with the emotional trauma of their past and reconciling their deep differences.

The film's director, Anne Aghion, spent six weeks recording stories of survivors and prisoners, and their visions of the future. The film crew was present when nearly 1,000 local residents gathered for the first of a series of open-air "Pre-Gacaca" hearings, which are designed to clear the prisons of innocent detainees and to educate Rwandans about the Gacaca trials to come.

The film was featured in 2003 at the African Film Festival and Human Rights Watch International Film Festival.

International and Development Communication: A 21st Century Perspective

Margie Kainer — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:18:05 -0800

International and Development Communication: A 21st Century Perspective examines the exciting field of international and development communication and illustrates how this field of study is composed and how it has grown. Derived from the successful Handbook of International and Intercultural Communication, Second Edition, this book opens with an updated and expanded introduction by Bella Mody, showcasing the effects of globalization, and contains those chapters from the Handbook that deal with international and development communication.

International and Development Communication provides a historical perspective and a contemporary analysis of the field of international communication and its application to development communication. The book examines how communication media and telecommunications are considered central to globalization and to national development, and discusses globalization in history, the role of media, changes in structural biases of media and telecommunication institutions, national forces of capitalism, and biases in international and development communication messages.

Bella Mody provides a historical perspective and a contemporary analysis of the field of international communication and its application to development communication. The book examines how communication media and telecommunications are considered central to globalization and to national development, and discusses globalization in history, the role of media, changes in structural biases of media and telecommunication institutions, national forces of capitalism, and biases in international and development communication messages.

The book, divided into two parts, revolves around media institutions and the conditions under which they have been used by the state and private capital. Part One covers international communication and presents the thinking of several well-known authors from areas such as South Asia, East Asia, Europe, and North America. Part Two focuses on development communication applications by various active researchers and professors, drawn from Latin America, South Asia, and North America.

With contributions from experts in the field, each part of the book begins with a chapter on theories and closes with one on issues. Chapters within each part examine the distinct and broadly recognized topics of research within each area, such as media corporations in the age of globalization, transnational advertising, the global-local dialectic and polysemic effects, development communication campaigns, communication technology and development, and international development communication.

Click here to purchase this book online on the SAGE Publications, Inc. website.

Making Poverty

lpalmer — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:42:54 -0700

This book examines the role that global policies have played in creating a crisis of rural poverty. The author explains the mechanisms of markets and supply chains, charting their impact on agricultural trade in the world's poorest countries.

The author argues that in order to establish a practical set of solutions, attention must be focused on wider economic policies, the workings of the markets themselves, and the division of power along the supply chains.

Contents

Introduction
Those who have fallen behind
How poverty is made
Do the market’s job for it
Not farming but gambling
Getting out of the trap
Can we put history behind us?

People Building Peace, I and II

jwalton — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:43:00 -0800

This collection of stories, in both a print edition and an online edition, aims to show examples of how civil society has made a difference in conflict areas around the world. The online collection, from the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict of the European Centre for Conflict Prevention (ECCP), includes stories from the two publications: People Building Peace I and II, as well as new stories not previously published in the editions from the ECCP. These stories are structured under themes. The theoretical chapters from "People Building Peace II: Successful stories of Civil Society" are to be found under 'Reflection' chapters. In addition to being organised by thematic category, the collection can be searched by country or region, author, organisation, photo from the picture gallery, or by name using the search engine.

If you wish to recommend a story for inclusion in this collection or would like to purchase any of the books, please contact Charlotte Crockett: c.crockett@conflict-prevention.net

Pictures in AIDucation: African Communities Talking Sex, AIDS and Pictures

Margie Kainer — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:56:48 -0700

About the Book

This book is a true African story on HIV/AIDS through the eyes of a district doctor who wanted to stop new HIV infections in Zambia and Botswana, through using or rather abusing clinical pictures to teach and share knowledge and experiences on sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS.

Proverbs say ...‘Seeing is very different from being told’... ‘Seeing is believing’ and ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. Armed with these proverbs, the doctor began the passionate mission of making African communities see HIV/AIDS, talk HIV/AIDS and get involved in HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support programmes.

This book challenges the status quo in health promotion and also raises issues on culture and the culture of silence. This book focuses on comments and talks from several workshops held in the villages, towns and cities of Africa. There is a lesson for each one of us to take from this book. Use the lesson(s) well and make a difference in your community. No one is immune to HIV/AIDS.

Population and Development Review

jwalton — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:56:00 -0700

Population and Development Review (PDR) seeks to advance knowledge of the interrelationships between population and socioeconomic development and provides a forum for discussion of related issues of public policy.

The journal contains:

Articles on advances in theory and application, policy analysis, sociographic studies, and critical assessments of recent research
Notes and commentaries on current population questions and policy developments
Data and perspectives on new statistics and their interpretation
Archives with a resonance for current debate on population issues
Book reviews
Documents and official voices on population matters from around the world.

Population and Development Review is published on behalf of the Population Council by Blackwell Publishing.

Putting Policy into Practice: Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation in Ethiopia

Margie Kainer — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:56:14 -0800

This book focuses on eight UK-based international NGOs (INGOs) engaged in rural development interventions in Ethiopia. The author investigates their attempts to employ participatory monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems as a means of assessing and thereby strengthening local participation. The findings suggest that perceptions of participation vary considerably between different hierarchical levels. The story that unfolds offers valuable insights into the current myths and realities of Monitoring and Evaluation within INGOs. Putting Policy into Practice is ideal reading for anyone involved in the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems in INGOs and their local offices, and organisations working with local partners. Based on case studies in Ethiopia, it looks at how INGO field offices perceive and practise local participatory monitoring and evaluation systems - the differing expectations that they and their headquarters hold and how these affect the reality of practice. The book offers advice and ideas on the opportunities available to change the dynamics between local office and INGO headquarters.

Sasa! Activist ToolKit

jwalton — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:22:23 -0700

Produced by Raising Voices, the SASA! Activist Toolkit is designed to raise awareness, encourage support, and motivate people to take action on the interconnected issues of violence against women and HIV/AIDS. Sasa is a Kiswahili word meaning "now" and was chosen by the producers to convey the message that now is the time to begin thinking differently about preventing violence against women and HIV/AIDS infection.

The toolkit includes the following components:

Sasa! Film - This 30-minute documentary film tells two women’s personal stories of violence and HIV/AIDS. The first story is about Mama Joyce who lives in Mwanza, Tanzania. She had ten children with her husband before he decided to take a second wife. When his new relationship began, he became increasingly violent and hostile towards Mama Joyce. Because so many women in her community experience physical violence from their partners, Joyce believed for a long time that men had the god-given right to use violence against their wives. When Joyce’s co-wife fell sick with an AIDS-related illness, her husband abandoned both women. The second story is about Josephine who lives in Kampala, Uganda. She was married when she was only 18 years old, because her parents could no longer afford to send her to school or to support her. Her husband was very violent and was unfaithful. Fearing possible exposure to HIV from her husband, Josephine attempted several times to leave him, only to be forced back to him each time he demanded the return of the dowry he had paid to her parents. When Josephine discovered that her husband had infected her with HIV, she kept her diagnosis a secret from him, fearing more violence. After he died, his family took custody of Josephine’s children. These two stories aim to highlight the need for awareness, the importance of support, and the urgency of action around HIV and violence against women. Through their experiences, both women have been moved to become activists in their communities and work to support women experiencing violence and those living with HIV/AIDS.

SASA! Screening Guide - The Guide is designed to help use the film as an educational and advocacy tool in efforts to prevent violence against women and HIV infection. The guide includes tips on how to use the film in public screenings, trainings, presentations, and advocacy sessions. It also offers in-depth discussion guides with questions to help facilitate active discussion around the film.

Media and Advocacy materials – These include: radio programmes, listening guides, fact sheets, persuasion sheets, and postcards.

Communication materials – These include pamphlets, posters, comic sheets, and games. The materials are designed to encourage individuals and organisations in the community to begin talking and thinking about violence and HIV/AIDS.

Silenced Voices

jwalton — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:06:50 -0700

A collaboration with the Baccalaureate School for Global Education (BSGE). In collaboration with this unique school, students learn documentary and fictional video production in an after-school media program that builds on a Human Rights and Youth Empowerment elective.

This video is an exploration of youth rights internationally, and takes a look at the juvenile justice system through the lens of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Produced by students in the Human Rights and Youth Empowerment class, this video combines research, interviews, and dramatic re-enactments to illustrate their findings.

Stepping Stones PLUS

stratshope — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:53:33 -0800

'Stepping Stones PLUS' (140 pages) consists of numerous new exercises for existing sessions, and new sessions to follow the completion of the original workshop. These are designed to promote a whole-community response to the HIV epidemic through appropriate care and support, and the involvement of HIV-positive people in all aspects of programmes.

As with the original manual, 'Stepping Stones PLUS' addresses the issues of gender and generation, but also focuses on additional issues, including safe motherhood with discordant couples, male circumcision, the female condom, voluntary and confidential counselling and testing, and other related issues. It presents a comprehensive approach to both the containment of HIV and to love, care, treatment and support of everyone with HIV in a community.

The Power of Giving

lpalmer — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:53:00 -0800

According to the authors, the purpose of The Power of Giving is to ignite a spark in each individual to give more – and to help individuals to realize the many ways they can give. The authors believe that giving benefits both the recipients and the one who gives!

According to the authors, when someone buys The Power of Giving, they will see:

How a simple act of giving can improve one's health, one's relationships, a company's bottom line, one's happiness and more.
How to find and cultivate one's own personal giving potential.
How to give most effectively by choosing the right times, places, causes and people to give to.
How to give better, where to give, and how to achieve the greatest impact.

All of the royalties from the book will be donated to nonprofits, and the authors are letting people who buy the book decide what causes the money goes to.