EXPERIENCES
1. I-Network - Uganda
A national network that provides a platform for sharing knowledge and forming partnerships around the use of ICTs to address development challenges. Seminars, workshops and meetings bring together stakeholders interested in a particular area to share ICT development experiences. These monthly seminars cover a range of topics including health, education, agriculture and poverty alleviation. A web presence, mailing list, and quarterly online and print newsletters help to support the network.
Contact Vincent Waiswa vincent@aitecafrica.com
2. Girls Power Initiative - Nigeria
Girls Power Initiative (GPI) is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation that aims to equip adolescent girls between the ages of 10 to 18 with sexuality, human rights, reproductive health/rights information; leadership, economic and other life skills to cope with growing-up. Activities include outreach to secondary schools, library services for public information on gender sensitive issues of health, human rights, sexuality, gender, population and development, and training courses and workshops for staff and members of other NGOs to become gender sensitive and critically conscious.
Contact Leonard Igynbor gpibn@alpha.linkserve.com
3. CHPS Navrongo Project - Ghana
The project resulted from studies to explore what works and what does not when health services are removed from clinic settings and converted into community-based programmes. The cultural resources of chieftaincy, social networks, village gatherings, volunteerism, and community support were mobilised to address health issues.
Contact chps@africaonline.com.gh OR
href="mailto:chps@volta-health.org">chps@volta-health.org
4. TeenWeb - Kenya
The TeenWeb project combined social and scientific goals to maximise benefits and explore new paths for global learning and exchange on matters of adolescent health. The project offered "research subjects" computer skills in exchange for their cooperation over a two-year period. As students finished answering the questions presented in each of a series of five modules, they were given the option of learning about health via the Internet.
Contact Ipas ipas@ipas.org OR
href="mailto:africaalliance@ipas.or.ke">africaalliance@ipas.or.ke
5. Electronic Distance Learning Project - Rwanda
The project is aimed at establishing an ICT network at the Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) and improving connectivity with KIE Regional Distance Learning Centers. The project also aims to increase technical capacities of KIE academics and to enable administrative staff to improve skills to facilitate better administrative and financial management.
Contact William Wright wwright@edc.org OR Semra Seifu semra@world-links.org
6. Malaria and the Media - Sub-Saharan Africa
This is a programme that aims to promote malaria as a newsworthy topic amongst those working in the media and to improve policy and practice concerning the depiction of malaria in the print and broadcasting media in Western and South Eastern Africa. Conferences and seminars were held for senior media people and government ministers. A training workshop was held for print and broadcast journalists. As well, an electronic discussion list facilitates discussion on issues and professional networking. A health and media website is planned to provide access to resources on health for journalists and augment communication.
Contact Angela Dawson adawson@liverpool.ac.uk
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Call for short articles - Encyclopedia of Developing Regional Communities with Information and Communication Technology
Seeking case studies of development using ICT; information on hard and soft technologies for community development practitioners; research articles; etc. Please click here for suggested topics and guidelines. Please click here for more information
Please forward your email of interest including your name, affiliation and a list of topics on which you are interested in writing a short article to: Encyclopedia@lists.cqu.edu.au
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EVALUATIONS
7. Evaluation of the Satellife PDA Project, 2002: Testing the use of handheld computers for heathcare in Ghana, Uganda, & Kenya
Information and communications technology (ICT) can be used as a tool for collecting community health information to support decision-making; improving doctors' access to current medical information; linking healthcare professionals so they can share information and knowledge; and enhancing health administration, remote diagnostics, and distribution of medical supplies. One ICT that offers promise is handheld computers - also called personal digital assistants or PDAs. This evaluation looks at a project to test the use of PDAs in healthcare environments in Ghana, Uganda, and Kenya during December 2001-December 2002.
8. My Father Didn't Think This Way: Nigerian Boys Contemplate Gender Equality
This document is a report on a project known as "Conscientising Male Adolescents" or CMA. The project was founded to increase boys' awareness of gender-based oppression, and to foster their critical thinking skills by teaching them to analyse the world around them and arrive at a new set of values on their own. The report includes sections on the different approaches used in the programme, as well as a reflection on its outcome.
STRATEGIC THINKING
9. Behaviour and Communication Change in Reducing HIV: Is Uganda Unique?
By Daniel Low-Beer, Rand L. Stoneburner
"The clearest example of declines in HIV prevalence and changes in sexual behaviour comes from Uganda. Are there lessons to learn for other countries or is Uganda unique?" This paper assesses the epidemiological and behavioural data on Uganda comparatively to other African countries, and then analyses data from other populations where HIV has declined. In Uganda, HIV prevalence declined from 21% to 9.8% from 1991-98, there was a reduction in non-regular sexual partners by 65%, and greater levels of communication about AIDS and people with AIDS through social networks, unlike the comparison countries.
10. Divided City: Information Poverty in Nairobi's Slums
By Rasna Warah
ICTs can also be a dividing factor in society. For the urban poor, they can be a blessing or a curse. This study is an attempt to look at how slum dwellers in Nairobi obtain information, and also to examine what mechanisms exist in slums to access media and information in the absence of ICTs. It also explores various options that can be adopted to promote ICT development in slums.
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Do you have programme experiences, research, materials or events about communication for development in Africa that you would like to share? E-mail Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com
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MATERIALS
11. A Media Handbook for HIV Vaccine Trials for Africa
This handbook aims to equip scientists with ideas, skills, and knowledge on how to relate to the media and thereby reach both the general public and some specific groups. It also explores constructing a setting which will educate the media adequately and promote public goodwill and support. The handbook is based on a literature review, interviews and discussions with professionals who deal with the media to communicate issues to the general public. Each section of the handbook provides information on issues relating to HIV vaccine trials.
12. Rutanang: Peer Education as a Rigorous Technology
By Charles Deutsch and Sharlene Swartz
Rutanang is a set of materials and a process communicating an approach to peer education for programmes serving youth in school, community, and higher education settings. Rutanang's basic manual describes a set of ten multi-level standards, ranging from what programmes must have, to what they should and could have as they engage in self-reflection and growth planning. These standards are arranged in checklists customised in implementation guides for each of three settings: schools, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and higher education.
13. Open Source in Africa: Towards Informed Decision-making
By Martin Bruggink
This brief summarises research carried out in Tanzania, Uganda and Burkina Faso and other countries, asking where, how, and why open source software is being used in Africa. Researcher Martin Bruggink highlights the opportunities as well as the
risks facing IT managers in African institutions who are thinking of making the switch to open source."
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The Soul Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.
Please send material for The Soul Beat to the Editor - Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com
