MEDIA ADVOCACY ELEMENTS

Media AdvocacyMedia advocacy refers to the strategic use of mass media along with direct participation of the members of civil society and opinion leaders, with the vision to bring any significant positive change in mass lifestyle or policy level. Actually media advocacy means, the use of media as a powerful tool in development communication’s process.Elements of Media AdvocacyTo make a media advocacy process to be fruitful in its working process, the strategy planner has to be aware about Media Advocacy’s element, which means some key-factors to keep in mind when someone is dealing with Media Advocacy.Communication GoalDefine clearly the goal. That means what is our objective by applying the media advocacy in the specific area.Target AudienceFinding out the key-audience is the second most important duty. Target mass might be of a huge number but there might be a limited number of people who can perform better in message conveying process to achieve our goal.The MessageClearly define the message what I want to convey to the target audience. The message will consist of the information which will focus on our goal.Key StakeholdersDetermine the most effective communication stakeholders through whom message could be conveyed to the target audience most effectively.Targeting the MediaTo identify which part of mass media will perform more effectively on the target people and use that particular media in the media advocacy is a vital element. Because wrong choice of it might turn the advocacy planning worthless.

Media Advocacy Guideline/ Hand Wash Program

The Issue The rural people and urban under-privileged class people of our country are seriously facing health threat from water contaminated diseases and infections like diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, skin irruption, and hook worm. Though they drink safe drinking water, but they are not safe from the disease threat. Identifying the Policy Solution The mass I have said about in the previous section have common phenomena, they are not aware about washing their hands before taking meals or after using the toilet, which results this sort of infection or infective diseases through the germs contained dirty hands. Identifying the Primary Audience In our case the first level audience will be the local government authority and local health department officials who can play a vital role to inform and educate the targeted mass if motivated properly. Here we have chosen them as they have directly involvement regarding the topic we have planned about. Identifying the Secondary Intended Audience The political leaders, Religious and intellectual opinion leaders whose word have a big influence on the target community can play a important role as the secondary intended audience in our case. Research about the Policy to be adopted or not A prior research about the issue has to be done before whether it will work on our focused issue or not. Is more or less like designing a prototype before the commercial production of any new innovation. Research the audience is notified about the issue or not It is very important to know about whether the targeted audience is prior-informed about the issue or not. If yes, then why they are not aware about it. To get the information its necessary to conduct a survey to gather the information from them. Review Data to show the targeted mass To make the people aware about hand-wash program it’s highly recommended to show some real life examples in front of them about its impact on daily life health. And for that reason it’s also necessary to go through a study that if the proposed example is viable for the audience or not. Which Media to choose In this case we have to understand that in which media the targeted audience has the access most. For example in case of our targeted audience Newspaper Editorials, Satellite TV Bulletins or Awareness E-Mails will not work out when radio announcement or BTV Public Service Announcement might work more effectively. Choose the best way to deal with Media Getting rich knowledge of communication skills to make the media work more powerfully to work for achieving our goal. This process also defines how effectively I can deal with the media to make my issue more attracted to the audience as well as the media representatives.

REPORT ON “BATIGHAR”

The course Development Communication and Media Advocacy (MSJ-205) of MSJ Department of University of Liberal arts, the students of the course has visited a development project `Batigher’, is a project of Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID) in Singair, Manikganj.
As I said `Batigher’ is a development project of Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID), cooperation with GrameenPhone to serve the village people with Information and communication technology for their benefit.
Helping in agriculture: they have a lot of program which actually very helpful for root level farmers. As they said they provide information’s about proper time of irrigation, using method of fertilizer and pesticide without any service charge.
Training programs: the `Batighar’ is giving training about how to operate computer including Basic Office Management Course, and Basic Graphics Course. They have an excellent and easy English learning program with ‘English Learning Games’ for school going children.
Other services: `Batigher’ also providing some informative services like Visa information, passport information, driving license information, Internet browsing, Email Service. In this case they charged a little cost.
It can be said from my own observation or point of view that the ‘Bathigher’ is a business place for the unemployed people and an information center for the village. But they are not very familiar with their all facilities or service. They are founded `batigher’ about 4-5 month before, but their performance is quite good.
People are not very concern about the name `batigher’ infect, but the people are very familiar with the service. If they want to be a sustainable project they have to more careful about their service and the participation of local people.

Strategic Communication

Strategic Communication

Strategic Communication can mean either communicating a concept, a process, or data that satisfies a long term strategic goal of an organization by allowing facilitation of advanced planning, or communicating over long distances usually using international telecommunications or dedicated global network assets to coordinate actions and activities of operationally significant commercial, non-commercial and military business or combat and logistic subunits.


Definition of strategic communication

Strategic communication management is defined as the systematic planning and realization of information flow, communication, media development and image care in a long-term horizon. It conveys deliberate message through the most suitable media to the designated audience at the appropriate time to contribute to and achieve the desired long-term effect. Communication management is process creation. It has to bring three factors into balance: the message, the media channel and the audience.

P-Process

P-Process

1. Analysis
Situation Analysis: Determine severity and causes of problems; identify factors inhibiting or facilitating desired changes; develop a problem statement; carry out formative research (listen to understand audiences' needs and priorities).
Audience/Communication Analysis: Conduct a participation analysis to identify partners, audiences, and field workers; carry out a social and behavioral analysis at the individual and community levels; assess communication and training needs.

2. Strategic Design - Establish communication objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic, and Time-bound (SMART); develop program approaches & positioning; determine channels (consider a coordinated, multimedia approach that includes community mobilization and interpersonal communication); draw up an implementation plan; develop a monitoring and evaluation plan

3. Development & Testing - Develop message concepts; pretest with audience members and gatekeepers; revise and produce messages and materials; retest new and existing materials. Combining science (analysis, strategy) and art (creativity), this step is characterized by participatory processes and the facilitation of group action.

4. Implementation & Monitoring - Produce and disseminate; train trainers and field workers (focus on building institutional capacity and teamwork as well as individual skills); mobilize key participants; manage and monitor program (maximize participation); and adjust program based on monitoring.

5. Evaluation & Re-planning - Measure outcomes and assess impact; disseminate results widely; determine future needs; revise/redesign program (staff may have to return to the analysis stage if the situation changes markedly or if new causes are found for problems).

Participation: A strong communication program should fully engage multiple stakeholders at the national, district, and community level.

Capacity Strengthening: A successful plan considers ways to build capacity at the institutional and community level.

Development Communication

What is Development Communication?

From: www.worldbank.org

Development communication is the integration of strategic communication in development projects.

Strategic communication is a powerful tool that can improve the chances of success of
development projects. It strives for behavior change not just information dissemination, education, or awareness-raising. While the latter are necessary ingredients of communication, they are not sufficient for getting people to change long-established practices or behaviors.

All development requires some kind of behavior change on the part of stakeholders. Research shows that changing knowledge and attitudes does not necessarily translate into behavior change. In order to affect behavior change, it is necessary to understand why people do what they do and understand the barriers to change or adopting new practices. It is not enough to raise awareness of the "benefits", it is critical to understand peoples' barriers or the "costs" they perceive such a change would entail.

From:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_Communication

Development Communication, simply defined, is the use of communication to promote social development. More specifically, it refers to the practice of systematically applying the processes, strategies, and principles of communication to bring about positive social change.

Types of Communication in Development Organization

1. From:http://en.wikipedia.org

Corporate communications is the communication(s) issued by a corporate / organization / body / institute to all its public(s). Publics here - can be both internal (employees, stakeholders, i.e. - share and stock holders) and external (agencies, channel partners, media, government, industry bodies and institutes, educational institutes and general public). Corporate communications serves as the liaison between an organization and its publics.

From:http://www.netpresenter.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6&Itemid=19&gclid=CIHY7NOklpsCFQcSzAodh1IYig

"Corporate communications drives business performance and is a key contributor to organizational success."But one can’t improve corporate communications by stuffing more messages into employees' flooded inboxes or by trying to enforce regular corporate website visits.

2. From:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_communications

Internal communications includes all communication within an organization. Communication may be oral or written, face to face or virtual, one-on-one or in groups. Effective internal communication is a vital means of addressing organizational concerns. Clear and concise internal communication helps to establish formal roles and responsibilities for employees and maintain organization and clarity within an establishment. Internal communication is the communication that exists within a company, between and among employees. It can take many forms, such as face-to-face casual conversations, formal meetings, phone calls, emails, memorandums, and internal wikis. Communication within an organization is key to success. An organization's adaptability to external changes relies on efficient communication internally.

3.From:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advocacy _Communication

Advocacy Communication influences change at the public level and promote issues related to development. The main function is to raise awareness on developing issues by using communication methods and media.

4.From:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_Communication

Development Communication, simply defined, is the use of communication to promote social development. More specifically, it refers to the practice of systematically applying the processes, strategies, and principles of communication to bring about positive social change.

The practice of development communication can be traced back to efforts undertaken in various parts of the world during the 1940s, but the widespread application of the concept came about because of the problems that arose in the aftermath of World War II .

Development Communication is the use of communication to promote social development. It refers to the practice of systematically applying the processes, strategies, and principles of communication to bring about positive social change.

History of Development Communication

Source: Hand outs and http://en.wikipedia.org, etc

The Three Paradigm

The Dominant Paradigm: Modernization

Modernization theory is rooted in the concept of development as modernization and dates back to soon after World War II and has been called the dominant paradigm because of its pervasive impact on most aspects of development. The main idea of this paradigm was to develop or overcome the development problems by modernizing under developed countries. The main idea is to advise the underdeveloped countries to follow the footsteps of richer, more developed countries.

The Opposing Paradigm: Dependency

In the 1960 the modernization paradigm faced strong opposition which gave birth to an alternative theoretical model called dependency theory. The theory emphasized on political-economic perspective.

The Emerging Paradigm: Participation

At certain point in time the promises of modernization paradigm failed to materialize and its methods came increasingly under fire, and dependency theories failed to provide a successful alternative model, a different approach focusing on people’s participation began to emerge. The model is called participation model. It works best with the participation on people to look for solutions.