"There has been exponential growth in the numbers of ‘digital development’ programmes seeking to leverage technology to solve systemic challenges. However, despite promising results and a shift from pilots to scale-ups, many have failed to realise their full potential. This paper reflects on les
...
sons learnt from scaling and transitioning one of the largest mobile health programmes in the world to the Indian government. The complementary suite of services was designed by BBC Media Action to strengthen families’ reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health behaviours. Mobile Academy was a training course to refresh frontline health workers’ (FLHWs) knowledge and improve their interpersonal communication skills. Mobile Kunji was a job aid to support FLHWs’ interactions with families. Kilkari delivered weekly audio information to families’ phones to reinforce FLHWs’ counselling. As of April 2019, when Mobile Academy and Kilkari were transitioned to the government, 206 000 FLHWs had graduated and Kilkari had reached 10 million subscribers. Lessons learnt include the following: (1) private sector business models are challenging in low-resource settings; (2) you may pilot ‘apples’ but scale ‘oranges’; (3) trade-offs are required between ideal solution design and affordability; (4) programme components should be reassessed before scaling; (5) operational viability at scale is a prerequisite for sustainability; (6) consider the true cost of open-source software; (7) taking informed consent in low-resource settings is challenging; (8) big data offer promise, but social norms and SIM change constrain use; (9) successful government engagements require significant capacity; (10) define governance structures and roadmaps up front." (Abstract)
more
"There is a growing body of evidence from rigorous evaluations demonstrating the effectiveness of education entertainment – ‘edutainment’– interventions in achieving development outcomes. Building on this research, this study presents the results of a pioneering quasi-experimental evaluation
...
of Navrangi Re, a 26-episode television drama aired in India in 2019. The show was the first ever edutainment broadcast on commercial television in India. It aimed to influence sanitation behaviours through changing knowledge and attitudes, increasing risk perception, stimulating conversations, building collective efficacy, and creating social disapproval against poor faecal sludge management practices. The evaluation compared changes in outcomes of those exposed to the TV show with those unexposed, applying differences-in-differences estimation to a panel of 2,959 respondents. Baseline balance tests show high comparability between exposed and unexposed respondents. It found exposure to the drama led to significant changes in most outcomes with 37% of those who watched at least one episode showing behavioural intent to act, rising to 78% of those who had watched at least seven episodes. The show reached 59.6 million unique viewers, confirming drama as an effective, low cost and scalable tool to engage people around faecal sludge management – a critical and hard to address issue." (Abstract)
more
"In 2012 the opportunity for ordinary Afghans to communicate with political authorities or hold them to account was extremely limited. To help address this BBC Media Action worked with state broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) and the BBC Afghan Service to co-produce the TV and radio nati
...
onal debate programme Open Jirga (Open Assembly). It also supported the Afghan Education Production Organization (AEPO) to incorporate governance issues into its longstanding radio drama New Home, New Life. The project aimed to provide a platform for people to question their leaders and which built the profile and participation of women in public dialogue and debate. It also sought to raise the production skills and standards of RTA staff to produce high-quality coverage on key governance issues. Findings showed that BBC Media Action’s training and mentoring of RTA was largely successful. It was also found that more than 84% of those that tuned into Open Jirga and/or New Home, New Life reported that the programmes had increased their knowledge of key governance issues. However, research revealed that satisfaction with panellists’ responses was mixed. Some audiences and experts felt that Open Jirga could have done more to follow up to ensure that action was taken and demonstrate where power holders were failing in their duties. Encouragingly however it was found that both programmes did have a positive impact on attitudes regarding women’s right to participate and their confidence to take action." (BBC Media Action website)
more
"Bringing together the perspectives of more than 40 internationally acclaimed authors, The Handbook of Global Media Research explores competing methodologies in the dynamic field of transnational media and communications, providing valuable insight into research practice in a globalized media landsc
...
ape; provides a framework for the critical debate of comparative media research; posits transnational media research as reflective of advanced globalization processes, and explores the role and responsibility this bestows it with; articulates the key themes and competing methodological approaches in a dynamic and developing field; showcases the perspectives and ideas of 30 leading internationally acclaimed scholars; offers a platform for the discussion of crucial issues from a variety of theoretical, methodical and practical viewpoints." (Publisher description)
more
"Press freedom indices such as those administered by Freedom House, IREX, and Reporters Without Borders have emerged as crucial tools, not only for the general public, but also for donors, implementers, and academics in their attempts to understand the relationships among media assistance, democrati
...
zation, and other forms of development. Bringing together a variety of viewpoints and perspectives on evaluating media assistance, Measures of Press Freedom and Media Contributions to Development offers a critical reflection on the theories and tools of measurements that are used by the academic, donor, and civil society communities. A variety of theoretical and geographic perspectives are drawn upon, offering a timely debate from both academics and practitioners." (Publisher description)
more
"Between September and November 2009, the BBC World Service Trust’s Research and Learning Group, on behalf of the British Council, conducted research in DR congo to gauge public understanding of climate change. the research consisted of 12 focus group discussions in six locations with congolese ci
...
tizens, as well as 17 in-depth interviews with opinion leaders from government, religious institutions, the private sector, the media and civil society. The overall objective was to find out what people think about climate change and to determine how to tailor communication and media strategies to support dr congo’s response to climate change.
Key findings
There is a universal perception among Congolese people that their climate is changing. they tell of changes in the rainy seasons and increases in temperature and use the word ‘climate’ to describe these.
Many people talk about the “disruption” of the dry and rainy seasons and say that it is causing crop failure and affecting the country’s forests. people are particularly concerned about these changes because of the population’s reliance on natural resources.
Many are aware of the terms “climate change” and “global warming” and cite the media and schools as their main sources of information. However, few relate these terms to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Most simply use the terms to refer to the changes in the rainy seasons and increases in temperature they are experiencing.
People have a number of misconceptions. Some people inaccurately link climate change to ozone depletion, and outside the capital, most think that “global warming” refers to an increase in the temperature of the air or earth over a short period of time.
There is a strong notion of environmental stewardship linked to people’s faith. people have seen how human activity has harmed their natural environment, and they perceive that human activity could also have an effect on the weather. many think that the natural environment, including the weather, is god’s creation, and believe that they have a responsibility to protect it.
Many people believe the weather changes that they are witnessing have local causes. for example, they say that deforestation in their local area is leading to a reduction in local rainfall, and some believe that local smoke and pollution from wood fires and industry lead to increases in temperature.
Some also inaccurately relate increases in temperature to ozone depletion, which they think is caused by smoke, air pollution and other factors such as rockets and weapons. Some see changes in temperature and weather as the will of god – a view particularly prevalent among female rural populations." (Executive summary)
more
"In May 2009, the BBC World Service Trust’s Research and Learning Group, on behalf of the British Council, conducted research in Senegal to gauge public understanding of climate change. The research consisted of 12 focus-group discussions with Senegalese citizens, as well as 17 in-depth interviews
...
with opinion leaders from government, religious institutions, the private sector, the media and civil society. The overall objective was to find out what people think about climate change, and to determine how to tailor communication and media strategies to support Senegal’s response to climate change.
Key findings
Most Senegalese do not understand the science of climate change. They have, however, noticed changes in the weather and seasons. They tell of drought, increases in temperature and loss of distinct rainy seasons. Most people do not connect these with global climate change.
People in Senegal are keenly aware of environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources, but they make little distinction between this degradation and climate change.
Drought and scarcity of fish are causing frustration and despair. Farmers and fishermen do not have a sense of how they would cope if the problems became worse. Senegalese are also worried about bush fires, deforestation, flooding, rubbish and air pollution. opinion leaders are particularly concerned for rural communities.
There is a strong tendency for Senegalese to hold themselves individually and collectively responsible for local changes in the environment and the weather. There is little awareness that climatic problems – now or in the future – are likely to have causes that extend beyond Senegal.
Although opinion leaders recognise that climate change is a global problem, only a few recognise that industrialised countries are most responsible for causing it." (Executive summary)
more
"The symposium Measuring Change. Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation in Media Development focused on the utilisation aspect of evaluation1: The adding of “Planning” to “Monitoring and Evaluation” in the subtitle indicates that emphasis was laid on learning from monitoring and evaluation experie
...
nces, to facilitate the improvement of existing projects and programmes at all levels, from planning to implementation and follow-up." (Executive Summary)
more