The Communication Initiative? …global forces...local choices… critical voices…telling stories...

1. The Communication Initiative?…global forces...local choices…critical voices…telling stories... Partners: The Rockefeller Foundation, BBC World Service Trust, The CHANGE Project, CIDA, The European Union, Exchange, FAO, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs, The Panos Institute, Soul City, The Synergy Project, UNAIDS, UNICEF, USAID, WHO.

2. Goals • Expand dialogue, debate and review of key communication issues and programmes • Effectively advocate the importance of communication for effective development • Advance the extent and quality of communication for change information • Improve strategic communication thinking on development issues

3. Focus • People and organisations using communication strategies to achieve progress on priority development issues. • Organisations providing technical and financial support to communication strategies that seek to achieve progress on priority development issues. • [Emerging] Developing Country journalists, news and entertainment media organisations

4. Communication Covers… MEDIUM: Radio - Television - Printed Material - Computing and Internet - Telephone and Fax - Advertising - Personal Contact - Community Action - Film and Video - Live Drama  STYLE: Entertainment - News and Information - Traditional Folk Media - Marketing - Interpersonal - Advocacy Community Participation - Awards and Recognition

5. Strategy Partnership process Horizontal Linkages Real Time Knowledge and Information Peer Review Change Strategic Thinking

6. Guiding Operational Principles What do you need that will help you do your job better today? • You choose according to your context and interests • Recognition, profile, community, connections, respect, voices from the on-the-ground action

7. Progress: Demand, Use, Feedback Some indications: • Latin America up and running in Spanish • 60,824 individual user sessions in October • 26,013 unique hosts in October • 18,000 plus DB subscribers – Global 14,000 and 6,000 Latin America [overlap] • 65% in The South • 250 to 400 new subscribers a month [varies] • 18 to 20 minutes per user on site

8. Progress: Demand, Use, Feedback • Overloaded with info for DB and site • Recent sections – eg. Training - good initial use and increasing • Very good feedback - LA and Global • Interactive processes beginning to take off • Partnership extremely supportive • “Tapped” contemporary interest and demand – eg. Making Waves

9. Progress: Demand, Use, Feedback • Strong brand presence • Trends are all consistently up - users, uniques, subscribers, interaction, etc • Increased demand to help

10. Progress: Demand, Use, Feedback Are the people we want to engage, the ones who are engaged? Indicators: • Quality and quantity of information provided • Consistent level of feedback • Web use up on Mondays and Thursdays [ DB’s are out weekends and Wednesdays] • Web use much higher during week than weekends • Depth of use of the site • Nature of people requesting to receive Drum Beat – we ask for details • Time on web site • Etc.

11. Accessing/Use Of Website Notes: • We are not after mass demand/use – we are supporting, servicing, connecting a defined “community” • Can only get an insight through the stats – do not prove impact • Trend and comparative data is only within a site [not between sites] because of different counting systems and Site construction – eg number of images on page • …..but do give an interesting insight…

12. Page Views

13. Page Views – Per Day

14. Visitor Sessions

15. Visitor Sessions – Average per Day

16. Unique Visitors

17. Countries Accessing

18. Hits – Entire Site

19. Hits – Average per Day

20. C. “Tables” The facilities through which we do our work Provide us with the ability to maximise impact and reach and gain synergy Different than, for example, a series of unrelated, one-off, discreet projects

21. Tables The common tables we try to get everyone to congregate around - our tables can take any ‘meal’ at any time….

22. The SUMMARY ‘Table’easily digested information with links to the details • Programme Descriptions http://www.comminit.com/programmes.html • Evaluation data http://www.comminit.com/evaluation-results.html • Materials http://www.comminit.com/materials.html • Events http://www.comminit.com/2001-events.html • Training http://www.comminit.com/training.html • Strategic Thinking http://www.comminit.com/strategic.html • and in Drum Beat, Son de Tambora, DB Classifieds, Home Page and Banners

23. The NEWS ‘Table’Development and Communication News • Development News http://www.comminit.com/about-time.html • Communication News http://www.comminit.com/tempo.html • and in The Drum Beat and Son de Tambora

24. The DIALOGUE ‘Table’Discussion on major issues Our Forums - examples • Drum Beat Chat http://www.comminit.com/majordomo/drumbeatchat/threads.html The Consultants Chat Forum http://www.comminit.com/majordomo/consultants/threads.html Specific Forums for particular purposes - examples • The Round Table Forum http://www.comminit.com/majordomo/roundtable/threads.html • Making Waves Forum http://www.comminit.com/majordomo/makingwaves/threads.html

25. The RESEARCH ‘Table’ Investigating key areas of interest on-line Present Examples • The Competency Questionnaire http://www.comminit.com/competencies.html • The New Technology Survey

26. The SEARCH ‘Table’Ability to find what you want when you want it • Key word search • Custom Search • Segment search – eg within Materials • Related sites “ring-fence” and search

27. The NETWORK ‘Table’The people interested and engaged Maximizer: • Now 18,000 plus • Most are coded – geography, interests, nature of organisation, etc • Can create mini-networks – eg. all interested in gender; everyone in Francophone West Africa • Will ‘soon’ be available to everyone in C.I. team

28. The PERSONALISATION ‘Table’People configuring the web site for their interests In Development: • Supports people to configure part of the home page of the web site • to prioritise their specific interests [eg. rural development, Africa]. • Each time they enter the site, that section presents the most • recent material, relevant to their interests on our site and the linked related sites

29. The MAGASINE ‘Table’weekly information updates • The Drum Beat • The Son De Tambora • DB Classifieds

30. The WINDOWS ‘Table’Theme entries into the web site with Boundaries around that theme. PRESENT EXAMPLES • Health Communication http://www.comminit.com/healthcomm/search-healthcomm.htm • HIV/AIDS Communication http://www.comminit.com/hivaids/search-hivaids.html • Immunisation and Vaccines Communication http://www.comminit.com/immunisation/search-immunisation.html

31. The COMMENTARY ‘Table’Space for people to present their considered opinions • Interviews – soon to be resurrected http://www.comminit.com/interview.html • Commentary http://www.comminit.com/drum_role.html

32. The OPINION POLL ‘Table’ Taking snap shots of opinions in theInternational development field • PULSE – about to be launched!

33. Strategy • Each ‘table’ has it’s own identity;and, there is synergy between them. • The C.I.’s own key technologies support and enable these tables - provide their legs and shape • Coding system • Jpres and Jtext direct upload facilities • Personalisation [on stream soon] • “Segregated” databases

34. Strategy • Increasingly close working relationship with development focussed web based networks in South • SANGONet • ProPOOR • Bytes-for-All • ANDI • FemNet • JAA • Kabissa • InfoDev • National Network Alliance • Etc.