Connecting with community in development programs, especially in health is a decisive component. It is required at planning level as well as during implementation and monitoring, developing the understanding of needs and ownership on resources. Planning process needs to be in the hands of community itself, so that they can ensure their participation in execution and monitoring. Though people are not experts of managerial issues, and lack technical knowledge but with a support system a lot can be achieved. In the Health Sector, establishing the connection with community emerged in the form of Community Monitoring under NRHM and now it is present as Community Action for Health. Present paper is an effort towards analyzing issues, understanding context and summarizing the process of connecting community for health with the background of communicating health in Rajasthan.
Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the risk perception of Covid-19 among Malawian community members and provide recommendations on how to enact more effective risk communication strategies to ensure higher levels of adherence to Covid-19 safety measures. Methods: Four UNICEF partner organisations working in Risk Communication and Community Engagement interviewed 319 community members from 14 of Malawi’s 28 districts regarding Covid-19 during home visits within the communities, and the responses were summarised into a compendium of insights (rumours, misconceptions, fears, expectations and suggestions regarding the nature of Covid-19 and its management). A rapid inquiry in the form of key informant interviews (KIIs) was conducted with nine health workers and community leaders who were directly occupied with Covid-19 health service provision and community mobilisation, to better understand possible reasons for the low efficacy of the risk communication strategies used. Data were then qualitatively analysed using IPA to establish recurring themes of the state of Covid-19 risk perception. Results: Findings showed that community members had a low-risk perception of Covid-19 stemming from several reasons, including misinformation and faulty attitudes about the pandemic, influences of political and socio-cultural factors, and less effective risk communication and community engagement which did not resonate with the target groups on influencing risk perception.
This study aimed to explore factors affecting the effectiveness of online presentations as perceived by undergraduate and graduate students in Indonesia. The issue discussed was online public speaking. Data were collected through an online questionnaire filled out by 359 undergraduate and graduate students of two private universities in Indonesia. The questionnaire addressed five main dimensions as follows, the voice, the media used, delivery, the materials and language used along with 16 factors. Overall, the analysis concluded that these five dimensions strongly affect the effectiveness of online presentations in this specific context. In addition to the above, the dimension of sound appears to be the key dimension, together with five specific factors, namely voice clarity, the use of an appropriate intonation, of an appropriate pace, the production of an easy-to-understand presentation, and the use of a reliable video conferencing tool. Results of the study stress the importance for online speakers to pay attention to these dimensions and factors to ensure the effectiveness of online presentations.
From the first quarter of 2020, Coronavirus (COVID-19) dominated our lives and media platforms, and it is considered an unprecedented healthcare crisis. The socio-economic, political and cultural impacts will last for a very long time. At present, the fight against COVID-19 is either being lost or won around the world. But, what could make the virus not go away soon from Africa, particularly Nigeria, is the tendency to deny its existence. Employing historicocritical and direct observation methods this article reflects on the issue and signposts argument against claims that Coronavirus is a fraud and a non-existent disease. Many unguarded Nigerians claim that Bill Gates is at the forefront of a plan to exterminate Africans through a vaccine. Others argue that if there was a Coronavirus, it must have been prepared in a Chinese lab. They further claim that it is what China had in mind when it invented the 5G technology which triggered the COVID-19. In fact, many Nigerians treat suggestions to wear facemasks or to apply certain preventive measures against infection from the virus with contempt. At each turn, Nigerians are pummeled with misinformation and disinformation. Readers and listeners are now expected to deal with news items that resemble the original. It is this situation that impels this study to take a position that a national orientation is required to correct a gullible culture of denial, propagation of fake news and the willingness of readers, listeners and other media users to accept such news as true without critical thinking. It is observed, regrettably, that the denials or conspiracy theories circulate more among students of tertiary institutions and degree holders who are supposed to have advance opinions on the issue. The article, therefore, suggests that tertiary institutions’ curricula should be reconfigured to give attention to this area of national life in Nigeria with a view to building a mass of critical thinkers, not ‘zombies.’
Despite the importance of community participation in local governance, the inputs of community members on issues of local governance seem little in district assemblies in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Social accountability is not a privilege for civil society organisations and citizens, but it is their right as tax-payers and citizens to actively participate in development decisions that affect them. This paper argues that such rights can be better actualised through innovative social interventions of civil society organisations (CSOs) and stakeholders in local governance. The study assumes that until district assemblies and development partners collaboratively work with communities to create a sense of inclusiveness in local governance, the implementation of development projects would hardly be beneficial. It employed a qualitative research approach. Data was sourced from in-depth interview of implementers of a novel social intervention project and review of write-ups of journalists on development issues in the Upper West Region. Content analysis was employed to analyse thirteen sampled articles of journalists to identify issues of social accountability. Through analysis of an innovative social intervention project of Action for Sustainable Development collaboratively carried out with the media in the Upper West Region, the paper gives some insights on emerging issues about CSOs’ innovative social intervention in local governance in the Upper West Region of Ghana.
