Our most popular blogs of the year, featuring: discussion of alternatives to counter-propaganda, tips for successful health communication and recommendations of both development films to watch and Twitter accounts to follow.
It’s been a busy first few months for the Insight blog. Since our launch at the end of June, we’ve covered a diverse array of topics, from and the , to and .
We’ve summarised key finding of our reports on , and , as well as giving a behind-the-scenes look at our , which pushed the envelope in generating media development evidence.
With an eye on what the wider international development sector’s been up to, we’ve responded to the and marked International Human Rights Day with . It’s also been fantastic to have featured guest blogs by experts from the and the – and we hope to have many more contributions next year (email us if you’re interested).
So as we reflect on 2016, here are our five most popular blogs of the year:
To help reboot your Twitter timeline, we recommended some international development accounts – focusing on governance, health and humanitarian affairs – that are well worth following. We aimed to feature a variety of voices from across the great expanse of the Twittersphere, and included some familiar handles while introducing to some new faces who should definitely be on your radar.
The effectiveness of IS’s international communication machine, along with that of other extremist groups, has prompted increasingly urgent attempts at crafting effective information responses by policy makers around the world.
Reflecting on these efforts, James Deane and Will Taylor expressed their concern that investing in ‘counter-narratives’ – what some would term counter-propaganda – is not always supported by good evidence. And yet it is here where increasing resources are being focused sometimes, they feared, at the expense of other efforts designed to support free and independent media and other information efforts that might be more effective at reducing violent extremism.
Caroline Sugg summarised five recommendations for accelerating progress in global health communication from our looking at what makes excellent health communication, how to fund it and – most crucially – why it should be at the centre of public health work.
Panellists stressed the importance of empathy and community engagement, the need to go ‘beyond messaging’ in communication efforts and invest in evidence and the imperative to prioritise local ownership
For more on this topic, read Caroline Sugg’s paper.
Films in the international development sector are often associated with fundraising but they can also serve as a form of aid in themselves. Films can help mothers manage a pregnancy, assist refugees as they navigate life in an unfamiliar country and influence perceptions of what politicians can achieve.
We selected five examples of ‘film aid’, including a drama series for teenagers aimed at tackling risky sexual behaviour, a skit to warn refugees about scammers and Nepal’s version of The West Wing.
The World Health Organization’s Dr Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli and Marina Plesons looked at how two education programmes used community engagement to promote young people’s sexual and reproductive health in Pakistan. Their guest blog examined how Aahung and Rutgers WPF – a Pakistani and Dutch organisation respectively – have adapted to local culture and worked with the media to respond to backlash to their sensitive work.
That’s all from the Insight blog for 2016. Looking ahead to next year, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Media Action will launch its new data portal. We’re also due to publish blogs on conducting research in Syria, shifting social norms in Ethiopia and accountability in Somaliland so watch this space!
is Digital Editor of the Media Action Insight blog; she tweets as .