The Drum Beat 445 - Background Studies: Trends in Impact Evaluation of C4D [Part 1]

This is the first in a series of 3 Drum Beats to focus on World Bank Working Paper (#120), published in June 2007, "Communicating the Impact of Communication for Development: Recent Trends in Empirical Research" by Nobuya Inagaki. The study is a survey of empirical research on communication for development based on a sample of peer-reviewed English-language articles from academic journals published between 2000 and 2005. The purpose of the analysis was to collect evidence from peer-reviewed academic research to highlight the impacts of communication on development initiatives and to present current trends in theoretical underpinnings and communication approaches.

This first issue in the series reviews the peer-reviewed articles which served as background evidence for Mr. Inagaki's analysis. Below are summaries of the 35 key studies, with access to the full articles through The CI website. Part 2 of this series will focus on Chapters 1-4 of the actual analysis, looking at theory, trends, and evidence. Part 3 of the series will focus on Chapters 5 and 6, looking at discussion of the trends and evidence and presenting conclusions.

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Please note: The Communication Initiative (CI) worked with Mr. Inagaki in designing the research approach and supporting the research that was the background for the paper. The conclusions within the paper are Mr. Inagaki's and are not necessarily representative of The CI or the Partners of The CI.

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GOVERNANCE
For more CI summaries related to Democracy and Governance, please click here.

1. Enhancing Pro-Poor Governance in Eastern India: Participation, Politics and Action Research
by Glyn Williams, Manoj Srivastava, Stuart Corbridge, and René Véron
Reflecting on the experience of an action research project conducted from 1998 to 2000 in Eastern India, this paper, published in Progress in Development Studies in 2003, explores the use of participatory methods to promote pro-poor governance reform.

2. ICT, Local Government Capacity Building, and Civic Engagement: An Evaluation of the Sample Initiative in Ghana
by Wisdom J. Tettey
Published in Perspectives on Global Development and Technology in 2002, this paper evaluates how a regional network (LRNet) in Ghana contributed to political decentralisation, enhancing the capacity of the local government to perform its functions, promoting transparency, and serving as a mechanism of civic engagement in political process. The study develops an integrated analytical perspective of information and communication technology (ICT) by evaluating different dimensions of the process of adoption and use of LRNet for governance reform.

ICT4D
For more CI summaries related to ICTs for Development, please click here.

3. Enterprise Across the Digital Divide: Information Systems and Rural Microenterprise in Botswana
by Richard Duncombe and Richard Heeks
Published in the Journal of International Development in 2002, this paper explores the role of information and information-handling technologies in rural microenterprises (MSEs). Through a case study of rural MSEs in Botswana's economically poorest areas in 1999, the researchers identify social networks as the primary information system among poor rural entrepreneurs.

4. ICTs in Development - Who Benefits? 
by Nancy Odendaal
Published in the Journal of International Development in 2002, this case study explores the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in the process of development, land reparation, and restitution on the Cato Manor Development Project in Durban, South Africa in the year 2000. The author employed interviews with stakeholders, participant observation, and archival information analysis to document the process by which former residents, removed from the area during the Apartheid era, challenged the intervention of the development agency.

5. Participation through Communicative Action: A Case Study of GIS for Addressing Land/Water Development in India
by S. K. Puri and Sundeep Sahay
According to this paper, the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in the fight against accelerated process of land degradation offers opportunities to optimise the use of resources to rejuvenate the land. However, there are concerns about how development initiatives relying on advanced technological systems can effectively respond to local needs. Published in Information Technology for Development in 2003, this paper addresses the issue through a 2002 case study of the planning and implementation of a GIS-based intervention for land and water recuperation.

6. The Mosoriot Medical Record System: Design and Initial Implementation of an Outpatient Electronic Record System in Rural Kenya
by Terry J. Hannan, Joseph K. Rotich, Wilson W. Odero, Diana Menya, Fabian Esamai, Robert M. Einterz, John Sidle, Joy Sidle, Faye Smith, and William M. Tierney
One of the outcomes of the 12-year-long collaboration between the Moi University Faculty of Health Sciences, Kenya, and the Indiana University, US, was the development of a computer-based medical record system at the Mosoriot Health Center in Kenya. This article, published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics in 2000, reports the project design process by highlighting challenges unique to a rural development country context characterised by poor technology infrastructure.

NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
For more CI summaries related to NRM, please click here.

7. Co-partnership in Forest Management: The Gwira-Banso Joint Forest Management Project in Ghana
by Mark Appiah
This paper, published in the Environment, Development and Sustainability journal in 2001, presents findings of an evaluation of the Joint Forest Management Project initiated by 2 timber companies in collaboration with local authorities and farmers in Gwira-Banso, Ghana. The goal was to develop a sustainable forest management system in the region that supports both economic development and environmental quality. This 1998 study found that communication, financial support, tree planting, multiple land use, and benefit sharing are essential for co-partnership in forest management.

8. Facilitated Learning in Soil Fertility Management: Assessing Potentials of Low-external-input Technologies in East African Farming Systems
by A. de Jager. D. Onduru, and C. Walaga
Published in Agricultural Systems in 2004, this study assessed the effectiveness of low-external input technologies (LEIA), as an alternative to conventional soil management techniques requiring higher capital expenditure and extensive infrastructure development, in alleviating soil nutrient depletion through a case study of 4 districts in Kenya and Uganda conducted between 1997 and 1999. The findings illuminate the importance of developing effective communication strategies enabling horizontal interactions between the beneficiaries, project staff, and policy makers.

9. Farmer Field Schools and the Future of Agricultural Extension in Africa
by Brent M. Simpson and Michelle Owens
Published in the Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education in 2002, this study provides an overview of the introduction of the Farmer Field School (FFS) approach to Africa. Case study materials highlight some of the successes achieved and difficulties encountered in the expanding use of the approach.

10. Modes of Communication and Effectiveness of Agroforestry Extension in Eastern India
by Anthony Glendinning, Ajay Mahapatra, and C. Paul Mitchell
According to the authors of this study, failure of agroforestry extension has been blamed on inappropriate communication methods, but there have been few studies to identify those factors that determine farmer's awareness of, or attitude towards, agroforestry. Published in the Human Ecology journal in 2001, this study focuses on the modes of communication in the extension activities for a community forestry project in the state of Orissa, eastern India in 1998.

11. The Impact of Farmer Field Schools on Knowledge and Productivity: A Study of Potato Farmers in the Peruvian Andes
by Erin M.Godtland, Elisabeth Sadoulet, Alain de Janvry, Rinku Murgai, and Oscar Ortiz
Published in the Economic Development and Cultural Change journal in 2004, this study evaluates the impact of a farmer field school (FFS) programme on Peruvian Andes potato farmers' knowledge levels on pest management techniques. The effectiveness of communication strategies was not explicitly analysed in the study. However, given that communication components were an integral part of the key operational strategies of the present FFS programme, the overall impacts of the project were expected to reflect the effectiveness and efficiency of communication components.

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DEBATE!

This issue of The Drum Beat will serve as background information for an upcoming discussion among the Drum Beat Chat network of World Bank Working Paper (#120), "Communicating the Impact of Communication for Development: Recent Trends in Empirical Research" by Nobuya Inagaki.

Please register (if you are not already registered) and engage in dialogue, beginning June 10th, through the DrumBeatChat forum: click here. Register here, and either participate online or send your contributions via email to drumbeatchat@comminit.com (you must be registered to participate). If connectivity is an issue for you, you may also send your contact information via email to the moderator, Deborah Heimann - dheimann@comminit.com - who can assist you with the registration process.

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HIV/AIDS
For more CI summaries related to HIV/AIDS, please click here.

12. Empowerment through Inclusion: The Case of Women in the Discourses of Advertising in Botswana
by Violet Lunga
In this article, published in Perspectives on Global Development and Technology in 2002, the author offers a critique of an HIV/AIDS campaign advertisement in Botswana by situating it within the context of socio-cultural constraints encompassing gender relations, identity, post-colonial Africa, and globalisation. The author concludes that the advertisement, while opening the space for women's voice in the HIV/AIDS discourse, ultimately concealed the socio-cultural structures of Botswana's gender relations.

13. Entertainment-Education and HIV/AIDS Prevention: A Field Experiment in Tanzania
by Peter W. Vaughan, Everett M. Rogers, Arvind Singhal, and Ramadhan M. Swalehe
Published in the Journal of Health Communication in 2000, this study evaluates the impact of a long-running entertainment-education radio soap opera in Tanzania on knowledge, attitudes, and adoption of HIV/AIDS preventive practices. Theoretically, the intervention and evaluation followed psychosocial models, diffusion and social-movements theories emphasising social cognitive concepts such as self-efficacy, role modeling, cultural belief systems, and relational variables such as social networks, opinion leaders, and community organisation and mobilisation.

14. Factoring Poverty and Culture into HIV/AIDS Campaigns: Empirical Support for Audience Segmentation
by Haejin Yun, Kay Govender, and Bella Mody
Published in Gazette in 2001, this study observes the communication patterns of poor black and Indian teenagers in Durban, South Africa, to investigate the extent to which ethnic and cultural factors may influence the effectiveness of communication campaigns on HIV/AIDS. The study is theoretically guided by the idea of audience segmentation, which posits that desired goals of communication (e.g., behaviour change) are easier to achieve when messages are tailored to economically and culturally distinct sub-groups in the audience.

15. Peer Education, Gender and the Development of Critical Consciousness: Participatory HIV Prevention by South African Youth
by Catherine Campbell and Catherine MacPhail
Drawing on results of a larger empirical study of HIV transmission and prevention among young people in Summertown, South Africa, this study, published in the July 2002 issue of Social Science & Medicine, evaluates the outcome of a participatory, peer education programme that promoted safe sexual behaviour among youth. The authors assert that traditional gender relations constitute a key obstacle to condom use among young people. The peer-education approach is built on an assumption that successful peer education on the interlocking concepts of social identity, empowerment, and social capital would foster new gender dynamics amenable to preventive health behaviours.

16. Social Communications and AIDS Population Behaviour Changes in Uganda Compared to Other Countries
by Daniel Low-Beer and Rand L. Stoneburner
Published by the Center for AIDS Development, Research and Education (CADRE) in 2004, this study investigates the impacts of social communications on population behaviour changes and HIV prevalence declines in Uganda. The authors hypothesised that horizontally communicating HIV-related matters through social networks would have positive impacts on population behaviour and HIV prevalence.

POPULATION/REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
For more CI summaries related to Population issues, please click here.

For more CI summaries related to Reproductive Health issues, please click here.

17. The Impact on Condom Use of the "100% Jeune" Social Marketing Program in Cameroon
by Dominique Meekers, Sohail Agha, and Megan Klein
"100% Jeune" was a social marketing programme that promoted adolescent reproductive health by empowering youth to practice safe sex, promoting dialogue about adolescent reproductive health in the community, and by making condoms accessible to youth. Published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in 2005, this study provides an assessment of the impacts of the "100% Jeune" programme on young people's health and sexual attitudes and behaviours.

18. Development Communication and Participation: Applying Habermas to a Case Study of Population Programs in Nepal
by Thomas L. Jacobson and Douglas Storey
Published in Communication Theory in 2004, this study explores a new direction of theorising participatory communication through the discussion of a population and reproductive health programme in Nepal. This study is not intended to evaluate the impacts of the participatory strategies employed in the population programme; the goal is to initiate a theoretical discussion that would lead to useful indicators of participatory communication in future communication programmes.

19. Effect of a Participatory Intervention with Woman's Groups on Birth Outcomes in Nepal: Cluster-Randomised Controlled Trial
by Dharma S. Manandhar, David Osrin, Bhim Prasad Shrestha, Natasha Mesko, Joanna Morrison, Kirti Man Tumbahangphe, Suresh Tamang, Sushma Thapa, Dej Shrestha, Bidur Thapa, Jyoti Raj Shrestha, Angie Wade, Josephine Borghi, Hilary Standing, Madan Manandhar, and Anthony M de L Costello
A team from Mother and Infant Research Activities (MIRA) in Kathmandu, Nepal undertook a low-cost, community-based participatory intervention with women's groups to test the impact of peer education on birth outcomes in an economically poor rural population. This report, published in 2004 in The Lancet (Vol. 364, No. 9438) describes the implementation and results of this internationally registered, cluster-randomised controlled trial of community-based strategies to reduce neonatal mortality.

20. Entertainment-Education and Social Change: An Analysis of Parasocial Interaction, Social Learning, Collective Efficacy and Paradoxical Communication
by Michael J. Papa, Arvind Singhal, Sweety Law, Saumya Pant, Suruchi Sood, Everett M. Rogers, and Corinne Shefner-Rogers
Published in the Autumn 2000 issue of the Journal of Communication, this study employed a multi-method case study to investigate the process by which dwellers of an Indian village initiated system-level changes as a result of exposure to entertainment-education messages between 1997-99. Relying on surveys, interviews, and focus groups over a 3-year period, researchers explored how listeners of a radio soap opera promoting dowry eradication, small family size, women's empowerment, and community development reflected and acted upon these ideas.

21. Family Planning Programs, Socioeconomic Characteristics, and Contraceptive Use in Malawi
by Barney Cohen
Published in World Development in 2000, this study presents an analysis of the relative importance of various household- and community-level variables on contraceptive use in Malawi in 1992. The study assessed the relative importance of communication programmes and other dimensions of family planning efforts. To this end, the following communication-related variables were considered: women's exposure to family planning media messages; women's exposure to social marketing of condoms; and the availability of AIDS awareness campaigns.

22. Fostering Reproductive Health through Entertainment-Education in the Peruvian Amazon: The Social Construction of Bienvenida Salud!
by Beverly Davenport Sypher, Michelle McKinley, Samantha Ventsam, and Eliana Elías Valdeavellano
Published in Communication Theory in May 2002, this study presents the case of a Peruvian Amazon radio-novela (radio soap opera) which demonstrates the ways in which social change is provoked by the interactions between a mass media campaign and local practices. The study found evidence of increased dialogue and interactions about women's health issues fostered by the radio soap. The study also highlights the challenges faced by adopters of new health practices, raising questions about how entertainment-education can sustain long-term social change.

23. Impact of the Integrated Radio Communication Project in Nepal, 1994-1997
by Douglas Storey, Yagya Karki, Karen Heckert, Dibya Man Karmacharya, and Marc Boulay
Published in the Journal of Health Communication in 1999, this report draws on multiple research sources that have examined the impact of a theory-based, multimedia reproductive health campaign launched in Nepal in 1995: The Radio Communication Project (RCP). In general, results of the integrated impact evaluation described here show that RCP had a significant impact on modern family planning, primarily through its effects on interpersonal communication about family planning with health workers and with one's spouse, and through its effects on ideation about family planning.

24. Involving Husbands in Safe Motherhood: Effects of the SUAMI SIAGA Campaign in Indonesia
by Corinne L. Shefner-Rogers and Suruchi Sood
Suami SIAGA was a multi-media entertainment-education intervention implemented in 1999-2000 in Indonesia with a goal of reducing maternal death through a greater involvement of husbands in maternal care and safe motherhood. Published in the Journal of Health Communication in 2004, this article evaluates the impacts of the intervention on male partners' involvement in pregnancy, birth preparedness, and potential maternal emergency, and the value added to the campaign messages by interpersonal communication involving male partners.

25. Men's Talk about "Women's Matters": Gender, Communication, and Contraception in Urban Mozambique
by Victor Agadjanian
Published in Gender & Society in April 2002, this study investigates the role of men in reproductive and contraceptive changes in urban Mozambique by analysing man-to-man communication on family planning issues. The study begins from an assumption that the role of man-to-man informal social interaction, especially verbal communication, is crucial in forming men's family planning-related knowledge, attitudes, and preferences.

26. Social Networks, Ideation, and Contraceptive Behavior in Bangladesh: A Longitudinal Analysis
by D. Lawrence Kincaid
Published in the January 2000 issue of Social Science & Medicine, this study tests theoretical and methodological hypotheses of the diffusion of innovation approach using data from a contraceptive promotion project carried out in Bangladesh. Two specific foci in the study are the extent of contraceptive use growth brought about by a social networks approach and one's ideation (progression of innovation-decision process leading to behaviour change). Under the study design, interpersonal communication plays a central role in both social network and ideation processes.

27. Spousal Communication and Family Planning Adoption: Effects of a Radio Drama Serial in Nepal
by Mona Sharan and Thomas W. Valente
Published in International Family Planning and Perspectives in 2002, this article presents the findings from a 5-year panel study in Nepal that assessed the influence of a mass media intervention on spousal communication about family planning, and the impacts of spousal communication on family planning adoption. The study draws on the Radio Communication Project (RCP), and is built on existing research findings that showed that the amount of communication on family planning issues between partners is positively associated with contraceptive use.

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HEALTH
For more CI summaries related to Health issues, please click here.

28. A Staged Model of Communication Effects: Evidence from an Entertainment-Education Radio Soap Opera in Tanzania
by Peter W. Vaughan and Everett M. Rogers
Published in the Journal of Health Communication in 2000, this study develops a theoretical model of health communication through an analysis of the impacts of an entertainment-education radio soap opera on family planning practices in Tanzania. The findings from this study indicate that entertainment-education programmes may influence people at later stages in the process by providing role models and motivation to change, rather than just affecting an individual's knowledge.

29. Evaluating Health Communication - A Holistic Overview of the Impact of Soul City IV
by Esca Scheepers, N. J. Christofides, Susan Goldstein, Shereen Usdin, Dhaval S. Patel, and Garth Japhet
Published in the Health Promotion Journal of Australia in 2004, this study evaluates Soul City, a South African non-governmental organisation (NGO), specifically focusing on the impacts of the mass media campaigns on community and health practice changes at the individual, interpersonal, and community levels. By combining both quantitative and qualitative methods, and by measuring communication strategies' impacts at various scales in the South African society, this evaluation study was designed to reflect the Soul City project's comprehensive socio-ecological perspectives on health.

30. Intersectoral Coordination in Aedes aegypti Control: A Pilot Project in Havana City, Cuba
by L. Sanchez, D. Perez, T. Pérez, T. Sosa, G. Cruz, G. Kouri, M. Boelaert, and P. Van der Stuyft
Published in the Tropical Medicine and International Health journal in 2005, this study evaluates the effectiveness of a local-level, participatory intersectoral programme for dengue prevention implemented from 1999-2000 in Havana, Cuba. The authors hypothesise that effective dengue control could be achieved by changing the concept of the existing intersectoral collaboration (i.e., alliance between professional experts from several sectors) from a technocratic towards a participatory approach involving the community in all phases of planning and implementation.

31. Introducing Insecticide-Treated Nets in the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania: The Relevance of Local Knowledge and Practice for an Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Campaign
by Happiness Minja, Joanna A. Schellenberg, Oscar Mukasa, Rose Nathan, Salim Abdulla, Hadji Mponda, Marcel Tanner, Christian Lengel, and Brigit Obrist
Published in the Tropical Medicine and International Health journal in 2001, this article reviews a malaria prevention campaign in Tanzania promoting insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs) from 1996-1999. Although the study did not evaluate the specific impacts of social marketing activities, the authors argue that the sharp rise in ownership of ITNs in the period following the project can be attributed to the effectiveness of social marketing.

32. Partnerships, Community Participation and Intersectoral Collaboration in South Africa
by Walid El Ansari and Ceri J. Phillips
Published in the Journal of Interprofessional Care in 2001, this study examined the structural characteristics and operational issues involved in collaborative ventures relating to the education of health professionals in 5 community partnership projects (CPs) implemented in South Africa in 1996-1997. The developmental framework behind the CPs relied on a participatory model, in which community participation and collaborative interprofessional teamwork were considered central for ameliorating deeply seated health and social problems in underserved communities.

33. The Economics of Social Marketing: The Case of Mosquito Nets in Tanzania
by Nassor Kikumbih, Kara Hanson, Anne Mills, Hadji Mponda, and Joanna A. Schellenberg
Published in the Social Science & Medicine journal in 2005, this article offers an economic analysis of a social marketing project for insecticide-treated mosquito nets distribution in Tanzania. The main focal point is the ways in which social marketing can stimulate demand for nets - a public sector input, and encourage the growth of product supplies - a private sector output with public health impact.

34. The Impact of a Community Mobilization Project on Health-Related Knowledge and Practices in Cameroon
by Stella Babalola, Natasha Sakolsky, Claudia Vondrasek, Damaris Mounlom, Jane Brown, and Jean-Paul Tchupo
Published in the Journal of Community Health in 2001, this study analyses the impact of a Cameroonian community mobilisation project on reproductive health practices. The study compared the effectiveness of community mobilisation strategies in an urban and a rural setting from 1997-1998. One key finding of this study was that the mobilisation strategy was more effective when utilising existing indigenous associations.

35. The Unheard Voices of Santalis: Communicating About Health From the Margins of India
by Mohan J. Dutta-Bergman
Published in Communication Theory in 2004, this article employs a culture-centered approach to explore Santali meanings of health in rural Bengal. The goal was to suggest alternative theorisation and practice in health communication that would facilitate the incorporation of views and needs of marginalised populations into the design and implementation of health campaigns. Findings suggest the need for relocating the definition of health problems under a circumstance deprived of resources as experienced by these communities, while associating the cure to natural resources and lifestyles.

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Drum Beats 446 and 447 will focus specifically on the findings within "Communicating the Impact of Communication for Development: Recent Trends in Empirical Research" by Nobuya Inagaki.

You may download a PDF version of the full study - click here.

You may download a plain text version of the full study - click here.

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DISCUSS!

This issue of The Drum Beat will serve as background information for an upcoming discussion among the Drum Beat Chat network of World Bank Working Paper (#120), "Communicating the Impact of Communication for Development: Recent Trends in Empirical Research" by Nobuya Inagaki.

Please register (if you are not already registered) and engage in dialogue, beginning June 10th, through the DrumBeatChat forum: click here. Register here, and either participate online or send your contributions via email to drumbeatchat@comminit.com (you must be registered to participate). If connectivity is an issue for you, you may also send your contact information via email to the moderator, Deborah Heimann - dheimann@comminit.com - who can assist you with the registration process.

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The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

Please send material for The Drum Beat to the Editor - Deborah Heimann dheimann@comminit.com

To reproduce any portion of The Drum Beat, see our policy.