Environment

Opportunity for Influential Developing Country Journalists to Attend and Cover the Upcoming Rio+10

Population, Health, and Environment Training

PopPlanet

MEASURE Communication is working to improve international population and environment programs and policies by increasing awareness of the critical linkages among population, health, and environment (PHE) issues. Specifically, we are working to promote a better understanding of how PHE issues interact, the implications of this interaction, and the ways that they can be addressed in order to improve people's lives around the world. These linkages are important in all countries, especially in those that demonstrate rapid growth rates, high rates of internal/international migration, young age structures, increasing consumption levels, and a heavy dependence on the natural resource base. MEASURE Communication contributes to informed dialogue and understanding of these linkages by:

• Helping researchers and program managers develop their capacity to contribute to policy dialogues on PHE linkages;
• Advancing networks for information exchange on PHE linkages; and
• Analyzing key linkages in order to respond to strategic information needs.

Opportunity for Influential Developing Country Journalists to Attend and Cover the Upcoming Rio+10

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) (www.johannesburgsummit.org) will be held 26 August through 4 September 2002, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The WSSD presents an excellent opportunity to give pressing regional sustainable development issues, especially population and environment interactions, high-profile media coverage that will reach policymakers, opinion leaders, and influential public audiences around the world. During the Summit, major global actors, including governments, concerned citizens, UN agencies, and multilateral financial institutions, will meet to assess global change since the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED or the Rio Summit). According to the UN, the WSSD will "reinvigorate, at the highest political level, the commitment to sustainable development and to a North/South partnership and a higher level of international solidarity to the accelerated implementation of Agenda 21 and the promotion of sustainable development."

To expand and sustain coverage of population and environment linkages and issues of sustainable development, PRB will sponsor several developing country journalists to attend and cover the events and issues associated with the WSSD. Selection of the participants will be based upon the experience of each candidate in journalism, the candidate's record of writing on population and environment topics, and the strength of the candidate's application. Senior-level journalists, as well as editors and senior producers, from print and broadcast media are encouraged to apply to participate in this program.

Journalists who participate in the program will receive round trip airfare and 14 days' (23 August – 5 September 2002) support for hotel, meals, and other conference and travel-related expenses. For more program details, click here. If you have further questions, please contact Buffy Baumann by email: [email protected]; phone: 202.939.5436; or fax: 202.328.3937.

To apply to participate in the Rio+10 events, please fill out and submit the application by fax (202.328.3937) or email no later than 22 April 2002. If submitting an application by fax, please send us an email notifying us of your intent to do so. Applicants will be notified of acceptance status by 30 April 2002.

Sponsorship for this program is provided by PRB's Population, Health, and Environment Program through the MEASURE Communication project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Population, Health, and Environment Training

To help researchers and program managers in Asia, Africa and Latin America develop their capacity to contribute to policy dialogues on population, health, and environment (PHE) linkages MEASURE Communication is conducting an intensive policy communication training program. This program empowers researchers, analysts, and advocates to use baseline data and facts to help define policy-relevant issues and to link them to feasible solutions tied to the interests and concerns of policymakers. With the goal of contributing to the policy learning environment, the MEASURE Communication training programs build the capacity of local institutions to train others in policy communication techniques and works directly with researchers and policy managers to help them understand the challenges of communicating research results; identify the policy implications of survey data and research studies; understand how research can influence the policy process; and communicate research findings in simple and compelling formats. Ultimately, this training program is working to increase the use of research findings for the improvement of policies and programs.

The training program has two components. First, MEASURE Communication works with local partner institutions in a training-of-trainers program to help them develop the capacity to conduct policy communication training workshops. Second, training workshops, co-facilitated with the local partner institutions organizations and universities, focus on seven learning modules:

Population, Health, and Environment Linkages

This first module examines different aspects of conducting, and communicating the results of, integrated population, health, and environment work. Key elements include:

• Research design and frames of reference
• Programmatic and research challenges
• Policy implications
• Monitoring and evaluation tools
• Communication challenges
• Sessions include background readings, interactive discussions and problem solving exercises on researching PHE linkages: perceptions, perspectives, and problems, and developing and using integrated PHE indicators.

Fundamentals of Policy Communication

The second learning module provides a theoretical understanding of the policy process and of how research can influence the policy process. Key elements include:

• An overview of policymaking
• Elements of the policy process
• Introduction to policy communication
• Characteristics of issues that reach national agendas
• Sessions aim to create a general understanding of policy change through group discussions of the policy process and key elements of policy communication as well as an analysis of a case study on lead and the environment.

Research-to-Policy Process

This third learning module explores the research-to-policy gap and helps participants identify strategies of overcome this gap. Key elements include:

• Contradictory ideas about the research process
• Roles of researchers and policymakers
• How to design of policy-relevant research
• How to develop participatory approaches to the research process
• Identifying policy implications of survey data and research studies
• Sessions focus on the experiences and current work of participants to pinpoint barriers to research influencing policy, key research findings and program implications, and strategies to overcome barriers to research influencing policy. Participants have lunch with a local policymaker and discuss these issues from the decisionmaker's perspective.

Developing Communication Strategies

The fourth learning module allows participants to grasp the key components of, and to create, a comprehensive policy-level communication strategy. Key elements include:

• Developing communication objectives
• Identifying and researching key audiences
• Tailoring messages to target audiences
• Selecting the most appropriate channels and formats for delivering messages
• Highlighting action that the audiences are expected to take with the information they receive
• Discussion includes how to identify key communication constraints and opportunities, carry out an action plan, manage controversy, and evaluate performance. Participants use guidelines for message development and examples of communication strategies to develop and present individual communication strategies based on current work.

Working With the Media

The media plays a vital role in affecting public opinion and in bringing issues to policymakers' attention. The fifth module helps participants develop skills for working with the media (newspapers, radio, and television) and to outline the basic components of a media strategy. Key elements include:

• Exploring advantages and disadvantages of working with the media
• Review of the key components of a media strategy
• Do's and don'ts for writing press releases
• Interviewing techniques
• Participants use their current work to outline a media strategy, write a press release, and practice interviewing skills. A discussion forum is held with local journalists and editors where participants have the opportunity to raise particular questions and concerns, gain insight into how journalists work, and learn about difficulties that journalists face in working with technical experts.

PowerPoint and Graphics

The sixth module focuses on using a computer-based communication tool as an instrument to reach policy audiences. It provides hands-on training in computer-graphics presentations using Windows-based PowerPoint to enhance oral and written presentation skills. Key elements include:

• Basic manipulation and functions of PowerPoint
• Design tips for presenting text, graphs, charts, and diagrams.
• Based on participants' level and needs, hands on exercises and interactive sessions focus on developing effective text and chart slides, the effective use of graphics and numbers, designing graphics in PowerPoint and creating graphs in PowerPoint.

Briefing Policymakers

The final module focuses on developing skills for communicating with policy audiences using simple and compelling written and oral formats. Policy audiences are the individuals and groups who have the power to enact laws, make regulations, and set policies, or to influence these processes. Key elements include:

• A step-by-step approach to organizing and delivering effective policy presentations
• Policy memoranda and fact sheets: differences and uses, as well as tips for developing these written tools
• How to deal with questions and answers during policy briefings and presentations.
• Although powerful or influential groups are often difficult to reach, presentation techniques designed for such audiences can enhance communication efforts significantly. Participants learn about the techniques of developing these tools, are given the opportunity to practice them, receive feedback on the products that they develop, and then envision how they could apply these skills to their work. Participants, for example, will prepare a 10- to 15-minute oral presentation, supported by computer graphics, that communicates research findings to a selected policy audience. They then view a videotape of their presentations, self-critique their techniques, and receive feedback and suggestions from facilitators.

PHE Policy Communications Workshops are held in:

• Costa Rica (English or Spanish)
• Thailand
• Madagascar
• Tanzania

PopPlanet

PopPlanet: Networking to promote information exchange on-line
MEASURE Communication supports PopPlanet, a state-of-the-art technology-based project that promotes information exchange and networking on integrated population, health, and environment (PHE) issues. PopPlanet, a collaboration between the Population Reference Bureau and the National Council for Science and the Environment, is maintained in English, French, and Spanish. It provides a forum for network-building via moderated bulletin boards and in-depth country profiles that serve as a gateway to online PHE resources for a number of countries in different regions.

Moderated Bulletin Boards

Visitors can post questions, opinions, experiences, and observations about population-health-environment projects, research and data, and can network with other visitors. Periodically, distinguished experts and leaders in the field are available to answer questions and lead discussions. The regional bulletin boards allow users an open space where they can offer and glean information about PHE linkages and share their perspectives and project information with others, including recognized experts, with similar interests.

Country and Regional Profiles

These provide an overview and in-depth analysis of significant population, health, and environment interactions and trends through essays, reports, books, news articles, laws, directories of organizations and services, maps and charts, photographs, databases, and other materials. These electronic resources provide information on issues related to the environment, population and health in each region (e.g., water pollution and scarcity; land resources and degradation; biological, flora and mineral resources; health services, health impacts from environment, etc.) Currently PopPlanet features country profiles for Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, Nigeria, Madagascar, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.