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Advocating for Adolescent Reproductive Health in Sub-Saharan Africa [PDF]
Also available in French in [PDF] format.
Chapter 5. Mobilizing
the Public: Public
Education and Working with the Media
A successful advocacy
campaign targets three distinct groups that influence one another:
opinion leaders, the public, and the media. Many opinion leaders will
be more likely to support adolescent health initiatives when they believe
the public agrees with their position. The media educates the public
about the need for the proposed policy change. An educated public is
more likely to express their support for the advocacy campaign's goals
to community and national opinion leaders.
Public Education
Public education helps
an advocacy campaign build a broad foundation of support. Effective
public education provides people with information about young people's
reproductive health, and shows them how a proposed policy change can
make young people healthier. It also suggests how the public can help
and shows them why they should be involved. The goal of public
education is to inform and mobilize the public.
Public education is
most effective when specific audiences are targeted with tailored messages
and information. Advocates may decide, for example, to target parents,
members of religious groups, people in a certain part of town, or elders.
Two examples follow. First, a youth-serving agency advocating for changes
in school policy may focus its public education efforts on parents
because their opinions may influence school officials. The campaign
may also target religious leaders and school officials. Second, an
agency advocating for improvements in the government's support for
HIV/AIDS prevention may educate local businesses about AIDS' negative
effect on employees and profits and encourage the businesses to speak
out about a prevention program.
As each audience is
identified, gather information and create messages that will be likely
to persuade that group of people. Separate materials should be created
for each audience. The concerns of parents, elders, business people,
and teens will usually vary. The type of audience will also determine
the strategies used to reach them. For example, an effort to reach
out to people in a certain part of the community might involve planning
an event in the local community center. To reach business people, advocates
may want to create and distribute a short, factual pamphlet.
Educational pieces should
be short and easy to read. They should explain the need for the program
as well as describe the program's components and its intended effects.
Educational materials are a good opportunity to provide answers to
questions, address concerns, and correct misinformation about the program.
Materials should
include:
- National,
state, and local statistics on adolescent reproductive
health that may be affected by the proposed program or
policy, such as rates of sexual activity, lack of access
to medical care, rates of pregnancy, reported AIDS and
STD cases;
- Factual
information that describes the local situation, explains
why the proposed program or policy is necessary, and
describes its intended effects;
- Information
on similar programs implemented elsewhere;
- Research
and other facts that rebut expected criticisms from the
opposition;
- Supportive
media coverage of the issue, such as newspaper articles
or editorials; and
- Information
about the advocacy effort's purpose and goals and include
a list of members.
Other Activities
to Educate the Public
Written materials are
only one way to reach out. Other events present opportunities to provide
the public with information. The following opportunities can be used
to answer questions, respond to concerns, and encourage broader community
participation:
- Hold
a community event to provide information about a reproductive
health problem and encourage people to support the solution.
- Ask other
organizations that are planning events for permission
to hand out materials about the advocacy campaign and
to meet with the public.
- Give
presentations at local meetings, including parent teacher
associations, traditional councils, training workshops,
neighborhood associations, and other community gatherings.
- Ask opinion
leaders to talk to their friends, family, and community
about the issue. If these opinion leaders are difficult
to reach, write letters and enclose materials for them
to read.
- Go where
the audience is, such as markets, bus stops, agricultural
association meetings, community centers, and public areas.
Distribute materials and simply talk to people about
the advocacy campaign.
- Conduct
polls or surveys to gauge community support.
- Write
articles about the advocacy effort for newsletters.
Working With
the Media
Media coverage is important
in public education because it carries information to a much larger
audience.
Fortunately, adolescent
sexuality is a story that is often interesting to the press. Unfortunately,
it is also a story that is frequently covered in a negative way. The
media reflect the public's discomfort with adolescents and sexuality,
and reporters and editors often chose to highlight stories that portray
young people as either reckless or helpless victims.
YSOs can have an effect
on the way the public views young people by working with the media
to dispel negative stereotypes. Providing the public with a better
understanding of youth, as well as what YSOs offer, can build support
for youth programs.
Successful media plans
usually follow a four-step process.
1. Define the
role of the media in the advocacy campaign. Getting public
education out through the media enhances outreach efforts and supports
advocacy goals and objectives. Build contacts with the media long
before they may be needed.
Reporters with newspapers,
radio and TV provide interviews that can help make the public aware
of youth issues and can build support for changes in local and national
policies. Consider exactly what kind of media attention will support
the advocacy goals as well as how to generate the desired media attention.
The right message, at the wrong time, can hurt an advocacy campaign.
For example, a strong
message about important reproductive health education for young people
may hurt the effort if it's release coincides with the illness and
death of a prominent and respected opponent of such education.
Some advocacy campaigns
choose not to work with the media at all. For example, if there is
no local newspaper, TV, or radio, outreach to the press may not be
worthwhile or cost effective. A local effort might instead use other
means of reaching out to policy makers and the public.
When working with the
media, think about the audiences the effort must reach.
Newspapers are a popular and inexpensive method of educating
the public. Working
with a reporter on a story or asking a newspaper to cover
an event can provide an organization with free publicity.
Yet, newspapers reach
only some people. Members of the community who are not
literate in the paper's language or who read another paper—or even no paper—may
not see the story. Defining the audience also points to
which media will be most effective.
2. Choose the
message carefully. The media generates public attention;
use this attention to educate the public. Make sure the information
is interesting and persuasive.
The community is usually
interested in stories about young people, particularly young people's
health. However, the media often report adolescent stories in ways
that make young people seem irresponsible, dangerous, and disrespectful
of traditions. This frequently confirms some people's opinions about
youth as a problem and rarely helps to provide young people with increased
access to information or services.
To build public support,
first consider the characteristics, interests, and opinions of the
intended audience; then present the issue in a way that is most likely
to generate support and action from that audience.
For example, a campaign
that is trying to convince school officials to adopt a better reproductive
health curriculum would also like to convince parents to support the
change. Parents often worry that providing information to youth will
only lead them into sex. Yet, many of these parents are also very concerned
about the spread of HIV/AIDS. To win the support of parents, the campaign
may want media stories that focus on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and how
the new curriculum will educate young people to be safe through abstinence
and condom use.
Finally, selecting a
message should not be confused with misleading the public
or creating false expectations about what a program offers. There is
no easier way to lose credibility than to be untruthful. Always
tell the truth in public education efforts.
3. Determine
what activities to hold and what materials will be needed. Decide
when, where, and how to work with the media to achieve the maximum
effect. Determine who in the organization or network is responsible
for each component of this effort.
An organization or network
must determine what materials and staff time are necessary for its
media activities. The advocacy campaign should designate one or more
spokespeople to work consistently with the press. The spokespeople
should build contacts with members of the press long before the campaign
begins to request press coverage. Select reporters to provide with
short, concise, and factual information on youth issues. Create personal
connections by inviting reporters to attend a short, informal event
with young people and members of the advocacy campaign. Reporters who
work on short deadlines value contacts who quickly and promptly give
them information for whatever story they are working on. Building a
reputation as a reliable expert assures that when the spokesperson
calls the reporter later to suggest a story, he or she will be likely
to listen.
Working in an advocacy
network makes it easier to provide materials for the media because
each member organization will have publications or other materials
that can be sent to reporters. Advocates should always have some basic
information or fact sheets on youth issues always available to give
to reporters in small press packets.
4. Evaluate
the press campaign. Keeping track of how the media covers
youth issues provides information to improve media outreach. Setting
realistic expectations helps to understand and evaluate press experience.
An advocacy campaign cannot control what the media report. It can
only provide reporters with information and a key message that it
hopes will appear in the final story. Success is measured in how
well the campaign influenced the final product.
A news story should
present the campaign's side of the story fairly, but it may present
other viewpoints as well. The story should incorporate at least one
of the major points raised in the interview and should quote spokespeople
accurately. Most importantly, a news story should not only educate
the community about the issues but also heighten public support for
the solutions.
Copies of press coverage
that mention advocacy efforts, records of materials created for the
press, and information on contacts with members of the press, will
provide a sense of how well the campaign is working with the media.
For more information on evaluation of advocacy activities, see Chapter
9, Monitoring and Evaluating Advocacy
Efforts.
Other Tips for
Working With the Media
The Spokesperson—Designate
a spokesperson to provide reporters with a consistent contact
for interviews, information, and media follow-up. The spokesperson
should be articulate
and well versed on adolescent health issues. He or she
should be able to speak clearly and directly to the issue
without using unfamiliar
terms. All members of an advocacy campaign should know
who the spokesperson is and should immediately refer questions
from the press to that person.
Responding to
Requests for Information—Reporters
will not continue to work with spokespeople who fail
to supply them with needed information in a timely manner.
Responding quickly increases
the chances of being quoted in the final story. However,
some members of the media will not be supportive and
may represent sharply diverging
political beliefs. Advocates should be aware of the political
bias and/or affiliation of reporters and the media. Focus
efforts on reporters
and media who are supportive.
When You Don't
Know—If
the spokesperson does not know the answer to a question,
he or she should say so. Reporters can ask anything,
and they assume that the
spokesperson's answer reflects the opinion and stand
of the entire campaign. A spokesperson has the right
to decline to answer any question.
When questions are asked to which the spokesperson is
uncomfortable responding, the safest rule is not to answer
the question. The spokesperson
should never be drawn into criticism of colleagues but
should carefully reserve criticism for important events
and serious opponents. Remember
that any remarks made to a reporter may appear in the final
story. If something should not be published, the spokesperson should
not say it.
The Story—The
spokesperson should plan in advance what points to make. Anticipate
difficult questions and practice answering them in a role playing situation
prior to the interview. Focus on two to three points
to stress in the conversation or interview.
Short sentences that
stand alone enable the reporter to use the spokesperson's
words. Reporters will paraphrase long, wordy sentences,
and the results may be disappointing.
To get the reporter to focus on the perspective of the
advocacy effort, the spokesperson may use a technique called "bridging." For
example, if the interviewer asks an irrelevant question, such as "Doesn't
sex education in the schools promote promiscuity?", the spokesperson
can say "I think the real issue [or question] is what
will protect the health of our young people."
The Press Information
Packet—One
important tool for a media campaign is the press information
packet. It should contain basic background material on
the organization or
network. Factual information can be used to educate reporters
on the issues and interest them in a story. Whether or
not an advocacy campaign needs a press information packet depends
on
the size of
the campaign. A small campaign may not wish to spend
time and effort to create a press packet, but may reach
out to the media in other
ways. A large campaign, which deals with many different
members of the media, will find that the packet can save
time, attract attention,
and provide information and quotable statements.
A packet may include:
- Information
about the advocacy network (if one exists), including
a list of members and the network's mission and goals;
- Contact
information for the press spokesperson;
- Background
data (such as fact sheets) on adolescents and AIDS, STDs,
and other health issues;
- Information
on YSOs and their programs;
- Positive
press coverage the campaign has received;
- Information
on how the proposed program or policy change will address
community needs; and
- Materials
that help reporters write a story, such as recent research
on young people's reproductive health, quotes from the
campaign leadership, and copies of other opinion leaders'
speeches or testimony.
Working With
the Media—The
advocacy campaign should develop a press list, including
contact information for the various forms of media that serve the
target audience. A press list should contain the newspaper, television,
and radio outlets in the area as well as their news deadlines. The
characteristics of the audience for each media source are important
to know.
In addition to the press
information packet, there are a number of means of developing contacts
with the press and getting attention in the media.
Events—Inviting
the media to an event already planned is an inexpensive
way to generate contacts and publicity. The opening of
a new youth center, a play or
sketch performed by young people, or a meeting between
local leaders and a youth delegation are all opportunities
to attract the interest
of the media. Tell participants in advance that the media
will be coming. A spokesperson or liaison should be available
to assist members of
the press, provide background information, and introduce
them to notable people present.
Letters to the
Editor—Newspapers
frequently print letters to the editor that address an
issue which has been in the news recently. The letters
to the editor section
is one of the most frequently read sections of newspapers
and is an ideal place to respond to criticism or concerns.
Letters should
be brief and persuasive, and should use clear facts or
quotes from respected opinion leaders. A prominent member
of the community can
be asked to write or sign a letter drafted by a member
of the advocacy campaign.
News Releases—A
news release is a one- to two-page (400 to 800 words) description
of an event, program, or activity. Some newspapers use
news releases without
changing them. Sometimes, reporters attend the event or
may follow up to write a story. News releases should include
the following: 1)
one or two quotes from leaders; 2) facts: who, what, where,
when, why and how; and 3) contact information for the spokesperson.
The main
point of the news release should appear in the first two
paragraphs.
Television and
Radio—Many
television and radio stations have news as well as discussion shows
for current issues. Identify news directors and talk show producers
who may be interested in covering the issue. The host of a discussion
shows may be interested in dedicating an edition to a suggested issue. "Call-in" radio
shows on a relevant topic can provide opportunities for
a spokesperson or leader to speak directly to the radio
audience.
Case
Study—Kenya
Youth Initiatives Project (KYIP), Part 2
The Kenya Youth Initiatives
Project was designed to reduce unintended pregnancies and STD rates
among Kenyan youth. KYIP's advocacy objectives included increasing
the knowledge of policy makers and community leaders about the consequences
of unintended pregnancies, STDs, and HIV/AIDS among Kenyan youth. KYIP
analyzed media articles on adolescent reproductive health issues and
responded with information, education, and communication (IEC) materials
that presented more accurate information.
Focus group discussions
were held with 37 groups of adolescents and parents throughout Kenya.
The focus groups provided information on which to base IEC activities
and media outreach. KYIP also held a one-week materials development
workshop for YSOs throughout Kenya to develop messages based on information
from the focus groups discussions.
IEC
The IEC group prepared
three brochures for distribution in conjunction with other project
activities. Were You Ever Nine? gives parents tips and recommendations
for talking with their children about reproductive health. Two booklets
for youth, Play the Game Right and Enjoy present
both factual information and stories of other young people. The brochures
discuss how young people make decisions regarding their sexual and
reproductive health and describe the outcomes of their decisions.
Radio
KYIP's one-hour, weekly, Youth
Variety Show was cited by the Kenyan Minister of Education at
an Africa-wide conference as an example of quality programming for
youth. The call-in format permitted discussion of sensitive issues,
such as HIV/AIDS, contraception, and female genital mutilation (FGM).
Each weekly show featured a diverse panel of youth, health experts,
and artists who promoted responsible decision making, positive health
behaviors, and increased self-confidence.
A national household
survey found that, within six months, 63 percent of Kenyans ages 15
to 17 reported listening to the program. The number of youth citing
radio as their reason for visiting health clinics rose from 23 percent
to 56 percent among new clients. Parents appreciated the program for
showing the difficulties and questions their children face growing
up. Youth used the radio show as an opportunity to get answers to questions
they felt they could not discuss with their parents.
The show became so popular
that corporate funding continued to support the weekly broadcast after
funding for KYIP ended. The show has also inspired a weekly newspaper
column, Teen Bus, appearing in a national newspaper.
Case
Study—The
Population Impact Project (PIP), University of Ghana
Ghana's official population
policy was established in 1969. Since then, the population has nearly
doubled, yet economic growth has improved only slightly. This situation
inspired leaders to convene The Population and National
Reconstruction Conference in 1986. Conference participants focused
on two major objectives of Ghana's 1969 population policy: 1) to reduce
the population growth rate from an estimated 3.2 percent to 2.0 percent
per year, and 2) to reduce the total fertility rate from 4.6 to 4.0
children per woman by the year 2000.
Participants felt these
objectives were still desirable and achievable, and identified three
reasons why the policy had so far been unsuccessful: 1) a lack of national
political commitment; 2) a sense that the policy was donor driven and;
3) an emphasis on family planning at the expense of other population-related
policy issues such as women's roles, the environment, and urbanization.
Several professors from the University of Ghana formed the Population
Impact Project (PIP) to follow through on ideas generated at the conference.
The project was designed to address the identified obstacles to achieving
Ghana's policy goals through a public education campaign combining
PIP staff's knowledge and media experience.
PIP recognized that
successfully advocating to policy makers and government officials would
require broad-based support from other Ghanaian organizations involved
with population issues. PIP's advocacy materials provided high-level
officials with examples of problems and needs and proposed solutions
to population issues based on community research. PIP also researched
and presented data in a clear format that educates policy makers and
encourages policy interventions that respond to the needs of Ghanaians.
National and community-based organizations clearly benefit from government
support for their activities. During the course of the project, PIP
has developed partnerships with a number of organizations in Ghana,
including the National Population Council, the Ghana Ministry of Health,
the National Council of Women and Development, the May Day Rural Health
Project, and the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana. These organizations
provide valuable insights to policy makers.
Advocacy Strategy
PIP's advocacy campaign
also targets leaders at the district and local levels. Traditional
leaders, heads of women's organizations, educators, religious leaders,
youth, and the media are important audiences for this information.
PIP reaches out to diverse target audiences through a combination of
activities.
- Developing
and disseminating booklets on population-related topics. Clear
and concise booklets use uncomplicated charts and tables
that can be understood by an audience unfamiliar with
population and development issues. The booklets use
relevant national statistics from reliable sources
and are written by respected local experts on development
issues.
- Seminars,
workshops, presentations and meetings with top officials. PIP
organizes seminars and presentations for policy makers
and is routinely invited to make presentations for
educators, students, and public administrators as well
to demonstrate the relationship between population
growth and development.
- Radio
and television broadcasts and national newspaper articles. PIP
encourages journalists to discuss population policy
in the press and believes that public attention to
population policy will motivate government officials
to act. Media interest has grown so great that PIP
established a resource center and holds workshops to
educate the press about the basics of population growth.
Reporters attending the workshops meet PIP representatives
who become press sources for population information.
Activities Specifically
Targeting Adolescents
PIP increasingly focuses
its advocacy efforts on the special needs of adolescents. One publication
in PIP's series of informational booklets, Adolescent Fertility
and Reproductive Health in Ghana (1995), includes facts on adolescent
fertility in Ghana, the reasons for high adolescent fertility rates,
and the social, economic, and physical consequences of early sexual
involvement and early childbearing. It suggests policy interventions,
such as prioritizing family life education in schools, improving adolescents'
access to family planning services, emphasizing education for girls,
and involving adolescents in program design. To further enhance the
booklet's impact, PIP developed a presentation on adolescent fertility
and reproductive health for policy makers, and invites adolescents
to attend these presentations at the regional and district levels.
Results and
Evaluation
PIP has experienced
no open opposition to their advocacy activities concerning adolescent
reproductive health. However, the National Catholic Secretariat and
the Christian Council of Ghana have expressed general discomfort with
widespread contraceptive availability. To allay concerns from groups
that have reservations about contraception and family life education
for adolescents, PIP tries to address their perspectives in presentations
and seminars.
Evaluation shows that
PIP has had a measurable impact on raising national awareness of Ghana's
population policy. Structured interviews with 80 high ranking policy
makers showed that most are familiar with the project, and many have
used PIP's most widely known booklet, Population Growth and Development
in Ghana. PIP's advocacy efforts are credited with increases in
governmental support of population programs. PIP's materials continue
to be in demand by government offices, and the project has generated
numerous newspaper and radio stories on population issues.
Lessons Learned
Projects which aim to
raise awareness of population issues must be prepared to sustain their
advocacy efforts over an extended period of time. Change occurs slowly,
and supportive policy makers may retire or leave office. In addition,
advocates must be ready to demonstrate how their issues relate to other
issues of public concern, such as economic development, women's empowerment,
and the environment. PIP's success can be attributed to the project's
commitment to establishing broad support for Ghana's population policy.
The project has helped to facilitate communication between decision
makers and organizations working in the field, allowing field workers'
experience to directly inform national population policies.
Source/Citation:
Shannon A. Advocating for Adolescent Reproductive Health in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth, 1998.
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