MEDIA BRIEF            


Development Communications (Devcoms) Network announced winner of the 2008 ONE Africa Award.

September 9, 2008, Lagos: Devcoms Network has been awarded the prize of $100,000 for their work with the media in Nigeria, training and sensitizing journalists and editors to public health care issues, especially for women and children.

The award was announced at the CSO Parallel Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, where transparency has been a recurring theme. This is the first annual ONE Africa Award, which has been created to honour outstanding contributions by Africans towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Reducing child and maternal mortality are the fourth and fifth Millennium Development Goals, but are the ones where least progress has been made, especially in Africa.

Devcoms’ work, sensitizing and immersing reporters in public health issues has seen a 15% rise in media coverage of maternal and child health in Nigeria. They also provide media support to advocacy efforts for free maternal and child health care across the country. Initial efforts on Immersion was supported by The Ford Foundation Office for West Africa over the past 12 months with commitment for further support in saving women and children’s lives.

Devcoms Network Programme Director Akin Jimoh received the award in Accra.

Devcoms Network program of media institutional engagement embed journalists in the forefront of MDGs effort, --like in conflict situations--, to learn, investigate and monitor government’s commitment to effective implementation of health policies towards the attainment of the health MDGs. Key innovative strategies being used include:

• Immersion mentoring with journalists internship at health NGOs
• In-depth boot camp, capacity building and field trips encompassing investigative journalism on unreported development
• Advocacy/policy tours to traditional rulers and community leaders
• Participatory approach in National Integrated Maternal and Child Health (IMNCH) program and
• Media Institutional engagement / NGO Institutional placements….

“But there is still a need for strengthening and improving the Nigerian mass media's advocacy and behaviour change communication roles in fostering better public policy and popular responses to Nigeria's, and indeed Africa’s, extremely poor maternal health situation,” Jimoh asserts
Oliver Buston, from ONE,. says “This was a very difficult decision…Devcoms was selected because they are innovative, have demonstrated a strong positive effect in working towards improved health care for women and children, and also to ensure MDG funding in Nigeria is properly monitored. We were also impressed by their plans to scale up their programmes.”

“There are very strong links between transparency, good information, and development,” said Buston. “Greater transparency is the first step to more effective aid. Transparency allows donors to coordinate, it allows African governments to plan properly and it empowers citizens to hold their governments to account. Devcoms’ work with the media is making impressive headway in this critical part of the development picture. We are delighted that they are the first winners of the ONE Africa Award.”

Jimoh says; “this is a great opportunity to expand our scope of service to the women and children of Africa,” said Jimoh. “We believe the silent sighs of our women and children have to stop. We will equip our media to track the huge resources budgeted for MDGs 4 and 5, as well as other issues, from allocation to implementation.”

We particularly appreciate the recognition given to media work by our NGO partners, especially the Core Technical Committee and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Nigeria.”


##############################################################################

ONE is a global advocacy and campaigning organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty around the globe, with a special focus on Africa. ONE is backed by 2.4 million people from all around the world.

Development Communications (DEVCOMS) Network is a media-development, capacity-building non-governmental organization that engages media in the development process with a strong emphasis on science and public health journalism. The organization is the product of a series of development projects on media (both print and broadcast – including filming and radio production), health promotion, advocacy and capacity building in the Nigerian mass media and the civil society sector from 1995 to date.

Devcoms Network is dedicated towards ensuring public understanding of science and public health-related research through promotion of excellence in science and public health journalism. We develop appropriate communication strategies for health promotion, scientific literacy, policy development and program implementation.



Four other organizations were finalists for the 2008 ONE Award include:

Kyakulumbye Development Foundation (KDF), Uganda builds safe water sources and sanitation facilities in the Mpigi district of Uganda. KDF focuses on the achievement of sustainable and equitable health improvements and the well-being of target populations in Uganda, which include vulnerable children and women in under-served areas. KDF’s approach lays emphasis on developing, implementing and evaluating methodologies and systems that are appropriate, relevant, affordable and effective. KDF also mobilizes communities to demand for water and sanitation services. To ensure they are meeting local needs, KDF works with local leaders and communities. KDF also involves women and children in the planning process, as they are responsible for water collection.

The Social Enterprise Development Foundation (SEND), Ghana is the technical secretariat of the Millennium Development Goal Campaign in Ghana, focused on the implementation of the MDGs in Ghana. SEND supports and coordinates civil society and community-based organizations working on the implementation of social development projects, monitoring their progress and working with them to engage the government around MDG issues. The process is improving documentation of MDG-related activities and supervision of development projects to ensure effective delivery of essential services.

The Fortify West Africa Project is an initiative by the Association of Edible Oil Industries of Francophone West Africa to address Vitamin A deficiency in children under 5. The project is the first regional food fortification program in Africa. Cooking oil was chosen for fortification because it is a staple product in the poorest families. Working with national Ministries of Health, Commerce and Industry, Fortify is now looking to extend to other countries of West Africa and to expand its initiative to include the fortification of centrally processed cereal flours with iron, folic acid and zinc.

Friends of the Global Fund Africa is a Pan-African organization which works to mobilize political and financial support for the fight against AIDS, TB and Malaria through education, multisectoral advocacy and documentation. Friends Africa work supports the fight against the three pandemics with emphasis on the Global Fund a key funding mechanism in the fight. They provide technical assistance to country coordinating mechanisms and contribute to the strengthening of African civil society groups through implementation and advocacy grants. Friends Africa has also produced three publications covering the impact of funding from the Global Fund and case studies highlighting the implementation activities of grants in Rwanda and Ethiopia.