Communication for Development and Social Change, 2:2, 2008

COMMUNICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL CHANGE

VO L U M E T W O N U M B E R T W O, 2 0 0 8

C O N T E N T S

Food for Thought

Information Diet in the Information Society Francois Heinderyckx 000

Articles

Enabling Women’s Agency: Arab Women Speak Out Carol Underwood and Bushra Jabre 000

Mass Media Representations of Football and Social Change: An Empirical Case Study in Flanders Stefan Mertens 000

HIV/AIDS in Nepal: The Role of Radio and Television in Raising the Awareness of AIDS among Married Women Nabin Aryal 000

News from the Field

UNICEF’s Meena Communication Initiative Takes on New Challenges: Psychosocial Care in the Aftermath of the Tsunami Nuzhat Shahzadi and Neill McKee 000

Book Review

Ordering Chaos: Regulating the Internet Matt Jackson 000

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Silvia BalitIndrajit Banerjee, AMIC Luis Ramiro Beltran (Bolivia)Kwame Boafo, UNESCO Juan Biaz Bordenave (Paraguay)Moncef Bouhafa, Center for Development Communication Claude-Yves Charron, ORBICOMGustavo Cimadevilla, Universidad de Rio Cuarto Gary Coldevin, Concordia University Royal Colle, Cornell University Brenda Dervin, Ohio State UniversityWimal Dissanayake, University of Hawaii at ManoaDana Faulkner, Change ProjectElizabeth Fox, USAID Colin Fraser, Agrisystems Margaret Gallagjer, Media & Gender Lucia Grenna, Worldbank Cees Hamelink, University of Amsterdam Alan Hancock (UK)Tom Hogan, Macquarie University

Robert Hornik, Annenberg School, Philadelphia Jean-Pierre Ilboudo, FAO Abdul Waheed Khan, UNESCO David Lazarus, UNESCAP Paul Lee, Chinese University of Hong KongPhilip Lee, WACC Jose Marquez de Melo, USP/UMESP, Sao Paulo Emile McAnany, Santa Clara University Daniel Mato, Universidad Central de VenezuelaAndrew Moemeka, Central Connecticut State University Daniel Prieto Castillo, Universidad Nactional de Cuyo Nora C. Quebral, College of Development Communication Mina Ramirez, Asian Social Institute Brian Shoesmith, Edith Cowan Univeristy Louis Tabing, Tambuli Project Victor van Oeyen, ALER Georgette Wang, Hong Kong Baptist University Robert White, Gregorian University

COMMUNICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL CHANGEIssue: Volume 2 Number 2, 2008 ISSN: 1555-8711Frequency: QuarterlyPublication office: Hampton Press, Inc., 23 Broadway, Cresskill, NJ 07626

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2008 pp 000-000ISSN 1555-8711

Information Diet in theInformation SocietyF RA N Ç O I S H E I N D E RYC KX

A NUMBER OF BENEFITS of the Information Society are quite obvious and welcome. What needs to be questioned is how it is being implemented, with an almost exclusive attention to equipment, hardware, computers, and connections (preferably broadband), but with unforgivable lack of attention to crucial issues such as social significance, accuracy, required skills, usability. Public authori-ties unanimously wage war against the “digital divide” and commit impressive resources with a view to “bridge the gap,” mostly in the form of providing citi-zens and businesses with equipment. Public initiatives to close the digital divide often boil down to incongruous strategies that would compare to, say, trying to save starving populations by offering them fully equipped kitchens.

IntroductionThe innovation and implementation of communication technologies follow a

well-defined course, which falls within the classic pattern of industrial cycles of research and development, mass production, and marketing. A carefully planned succession of new products and services is driving consumers and users to adopt the novelty of the moment (convinced that, whatever preceded it, is now com-pletely obsolete) and to adapt the way they work and live accordingly, always for the better. A techno-determined society as dreamed by a large portion of the industry is ever more accepted and in many cases even actively encouraged by governments and public authorities at all levels. Technology is now the kernel of a new era, the driver of a new and salutary momentum for humanity, the tool to solve most problems from unemployment to social exclusion, from illiteracy to public health hazards. The term “Information Society” was coined to designate this new and better world.

François Heinderyckx (PhD) is Professor and Chair of the Department of Information and Communication Sciences at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium, and President of the European Communication REsearch and Education Association (ECREA). E-mail: francois.heinderyckx@ulb.ac.be

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H E I N D E R Y C K X : I N F O R M A T I O N D I E T I N T H E I N F O R M A T I O N S O C I E T Y

The Information Society Moves in Mysterious Ways

The Information Society is pulled and steered by technological innovation that, curiously, is not necessarily driven by demand, or needs, or even expectations.

Consumers are bound to be surprised by innovations that allow them to do things that not only were difficult or impossible before, but that they had never even figured out. Good marketing is then needed to convince the largest possible market that such innovation is a real benefit, has good value in use, and is in fact indispensable.

And yet, there is one major factor of uncertainty that occasionally thwarts the smooth cycles driving the Information Society. That factor is us, as users and con-sumers. The uncertainty comes from the fact that the adoption and appropriation of technological innovation by the market (that’s what they call us) seem to follow at least partly unpredictable routes, in spite of the overwhelming pressure of a well-organized and largely unchallenged one-sided techno-determinist logorrhoea framing the Information Society as the sole path to progress and promoting ICTs in general as the panacea to solve most problems facing humanity.

The mobile phone sector is quite emblematic of the difficulties in anticipating market reactions. No one had predicted the crushing success of text messaging (which now accounts for a very large portion of the profits made by mobile phone operators), nor had many analysts foreseen the failure of WAP or GPRS or the slow take-up of UMTS. Selling downloadable music online was also very instructive. The failure of the first endeavours was as surprising as the immediate and tremendous success of Apple’s iTune, which only marginally differed from its failed predecessors.

Reconfiguring Our Relation to Information

Much has been said, written, and speculated about the structural and societal changes prompted by the successive waves of innovation in Information and

Communication Technologies. A vast amount of these comments are short-lived and fail to seize, let alone to understand, the dynamics and direction of the pro-cess in its broader context. The sheer pace of innovation is hindering academic researchers, policymakers, and the civil society at large in their attempts to assess the subtlety of the processes at hand, thus forcing them to relinquish their role as watchdogs. This largely explains why the advent of the Information Society is measured predominantly on the basis of crude indicators such as penetration of particular technologies, possession of equipment, nature and quantities of content circulated, and so forth. These figures bear little value or even relevance to any analysis that ambitions going beyond simplistic short-term market predictions.

Within the turmoil of the Information Society, one particular range of issues deserves to be considered with a view to delineate the changes induced: to what

C O M M U N I C A T I O N F O R D E V E L O P M E N T A N D S O C I A L C H A N G E

extent and in what sense does the current and foreseeable evolution affect the way people are informed?

I argue that the recent emergence of certain ICTs and their use and adoption by an increasing number of individuals is reconfiguring our relation to information, knowledge, and meaning. In an attempt to better understand the nature of the ongoing changes, I will examine how information technologies affect what I call our “information diet” and in particular our “news diet”—that is, our engagement with information and how we get our news feed, the way we feed our awareness and our understanding of the world we live in. I will structure this overview according to four core parameters characterizing our relation to information: speed, accuracy, selectivity, and intelligibility.

Speed: Haste, Fragmentation and VolatilitySpeed is the core promise, the chief claim of the Information Society. Speed is

depicted as unquestionably desirable insofar as it is associated with efficiency, comfort, time saved, and ultimately, profit. With respect to news and informa-tion, the aspiration is obsessively to aim for instantaneity, real time, live coverage. The pioneer in the global and continuous television news segment, Cable News Network (CNN), makes that claim for speed explicit when using the slogan “Be the first to know.” Not “Be the one to understand” or “Be the one to learn” or “Be the one to be informed adequately.”

It is the case that speed is outrageously overrated. Although continuous real-time update of content is claimed (and sold) as a real, unquestioned benefit, I argue that this race for speed causes serious collateral damage that largely conflicts with the alleged benefits of speed.

For one thing, the Information Society has no memory: continuous update of information on grounds of speed and accuracy results in an insidious and uncon-tainable state of volatility. Information is no longer accumulated in chronological sedimentation but, rather, is exposed in fragments that can be swapped, substi-tuted, moved, or simply deleted at any point in time with no traces left behind to signal the change that occurred. Information becomes unstable, capricious, and precarious, which induces insecurity and anxiety. The “here and now” is the primary focus. Online databases have numerous advantages over, say, printed directories or annals as long as you are not looking for records or information relating to past periods.

Speed also results in news being distributed in fragments. As soon as the first signs of a juicy or significant story are heard, they simply rebound in newsrooms for immediate dissemination: “news alerts,” “breaking news,” “stop press,” “just in” and other “special notifications” are flooding news junkies by e-mail, RSS feeds, SMS, or all-news television channels. Facts checks, analysis, corrobora-tion, clarification of sources and motives, contextualization, and other elementary

newsroom processing are postponed at best. The bits and pieces of an unfolding story are thrown at the information-anxious audience, which is left with the thank-less task of putting together a jigsaw puzzle, with the aggravating circumstance that some pieces are missing and others do not fit in or come from another puzzle. Transposed to the context of a restaurant, it would mean that costumers are attracted by promises to be served instantly, even if it means that various ingredients are simply thrown on the table one or two at a time, some still raw, some toxic, some past their use-by date.

So the Information Society yields a true paradox and something of an intel-lectual fraud: speed is in many ways chronophagous, time-consuming when it plunges into haste and fragmentation. By obsessively seeking speed under the cover of efficiency, the information chain is simply wasting our time.

Accuracy in Jeopardy: Near-journalism and Skewed Validation

Accuracy is essentially antinomic with speed. Accuracy is therefore very likely to be harmed by the speed-driven Information Society. Yet, ICTs play an

ambivalent, not only negative, role with regard to accuracy. On the one hand, these technologies provide instant access to documents, content, information, which can be very precious in assisting journalists in their efforts to investigate a story; to collect and verify facts, information, and opinions; to contextualize the events; and ultimately to tell the audience. On the other hand, ICTs are known to produce very high levels of redundancy by duplication, thus misleading journal-ists into thinking that they have found independent substantiations of a particular fact when there is mere replication of the same fallacies. Instantaneous multiple replication creates a false impression of unanimity.

What’s more, journalists are partly deprived of their long-established role in the news chain by the emergence of new actors producing various forms of what I will call “near-journalism.” Largely encouraged by the ideology and technology of the self-proclaimed “Web 2.0,” what started as a background noise of ego-babble is significantly stepping into the news market. Two classes of “near-journalism” should be distinguished: “para-journalism” resembles journalism, largely serves the same purpose, but acknowledges (or even proclaims) its difference from clas-sic journalism (e.g., certain blogs, newsletters, etc.) whereas “pseudo-journalism” claims to be a new and improved form of journalism (news concentrators, citizen journalism, etc.), thus entering in active competition with off-line media. These emerging forms of news circulation should not be seen as threatening as long as the public can identify and appreciate their true nature and incorporate them in their news diet as a rich complement, not as a substitute. The rivalry between these new forms of “near-journalism” and traditional journalism is blurring the limits as all try to adopt the features and forms of what they think is attractive

to the audience. Near-journalism tries to look more journalistic, and traditional “old-media” journalism adds a twist of interactivity and multimedia to look trendy and up-to-date. Nevertheless, faced with an endemic trend of declining audiences and revenues, most news media should seize this opportunity not to mimic or appropriate near-journalism, but instead to question the specificity of good qual-ity journalism, establish its market value, and redefine its identity. All this should be made possible by consolidating its position on the core principles of classic journalism, revisited to take the current context into account, making the best of new journalism, public journalism, and even citizen journalism as an enhancement, not a surrogate for rigorous and articulate journalism.

Accuracy is also in jeopardy owing to problems in validating the information. Validation is a critical process to keep afloat in the shambles of the Information Society. Yet, most users lack the skills and tools to determine whether a document (or a mere fragment) found is relevant, accurate, and reliable; whether it is informa-tional or covert advocacy. Even more disquieting is the brutal and overpowering emergence of a new model of validation based predominantly on popularity and opinions of the masses. Casual expressions of popular wisdom are replacing the long-established markers of validation based on relevance, accuracy, and legiti-macy. How democratic, how transparent, how modern the idea of flattening the information chain and letting the masses decide what is interesting, relevant, and accurate! The majority, or what appears to represent the majority (which can simply be the most vocal minority) has the last word, with very little room for contestation (who would challenge the voice of the people?). Thematic portals list and emphasize articles and content that are simply reported by the largest number of users as worthwhile, that is, indistinctly interesting, fun, surprising, or ridicu-lous. Rankings in the most used web search engine are largely determined by the amount of links pointing to the ranked pages, that is, a recognition of popularity and not of relevance. Collaborative writing on web-based encyclopedias allows and even encourages anyone to comment or amend the very content of articles.

Notwithstanding the encouraging perspectives unleashed by enabling users’ par-ticipation, the increase in importance of popularity as a validation criterion results in a dramatic amplification of the prevailing ideas and opinions. In this context, the climate of opinion or, rather, the apparent climate of opinion determines the right and the wrong more than reason, demonstration, or knowledge. The Information Society thus amplifies the blind submission to the potentially pernicious laws of supply and demand, bordering on demagogy.

An additional peril stems from the increased vulnerability to misjudgments of quality and reliability based on the very form of messages and content. The tools and skills necessary to produce appealing media content are ever more accessible. As a result, sharply designed messages can mislead the user, who tends to trust

sources based on the pleasant, lively, and professional form of its output. Browsing wildly in search of information and content, the average user will be repelled by edgy or primitive or un-ergonomic layout (even though the crude platform might host perfectly relevant and reliable content) but seduced and impressed by sophisticated web pages that might disguise the views of lobbies, pressure groups, lunatics, triviality and ignorance.

Typically, a university professor or research center might venture to make very valuable documents available online, resorting to very rudimentary forms that might evoke amateurism on that sole basis. On the contrary, weak or deliberately misleading content can be given high visibility and solid credibility by individuals or institutions that choose to mobilize the right skills to dazzle with sophisticated forms.

The influence of form on the audience’s perception of trust and reliability is well known within traditional media: a television anchorman is perceived as more trustworthy and his discourse better accepted if he wears a suit and a tie and sits in a fancy studio; a paper publication is taken more seriously with professional looking layout and quality four-color printing on glossy paper. In the context of traditional media, the audience could rely on formal features as a safeguard: not just anyone could publish, print, and circulate a professional-looking magazine; not just anyone could put together and air television programs. This safeguard is essentially absent from the various forms of content produced and circulated chief-ly over the internet. Professional-looking web sites, animations, video, and other fancy features can easily mislead the hurried user into bedazzlement. Examples of extremely biased or even manipulative content hiding behind reassuring formal attributes are very easy to find when looking for information on controversial issues (religion, history, tobacco, genetically modified organisms, pollution, etc.).

The advent of digital media is linked with that of class media and self-media. And it marks the triumph of form over substance. Today’s impulsive digital natives are vulnerable to the instant appeal of pleasing form.

Selectivity: Crude Tools, Lost Editorial Responsibility

Information technologies give us a sense of access to quantities of information that seem boundless, in the literal sense of the word; that is, not bounded, or vaguely

delimited by a remote and foggy horizon. The jumble of the Information Society is so vast that we cannot help fantasizing about the alleged wealth of its hidden treasures, the number of worthwhile documents or material somewhere out there waiting to be discovered. And we further fantasize that we can find it. This, of course, is essentially an illusion: not everything is online and the majority of the content is inaccessible (deep internet). And within the enormous, but limited set of documents available, search is still a gamble. Mainstream search tools remain

very crude, based on embryonic descriptors or text matching, and are operated clumsily and intuitively by untrained users. Efforts to develop meta-information standards and rigorous approaches to content description through XML-based tagging are very promising but seem out of pace with the exponential produc-tion of content distributed and exchanged carelessly within what now resembles complete chaos.

Helpless users are ever more confused when confronted with the deafening level of noise polluting the Information Society. And the level of noise grows even louder with the trail of Babel generated by self-media and pseudo-interactive features inviting comments, feedback, and unrestrained expression. Here again, selection and dissemination are increasingly based on popularity, users’ vote, and peer recom-mendation, all of which can be correlated with quality and relevance, or not.

Faced with such a noisy shambles, people are increasingly forced to rely on mediators, service providers capable of bringing the information chaos under some apparent control. Information brokers, news concentrators, and thematic portals are very popular. They provide a comforting sense of order. They are not, however, merely new forms of news media: they operate under a completely different model from traditional news media. First, they function primarily as a mere technology, an interface that minimizes human intervention, judgment, and interpretation. They mechanically relay content from a source to an audience and as such are not much more than channels. Secondly, and as a result, these mere brokers have no editorial project to speak of and therefore feel devoid of any editorial responsibility. Here again, traditional news media seem to be missing a golden opportunity to demonstrate the specific value of editorial policy and responsibility. Instead, they see fit to become themselves brokers and mere relays. All major media now offer sophisticated portals offering large quantities of content supplied by third-party providers over which they have very little control, if any, even though it is offered on the media’s portal and thus perceived by the user as endorsed (if not produced) by that media.

Intelligibility Hampered by Rawness and Concision

The meaning of information and the understanding of facts, events, and ideas are dramatically overlooked in the Information Society. Information technolo-

gies are again amplifying trends that pre-existed the Information Society and that negatively affect the intelligibility of news and events.

Firstly, the Information Society tends to oversell raw information. Unprocessed content has paradoxically become a label of quality on the basis that what is untouched is authentic and therefore better and more accurate. Access to raw information and material has become a selling proposition, as if no one could see the implausible underlying paradox and contradiction. It is in fact a complete

turnaround in news mediation: the essential, if not the only added value of jour-nalism, is precisely the opposite, that is, to treat, to verify, to contextualize, to explain, and to process raw facts. These new kinds of mediators pride themselves in renouncing the most valuable aspect of journalism mediation to the point where they convince users to pay for it. Mere data dissemination is sold as progress and excellence, when it should logically be discredited and rejected.

Just what is it that users find attractive about raw information? Some will find comfort in the illusion that they are faced with an unfiltered flow of untouched material, thus compensating for their defiance towards today’s media and the doubts they might have regarding their independence, their debased editorial policy, and so forth. The value in use of raw information also lies in the excitement and gratification associated with doing it yourself. It is what I call the “Ikea approach” to news media: provide your customers with a symbolic gratification resulting from their feeling that, to a certain extent they are manufacturing the information themselves. Except that in the raw news business, the parts are not numbered, there are no instructions, some parts are missing, and others are irrelevant.

Secondly, the self-proclaimed “new media” are predominantly “screen media,” to be displayed and perceived on computer screens, on television screens, or even on portable devices (PDAs or mobile phone). Although the absence of limitation on volume is supposedly a major benefit of on-screen content (a newspaper or a radio or television program is limited by the number of pages or the duration of the broadcast, whereas a web page can give access to as much content as one needs), it is the case that the main content—the primary messages—is limited to the space available on the screen, one screen capacity at a time, because users may or may not scroll down or click on hyperlinks. This implies a necessity to shorten, reduce, and shrink. Under the pretext of technical constraint, comforted by alleged consumers’ expectations, content providers are ever more prone to limit their news coverage to short bits of factual descriptions. Forced concision exempts them from any depth of analysis. Yet concision, I will argue, does not resonate with nuances, intelligence, and understanding.

Restoring the Information DietThe Information Society reconfigures the way we relate to news and to the world

in which we live. This new configuration oversells and enhances speed, quan-tity, popularity, and rawness as selling points and attributes of quality, whereas in fact they conflict with everything good journalism stands for. The societal shift unfolding under the comforting banner of “Information Society” certainly calls for caution and vigilance.

Public authorities at various levels of government are taking an active role in developing and managing the implementation and appropriation of selected infor-

mation and communication technologies. Promoting these technologies coincides with high priorities on the current political agenda: competitiveness, employment, social inclusion, education. Every country and every region wants to position itself as a significant player in the new economy while promoting an image of moder-nity and efficiency through the implementation of high technology. Unfortunately, public action has been focused, so far, primarily on infrastructure and equipment. Massive investment and incentives are targeted at bringing personal computers and broadband internet to businesses and households, mobile phone networks, and digital broadcasting. Participation is encouraged through tax deduction, subsidies, computers in schools, or incentives to use e-government services.

In most cases, it was obvious from the start that public investment had once again neglected a key link in the information society chain: appropriate education. Policies aimed at bridging the digital divide too often boil down to making com-puters and internet connections available to the masses. But plans to develop the skills necessary to take full advantage of these technologies are generally limited to mere technical skills: how to install software, how to set up an e-mail account, how to write your CV on a word processor or, for the daring, how to create your own web page. What is unquestionably and urgently needed is a massive and concerted effort to research, prepare, and deploy appropriate education within the realm of media education.

Historically, the initial efforts to drive up first-level literacy (i.e., basic skills in reading and writing) were made a priority and became the driving force of education policies in most societies, with considerable success in many parts of the world. Literacy rates are far from optimum nowadays, even in Western industrialized countries, but literacy (at least a certain level of literacy) is incom-parably higher than before. Reading and writing skills did not become a priority for the sake of promoting language, culture, and literature. What was at stake was access to knowledge and a capacity to communicate, to express oneself, and to a to produce knowledge to a certain extent. Books and newspapers were essential vehicles for the dissemination of knowledge, ideas, ideologies and current events. Throughout the 20th century new media emerged (cinema, radio, television). Then came computers, and only then the internet, mobile phones, game consoles, and the whole lot.

Against all odds, well into the 21st century, schools and education systems at large are still struggling with the very first level of literacy (reading and writing), with very little margin (or means) for anything else. Media education is forced to literally fight its way into schools owing to dedicated activists, even in a context where people spend ever more time exposing themselves to media. Meanwhile, technological innovation bubbles up, but adoption and use of technologies escape not only control but also understanding. The children of today embrace and adopt

instantly new ways to access, store, circulate, and produce content. The learning process is entirely based on a combination of empirical trial-and-error and peer advice. We are faced with “digital native” children immersed in multimedia while most school systems are still restricted to teaching children how to read and write. In many countries, clumsy attempts to introduce new media in schools have met with little success. Investing in computers and broadband to connect schools is simply futile if it is not preceded and accompanied by a pedagogical underpinning and adequate training of teaching staff. Those unprepared endeavors are as futile as locking students in a library for a few weeks, with all lights off, and hoping that, with enough time, they might learn about history, geography, and literature.

There is an astounding gap between the skills developed in schools and the emerging uses and practices among newer generations. Web sites, Instant Messaging, SMSes, virtual communities, and online gaming, blogs, game consoles, mp3 down-loads, and podcasting make up a sizeable part of their connection to reality, to the world. It is time to give media education the attention it deserves, but also to enlarge its substance and its span to encompass the awareness, understanding, and skills required to make the best of the modern information and communication technologies while avoiding the traps, deceptions, and swindles that threaten the uneducated users. To avoid dispersion and fragmentation of efforts, this can only be achieved by regrouping all forces active in a wide spectrum of educational initiatives, which could be clustered and coordinated under the unique banner of what I would call “information and communication education.” This integrated literacy program should touch on information accuracy and validation, social networking, intellectual property, copyright, copyleft, spam, phishing, spyware, cookies, abuse, libel, forgery, hoax, piracy, data and identity theft, confidentiality, privacy, swindle, fraud, differences between facts and opinions, importance of form over substance, the mechanics of video games, the economics of ICT (what is free of charge and what is not).

ConclusionSupplying all citizens, businesses, and schools with computers and broadband

internet access should never be set as a goal but, rather, as a means to achieve and buttress an articulate strategy to empower populations with the benefits of information and communication technologies, as well as protect them from the deceptive and misleading facets of the Information Society. Promoting ICTs does not drive constructive social change by itself. It must be accompanied by structural changes to build up and consolidate a specific policy of information and communication literacy. This effort should be a top priority on the political agenda of all governments. International co-operation should formalize the skills, ideas, and practices to be included in such an effort, providing guidelines to be

adapted by nations and regions to enable and encourage lasting efforts in this area. The existence and the effectiveness of information and communication education should become part and parcel of the socioeconomic indicators used to monitor a country’s level of development and performance, alongside levels of information and communication literacy. And because they learned empirically by themselves, “digital natives” (the younger generation in industrialized countries) will require much more energy to educate than “digital migrants” (people whose exposure to and use of ICTs occurs at a later stage in life). For lack of appropriate invest-ment in this new educational battle, the new illiterates will greatly suffer from the consequences of an unbalanced and harmful information diet.

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Enabling Women’s AgencyArab Women Speak Out

CA R O L U N D E RWO O D A N D B U S H RA JA B R E

THE STARK CONTRAST between popular, mediated images of Arab women and the everyday experiences of Arab women prompted the development of Arab Women Speak Out (AWSO), a training program in the tradition of a ritual model of communication, as theorized by James Carey (1992), which features alternative video self-portraits of ten women. In small groups throughout the Arab world, women gather to discuss their shared beliefs, interrogate the status quo, and explore the possible actions they could take to improve their circumstances in light of the profiled women’s stories. Facilitators guided the participants through a series of discussions, exercises, and role plays that helped them hone their critical thinking skills and develop or strengthen practical skills for everyday life. The guiding hypothesis was that women who took part in the program would be more likely than would nonparticipants to express high levels of self-efficacy, to recount active participation in decision making, and to report high levels of agency. The 2001 survey, which comprised 255 participants and 116 nonparticipants, found the odds of starting a new business venture were 2.5 times greater for participants than for nonparticipants, and the odds of taking an active part in community meetings were 2.3 times greater for participants than for nonparticipants, holding background characteristics constant.

Key words: Arab women, efficacy, ritual communication, human agency, par-ticipatory development, praxis

Many Arab women are active participants in day-to-day practices and struggles that create opportunities and improve the conditions under which they live.

Yet the popular media and the academic press alike conventionally portray Arab women as passive, powerless victims of patriarchal societies (Mohanty, 1991) or parrot Hollywood’s reification of women as glamorous commodities for the male gaze. Such images of disempowerment are self-perpetuating; these depictions also misrepresent the experiences of countless women. There are few accurate por-trayals of Arab women in the media today (Subbagh, 1996). The stark contrast

Carol Underwood (Ph.D.) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Health, Society and Behavior at Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, MD, USA. Email cunderwood@jhuccp.orgBushra Jabre is a Senior Communication Advisor in the Department of Health, Society and Behavior at Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, MD, USA. Email bushra@aol.com

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between mediated images of Arab women and the everyday experiences of actual Arab women prompted the development of the Arab Women Speak Out project, an advocacy and training program that features ten video profiles of women relat-ing their life histories in their own words.

This article presents the conceptual framework that guided the development of this participatory communication program, describes the program, and evaluates the outcomes of program participation. The central hypothesis of this study is that women who participate in the program will be more likely than will nonpar-ticipants to take positive actions to improve health, economic, political, or social conditions for themselves, their families, or their communities.

Conceptual FrameworkEmpirical evidence demonstrates that gender inequality slows economic growth,

inhibits poverty reduction, impairs the health of young and old, women and men, and hinders the evolution of civil society (World Bank, 1994, p. 7). Inclusive social development, or the broad-based participation of women as well as men from all sectors of society in social, economic, and political life, enhances the over-all well-being of individuals, families, and communities (Forsythe, Korzeniewicz, & Durrant, 2000; Klasen, 1999; Sen, 2000). In many communities around the world, however, women have not been socialized to assume equitable responsibil-ity within the family and have often been discouraged from participation in the broader community. As a result, some women lead lives of passive acquiescence. Nonetheless—and despite gender-based barriers to social, political, and economic activities—many women around the globe contribute to the economic well-being of their communities; yet their contributions too often remain uncounted, their voices muted (Beneria & Feldman, 1992; Boserup, 1970). Activists contend that sus-tainable development is only viable when women’s voices are heard, when women are enabled to discover and benefit from new opportunities, and when women as well as men have access to the resources—tangible and intangible—needed to guide the direction of, and participate in, the development of their societies (Birdsall & McGreevey, 1983; Pietila & Vickers, 1990; Tinker & Bramsen, 1976).

Yet, the social, economic, and physical environments in which they live con-strain men and women alike. History and contemporary circumstances set limits to both individual and collective action—but in different ways. Whereas sex is biologically determined, gender is formed by social, cultural, and economic factors over time and space.1 Because gender, or the social differentiation between men and women, is temporally and culturally constructed, it is transmutable: “gender

1Based on her research conducted in the 1920s and 1930s, the anthropologist Margaret Mead was one of the first people to propose that masculine and feminine characteristics reflect cultural conditioning (or socialization) and not simply fundamental biological differences, thus leading to the distinction between gender and sex.

roles can be transformed by social changes, induced by economic transformation, incentives, and legal and regulatory reforms” (World Bank, 1994, p. 67).

In the conceptualization of policies and programs that can transform gender roles, participatory programs have been in the forefront. Since the 1970s the constituency for community-based, participatory development programs has been growing. Initially conceived by critics of the development establishment as inte-gral to an alternative development perspective (Freire, 1986; Servaes, 1989; White, 1994), the participatory approach to development had, by the late 1990s, become part of the repertoire encouraged by governments, UN agencies, international and local nongovernmental organizations to further development (Atwood, 1993; World Bank, 2001).

Participatory approaches to development stem from the writings of the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, who argued that as people “develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find them-selves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation” (2000[1970], p. 83) Through this process of conscientization, men and women learn to analyze critically their circumstances, come to recognize that the world is subject to change, and—given sufficient political, economic, and social resources—ultimately are empowered to rise to the challenge of changing the world in which they live. In short, conscientization is a necessary, if not suf-ficient, condition for purposive action. What Freire called “problem-posing or emancipatory education” encourages the emergence or amplification of critical reflection so as to precipitate participants’ intervention in reality. According to Freire, “reflection—true reflection—leads to action. On the other hand, when the situation calls for action, that action will constitute an authentic praxis only if its consequences become the object of critical reflection. . . . Otherwise, action is pure activism” (2000, p. 66).

Freire continues by noting that “[t]he pursuit of full humanity . . . cannot be carried out in isolation or individualism, but only in fellowship and solidarity” (Freire, 2004, p. 85). In short, through this process, the individual is encouraged to deconstruct—and, ultimately, reconstruct—history, received interpretations of social relations, including gender relations, and other social norms as the prelude to turning potentiality into reality, recognizing and taking into account the con-straints within which he or she lives. Concurrently, Freire asserts, participants in emancipatory education realize their relatedness and responsibility to others.

This approach encourages individuals to use their newly discovered powers to act in concert with others to effect change—in other words, to strive for trans-formative interdependence. From this perspective, interdependence is achieved through a dialectical process in which independence supplants a state of depen-dency, which in turn is transcended by interdependence. Rather than privileging individualism and independence as the basis of empowerment, this approach

highlights the potentially empowering effect of social connectedness and inter-personal harmony (Markus & Kitayama, 1991).

Bandura (1997), among others, objects to the use of the term “empowerment.” Yet, we will retain its use because the distinction between efficacy—a psycho-logical term that implies a belief in one’s agency or ability to act—and empow-erment—a sociological term that is a measure of agency or the ability to take action—is vital to the analysis that follows. Moreover, power is a factor in every relationship, albeit attenuated or latent in many contexts, and therefore must be considered when discussing actual or potential social change.

Communication initiatives that both enhance critical reflection and encourage action—essential elements of the dialectical process that leads to reflective action or praxis—can engender new sources of power and, thereby, further the diffusion or wider distribution of power that is a prerequisite for social, economic, and politi-cal progress. Borrowing from the multidisciplinary science of Chaos, Anderson and Carter (1997, p. 14) argue that: “An open system does not deplete its energy, but it actually compounds energy from the interaction of its parts.” If we replace “energy” with “power,” we can conclude that power resources increase when systems—whether at the level of the family, the community, or the region—are open to innovation. The caveat, of course, is that innovations must be adapted to locally agreed upon socio-cultural-economic needs and not imposed from out-side if the community or region is to retain any semblance of autonomy and the innovations are to be sustainable; thus the importance of community participation in development initiatives.

Advocates of participatory approaches underscore the vital importance of grass-roots women’s networks in stimulating changes crucial to the development process, for it is often through face-to-face interaction that women learn about alternative ways of thinking and provide a base for action. These gatherings, when focused, can give women the opportunity to increase their sense of self-confidence, to dis-tinguish between independence and interdependence, to reflect upon and critically analyze the social order, and to discover new opportunities for action.

A vital question remains: namely, how best to stimulate the process of con-scientization? Social cognitive theory, which was originally developed by Albert Bandura in the 1970s and 1980s, provides a method. Bandura (1997) proposed that a cognitive modeling mechanism, coupled with positive reinforcement, enables individuals to learn new behaviors as well as to identify their own strengths by seeing those capabilities modeled by others. Compelling role models draw the intended audience’s attention by conversing or acting in memorable ways, thereby giving members of the intended audience reasons to emulate them. Realistic role models with whom the audience identifies can contribute to better knowledge and information, enhanced self-efficacy and thereby strengthen the capacity or propensity to act.

According to Vygotsky’s (1978) cultural-historical activity theory, the human agent relies on tools to mediate between self and the world, to develop new sources of power. Tools, which can be cognitive or material, shape the way human beings interact with—and derive meaning from—reality. Group discussions that analyze role models and their actions serve to internalize the external activities of others, thus allowing participants to simulate potential interactions with others or with their environment without actually performing the activity. Thus, the stories of individual women discussed within the context of group meetings become part of the constellation of cognitive tools that helps participants explore a wider range of options than would be possible absent the internalization process. The value of activity theory, which is not so much a theory as a conceptual approach, for this discussion is the focus on the social context that enables or inhibits praxis or action informed by critical reflection. Drawing on Hegel’s (1979[1807]) discussion of the master and the slave in The Phenomenology of Spirit (1979),2 Marx and neo-Marxists further developed the theory that human beings learn through practice.

This focus on action is important in examining the effects of Arab Women Speak Out and takes us beyond the individual bias of behavior change theories that have influenced so much of the research on communication effects. Behavior change theories foreground the individual, often treat the individual as isolated from the larger social-relational context, and rarely take social structure into consideration. Yet, the individual and society are mutually constitutive (Archer, 1988; Giddens, 1979, 1981, 1984). Sociologists distinguish action from behavior in that action is intentional and purposive in nature, whereas behavior often results from largely involuntary reactions (Giddens, 1977, p. 84). This is a distinction rarely theorized by psychologists and social psychologists. Our focus on human agency—or the ability to take purposive action, resist domination, and change one’s conditions (if only at the margins)—rather than on behavior highlights the actor as a reason-ing agent, capable of applying knowledge in pursuit of particular outcomes. “An agent . . . has an active role in pursuing whatever goals she has reasons to support and promote” (Sen, 1995, p. 104).

Yet, much can be gleaned from the behavior change literature in our understand-ing of active human agency. Over the past two decades considerable research has been conducted to test theories of behavioral change and, in the process, research-ers have incorporated variables such as perceived risk, social norms, self-efficacy, collective efficacy, and discussion of new ideas or innovations into the framework (Cleland & Wilson, 1987; Kincaid, 2000; Storey et al., 1999; Underwood et al.,

2Hegel argues that the master, through consumption, destroys, whereas the slave, through work, creates. The master’s consumption is dependent upon the slave, and so is impermanent; the slave’s work passes into entities with a permanent existence (such as knowledge). In terms of activity theory, one might say that the slave is transformed by developing tools; once developed, those tools in turn change the slave.

2006; Valente & Saba, 1997, among others). Gradually, it became clear that people change their behavior or take action as a result of a constellation of factors. Although communication often serves to reinforce shared beliefs, values, and atti-tudes, communication channels can also broadcast reconstructed beliefs, attitudes, and social norms that result from new ways of thinking. This study seeks to answer this central question: “Was participation in this particular communication program correlated with human agency or the propensity to act?”

The Arab Women Speak Out ProjectGuided by the aforementioned theoretical approaches, an international team

of women developed the Arab Women Speak Out project over the period from 1994–1997.3 (Details of the project’s development have been published in Underwood & Jabre, 2003.) The principal goal of the project was to give women the analytic skills necessary to re-orient their assumptions and to analyze criti-cally both obstacles and opportunities, thereby enhancing the likelihood that they would be empowered to exercise agency. Recognizing the multifaceted nature of agency and the central importance of the social sphere in the process, the team planned a facilitator-guided workshop that would give women from similar back-grounds the opportunity to question their assumptions, to explore their options, and to plan for action.

To spark discussions and encourage action, the team identified Arab women who could serve as realistic role models because “the impact of modeling on beliefs of personal efficacy is strongly influenced by perceived similarity to the models” (Bandura, 1997, p. 3). Over the course of lengthy discussions on several continents, the team working in tandem with local social researchers identified women from Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia, and Yemen who were engaged in social, economic, or political change; were known and respected in their com-munities; were from economically modest backgrounds; had limited access to formal education as well as to other resources; and were credible role models for other women.

Samya, aged 35 and from rural Egypt, is one of the women featured in the video. Forced to leave school after only three years of education, Samya went to work in a sewing factory. Upon marriage, she left her job, but was soon obliged to seek gainful employment to support her children when her husband left for military service. Samya returned to the sewing factory, but was dissatisfied with her limited opportunities, so she sold the two gold bracelets that she had received as a wedding gift and purchased a few clothes and small household goods to trade.

3Staff members of the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs in association with CAWTAR, the Center for Arab Women Research and Training, located in Tunis, Tunisia, conceptualized and guided the program’s development and implementation.

She enrolled in literacy classes and, over a period of several years, she struggled to build her business, to overcome her husband’s opposition, and to prevail in the face of her neighbors’ ridicule for not conforming to a wife’s traditional role. She learned to negotiate with wholesalers, gained her husband’s active support and the respect of her in-laws, was able to help her kids with their homework, and developed a solid self-confidence in her ability to make use of future opportuni-ties and meet future challenges.

Like Samya, the women profiled in Arab Women Speak Out come primarily from modest backgrounds; studies of elite women can be instructive, yet women of privilege are unlikely role models for village and urban women of limited means who constitute the majority of women in most societies. Given the importance of the family in the Arab world together with the theoretical and practical emphasis throughout the project on interdependence, most of the women selected were of reproductive age, married, and had children. Arab filmmakers produced 20-minute video profiles for each of the ten women, which include interviews with their husbands who describe how they came to support their wives, share decision making, and take on household chores. The companion text, Arab Women Speak Out: Profiles of Self-Empowerment (Jabre, Underwood, & Goodsmith, 1997) comprises 30 written profiles.

Project Implementation

Developed and funded by a group of international organizations,4 the project was designed so that it could be fully integrated into ongoing development pro-

grams in the region, whether by NGOs, governmental agencies, or international agencies. Of the many agencies identified in the region as potential partners, 25 agencies from ten Arab countries committed themselves to implementing the proj-ect. Thirty-one people (28 women and three men) participated in the master train-ers’ workshop that took place in December 1998. Upon returning to their home countries, these trainers and their trainees were able to train nearly 1,000 facilita-tors within two years of the initial master trainers’ workshop. By July 2006 nearly 500,000 women in six Arab countries had participated in AWSO workshops, all of which have been organized and conducted by local agencies or international agencies engaged in development programs at the community level.

Participatory Training

Though individual women were profiled in the Arab Women Speak Out proj-ect, training materials were designed to facilitate discussions to give women a

4Funding for the project was provided by USAID Population and Democracy and Governance Divisions, European Commission through Population Initiatives for Peace, the Arab Gulf Program for UN Development Organizations (AGFUND) through the Center for Arab Women Training and Research (CAWTAR), and Investcorp Bank, E.C.

venue where they could analyze critically and collectively the social, economic, political, and cultural conditions that enhance or diminish their ability to act. In facilitated discussions, participants critically assessed opportunities available to and constraints faced by the women in the AWSO videos, sharing their own perspec-tives and experiences while deriving insights for their own lives. In workshops organized by NGOs and governmental agencies in six Arab countries, women5 learned to interrogate gender constructs as manifested in their own communities,6 to explore the attendant implications for various community members, including themselves, and to determine “next steps” for themselves as individuals, as mem-bers of families, and as community members. The goal was to enable the ampli-fication of conscientization, thus meeting Kiiti and Nielsen’s distinction between a facilitator and an advocate: “An advocate is often driven by an external agenda while the facilitator seeks to understand and help people determine their own agenda” (Kiiti & Nielsen, 1999).

The training manual comprises learning exercises designed to help women criti-cally examine gender constructs; strengthen their self-esteem and self-confidence; develop their negotiating, networking, and decision-making skills; identify sources of information and support; gain access to available resources; participate in public life; communicate with authority figures; and safeguard their own health. The top-ics were covered in eight sessions, each of which typically lasted two-and-a-half hours and included individual and collective exercises. Each workshop trained up to 20 women.

The training manual also includes a media-monitoring guide to promote critical analysis of media images of women. Over the course of the workshop, facilita-tors encouraged each participant to: rethink preconceptions about women’s roles and responsibilities that may have been perpetuated by stereotypes in the media; remember and reflect upon her life experiences in light of group discussions; and represent herself rather than allowing others to represent her. Remembering and representing are important elements in the formation of politicized consciousness and self-identity. Indeed, retelling one’s story and representing oneself can lead to personal and social transformations (Mohanty, 1991, p. 34).

Given this theoretical framework, we hypothesized that women who watched and analyzed the video profiles together with their fellow participants would be more likely to act in ways exemplified by the women in the video profiles than would nonparticipants.

5Although the training manual topics are equally relevant to men and participants expressed the importance of men’s involvement in the project, only a few men have participated to date.6As there is no equivalent in Arabic for the term “gender” as understood today, program staff chose to refer to gender constructs as “social roles.”

MethodsStudy Respondents

The evaluation consisted of a posttest-only control group design; the survey took place in March–April 2001. The population from which the sample of

participants was chosen was restricted to individuals trained before June 2000, thus allowing participants time to make changes in their lives. Study subjects were chosen proportional to the numbers who had participated in Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen, which were the three countries where workshops were held before June 2000. Some 255 participants were randomly selected from the list of participants for face-to-face interviews (165 Egyptians, 63 Jordanians, and 27 Yemeni women).7 The study design required a group of women who had not participated in the AWSO workshops, but could not simply rely on a random selection of women from the communities where the workshops were held because women with access to the workshops were likely to be different from those without access. The research team assumed that those connected to the local agencies that con-ducted the workshops would have a higher level of predisposition to take action than would those who did not. In sum, a simple random selection would bias the sample in favor of AWSO participants. Therefore, the researchers randomly selected a sample of women from those registered to participate in upcoming workshops because the workshops are held on an ongoing basis. Interviews of this control group took place immediately prior to the commencement of their training. The control group comprised 116 women (83 Egyptians, 20 Jordanians, and 13 Yemenis). The research team trained a group of interviewers to collect data from women in both the experimental and control groups. The experimen-tal and control groups were statistically equivalent with respect to nationality, age distribution, educational attainment, marital status, number of children, and work status. Respondents signed a written informed consent statement that had been approved by institutional review boards in their respective countries. The 21% of respondents who were nonliterate consented orally, which was witnessed and noted.

The quantitative findings were complemented with qualitative research, which took the form of open-ended interviews with 12 participants (four from each of the three countries represented in the study). Additionally, a series of open-ended questions was posed of all AWSO participants. This approach gave respondents the opportunity to explain in their own words whether and how participation in the project affected their apperceptions, aspirations, and actions.

7One Yemeni, 11 Egyptian, and six Jordanian facilitators selected participants based on a random selection proce-dure and conducted face-to-face interviews.

Measures

The theoretical framework discussed above guided the development of the survey instrument and the open-ended qualitative research instrument, which were

pilot-tested for comprehension and relevance. The questionnaire for the quantita-tive research included socio-demographic, knowledge, self-efficacy, and decision-making variables as well as questions to measure agency, which was assessed by asking respondents whether they had taken personal or collective action to improve the health, economic, or social conditions for themselves, their families, or their communities.

Independent Variables

Sociodemographic factors, which included respondents’ age, nationality, mari-tal status, number of children, educational attainment and employment status, together with participation in the project constituted the independent variables.

To measure knowledge-related factors respondents were asked whether they knew where and how to obtain information regarding the following: loans for per-sonal or business needs, health matters, training they might need, personal affairs, local activities, and women’s committees. To assess efficacy, all respondents were asked whether they believe they are able to make decisions regarding themselves, make decisions for their family, work for an income, offer their opinions about family matters, state their opinions regarding local issues, and participate in local affairs. Indices for access to information and reported self-efficacy were created by summing positive responses to each of the items in the respective categories. Perceived support for agency was measured by asking respondents whether the following people supported, opposed, or were neutral when the respondent decid-ed to take part in activities outside the home, such as working or participating in community meetings: husband (if married), mother, father, sister, brother, women in the community, men in the community. An index was created by giving one point for each individual that was perceived to support the respondent’s actions, no points if neutral, and a negative point for those who were perceived to oppose the respondent’s actions.

Dependent Variables

To assess agency, which is defined as taking purposive action, women were asked whether they had carried out any of six actions in the 12 months prior to the survey: applied for a personal or business loan, participated in local efforts to improve health services or health status in their communities, shared negotiation techniques they learned with others, participated in community meetings, or had voted in the most recent election. By summing positive responses to the six items, an overall score for agency was created.

Data Analyses

To determine statistical significance in bivariate analyses (e.g., comparisons between participants and nonparticipants, association between dependent and

independent variables), the researchers used Chi-square tests of differences in pro-portions and Student’s t-tests for the difference in means. Independent variables significantly correlated (p < .05) with the dependent variables at the bivariate level were included in the regression analyses. Logistic regression models were used to measure the relative importance of the different independent variables on two measures of agency: namely, participation in community activities and entrepre-neurship. Age, marital status, educational attainment, and work status served as control variables.

ResultsCharacteristics of the Sample

The sample comprised 255 participants and 116 nonparticipants (controls). They were, on average, 30 years of age (range 15–60), and 28% were single. Close to

two-thirds of the respondents had ever been married, and these women had an average of three children. About 21% of the respondents were nonliterate, 17% had some primary education or had attended literacy classes, 11% had completed primary and/or preparatory school, 20% had attended secondary school, and some 29% had completed or continued beyond secondary school. Approximately 21% of the respondents reported that they had worked for cash on a farm or in a business in the two weeks prior to the survey. Because research has shown that women often underestimate their earnings, respondents were also asked if they had earned money over the past two weeks by selling goods or by providing services. Among participants, approximately 40% replied in the affirmative compared with about 25% of nonparticipants. There were no statistical differences between par-ticipants and nonparticipants for any of the sociodemographic variables other than with respect to earning money by selling goods or services, which is anticipated, as it is highly correlated with entrepreneurship (Table 1).

Impressions of the Videos

Participants were asked whether the popular media or AWSO videos presented more realistic images of Arab women. Fully 93% of participants responded

that the women in the videos were more realistic (data not shown). The women presented in the videos became important role models for participants as they began to rethink and reorient their lives.

What drew my attention was that Samya—as simple as she was—transformed her living conditions and . . . proved that a woman’s role could be both inside and outside

the house. All simple people should see this video as it touches their lives and realities. It taught me that I should start even with modest steps. (Egypt, age 35, married, diploma)

When asked who could benefit from seeing the AWSO videos, the responses were as follows: other women (97%); politicians (91%); girls (88%); men (84%); boys (78%); and foreigners (61%).

Knowledge, Self-esteem, Efficacy, Social Support, and Skills Development

The training workshops were designed to enhance participants’ knowledge about where to obtain information, including where they could obtain loans, where

free medical services were available, and what organizations in their communi-ties were involved in community improvement. As shown in Table 2, partici-pants were significantly more likely than were nonparticipants to report that they knew where to get information about each of the specific issues included in the questionnaire.

Table 1: Percentage distribution of Nonparticipants and Participants, by Selected Background Characteristics

Nonparticipants ParticipantsCharacteristic (n = 116) (n = 255) p value

Age (mean)+ 30.4 30.1 NS

Educational attainment

Nonliterate 19.6 24.8

Some primary/literacy classes 15.6 20.3

Completed primary and/or prep 12.4 8.0 NS

Some secondary 21.2 22.1

Completed/continued beyond secondary 31.2 24.8

Marital Status

Single 30.2 27.6

Married 62.9 64.6 NS

Divorced 2.6 4.7

Widowed 4.3 3.2

Work status

Employed 21.7 20.9 NS

Earns income from sale of goods/services 25.0 40.4 .004

+ Student’s t-test

Source: 2001 Arab Women Speak Out Posttest Survey, JHU/CCP

I learned how to get a loan to improve my situation and become more independent. (Jordan, age 30, married, secondary education)

I became aware of health and education services, and now I visit the health insurance unit and get free medical treatment. (Egypt, age 25, married, nonliterate)

These topics were discussed in the workshops, but not modeled in the videos.Self-efficacy with respect to these same areas of concern was also highly and

significantly correlated with AWSO participation. Often, enhanced self-efficacy was linked to reconstructed gender perspectives.

I realized that women are not merely reproductive engines but important and successful agents of social and economic change. (Jordan, age 35, married, primary education)

I learned that women everywhere have hidden abilities and, if given the chance, their capabilities will take them to higher places, just like any man with similar abilities. (Egypt, age 31, married, primary education)

Table 2: Percent of Nonparticipants and Participants Who Report Knowledge, Efficacy and Social Support for Selected Actions

Nonparticipants ParticipantsIdeational Factor (n = 116) (n = 255) p value

Knows where to obtain information about:

Personal or business loans 40.2 68.8 .001

Health matters 93.0 97.2 .014

Training you might need 86.6 94.3 .006

Personal affairs 67.9 88.8 .001

Local activities 46.4 65.1 .004

Women’s committees 35.7 69.3 .001

Efficacy, Respondent believes she can:

Make own decisions 79.1 95.9 .001

Make decisions for the family 58.7 79.5 .001

Work for an income 67.0 84.1 .001

Offer opinion on family matters 74.6 92.1 .001

Offer opinion on local issues 27.1 53.2 .001

Participate in local affairs 37.6 67.2 .001

Perceived social support (mean)+ 2.5 3.1 .019

+ Student’s t-test

Participants were also able to speak out in public more freely following the training.

After my divorce I lost all self-confidence. To my fortune I participated in the [AWSO] training, but I was self-conscious and when I was asked about my marital status I couldn’t say I was divorced in front of everybody. Every day at the end of the train-ing I would ask myself why I did that. I decided during the last session and with all confidence to declare in front of everybody that I was divorced and they clapped for me and I felt confident and strong. (Jordan, age 21, divorced, secondary school)

I can now talk with officials courageously, with no fear and with confidence. (Egypt, age 35, technical school)

Participants, on average, perceived that they had a broader base of social sup-port for their economic and community activities than did nonparticipants. Many women reported increased support from their husbands following the training.

Now my husband helps me with the household chores. He used to refuse my working, and now he agrees that I can work anywhere I choose. He now leaves his money with me instead of with his mother and he tells me where he is going. (Egypt, age 28, married, high school diploma)

According to the participants, the negotiating, decision making, and communica-tion skills practiced over the course of the workshop contributed to their height-ened status within the family.

I used to quarrel with my husband but now, I choose the perfect timing to talk with him. (Upper Egypt, aged 40, married, nonliterate)

When a young man asked for my hand in marriage from my parents, I managed to convince them that he was not a person who could bear responsibilities. (Jordan, 26, single, diploma)

The training has taught me many communication skills that I use in everyday life to gain more independence and help improve my family’s status. (Yemen, 27, married, university graduate)

My husband is treating me much better than before the training, as I learned how to win him over. Now he asks for my opinion. I decided not to circumcise my daughter. (Egypt, age 30, married, primary education)

Participants in Arab Women Speak Out also reported significantly higher lev-els of agency, on average, than was true of nonparticipants. When contrasted

with nonparticipants, participants were significantly more likely to have taken five of the six actions that are listed in Table 3. The training is highly correlated with agency, as shown by the data in Table 3 and attested by the words of one participant:

I developed a passion for women’s empowerment and social affairs, so I took courses to learn counseling. Now I train other women. (Yemen, age 27, married, university graduate)

In this case, the benefits of the training went well beyond the participant herself, extending into the larger community.

Associations Between Independent and Dependent Variables

Bivariate analysis of the key independent variable—participation in AWSO—and dependent variables found many significant associations as shown above. Those

variables that showed significant bivariate associations were entered into regression equations. Individual variables for access to information, self-efficacy, social sup-port and decision making were summed as described above to develop indices.

To assess the relative importance of different socio-demographic, social psy-chological, and social factors in explaining agency, we conducted multiple logistic

Table 3: Percentage of Nonparticipants and Participants Who Report that They Have Taken Specific Actions

Nonparticipants Participants

Variable (n = 116) (n = 255) p value

Agency reflected in actions taken

Established new business over past

12 months 18.8 32.2 0.11

Applied for a loan 19.6 29.8 .050

Worked to improve local health services 42.2 56.3 .005

Participated in community meetings 34.0 58.3 .001

Voted in the most recent election 36.4 43.4 .070

Talked with other women regarding

negotiating skills 36.2 59.8 .001

Agency index (mean)+ 2.5 3.5 .001

+ Student’s t-test. (Range 0–7).

regression. As shown in Table 4, four factors explained a higher than average level of agency: access to information, efficacy, perceived social support, and participa-tion in the AWSO workshops. These associations were all in the expected direc-tion and accounted for 14% (p <.001) of the variance in agency. By contrast, age, educational attainment, employment status, and nationality were not significantly related to agency in this multivariate analysis.

Multiple logistic regression was also conducted to assess the odds of starting a new business venture and of participating in community meetings, holding age, education, marital status, and work status constant. These regressions revealed that the odds of starting a new business venture were 2.5 times greater for participants than for nonparticipants, and the odds of taking an active part in community meetings were 2.3 times greater for participants versus nonparticipants.

Limitations

The agencies that implement AWSO are not randomly selected, but self-selected. Therefore, the findings from this study cannot be generalized to the population

of Arab women at large, but can be generalized to the broad range of women who fall within the catchment areas of community-based organizations in the three countries included in this study. It is worth noting, however, that the Ministry of Health and Population in Egypt has adopted this program in its maternal and

Table 4: Factors Associated with Above-average Level of Agency

95% Confidence Variable+ Odds Ratio Interval

Age 1.47 .905–2.41

Education .65 .384–1.11

Employed± .64 .355–1.53

Married± 1.17 .697–1.95

Nationality! 1.25 .884–1.79

Access to information 2.16** 1.24–3.75

Efficacy index 1.90** 1.14–3.16

Social support index 2.09** 1.29–3.38

AWSO participant± 2.44*** 1.42–4.19

*p <.05, **p <.01, ***p <.001.+ Unless otherwise noted, all variables are low (mean and below) versus high.± No versus yes.!Egypt and Jordan versus Yemen.

health program and is implementing it through the raidat riffiyat, or outreach workers, who work with the population at large, including women who live in remote villages.

Another limitation of this study is that it does not disarticulate the experience of viewing the videos from the experience of participating in the group activities and discussions. It would be highly instructive to compare the agency of women who saw the videos without the benefit of group discussions with those who saw the videos as part of the AWSO workshops.

DiscussionThe quantitative analyses demonstrate that AWSO participation was significantly

correlated with active agency, which was measured by how many of six specific actions respondents had taken over the 12 months prior to the survey. Even as the videos presented realistic—and inspiring—role models, the training workshops gave participants opportunities to analyze their situations, practice negotiating skills, and explore potential actions with other women from similar backgrounds. As demonstrated by the quotations discussed above, young women were able to break through prevailing social norms, gaining stature and influence that is often restricted to older women, for women’s status within the family in the Arab world is typically acquired with age. The challenge facing development interventions is to equip young Arab women with skills that enable them to acquire status through heightened self-confidence, participation in decision making, and concrete contri-butions to the family welfare so as overcome pervasive social norms that all too often render them dependent and passive. The qualitative and quantitative data alike suggest that this project has helped women take important steps towards modifying such norms.

To understand better the process that led these participants to take transforma-tive action, it may be useful to turn to James Carey’s ritual view of communica-tion, which in contrast to the transmission view of communication is “directed not toward the extension of messages in space but toward the maintenance of society in time; not the act of imparting information but the representation of shared beliefs” (1992, p. 18). But, as Carey goes on to explain, a “ritual view does not exclude the processes of information transmission or attitude change” (1989, p. 21). One could argue that the Arab Women Speak Out project subsumed what could have been strictly a transmission mode of communication—that is, the videos—into a more encompassing and enriching ritual mode of communication. The videos were meant not to provide prescriptions or solutions for the partici-pants but, rather, were intended to broaden and deepen the participants’ everyday struggles to express their agency. As Engen notes, “when stories are used in a manner inviting participation and exploration, they stand well positioned to help

[participants] create new ways of seeing and responding to their social worlds” (2002, p. 50). This process was furthered by sharing stories not of heroines but of ordinary women who were willing to risk change even as they took responsi-bility for their own actions. In its ritual mode, communication offers individuals the opportunity to explore a range of options and experiences within a socially sanctioned setting where they can plan ways to achieve their individual desires without sacrificing their aspirations of belonging to a community of like-minded others.

The Arab Women Speak Out project seems to give women a venue where they can—and have consistently chosen to—reclaim their voices, identify optimal ways of acting through internalization aided by group discussions, and transform their contexts through their external activities. Yet, further study is needed of the longer-term effects of participation in the workshop. In particular, it is important to establish whether the actions women took, which were often incremental shifts at the margins, can ultimately bring about broader transformative actions that are consonant with the vision of those who will live with the unintended as well as intended consequences of any ensuing social change.

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Mass Media Representations of Football and Social ChangeAn Empirical Case Study in Flanders

ST E FA N M E RT E N S

IN THIS ARTICLE THE RESULTS of an empirical research project on mass media representations in the Flanders are presented, and the key question is whether these representations contribute towards changing the hierarchy between autochtons and immigrants or whether they help to maintain social inequalities. Using discourse-analytic and reception-analytic research findings, it is argued that there is an egalitarian symbolic logic that can be discovered in the representation of soccer. Respect for the national colors and the national anthems is considered important, and everyone is considered free to choose his own national identity. In case studies using more concrete images of immigrants and racism in the representation of soccer, it becomes, however, clear that this abstract egalitarian logic is not strong enough to provoke social change in vested hierarchies between insiders and outsiders. This persistence of hierarchical imag-es is shown in case studies of Italian and Turkish female soccer fans and of an antiracism commercial. Furthermore it is shown that Italian immigrants, as part of a first immigration wave in Flanders, are stereotyped positively, whereas an attempt to positively portray Turkish immigrants, as part of a second immigra-tion wave, did not succeed. The hierarchy between these two immigration waves that was already identified in earlier research is thereby confirmed in this study.

Key words: Soccer, mass media representations, social change, image analysis, audience analysis, stereotypes, Italianness, Turkishness, immigrant identities

The relationship between social and cultural inequalities and communication has been studied intensively in communication and discourse studies (for example

Fairclough, 1992; Van Dijk, 1991), but this research often seems somewhat biased (Kinkema & Harris, 1998; Leurdijk, 1999, p. 22) There tends to be on overemphasis on the reproductive nature of communication processes, whereby it is assumed that communication, and especially mass communication, reproduces social inequalities.

Stefan Mertens studied Political and Social Sciences in the Communication Science section at the University of Antwerp and Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Catholic University of Leuven. His PhD Dissertation, “Soccer Without Frontiers. A Research Project on Intercultural Media Communication,” was written under the guidance of Prof. Jan Servaes and Prof. Marie-Claire Foblets, in the Department of Communication Science (the Research and Documentation Center, Communication for Social Change) at the Catholic University of Brussels. Afterwards he obtained a grant from the FWO-Vlaanderen (Fund for Scientific Research Flanders). Email: Stefan Mertens mertens.stefan@scarlet.be

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M E R T E N S : M A S S M E D I A R E P R E S E N T A T I O N S

In my Ph.D. research (Mertens, 2005) there was an alternative paradigm used that tries to emphasize the ambivalent character of communication messages (Schrøder, 2000; Servaes, 2002): communication messages may reproduce certain inequalities, but they can also contribute to processes of social change. It is a matter of empirical research to determine whether particular messages are oriented towards social and cultural reproduction or towards social and cultural change.

Particular “social fields” (Bourdieu, 1996) or “provinces of meaning” (Berger & Luckmann, 1985) can have an inclination towards change or reproduction, and this should be investigated empirically. Our research deals in particular with the question whether the social field or province of meaning of representation of sports in the mass media contains a potentential for social change. We composed a corpus of media materials relating to the audiovisual media representation in the Flemish part of Belgium of the Euro 2000 soccer tournament and developed five case studies to study this underlying research question, operationalizing the representation of sports in the media through the empirical example of the Flemish representation of this tournament.

Prior research has shown that there is a hierarchy with three dimensions between natives and immigrants in Belgium (Eggerickx et al., 1999; Martiniello, 1990; Roosens, 1995, 1997, pp. 159–191, 1998, pp. 143–181). The natives have more social possibilities, such as in education and on the labor market, than the immi-grants, and within the group of immigrants there is a clear distinction between the two numerically most important groups. The immigrants from Southern Europe immigrated mainly in the 1940s and the 1950s to fill the demand for labor forces in the expanding Belgian economy. From the 1960s to the economic crisis of 1973 mainly Turkish and Moroccan guest workers were the dominant immigra-tion group. Nowadays these constitute the two main immigration communities in Belgium; the Southern European immigrants have fewer social possiblities than the natives, but receive more social opportunities than the Muslim immigrants from Turkey and Morocco.

We investigated whether this hierarchy of social groups was also reflected in one of images and whether we could find traces of what Stuart Hall identified as symbolic violence:

We often think of power in terms of direct physical coercion or constraint. However, [there is also such a thing as] power in representation: power to mark, assign and clas-sify; [. . .] symbolic power, [. . .] ritualized expulsion. Power, it seems, has to be under-stood here, not only in terms of economic exploitation and physical coercion, but also in broader cultural or symbolic terms, including the power to represent someone or something in a certain way—within a certain ‘regime of representation.’ It includes the exercise of symbolic power through representational practices. Stereotyping is a key element in this exercise of symbolic violence.” (Hall, 1997, p. 259)

According to the aforementioned perspective that communication messages can be both productive and reproductive, we will not only search for symbolic violence, but also for the power of the symbolic to produce social change. For instance, the success of the French national team in the World Cup in France has been described as a factor that contributes towards the development of a multi-cultural society in France, because there were a lot of black players in the team that won the 1998 World Cup (Bastin, 1998; Boyle & Haynes, 2000; Dauncey & Hare, 2000). We have investigated whether similar tendencies were visible in the empirical materials we obtained.

Our investigations deal particulary with media messages relating to the television broadcasting in Flanders—the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. I studied football matches between Belgium and Italy and Belgium and Turkey on the Euro 2000 tournament, in which the media messages relating to the Italians serve as an opera-tionalization of the representation of the Southern European immigrants group and in which the Turks serve as an operationalization of the Muslim immigrants group. In two case studies we particulary studied the representation of immi-grants cheering in Flanders for the team of their country of origin or the country of origin of their parents. In another case study we studied the moment in the international soccer games in which the national hymns of the nations are played, and I investigated whether this was a moment of cultural harmony or of cultural opposition. Yet another case study focused specifically on the representation of racism and antiracism in the media representation of the tournament. Finally, I studied whether migrants are expected to cheer for their host country or whether they can continue to cheer for their country of origin.

Social change is operationalized as a decrease of the difference in social oppor-tunities between what we call “autochtons”—people with Flemish parents living in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium, and “allochtons”—people with Italian or Turkish parents living in Flanders. Social reproduction on the other hand refers to a continuation or strengthening. The media messages in the Flemish television coverage of Euro 2000 were scrutinized to find the most relevant case studies relating to this theme of social change and social reproduction. Because media messages receive their meaning in society through the way they are interpreted by media users it was necessary to integrate both content analytic and reception analytic methods. I clarify these methods in the next section.

Methodology

Methodologically, I selected a combination of content analysis and reception analysis. Content analysis could be called the primordial method in the com-

munication sciences, and it contains two basic variants: quantitative and qualitative content analysis. In her doctoral research on the coverage of the 1994 World Cup

in the German and American mass media, Angela Daalmann (1999) showed that in soccer reporting there is more attention paid to one’s own nation than to others. Quantitative analysis of media representations of the Euro 2000 tournament in Belgian and Dutch mass media show a similar mechanism (Claus, 2003; Destoop, 2002; Mertens, 2005). Such a mechanism, wherein one’s own nation receives more attention, can be called “banal nationalism” (Billig, 1995; Yumul & Özkirimili, 2000). It is the nationalism of small everyday elements that help to confirm one’s feeling of belonging to a nation. Reading more about one’s own national team rather than about the other teams can also be such an element.

More interesting research findings relating to the research theme of social repro-duction and social change were, however, discovered by applying the method of qualitative content analysis rather than the method of quantitative content analysis. We borrowed methods from discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1989, 1992, 1995, 1998; Riggins, 1997; Van Dijk, 1991, 1998) and visual semiotics (Cottle, 1998; Van Leeuwen & Jewitt, 2001) to develop a method for analyzing television messages qualitatively (Mertens, 2005).

A key idea in our analysis of both verbal and visual language is that the use of language depends on the making of choices. When, for instance, war meta-phors were used in the coverage of the soccer confrontation between England and Germany they evoked a completely different image than the use of a more neutral discourse (Maguire, Poulton, & Possamai, 1999; Weed, 2001). Choices are also made in the language of images. A close-up can evoke a sense of intimacy or directness, whereas a long shot could imply a more distant relation between the image and reality (Berger, 1991, pp. 26–27; Peters, 1978).

Another central concept is that of “implied meaning” (Blommaert & Verschueren, 1992; Van Dijk, 1998). Quantitative content analysis focuses on manifest meanings, but qualitative content analysis researchs the latent meanings. Communication messages not only have an explicit meaning, but they also could evoke meanings that are not immediately clear.

To research whether these latent meanings are also a part of the way people hear and see these images it was necessary to make use of the method of reception analysis. In a reception analysis (cf. Liebes & Katz, 1993; Morley, 1980 for clas-sical examples) images are shown to socially different groups to explore whether their interpretations of media messages show variations that could possibly relate to their difference in social origins. In our research we used nine focus groups: three groups of people with Flemish parents, three groups of Italian immigrants living in Flanders, and three groups of Turkish immigrants in Flanders, thereby operationalizing the three groups for our comparative perspective. To increase the diversity of answers, I organized for each national identity one group with women, one group with sports fans, and one group with a typical demographic profile (as compared to the national census; cf. Eggerickx et al., 1999). As is usual

in focus group research, between six and ten persons participated in each focus group (Hansen, 1998; Lunt & Livingstone, 1996).

For this research we contacted respondents with the help of the Intercultureel Centrum voor Migranten (the Intercultural Center for Migrants) in Brussels and with the help of the administration of the city of Genk, a Flemish city in which a lot of migrants live. With the help of this intercultural center and this city administration I had the chance to get in touch with ACLI (Associazioni Cristiane Lavoratori Italiani), a labor organization for Italians living in Flanders, and with Casa Papa Giovanni, a club for fans of the Italian football team Juventus based in Genk. Yilmaz Kürtal, a Turkish social worker, composed a focus group of Turkish men for my research, and the Turkish football fans were found in the Turkish football club Turkse Rangers in Genk. The Turkse Unie (Turkish Union) was also contacted, and they organized a focus group with Turkish women. A friend of one of the interviewed Turkish women was an Italian woman who organized a focus group of Italian women. Personal networks were used to compose equivalent groups of Flemish respondents. This research method, using nine focus groups, cannot guarantee statistical representativeness, but it gives a useful indication of which answer patterns emerge in different cultural groups.

The Representations of Italian FansThe first empirical example is a content-analytic and reception-analytic case

study on an item broadcast on the 30 June 2000 on the regional broadcast-ing company RTV in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Here, we see female Italian fans shouting at their heroes, the Italian soccer players, who are not only seen as sporting heroes, but are also adored for their great looks. Some interviews with these young women let them express their feelings towards these Italian athletes. Particulary the representations of female fans tend to show culturally specific representations, whereas representations of male fans rather represent the universal characteristics of global soccer fans. We see these male fans wearing the national colors and waving the national flags, but apart from the fact that each nation has different colors, there are not much particular differences to be discovered; however, I did discover differences while analyzing the characteristics of the female fans.

The fact that there is a lot of enthusiasm for these Italian players, filmed in Flemish television shots while they are in training, is made more visible by the verbal and visual intervention of the mass media. Many close-ups of these Italian girls create a suggestion of intimacy (Berger, 1991; Cottle, 1998). On the contrary, male fans are portrayed using more long distance camera shots, so they can’t be considered as the object of an intruding gaze. The close-up can be recognized in the portrayal of the male players, seen as objects of desire of the Italian female fans. The specific “passionate” media frame, which is enhanced by these camera

techniques, is further enlarged by the soundtrack, such as in playing the song “Ti Amo” (“I Love You”) in Italian as background, so viewers are invited to feel along with these Italian girls and their passions. The verbal voice-over com-mentaries further facilitate the tendency towards this “passionate” media frame. The remark, made by a Flemish television reporter, that “Italian soccer in itself can be beautiful, but for the true supporter it has a lot more to offer,” suggests that the appearance of passionate people, especially female fans, adds extra value to the experience of watching Italian soccer games.

A further linguistic element that contributes to the construction of this pas-sionate media frame is the use of Italian words in this Flemish television item. In advertising research, the process in which language is used to communicate something more than just information is well documented (Chesire & Moser, 1994; Haarmann, 1984; Kelly-Holmes, 2000). Kelly-Holmes explains this process quite well:

In current intercultural advertising in Europe, languages are used not for their com-municative function (what could be termed their utility value) nor any of the other established functions of language in advertising communication, for example persua-sion or hyperbole. Instead, it is their symbolic function that has come to have the greater value. Thus, it is unimportant whether the advertisee understands the foreign word in an advertisement, so long as it calls up the cultural stereotype of the country with which the language is associated. We have therefore, in Marx’s terms, ‘form

without content.’ Language in intercultural advertising has become fetished, imbued with value, existing as a thing in its own. (2000, p. 67)

One can observe something similar in this particular example of sports journal-ism. Expressions such as “Ti amo,” “tifosi” (“fans”), and “squadra azzura” (which means something like “the blue team,” referring to the color of the shirts of the Italian players), are used by Flemish television reporters, and this particular form of language helps to create an “Italian” atmosphere, adding an extra element to the atmosphere already created by the camera techniques.

How can one make sense of this process of stereotyping? This identification of a stereotype is not something that has been made up by the Flemish television reporters. The “spectacle of heroic masculinity,” as Eduardo Archetti (1999) calls it, is a well-known and recurrent theme in the experience of sports and sports fans, and Italians are surely eager to participate. Furthermore, art, beauty, and the cult of appearance are not only stereotypes used by foreign countries to make a judgment on Italy and Italians, but are, in fact, also an important dimension of the way Italians understand themselves (Gundle, 2000). As Hans Verstraeten (1998) remarks, the study of stereotyping tends to focus on the stereotyping of a culture by another culture, and the process wherein a culture creates stereotypes concerning its own identity is by-and-large neglected.

This stereotype of Italian and Italian female soccer fans in Belgium can thus be considered not too harmful, because it is not only a heterostereotype (imposed on a culture by other cultures), but also an autostereotype (a stereotype supported by the culture itself). A further dimension mitigating this stereotype is that it could be considered a positive one. Stereotypes could be defined as “a conception of a group composed of a set of simplified existential beliefs” (Davis, 1978, p. 47). Nothing in this definition excludes a positive stereotype, although the process of stereotyping is often considered to be mainly negative. And a stereotypical con-notation of passion and enthusiasm can hardly be considered negative.

In the focus groups there was a consensus on the fact that this stereotypical passionate media frame is not only Italian, but is put forward as a stereotypical image of Italy. The stereotype is thus not only an observation of the researcher, but also something social subjects recognize. Italian respondents also agree that the images used have a double signification: they do represent “real” Italian behavior in some way, but they also simplify this behavior in a stereotypical way.

This remains, however, an “othering” perspective. The Dutch anthropologist Jan Nederveen Pieterse writes that the relationship between Northern and Southern cultures is fundamentally ambivalent (1990) The Southern cultures are seen as more bodily oriented and in a closer relationship with their primitive emotions. These cultures are thus less rational and in a way inferior to the Northern cultures.

This ambivalence can be seen as sexual openness and spontaneity on the one hand and as aggression and irrationality on the other. This representation of Italian female fans is an example of the open and spontaneous level of ambivalence.

The position of Southern European immigrants in Belgian society is thereby mirrored in this particular example of mass media coverage of sporting behavior. The Southern European migrants are seen as different, but harmless. It can be argued that this particular media message is merely expressive. It is formative because it is reproducing an existing stereotype and social reproduction is a key part of social reality, but is not formative, insofar as this means that it contrib-utes to social or discursive change. It does not contain a new vision about the organization of social reality.

The Turkish respondents recognized the enthusiasm and the passion of this Mediterranean soccer fan behavior. In their opinion, this could be also consid-ered a key characteristic of Turkish fan behavior, but, as a Turkish woman fan, participating in a focus group, remarked: “The key difference is that they [Italian women] are accepted, and we [Turkish women] are not.” One can get a broader view on the difference between Italian and Turkish women in the next section, which discusses the structure and reception of media messages on Turkish women in Belgium, cheering for the Turkish national side.

The Representations of Turkish FansNext is a comparison of the representation of Italian female fans with the repre-

sentation of Turkish female fans from a broadcast of 19 June 2000 on Flemish public television. Although these two media examples were not particulary designed to be compared and are not the result of experimental research design, their circumstances are identical, except for national identity of the interviewees. These two fragments contain many elements that are a part of broader discourses on sport and immigrant fan behavior.

The reporter who announced this item on Turkish female soccer fans said that the combination of women and soccer can be considered to be one, even more when the women are Turkish. This means that Turkish women are considered as standing outside of the sports discourse, and thus, insofar as sports is part of social reality, outside society. This is quite another frame than the one used in the Italian example. We hear a romantic Italian song, framing the Italian female fans in a very recognizable stereotype. Turkish women, on the contrary, seem to be less easily given a profile. Linguistically, this problem of recognition is reflected by the fact that we do not hear any Turkish words. Italian words are used in the Dutch language to evoke Italian stereotypes, but a comparable linguistic pattern is not available for the Turkish language.

This does not mean that Turkish women do not exist in Belgian discourse. A lot of cultures could have very particular characteristics that may not be known

in Belgium or in the West in general, because the only way to get to know them could be by reading specialized anthropological publications. This is clearly not true for Turkish women. As women wearing a headscarf, a symbol related to their Muslim religion, they are very recognizable. This headscarf is also the object of a lot of public discussions. Should it be allowable in public settings, such as educational settings? It does not seem that easy to make a link between this visual image and the discourse on sports fan behavior.

However, watching television on 19 June 2000, we see women wearing heads-carves, talking about their soccer preferences. Although scarves are a religious symbol, it becomes relevant to discussion of football fan behavior, because Muslim women also wear their scarves while being football fans. This can be seen as a strategic visualization. The stereotype of women wearing headscarves is that they are not allowed to speak, but this media item gives them the right to speak for themselves, which is in a way unusual, because Turks are often stereotyped as being rather patriarchal in their gender relations.

Looking at the interviews by reception analysis, Turkish men and women alike say that sporting fan behavior for Turkish people is something experienced by both genders, although men tend to be somewhat more fanatic. So, giving a voice to Turkish women to talk on sports matters is not that exceptional as this media message could suggest, because they do indeed participate in the sports fan experience. This media message was an attempt to create a more positive image of Turkish women. When I interviewed in a focus group Turkish women who were also interviewed on television, they recognized that this media message could be seen as an attempt to create a positive image. In their opinion, it was a successful attempt, and they said that they appreciated that in the editing, the things they said that could be seen as more problematic were omitted.

The possibility of problematic answers has to do with Turks’ position in Belgian society. Because they are not very accepted and sometimes confronted with rac-ism, it is important for their community to be careful and watch what they say, because their opinions could be interpreted as a sign that they are not willing to integrate into Belgian society. Because their position in Belgian society is prob-lematic, the discussion of their fan behavior can be the same. Although they still support Turkish teams, they say they are very happy to live in Belgium. In the audiovisual media message with the Italian women, this was not an issue. For Italian immigrants it is not problematic. If they choose to prefer the Italian team, they are rooting for our fellow Europeans. But Turkish people need to explain themselves. Their presence in Belgian society is not that easily accepted.

This problem with being accepted is also clear when one compares the interpre-tation of the Turkish headscarf in the Turkish interviews with this interpretation in the Italian interviews. Wearing a headscarf is thought to be a personal choice, which has to do with personal religious conviction. Turkish men and women

report agreeing on this in interviews, but Italian men and women do not always see it that way. Sometimes they see the headscarf as a personal choice, but some-times they see it as a visual symbol of resistance against being part of Belgian society. This opinion is even more prevalent when Belgian citizens are interviewed on the same topic. There is a meaningful difference in the way this visual sym-bol, shown in this particular item on sports fan behavior, can be interpreted. The “outsiders” see it as a symbol of personal identity, the “insiders” as a symbol with another meaning altogether, echoing the irrational and aggressive dimension of the ambivalence described by Jan Nederveen Pieterse (1990, cf. infra).

In this television example, there are three Turkish women having the oppor-tunity to explain themselves and giving their personal opinion on soccer. They give detailed and personal accounts of their situation and the implied ambivalence of being bicultural. Theo Van Leeuwen (2001, p. 96) made a visual analysis of a picture with three immigrant women wearing headscarves, walking in the same direction, reading: “The three women [. . .] not only look similar but also all walk in the same direction and are angled towards the viewer in more or less the same way. This reinforces the ‘they are all the same effect’ that constitutes gener-alization.” This generalization effect is clearly absent in the audiovisual example, because these three women express very personal opinions. One of them does not wear a headscarf, and the ones who do don’t present themselves as being fundamentalist. Nevertheless, some people who saw this example in a reception analysis research setting make comments on it, as if wearing a headscarf were a symbol of being resistant to being integrated into Belgian society.

This representation of Turkish female soccer fans could not be considered an example of symbolic violence, because it is an attempt to create a more positive image. The power of the symbolic is here a power to create change, and this has to do with the semiotic function of the close-up that differs from the function of the close-up in the case study on the Italian women. In the latter, the close-up visualized a lot of different women as women, whereas in the former a few female individuals are filmed with a close-up to give their personal meanings. But the power of the symbolic in the media representation apparently was not strong enough to convince autochtonous people in the reception analysis setting, and the Italians, altough an often stereotyped immigrant community themselves, sometimes take the side of the autochtons.

International RitualsOur study of the representations of female Italian and Turkish fans seem to

contribute to a process of social and cultural reproduction rather than to a process of social and cultural change, because an othering stereotype of the Italians was confirmed in the Italian example and an attempt to create a positive image

of Turkish immigrants did not succeed, according to the research findings in the reception-analytic setting. We also studied the possibility of creating images that produce social change in symbolic environments that are very typical for soccer interland games. An international game in a European soccer championship begins with a moment in which a lot of flags of both teams are displayed and during which the national anthems are played. Is this “international ritual” a moment of cultural rivalry or of cultural harmony?

Watson (1998, p. 13) describes the role of national anthems in the construction of cultural rivalry: “[C]ommunication can serve as an instrument of demarcation between individuals and communities. National anthems exist to remind us that their purpose is to unite ‘us’ in the face of ‘them’ whether this is on the field of battle or on the field of sport.” Tamburrini (2000, p. 73) explains the philosophi-cal position that criticizes this logic: “[A]bstract entities as such are of no value. What matters ultimately, from a moral point of view, is what happens to individu-als, capable (at least) of feeling pleasure and pain. . . . This means that if someone claims that the strength of his or her nation is a value in itself, he or she makes a value mistake.” What can be added to these observations using data from our content-analytic and reception-analytic research?

At the content-analytic level we should say that altough the collective identity of the nation is foregrounded, this happens giving each nation the same amount of display opportunities. This equality is one at the level of the reality that is registered by the mass media. Each participating country gets the same number of national symbols. But there is also an equality at the secondary level of the images that are chosen by the organizing broadcasters. Given the fact that the production was a Belgian and Dutch cooperation, we could probably expect a better visualization of the Belgian and Dutch national identity, but this is not the case. Billig (1995, p. 86) calls this the universalism of particularism, the paradox of the nationalist flag waving on sports tournaments: each country has its own colors, but they can replace each other. It is not a matter of suppressing the other identities, as one would expect in a warlike environment.

In our reception-analysis it was remarkable that members of the identities that we researched agreed on the neccesity of respecting these formal symbols. This makes the international ritual even less warlike. In addition to the formal equality of nations in this ritual, there is also a broad recognition of respect—not an atti-tude that prevails in war. This recognition was also there when we asked if there should be respect for the more spontaneous and informal symbols of national soccer fans, like colored heads and paintings on the face. The tolerance of other identities was again stressed in the interviews.

In a certain way it could be expected that the highest level of tolerance for the more informal fan behavior is found in the focus groups with soccer fans. It

was indeed in these focus groups rather than in the groups with women or with people with a standard demographic profile that the most developed tolerance for informal symbols of national identity could be found. This was one of the very few differences between the groups with fans, the groups with women, and the groups with a standard demographic profile, because the most relevant differences were found between people with a different national identity. It may be logical that these football fan groups are tolerant, because it is their own behavior, but they are also tolerant towards the informal symbols of other identities, and this is remarkable; showing the national colors goes together with an appreciation of national symbols in general and does not combine with hatred towards the colors of the others.

So next to the social and cultural reproductive nature of the concrete images of Turkish and Italian fans, we see another face of soccer and its mass media repre-sentation. Altough the nationalism in soccer matches is as such deindividualizing, we see that it can be a source of a positive value like respect. If soccer contains such potential of equality, one could ask if this potential can not be used as a promotional tool to create cultural harmony. The case study to be discussed next tried to answer that question.

Racism and AntiracismThe potential of equality implied in the soccer game and its representations goes

even further than the formal equality in international rituals. Soccer teams are a representation of intercultural cooperation, because players from diverse ethnic ori-gins are playing together in them. An interviewee from professor Cornell Sandvoss (2002, p. 5) said: “Every team is now full of players from every country. . . . I hope in a funny way that football could actually help to make the English more international minded.”

Football between teams representing nation states could be described as con-firming the nation-state as a key institution of modernity, but there are also post-modern trends. Angela Daalmann (1999, pp. 38–39) has discovered three of them. Many national teams have a lot of naturalized foreigners in them, and that is the first trend. In the national teams we can also find players who earn their money playing in foreign club teams, and they are adapted to the identity of the national competition in which they participate: black players playing in Spain can be, for example, more Spanish in their playing style. And finally, football at the global level is becoming more and more uniform from a technical and tactical top level, thereby rendering obsolete the old division between the tactical playing style in countries from the North and the technical playing style in Southern countries.

Christine Inglis (1995) explains how the concept of “multiculturalism” can have three meanings: a demographic-descriptive meaning, a political-programmatic

meaning, and an ideological-normative meaning. The first meaning refers to the actual trends in our (post)modern societies, and the second and the third mean-ings refer to multiculturalism as a goal both in policy and in theoretical thinking. Whereas demographic multiculturalism seems to be problematic in society as such, with many people contesting it, it seems to be accepted without problems in soc-cer. One could use soccer as an advertising tool to make it an example of cultural integration and to promote multiculturalism on the level of policies and ideas.

This was exactly the intention the Belgian government and the Belgian soc-cer federation had with their promotional campaign using the example of Emile Mpenza, a famous and talented Belgian soccer player with African roots, to indicate the possibility of a succesful multicultural society. Altough not an ethnic Belgian, Mpenza is widely recognized as “one of us” because he plays an impor-tant role in the Belgian national football team. An advertising commercial on television showed him scoring a goal for Belgium, and the voice-over said how racism can be “tackled,” using tackling as a metaphor for overcoming intercul-tural difficulties in society. We analyzed this campaign using content-analytic and reception-analytic research methods, and we also integrated another item in which the man who did the voice-over in the commercial, Belgian presentator Mark Uytterhoeven, interviewed Emile Mpenza on his role in the commercial.

This commercial was problematic because of the implied meanings that could be discovered in the images. Emile Mpenza took off his shirt after scoring the goal

for Belgium, but the meaning of this gesture is ambivalent. On the one hand this clearly shows his black body and foregrounds the fact that someone with African roots can contribute to the success of the Belgian team, but on the other hand the naked black body contains connotations of primitive sexuality. In an interview with Mark Uytterhoeven on Belgian television Mpenza asked again to take off his shirt, and Uytterhoeven remarks that Mpenza is more beautiful than him. This could be an attempt to apply what Stuart Hall (1997, p. 274) calls a “transcoding strategy trough the eye of representation.”

Hall (1997, p. 274) defines this strategy using the following words:

[I]nstead of avoiding the black body, because it has been so caught up in the com-plexities of power and subordination within representation, this strategy positively takes the body as the principal site of its representational strategies, attempting to make the stereotypes work against themselves. Instead of avoiding the dangerous terrain opened up by the interweaving of ‘race,’ gender and sexuality, it deliberately contests the dominant gendered and sexual definitions of racial difference by work-ing on black sexuality. Since black people have so often been fixed, stereotypically, by the racialized gaze, it may have been tempting to refuse the complex emotions associated with ‘looking.’ However, this strategy makes elaborate play with ‘looking,’ hoping by its very attention, to ‘make it strange’—that is, to defamiliarize it, and so make explicit what is often hidden—its erotic dimensions.

It remains to be seen whether this strategy really works. Our reception-analytic research findings show a clear division between the reaction of the Flemish interviewees and the reaction of the Italian and Turkish interviewees. Whereas the Flemish interviewees saw this representation as an unproblematic antiracist representation, the Italian and the Turkish interviewees reacted quite differently. For the Italian and the Turkish interviewees the ambivalence of the black body was an issue, and the specific interviewing style of Uytterhoeven only made this ambivalence more explicit. The antiracist intentions seem to be difficult to realize because of the complex field of meanings that is associated with race and the black body, and the Italians and Turks can feel this, because they have the experience of being “different” in Belgian society.

The different experience of racism of the Italian and Turkish interviewees also was clear in the possible effect that the interviewees attributed to this particular commercial. Whereas the Flemish interviewees were by no means hesitant about the antiracist intentions of the images, they did not expect an effect to occur. Some Italian and Turkish interviewees did hope that there was going to be an attitude change after people had seen this commercial, altough they were not convinced by its antiracist nature. Maybe the relevance of racism in their everyday lives is the explanation for their sentiments of hope.

Maybe there is a potential for promoting equality in football and its representa-tions, but this case study showed that racism is a problematic semiotic field, with semiotic connections in everyday discourses. Using the black body to promote social change could be difficult because of this web of meanings. The hope for an effect that some allochtonous interviewees cherish might be a reflection of the importance of the theme, rather than an indication of the ease with which attitudes could be changed.

The TebbittestThe relationship between sport and racism is a theme that is also implicated in

the so-called Tebbittest, a test named after Norman Tebbit (cf. Maguire, 1993), a British politician who claimed that immigrants are not supposed to continue to cheer for their country of origin but should develop a sports preference for the country in which they live: to pass the test means that one has a sports prefer-ence for the host country. Tebbit formulated this critique referring to the situation of Asian immigrants in England who cheered for their Asian country of origin. These immigrants said that Tebbit formulated a racist demand, but Tebbit replied that his test had everything to do with integration and nothing with color. In our research we evaluated how our Flemish, Italian, and Turkish interviewees reacted to the logic of the Tebbittest. Norman Tebbit wants immigrants not to keep or develop a sports preference for their country of origin. We analyzed whether this attitude was also the attitude of our interviewees.

Prior research had shown that ethnic identification is not easily changed. Research from Timmerman (1992) on Turkish immigrants in Belgium showed that these immigrants continue to have Turkey as their ethnonational frame of reference in the second and third generation. Similar conclusions on ethnic identification among immigrants are to be found in research from Phalet, Van Lotringen, and Entzinger (2000) on second-generation youngsters with Turkish and Morrocan roots in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.

Knowing the results of these investigations, one can expect that Italian and Turkish immigrants continue to cheer for their country of origin, and not for Belgium. To test this expectation a questionnaire was distributed prior to the showing of the images in the reception analysis setting. The results were not surprising. Whatever their age or immigrant generation was, all the interviewed Italians and Turks continued to cheer for Italy or Turkey.

An exception to this general rule on the continuing preference for the country of origin could be the situation of people who develop contacts with the host country in the context of intercultural love relations and intercultural marriages. In Hondius’ (1999) research on mixed marriages in The Netherlands it was found that in mixed marriages the partners sometimes change their ethnic identification.

The ethnic identification of children in these marriages should be even more unclear.

To examine the theme of the Tebbittest we show images of immigrants who did change their preference, unlike the interviewees in our research. We used images of Marco Borsato and Kadèr Gürbüz. Marco Borsato is a famous Dutch singer with an Italian father and a Dutch mother. Borsato expressed his preference for the Netherlands when he was asked to choose between Italy and the Netherlands in the soccer match between these two countries. Kadèr Gürbüz is a famous Belgian actress who expressed her preference for Belgium when she was asked to give her opinion on the Belgium-Turkey game.

The preference for Belgium from these two stars could be explained by the fact that they are children of mixed marriages, and hence their ethnic identifica-tion is unclear. Another possible explanation could be that their success in the host country, as a singer and as an actress, elicits a preference for the society that made their success possible. It is remarkable, however, that all interviewees in the reception analysis thought that a third explanation was the correct one. Everyone assumed that both stars feigned a preference for the host country to stay loyal to their public. According to all our interviewees, they preferred Italy or Turkey, but kept this preference to themselves.

Even more remarkable is that nobody thought this preference was actually a problem. Everyone assumed that public opinion would not tolerate a preference for Italy or Turkey, but, although being a part of public opinion themselves, they

all personally claimed to hold a differing opinion. Apparently there is a difference between the assumed public opinion and the real public opinion, insofar as this opinion can be measured by focus group interviews. This difference is particu-lary remarkable in the case of the Flemish interviews, because these interviewees are really a part of the Flemish public opinion, whereas the Italian and Turkish interviewees can see a distinction between Flemish public opinion and their own opinion as members of minority groups.

According to Da Silva Costa (1989, p. 35) the polarization between competing soccer teams is festive and symbolic, and the research findings on the Tebbittest (and on international rituals) confirm this idea. The logic behind the Tebbittest is not considered a valid logic according to our respondents. This means that everyone is free to choose his or her own identity, and according to the findings on international rituals, the formal and informal symbols that evoke this identity during soccer matches should be respected.

ConclusionsPrior research has shown that there is a social hierarchy among autochtons,

immigrants from Southern Europe like Italians, and Muslims immigrants like Turkish immigrants. Can a tendency be found towards changing the inequalities in the mass media representation of soccer? The results of the case studies on inter-national rituals and on the Tebbittest seem to indicate that there is such a potential for change. There is respect for symbols of national identity, and everyone can choose his or her own identity. The reality of soccer seems to be a reflection of what an ideology of multiculturalism would desire.

The official slogan of the Euro 2000 tournament was “Football Without Frontiers,” and the logic of respecting each others identities discovered in con-tent analytic and reception analytic research seems to validate the choice of slo-gan. Giuliannotti (1999, p. 15) associates this logic with the classical sociological Durkheimian concept “organic solidarity” (Durkheim, 1997). All nations seem to be cooperating in the harmonious exchange of national symbols during soccer tournaments, and the emotions of all fans seem to be shared emotions, and the mass media distribute these images to give everyone the opportunity to participate.

However, there are many mechanical solidarities and ideological monocultural-isms that cannot be easily forgotten. The exchange of symbols is an exchange of formal symbols, and there are also many concrete symbols of cultural diversity that are to be found in the mass media representation of Euro 2000. These con-crete symbols remain effective and belong to another order of reality, the order of mechanical solidarity among ethnic groups.

We can see a replication of the hierarchy of cultures in our case studies of female Italian and Turkish fans. There is a division between the Italians, who are

portrayed with a not-too-harmful stereotypical image. This is a form of symbolic violence because any stereotype is reductive, but it remains a positive stereotype. The lower social position of the Turkish people can be recognized in the recep-tion research findings that see them as unwilling to integrate into society, even after a media message was shown that attempted to create a positive image. These examples show the difficulty of creating social and cultural change in media rep-resentations of soccer tournaments.

Another example of the force of the concrete against the abstract logic of equal-ity implied in mass media representations of soccer is found in our case study on the antiracist campaign using an image of a black player helping to realize the succes of the Belgian team. Using the black body seems to evoke racist connota-tions that make the antiracist intentions fade away. The image of demographic multiculturalism in soccer is not easy to integrate into daily life.

It remains a matter of opinion to decide which conclusion is the most impor-tant: the organic solidarity of football or the harshness of monoculturalism in everyday life? The correct attitude should be the one expressed by Boyle and Haynes (2000, p. 161):

France-Soir of 11 July 1998 argued: “People are describing this remarkable tricolour team [The French national team] as a remarkable example of integration through sport. This mosaic of twenty-two black-white-beur. . . . Agreed, but for every Zidane or Thuram [black football players in the World Cup winning team of 1998] how many immigrant kids are there who will never get out of the ghetto? A lot more is needed, dear rulers who are covering themselves in praise, to solve the problem of the suburbs.” However, it can also be argued that to deny the possibility that the achievements of Zinedine Zidane and his colleagues in France 98 may, in some contexts, both shape and reflect broader shifts in the related social, political and economic arenas is also wrong and is to underestimate the power of the symbolic in a material world.

Research on communication and social change should search for contexts in which the power of the symbolic can play an emancipating role. In this study we discovered an ambivalence: football in the mass media does contain some egalitarian tendencies, but they are countered by the monoculturalistic attitudes that are an important part of everyday life. The search for egalitarian tendencies in different semiotic fields must go on in order to discover the most interesting possibilities for improving equal representations of different cultures.

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HIV/AIDS in NepalThe Role of Radio and Television in Raising the Awareness of AIDS Among Married Women

N A B I N A RYA L

UTILIZING THE BETWEEN Census Household Information for Monitoring and Evaluation System (BCHIMES) data obtained from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) of Nepal, the article analyzes the factors of media—radio and television—and literacy in the awareness of AIDS among the currently married women of Nepal. The results from the logistic regression models suggest that exposure to media, such as radio and television seemed to increase the odds of gaining awareness of AIDS. The women who were exposed to radio and television seem to be significantly more aware of AIDS than those without exposure to such media. Another important factor behind the awareness of AIDS was found to be literacy. Compared to illiterate women, literate women of Nepal were much more likely to be aware of AIDS.

Key words: AIDS, Nepal, awareness, radio and TV exposure, literacy

IntroductionGeneral Backgrounds

HIV/AIDS has become the single most prominent public health issue for the majority of South Asian nations. The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of the South

Asia has seen a drastic increase in recent years. In fact, the magnitude of this epidemic is projected to exceed that of the sub-Saharan Africa in the near future. The latest figures show that more than 7.5 million people are currently infected with the HIV virus in South Asia, of which more than two-thirds of them are in India (UNAIDS, 2006).

Until recently, Nepal had a comparatively lower prevalence of the HIV/AIDS virus compared to other countries in South Asia. However, due to increasing seasonal migration and human trafficking across India, Nepal’s HIV prevalence rate has been rising. In fact, the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is now second highest in this region after India (UNAIDS, 2006). Experts in the 1990s claimed that the number of HIV/AIDS cases in Nepal had increased fifteen fold between 1990 and 1993 (Suvedi, Baker, & Thapa, 1994). They also predicted that by the year

Nabin Aryal (PhD) is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan. Email: nabin.aryal@gmail.com

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A R Y A L : H I V / A I D S I N N E P A L

2000, approximately 100,000 people would be infected by HIV/AIDS. Although their prediction fell a little short, possibly due to underreporting of the number of cases, approximately 75,000 cases of HIV/AIDS have been estimated in Nepal (UNAIDS, 2006). Major reports claim that if the current trends continue, it is possible that an HIV epidemic will occur among the general population (USAID, 2005). The Ministry of Health of Nepal further warns that in the absence of effective interventions, HIV/AIDS could prove to be the leading cause of death among Nepal’s young adults (15- to 49-year-olds) in coming years. This means that approximately 100,000 to 200,000 young adults could become infected, of which 10,000 to 15,000 would die of AIDS annually (Ministry of Health, 2002). Similarly, the USAID reports that HIV/AIDS is spreading particularly fast among 15–39-year-olds, and AIDS is now the major cause of death within this age group. It further warns that by the year 2010, HIV/AIDS will be the major cause of death among most of the age groups in Nepal (USAID, 2005).

There are various reasons behind this rapid expansion of the HIV/AIDS infection in Nepal. The transmission of the HIV infection in Nepal mainly occurs through heterosexual encounters involving male clients and female sex workers and through needle-sharing intravenous drug users. The attention of both policymakers and the academic circle so far has been on the female sex workers, especially those who have worked (or were trafficked) abroad, particularly in India, and on the migrant male, for their role in spreading HIV virus among the general public. Together with women who are trafficked into Indian brothels, male migrants involved in sexual activities with the sex workers abroad are the potential HIV/AIDS transmitters in Nepal (PANOS, 2005). However, it can be argued that the social and economic factors forcing both young males and young females to seek employment away from home, as well as the high incidence of female trafficking, might be the root cause of the HIV/AIDS expansion.

Another crucial factor behind the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS is the lack of awareness and knowledge of the disease (MOH, 2002). Thus, increasing the awareness of HIV/AIDS may prove to be one of the important tools for tackling HIV/AIDS in Nepal. Studies have shown that the lack of awareness of HIV/AIDS is the chief factor behind the rapid spread of the virus (MOH, 2003). Gender disparity in the awareness of AIDS is another contributing factor for the rapid expansion of HIV/AIDS. According to UNDP, the relatively low social status of women in Nepal contributes to their vulnerability by limiting access to the means and resources to protect themselves, such as knowledge, awareness, and health care services (UNDP, 2005). In this regard, the research focusing on awareness, especially among women, is crucial for a better understanding of the HIV/AIDS infection in Nepal.

However, this sort of research approach thus far has been limited to the micro level in Nepal. In order to complement this, large-scale research on women and

HIV/AIDS awareness is essential for understanding the state of this disease in Nepal. Combined with a greater biological susceptibility, women also have a higher risk of HIV/AIDS due to their lower social and economic status. In addition, HIV infection of women often leads to the transmission of the disease to their newborns. Thus, the HIV/AIDS will have adverse effects on the welfare of both women and children, so it is extremely important to address the AIDS awareness issue among the women of Nepal

It has been documented that the media plays a major role in raising the awareness of HIV/AIDS in Nepal. Public health workers coupled with policymakers have identified that the media is a valuable tool for increasing the awareness of HIV/AIDS (Beine, 2003; Karuna, 1998). The present paper will utilize a nationwide survey conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), which will help to examine the awareness of HIV/AIDS and the role of media and literacy in raising such awareness among married women in Nepal. Furthermore, we will also examine whether literacy and media have varying effects in raising the awareness of HIV/AIDS among married women according to the settlement pattern. The chief reason why married women are included in the present analysis is that more and more housewives have been infected by HIV/AIDS in recent years in Nepal. In fact, housewives are the largest group infected with HIV/AIDS among women in Nepal. Because the mothers’ HIV infection is directly related to the HIV infection of the newborns, awareness of AIDS among married women might prove to be crucial for preventing the spread of the HIV/AIDS infection. Although there is much research on commercial sex workers and HIV/AIDS, the literature focusing on housewives and the role of the media is quite limited.

This paper consists of two parts. In the first part, the literature on HIV/AIDS and the current state of HIV/AIDS in Nepal are presented, followed by discussion on the media and other factors contributing to the awareness of HIV/AIDS in the second part.

Literature on HIV/AIDS in Nepal

According to Beine, the HIV/ AIDS literature in Nepal can be divided into three broad categories: biomedical and epidemiological profiles of HIV/AIDS,

structural factors contributing to the HIV/AIDS problem, and cultural factors contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS (Beine, 2003).

The scholars who have taken the biomedical and epidemiological approach have mainly focused on calculation of the state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Nepal (Suvedi, Baker, & Thapa, 1994). The scholars pursuing this approach have also implemented much research on the trajectory of the spread of the infection as well as the “high risk group,” or people most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS in Nepal (Shrestha & Gurbacharya, 1998). According to them, “high risk groups” are commercial sex workers (CSW), younger male clients of commercial sex workers,

and intravenous drug users (IDUs). Whereas the commercial sex workers and their clients are infected with HIV through unprotected sex, the intravenous drug users are often infected through sharing contaminated needles.

The dominant issue discussed among the scholars on the HIV/AIDS issue in Nepal is the trajectory of the spread of the HIV infection in the general public through “risky sexual activities.” According to the scholars, there are two major routes of the HIV/AIDS expansion in Nepal: through trafficked commercial sex workers and through men who migrate to India and abroad in search of employment (Dixit, 1996; Sattar, 1996). The returned commercial sex workers who are infected with the HIV/AIDS virus continue to work as commercial sex workers in Nepal, eventually becoming a channel for the HIV virus infection (Sattar, 1996). Similarly, the migrant men who are involved in sexual activities with the commercial sex workers abroad contract HIV/AIDS and become the channel for the spread of the HIV virus to their wives, and subsequently to their unborn offspring (Poudel, 1994).

While the role of commercial sex workers and migrant men in spreading the HIV virus is a major topic of HIV AIDS in Nepal, there are deeper socioeconomic issues within Nepal that perpetuate this problem. Thus, the HIV/AIDS issue has also been discussed within the context of illiteracy, poverty, gender discrimination, and armed conflict. The scholars argue that these very unfavorable socioeconomic conditions are the major factors behind commercial sex workers and migrant men, who eventually become the major actors of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Nepal (Dixit, 1996; Poudel, 1996; Seddon, 1995). Dixit, who has incorporated economic variables in the HIV/ AIDS debate, argues that poverty is the root cause of the HIV/AIDS in Nepal (Dixit, 1996). This argument has been supported by Meena Poudel (Poudel, 1994).

Similarly, the literature on HIV/AIDS in Nepal stresses the importance of raising awareness to combat this disease (New Era, 1997). Scholars claim that the media plays an important role in creating awareness of HIV/AIDS in the general public, and this method has also been successful in Nepal (Beine, 2003). The media, especially the radio, has been influential in Nepal for creating awareness of AIDS. In the initial phase, both radio and television were utilized by policymakers to convey the importance of condom use in order to “fight” the AIDS virus. The importance of wider use of the condom to prevent the HIV virus was the sole message conveyed by the media, and very little was mentioned concerning the nature of the disease (FHI, 2006). However, in the latter phase, radio and television initiated programs addressing the HIV/AIDS issue in a variety of ways. These awareness-raising programs have included the issue of the prevention of HIV/AIDS together with the importance of eliminating the stigma attached to the disease (FHI, 2006). The chief aim of these programs was to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and spread correct knowledge of the disease among vulnerable

women of Nepal. Besides radio and television, the print media is another source of information concerning the HIV/AIDS issue in Nepal. However, access to the print media is mostly limited to urban settlers (Thapa & Mishra, 2003).

The existing literature thus far has failed to address the role of the media, especially that of radio and television on the AIDS awareness among married women of Nepal. Thus, it is hoped that the present paper will compliment the previous research conducted on HIV/AIDS and the media in Nepal. After presenting literature on HIV/AIDS, the current state of HIV/AIDS will be presented in the following section.

State of HIV/AIDS in Nepal

The Ministry of Health of Nepal states that the first case of HIV/AIDS was reported in 1988. However, a growing number of HIV/AIDS infections

has been reported each year since. The United Nation Development Program (UNDP) has observed that the HIV/AIDS infection in Nepal has been slowly but surely gaining ground (UNDP, 2005). The UNDP has concluded that “Nepal has progressed from a low prevalence country to one with a concentrated epidemic in certain sub-groups of the population (e.g. sex workers, injecting drug users).” The UNDP further warns that without any immediate proper response, HIV/AIDS has the potential to be the leading cause of death in the age group of 15–49 years old in the near future. The current epidemiological state of HIV/AIDS in Nepal has been summarized in Table 1.

Table 1: HIV/AIDS Epidemiological Situation of Nepal

Data Year

Reported HIV cases 7,373 2006

Reported AIDS cases 1,115 2006

Estimated number of adults & children living with HIV/AIDS 7,500 2005

Estimated adult and child mortality due to HIV/AIDS 5,100 2005

HIV prevalence

Intravenous drug users (Kathmandu Valley) 50% 2005

Commercial sex workers (Street-based in Kathmandu Valley) 17% 2005

Blood donors N/A

Prevalence rate among general population

Kathmandu population 0.71% 2004

Total population 0.59% 2004

Sources: UNDP(2005), UNAIDS(2006), NCASC (2006)

The table demonstrates that there have been close to 75,000 HIV infections in the year 2006. An estimated 0.6% of Nepal’s and 0.7% of the Kathmandu population was HIV-positive in the 2002/2003 survey. Furthermore, the dynamics of the HIV/AIDS infection are especially dramatic in the Kathmandu Valley, where HIV/AIDS cases are recorded at 50% among injecting drug users and 17% among sex workers in the valley. It should be stressed that the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in Nepal is problematic, as HIV/AIDS infections and death from AIDS are highly under-reported due to lack of awareness and the negative stigma attached to the disease (Suvedi, 1998). Thus, we can argue that the actual cases of HIV/AIDS are much higher than the official figures.

In Table 2, the latest cumulative HIV/AIDS figures provided by the National Centre for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC) are summarized.

Table 2: HIV/AIDS Situation as of July 2006

Condition Male Female Total

HIV Positives (including AIDS) 5,245 2,128 7,373

AIDS 808 307 1,115

HIV infection

Subgroups

Commercial sex workers (CSW) — 628 628

Clients of CSWs 3,552 103 3,655

Housewives — 1,272 1,272

Blood transfusion 8 4 12

Injecting drug users (IDUs) 1,517 25 1,542

Children 168 96 264

Total 5,245 2,128 7,373

Age group

0–4 years 71 40 111

5–9 83 48 131

10–14 25 16 41

15–19 196 199 395

20–24 876 437 1,313

25–29 1,284 561 1,845

30–39 2,082 627 2,709

40–49 527 169 696

50+ 101 31 132

Total 5,245 2,128 7,373

Source: National Centre for AIDS and STD Control, 2006

The latest cumulative figures show that the total number of HIV/AIDS has now surpassed 7,000 cases. As was the case with UNDP report, the infection is concentrated in the injecting drug users (IDUs), commercial sex workers, and the clients of the commercial sex workers. In fact, the statistics show that the principal means of HIV transmission is sexual contact with commercial sex workers (3,552) followed by intravenous drug use (1,517). A large number of housewives have also been infected with the HIV virus, making them the third largest group of HIV/AIDS cases (1,272). It is likely that they are the wives of the HIV-positive clients of the commercial sex workers. Interestingly, some female clients of commercial sex workers were also infected with the HIV virus (103). This suggests that the contraction of the HIV virus through sexual encounters with the commercial sex workers is no longer limited to the male population in Nepal. Although there is no academic research on the female clients of commercial sex workers and HIV/AIDS in Nepal, a survey conducted by a leading news magazine concluded that a few females, especially in the urban area, were involved in sexual activities with male commercial sex workers (“The Survey,” 2004). The table also shows that the HIV/AIDS infection is concentrated in the younger age cohorts. The figures show that the younger groups, predominantly male, between the ages of 20 to 40 are most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS in Nepal. Although the number is very low, the transmission of HIV/AIDS through blood transfusions has also been reported.

Awareness of AIDS Among Married Women of NepalData and Methodology

The data for the present analysis were obtained from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) of Nepal. The present survey was known as “Between Census

Household Information for Monitoring and Evaluation System (BCHIMES).” According to the CBS, the primary objective of the survey was to provide social indicators on the issues related to women and children. The survey questionnaire included questions on education, water, sanitation, family planning, antenatal and postnatal services, breastfeeding, child health, immunization, and awareness of AIDS/STDs. The frame for selecting samples for the survey was the list of wards with a corresponding number of households from the 1991 census. The required number of wards from each domain was selected by probability proportion to size (PPS). Data were collected through 13 domains (regional and/or geographical areas.). In domains with urban areas, the stratification was done according to urban/rural residences. The sample weights for the levels of the household, individual woman, and children have been calculated with the help of a module developed by UNICEF. The questionnaires were administered in each selected household for currently married women aged 15–49 years, children aged 6–15 years, and children under 5 years of age (CBS, 2003). CBS together

with UNICEF Nepal mobilized 71 field workers and conducted the said survey from March to May 2000. Of the 10,295 households sampled, 10,269 households were successfully interviewed, yielding a household response rate of 99.7%. In the interviewed households, 9,983 eligible women (currently married and 15–49 years of age) were identified, and 9,424 of them were successfully interviewed, yielding a women’s response rate of 94.4% (CBS, 2003).

The total number of samples for the current analysis is 9,296 currently married women (urban = 1125, rural = 8171). It should be noted that some samples with missing data were not selected. Logistic regression has been selected as the primary tool for analysis because of the binary nature of the dependent variable, that is, “Have heard of AIDS” or “Never heard of AIDS.” It should be stressed that in the present section, the term “AIDS” has been used instead of “HIV/AIDS” because the term “HIV” was never used during the CBS survey. Odds ratios are calculated to indicate the magnitude of associations between the dependent and selected independent variables, namely, age, literacy, and exposure to the media. The age variable is categorized into the age groups of 15–24, 25–34, 35–44, and 45–49. Because education through formal schooling was rather low, especially in the rural area, a categorical literacy variable was created. Those who could neither read nor write were defined as illiterate and are coded ‘0,’ and those women who could both read and write are coded ‘1.’ Those who listened to the radio at least once a day are defined as “having exposure to radio,” and those who watchied television at least once a week are defined as “having exposure to television.” The exposure to the media variable is further categorized into four categories. Those who were neither exposed to radio nor to television are coded ‘0’; those with exposure to radio only are coded ‘1’; those with exposure to television only are coded ‘2’; and those with both radio and television exposure are coded ‘3.’ In addition, three ecological regions, the Terai plain region, the mountain region, and the hill region of Nepal are included, as the ecological region dummy variables.

ResultsDescriptive statistics of both dependent and independent variables included in the present analysis are presented in Table 3.

The table shows that the highest proportion of the surveyed population in both rural and urban areas is in the age group 25–44, followed by the age group 15–24, and then age group 35–44. The proportion of women who are near the end of the reproductive age (age 45–49) is around 6%. The majority of urban women reside in the Hill ecological zone (52.3%), followed by the Terai ecological zone (45.9%), whereas very few reside in the Mountain ecological zone (1.7%). On the other hand, the highest proportion of rural women resides in the Terai ecological zone (46.5%), followed by the Hill ecological zone (44.9%), and the

Mountain ecological zone (8.6%). The survey reveals that a sharp contrast exists in the literacy rate between the urban married women and the rural married women. Whereas approximately 50% of the women are literate in the urban area, this figure is a mere 20% for the rural women. Similar disparity can be seen in the exposure to the media between the rural married women and the urban married women. Whereas 55% of the rural women are exposed neither to radio nor television, this same figure is approximately 24% for the urban women. The majority of the rural women who have any exposure to the media are exposed to radio only, and about 9% of the rural women are exposed to television. The exposure to both radio and television media is extremely low in the rural area. On

Table 3: Descriptive Statistics of Selected Variables Proportions (%)

Variables Urban (n=1,125) Rural (n=8,171)

15–24 27.7 29.9

25–34 39.2 37.5

35–44 26.7 26.2

45–49 6.4 6.5

Ecological Region

Mountain 1.7 8.6

Hill 52.3 44.9

Terai 45.9 46.5

Literacy

Illiterate 50.8 79.2

Literate 49.2 20.8

Exposure to media

No media exposure 24.3 55.0

Exposure to radio only 12.8 32.3

Exposure to T.V. only 13.2 3.8

Exposure to both radio and T.V. 49.7 8.9

Heard of AIDS

Yes 70.7 39.2

No 29.3 70.7

Source: CBS, 2003

the other hand, half of the women who have exposure to the media are exposed to both radio and television in the urban area. Although exclusive exposure to the radio is low, exclusive exposure to the television, on the other hand, is found to be higher among urban women. Finally, the disparity in the awareness of AIDS between urban and rural women is wide, as approximately 70% of the urban women are aware of the AIDS virus versus 39% of the rural women.

We will now turn to the logistic regression analysis, modelling YES and NO to the question “Have you ever heard of the illness called AIDS?” in the survey.

Table 4: Odds Ratios, Estimated by Multiple Logistic Regression, of Having Awareness of Aids, by Selected Variables, Married Women Aged 15–49, Nepal, 2000

Selected Characteristics Dependent Variable = Awareness of AIDS (Heard of AIDS: YES = 1, NO = 0)

Urban Area Rural Area

15–24 1.27* 1.45*

25–34 2.04** 1.26

35–44 2.06 1.25

45–49‡

Ecological region

Mountain‡

Hill 0.01 0.97

Terai 0.02 0.82

Literacy

Illiterate‡

Literate 4.58** 5.35**

Exposure to media

No media exposure‡

Exposure to radio only 5.46** 4.83**

Exposure to T.V. only 10.64** 7.48**

Exposure to both radio and T.V 12.73** 18.04**

No. of cases 1125 8171

**Significantly different from the reference group at p<0.01

*Significantly different from the reference group at p<0.05

‡Reference group

Table 4 represents the factors associated with AIDS awareness among urban and rural married women of Nepal. The results show that the odds of having awareness of AIDS are higher in the age group 15–24 and 25–34 compared to the age group 44–49 in urban Nepal. For the rural women, a similar trend can be observed; however, the odds of having a higher AIDS awareness are not significant for the age group 25–34. The results also suggest that the odds of AIDS awareness are not correlated with the ecological region variables in the present analysis. On the other hand, literacy was found to be significant in the odds of having awareness among both urban and rural women. In fact, compared to the illiterate women, the odds of the urban and rural literate women having awareness of AIDS are 4.5 and 5.3 times greater respectively.

The results suggest that another factor associated with AIDS awareness for both urban and rural women is found to be the exposure to media. The odds of having AIDS awareness are approximately 5 times higher for those women who were exposed to radio than without any media exposure in both urban and rural area. Similarly, compared to the women without any media exposure, exposure to the television increases the odds of having AIDS awareness by 10 and 7 times for urban and rural women respectively. Finally, compared to no media exposure, a combination of both radio and television media exposure increases the odds of AIDS awareness significantly for the married women of Nepal, particularly in the rural area. In fact, compared to the women without any media exposure, the odds of having AIDS awareness are found to be 12 times higher for urban women who are exposed to both radio and television media, whereas the same odds are 18 times higher for the rural women.

Some Implications of the Results

The above results from the logistic regression show that age, literacy, and exposure to mass media are the factors closely related with the odds of having AIDS

awareness among the married women in Nepal. Compared to the older cohorts, the odds of having higher awareness of AIDS are higher for the younger cohorts. It can be argued that younger women tend to have higher literacy rate and higher exposure to the media. These factors might have enhanced the awareness of AIDS among younger married women in Nepal.

The other factor that raises the odds of having AIDS awareness among married women in Nepal is literacy. Literacy has long been considered one of the major tools for raising the awareness of public health issues such as HIV/AIDS among the married women of Nepal. The relationship between the effect of literacy and the awareness of HIV/AIDS has been discussed extensively by scholars and policymakers. The World Bank, for example, observed that the low level of literacy among women is one of the major obstacles for enhancing awareness of HIV/

AIDS in Nepal (World Bank, 2005). A study conducted in rural Nepal showed a clear pattern of literate women having better awareness of both STDs and HIV/AIDS compared with illiterate women (Burchfield, Hua, Baral, & Rocha, 2002). The trajectory of a higher awareness of HIV/AIDS among literate women may be the behavioral change derived from gaining literacy. According to Jejeebhoy, literacy enhances women’s five levels of autonomy—knowledge autonomy, decision-making autonomy, physical autonomy, economic autonomy, and social autonomy—that eventually affect various health behaviors (Jejeebhoy, 1995).

Exposure to the mass media, namely radio and television, was found to be the significant factor associated with awareness of AIDS in the current study. This suggests that both radio and television are powerful means for raising awareness of AIDS in Nepal and supports advocacy by development and health experts and policymakers of the use of mass media as an important means for the creation of public awareness about HIV/AIDS (Karuna, 1998). Radio has played a crucial role in conveying various public health issues, and it has been extremely successful in raising the awareness of HIV/AIDS in Nepal (Beine, 2003). At the time of the present survey, the state-run Radio Nepal was the sole source of media, especially for rural households. Radio Nepal, which has universal coverage in Nepal, mostly broadcast the slogan of “wearing a condom and chasing AIDS.” The repeated message on the radio did raise awareness of AIDS; however, it failed to convey the message concerning the nature of the disease (Beine, 2003). In fact, most of the women were unaware of what AIDS really was. Recently, Radio Nepal has started programs addressing the HIV/AIDS issue in diverse ways. These programs often discuss the nature of the virus, prevention methods, the importance of blood testing, and they attempt to eliminate the negative stigma towards people living with the HIV/AIDS virus. In order to popularize the programs, elements of entertainment are often added. In addition, the Radio Nepal’s drama and audio magazine integrate entertainment into important messages to reduce the negative impact of stigma and discrimination. It offers a mix of entertaining drama, comedy, songs, radio jingles, interviews, and lively discussions as part of the programs (FHI, 2000). Because the majority of Nepalese settle in the rural areas, the policymakers also stress the importance of radio in order to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. In the urban areas, in addition to the Radio Nepal, various privately owned FM stations broadcast the message of HIV/AIDS, mostly in the form of condom advertisements.

Exposure to the television is also found to be significantly associated with awareness of AIDS in the present study. Conversely, the Ministry of Health reported that television was not a significant factor for conveying public health issues to the rural women of Nepal (MOH, 1997). Contrary to this report, the present analysis demonstrates that television does seem to enhance AIDS

awareness among married women in both rural and urban localities. This suggests that the television medium is becoming an important tool for promoting the awareness of public health issues such as HIV/AIDS to the rural settlers as well. Like radio, the focus of HIV awareness programs on television was also the use of condoms to fight HIV/AIDS. Thus, similar to the effect of radio, exposure to television did raise the awareness of AIDS; however, viewers were still unaware of the nature of the disease. In fact, most of the television viewers cited that they had heard of AIDS; however, they were clueless concerning the nature of the disease (Beine, 2003). In order to spread correct knowledge of the HIV/AIDS virus, state-run Nepal Television has been producing various programs. These programs, mostly in drama format with the inclusion of humor and entertainment, address the important issues concerning HIV/AIDS, such as fighting the disease and eliminating the negative stigma attached to the people suffering from it.

Summary, Conclusions, Policy Implications, and LimitationsBy utilizing the data provided by the CBS of Nepal, the present paper examined

the awareness of HIV/AIDS among the married women of Nepal. The state of HIV/AIDS was described in the first part, followed by the logistic regression model in the second part to determine the factors that contribute to the odds of having AIDS awareness among married women of Nepal.

Previous studies showed that the growth of the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate had been very rapid in recent years. Various studies indicate that approximately 0.6% of the total population was infected by HIV/AIDS. The most vulnerable groups are commercial sex workers, the clients of commercial sex workers, and injecting drug users. Furthermore, the increasing incidence of the HIV/AIDS infection among housewives has been observed in recent years.

The results of the logistic regression models showed that there are three factors, namely, the age, literacy, and the exposure to the mass media, which are closely related with the awareness of AIDS among the married women of Nepal. On the other hand, geographical regions of the settlement did not prove to be significant in determining the extent of AIDS awareness.

From the results obtained from the logistic regression analysis, the following conclusions can be drawn. Firstly, the odds of having awareness of AIDS are higher among the younger married women in Nepal. Secondly, literacy is a significant factor for having AIDS awareness for both urban and rural women in Nepal. In fact, compared to illiterate counterparts, the odds of having awareness of AIDS is significantly greater for literate married women in both urban and rural area. Finally, exposure to radio and television media is significantly correlated with the

awareness of HIV/AIDS. In other words, the odds of having AIDS awareness are significantly higher for those women who are exposed to radio and television media than for those without such exposure. In addition, a combination of both radio and television media exposure significantly contributes to a higher AIDS awareness among the married women, especially in the rural area of Nepal.

The above findings have three main implications for the HIV/AIDS policy and programs. Firstly, efforts must be made to raise the literacy rate in order to enhance the awareness of AIDS in Nepal. Secondly, in order to raise the awareness of AIDS, the policymakers need to formulate awareness-raising programs that combine both radio and television media. Finally, as television significantly contributes to raising the awareness of AIDS, efforts must be made to improve access to television in the rural area, where the exposure to television is quite low.

It should be noted that the present study has some limitations. The variable “Heard of AIDS” or “Not heard of AIDS” does not address the knowledge of the HIV/AIDS problem adequately. It may simply address the awareness of AIDS; however, the HIV/AIDS issue cannot be captured in a comprehensive manner. Similarly, the survey does not include the degree of exposure to the media, and the nature of radio and television programs that contain the HIV/AIDS issues. In addition, the socioeconomic variables, such as income and occupation, are not available in the present datasets. Thus, the possibility remains that the socioeconomic factors that are not included in the current analysis might actually play a bigger role in determining the extent of AIDS awareness among married women of Nepal. Hence, in order to grasp the comprehensive picture on the AIDS awareness among the married women in Nepal, in addition to media and literacy, other socioeconomic factors must be included in future analyses.

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2008 pp 000-000ISSN 1555-8711

UNICEF’s Meena Communication Initiative Takes on New ChallengesPsychosocial Care in the Aftermathof the Tsunami

N U Z H AT S H A H ZA D I A N D N E I L L M CK E E

UNICEF’s MEENA Communication Initiative (MCI) for the rights of the South Asian girl was launched in 1991 and continues to this day, taking on new and different challenges. The stories of the MCI are developed through extensive research and revolve around the adventures of Meena, a nine-year-old South Asian girl, and members of her family and village community. An independent evaluation in 2004 consisting of both primary and secondary quantitative and qualitative research determined that the MCI had been to a large extent success-ful due to the great appeal and attractiveness of the communication materials and their ability to communicate to South Asian audiences children’s rights, particularly girls’ rights, to health, education, freedom from exploitation and abuse, and in so doing, to create awareness, promote acquisition of psychosocial life skills, and practical survival skills. A recent episode, Life Has Changed, is used as an example. It was designed to assist children affected by a disaster or tragedy, such as an earthquake, tsunami, or tidal wave, to build resilience and help them participate actively in their own recovery. The authors describe the factors that have made Meena successful, enduring, and adaptable to different

Nuzhat Shahzadi is a Bangladeshi communication specialist with over 20 years experience in the development field. She is presently a communication officer with UNICEF-Colombo. In 2004–2005, Shahzadi was Senior Program Officer, Center for Communication Programs, Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University and worked as a techni-cal advisor to a number of projects in South Asia. She headed the Meena Communication Initiative in South Asia from 2001 to 2004 and the Sara Communication Initiative in Africa from 1996 to 2001. Shahzadi holds two postgraduate degrees: an MPH, and an MA in English Literature, Dhaka University. Email: nshahzadi@unicef.orgNeill McKee is a Canadian communication specialist with over 37 years of experience in international development. He holds an MS in Communication from Florida State University and is presently the director of Healthy Russia 2020 in Moscow, Center for Communication Programs, Johns’ Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. He held various communica-tion posts in UNICEF between 1990 and 2000 when he launched the regional Meena and Sara communication initiatives for girls’ rights in South Asia and Africa. McKee is author of a number of communication books, manuals and articles, including Strategic Communication in the HIV/AIDS Epidemic (Sage, 2004). Email: neill@hr2020.ru

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S H A H Z A D I A N D M C K E E : U N I C E F ’ S M E E N A C O M M U N I C A T I O N I N I T I A T I V E

social and development issues. The article analyzes some successes and failures and draws some conclusions on the principles and lessons learned in developing and implementing a communication initiative that can be adapted to different issues across a whole region and the cost effectiveness of such endeavors.

Key words: South Asia, girls’ development, gender equity, empowerment, child rights, entertainment education, advocacy, behavior change

IntroductionThe experiences of UNICEF’s Meena Communication Initiative (MCI) in South

Asia demonstrates that regional, comic, animated films, together with comple-mentary materials and channels, can be used to address sensitive social and behav-ioral issues if the audience is fully engaged in the creative development process through extensive formative research. Such tools can be harnessed for behavior and social norm change and become recognized by millions of people as a symbol for such change (McKee et al., 2003).

The MCI was launched in 1991 and continues to this day, taking on new and different challenges. The Meena materials have been adopted and adapted by implementing countries and programmed in formal education and nonformal settings. The stories of the MCI series revolve around the adventures of Meena, a nine-year-old South Asian girl and her pet parrot, Mithu (Figure 1), and mem-

Figure 1: Meena, the Girl Child of South Asia, and her parrot, Mithu. Source: UNICEF (2001)

bers of her family and village community (Figure 2). After careful research on various alternatives, the name Meena, which is derived from the word “luster” in Persian, was selected because it is popular with the majority of people in the South Asian region.

The MCI employs a multimedia, Entertainment Education (EE) approach, using entertaining stories in animated film/video comic book and other formats to communicate educational messages to counter discrimination against girls in a range of areas such as education and health services, food and nutrition, domestic workload, protection against early marriage and early motherhood.

The purpose of this article is to review the overall MCI experience and to understand how Meena can be incorporated into programs that address new areas of concern, specifically to improve the well-being of children in areas affected by natural disasters. The authors also wish to determine to what degree it can be said that the MCI has proven to be effective in achieving the various goals it set out to achieve.

Background and RationaleThe 1990s were declared as the “Decade of the Girl Child” by the governments of

South Asia. They recognized that sustained efforts would be needed to address discrimination against girls and to promote their education, health, and overall development. Traditionally, in most South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, girls are discriminated against in most spheres of their lives. Deep-rooted, traditional beliefs and practices threaten their protection, survival, and development.

The regional team formulated a broad goal and objectives for Meena (UNICEF, 2001, p. 7):

Figure 2: Meena’s Extended Family. Source: UNICEF (2001)

Overall goal: Within the framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to promote the status and development of children in South Asia, with a special focus on girls.

General objectives: (1) To research, develop and disseminate a multi-media com-munication package, adaptable to the needs of participating countries, to support advocacy, social Psychosocial skills mobilization and program communication on the issues of child rights (UNICEF, 1989) in South Asia. (2) To influence and support the forces of social and behavioral change concerning the girl child at national, community and family levels. (3) To promote Meena as a dynamic role model for children, especially girls, through which they can acquire self-esteem and learn life skills essential for their empowerment. (4) To empower families, including children, with information related to the survival and development of children, including specific messages on their health, nutrition and education.

In South Asian cultures, the child, especially the girl, is seldom heard. From a traditional perspective, child rights have little meaning to most people, includ-ing South Asian societies. Meena stories are designed to promote such rights by sensitively challenging traditional practices towards female children without engaging in direct conflict with existing customs and norms. Meena stories have been produced on a wide variety of subjects to support children’s rights in Asia (See Appendix 1).

Strategy and Behavioral Frameworks

M eena was created as a complementary regional initiative to be adopted by many programs, not as a separate project. The main component of Meena is

a set of communication tools that are designed to fit into the programs of many organizations. Those who created Meena realized that complex factors govern behavior change and positive behavior development. They developed stories that attempt to capture a variety of audiences: children, parents, community opinion setters, and educators. It was understood that these stories had to deliver informa-tion that is timely and relevant. They had to motivate audiences through their entertainment value and ability to engage them in discussions on issues.

It was also recognized that the stories had to address life skills that impart the ability to act, and that are crucial for positive behavior development. These psychosocial life skills include problem solving, decision making, critical think-ing, communication, negotiation, coping with emotions and stress, self-assess-ment, conflict resolution and management, and relationship skills such as empathy (Carnegie & Wiesen, 2000). Such concepts were incorporated in Meena stories by modeling behavior that demonstrates such skills.

However, it was also recognized that the immediate social environment—peers, family and community—had to be addressed in order to allow positive change to

take place for the girl child. Addressing the “self,” or individual, alone would not be effective. Furthermore, it was recognized that a broader enabling environment would need to evolve for sustained social change—factors such as policy, legisla-tion on issues of discrimination, health and educational services for girls, and the actual delivery of such services.

The core regional stories of Meena were planned with all of the above con-cepts in mind. This helped to foster the emergence of a new behavior develop-ment and behavior change model (Figure 3) that has since been used to guide girls’ and women’s empowerment within adolescent health and HIV/AIDS pre-vention programs, as well as many other health and social development programs with a strong behavior change component (McKee et al., 2000). Meena’s creators believed the components of this model need to be addressed, in the long run, to foster positive social change: knowledge of health and social issues combined with motivation and skills, and consideration of the major inhibiting and facilitating factors in the environment.

Creative Development and Formative Research ProcessStarting in 1991, UNICEF held consultations in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and

Pakistan with key actors in governments and NGOs, as well as artists, writers,

Figure 3: Behavior Development and Social Change Model Source: McKee et al. (2000), p. 214

and other creative talents. This was done to get agreement on the key qualities for Meena, attempting to create an appealing character with near universal accep-tance. In 1992, field testing of the first Meena episode was carried out with 2,500 respondents from across the region.

The creators decided that motivation for change in attitudes and behavior towards girls should be positive, building on recognition of girls’ potential, rather than trying to show them as victims and evoking guilt over their ill-treatment. Artists from each country were invited to draw images of Meena, her family, and her parrot. All designs were tested and modified until the creative team was satisfied. It was a painstaking process to capture the true essence of the little girl who would later touch many lives. (UNICEF, 2001)

Field testing took place across the region in urban and rural locations. The first step in formative research includes testing of concepts to make sure that the issues are appropriate and to determine peoples’ attitudes and perceptions on each issue. The first draft of the storyline is then developed for further research, to check for comprehension, understanding of purpose, possible educational value in bringing about change, credibility, acceptance, appeal, cultural sensitivity, and realism of solution proposed. A set of illustrations are also pretested to create new characters and locations (UNICEF, 2001).

In the past 14 years, hundreds of focus group discussions and in-depth inter-views have been carried out with over 12,000 girls and boys, parents, and other community members. Different groups of respondents were involved to ensure that multiple perspectives were taken into account in developing each message or story.

Formative research is used to ensure that each episode of the Meena series maintains the delicate balance and dynamic tension between education and enter-tainment in stories that appeal to both children and adults. Particular care is needed to prevent the episodes from becoming overloaded with message content, become “preachy,” or alternatively, to ensure that serious issues are not treated flippantly.

Meena was originally intended for addressing the issues of gender discrimina-tion, but with her increasing popularity she has been used to promote other child rights issues, especially health, HIV and AIDS, water and sanitation, and, more recently, psychosocial healing and recovery of children after natural disasters or in conflict situations. An example is given on the development of the most recent episode of Meena, below.

Development of “Life Has Changed”

When the Tsunami hit the Indian Ocean Basin on December 26, 2004, many people were swept away to sea, leaving survivors to grieve and to try to rebuild

their lives. During the recovery phase, UNICEF Sri Lanka and the Regional Office of UNICEF in Kathmandu recognized that many surviving children were severely traumatized by what they had experienced. UNICEF decided to make a new episode of Meena that could be used in educational programs to deal with this trauma. Meena was faced with a new challenge.

The theme of the story entitled Life Has Changed is resilience and recovery of children after a tragic experience. This theme is highlighted through Meena’s friendship with a little girl who was separated from her family as a result of an earthquake, followed by a flood. It does not concentrate on the Tsunami experi-ence in particular, for it was recognized that the episode might be useful in other natural disasters (such as the earthquake that rocked Kashmir in late 2005). In this story, the children affected by disaster share their tales of survival in extremely dif-ficult situations. Meena becomes a spokesperson by assisting people to cope with their losses. The story also elaborates on the importance of disaster preparedness for issues such as food, shelter, water and sanitation; and protection measures for children, such as taking care of unaccompanied children and programs for heal-ing of children by encouraging them to participate in facilitated activities such as games, plays, drawings, songs, and so forth.

Developing the story was a major challenge, as it needed to address the expecta-tions of experts in disaster management, psychologists, program managers, affected parents, but most of all needs of the children who had experienced loses in their families and extreme pain. The formative research was undertaken in Galle and Trincomalee in Sri Lanka and on the coastal belts of Bangladesh, where natural disaster is a part of peoples’ lives.

In Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were held with coastal dwellers—girls, boys, adults, schools teachers, volun-teers—as well as with programmers and disaster experts (CCP, 2005). The Sri Lanka research showed that parents were still struggling to deal with their own grief and were not prepared to discuss the Tsunami tragedy with their children. Reliving the experience with children was too painful for them. They did not know how to counsel their children and thought that talking to them might further traumatize them. The research report indicates the attitude of parents influenced the behavior of younger children, ages 9 to 12, who participated in focus group discussions. According to some of them, the story was too realistic and painful. However, the volunteers and teachers argued that children need to relive their tragic experiences in order to process their pain and recover: “Yes, they (children) talk about it with the volunteers. In fact, they play “tsunami games” as well . . . the story will give children pain . . . but it will help them to look forward and allow them to lessen their fear.” —A female volunteer in Galle, Sri Lanka (CCP, 2005, p. 7).

Older children, ages 13 to 16 (50% of whom had lost one of their parents), forcefully stated that there are tragedies in life, and to maintain the realism in the story, some characters needed to die as happened during the Tsunami. They suggested that Meena’s grandmother could die, but it is important to keep her parents alive. When asked if it is customary in Sri Lanka to talk about pain: “Yes, we do talk to someone close to us about our pain. This is the way we reduce our pain.” —A volunteer in Galle, Sri Lanka (CCP, 2005, p. 7).

On the question of whether parents would like the story, it was concluded that a cartoon format would be acceptable once they realize that it will help their chil-dren to heal. And then they would not mind their children listening to this story. “Cartoons entertain children. Therefore, even if the cartoon explores painful areas, the later part of the film will help them to overcome their pain and bring about healing.” —A female volunteer in Galle, Sri Lanka (CCP, 2005, p. 8).

In the Bangladesh research, the question posed to boys and girls, ages 11 to 16, was: How would they handle their friend who was affected by a tragedy or natural disaster? One respondent replied: “Storms can happen, people can die; but slowly things improve and come to normal. Similarly your life will come to normal and you should start going to school, playing with your friends and helping your neighbors.” —A 12 year old girl in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh (CCP, 2005, p. 22).

The children further added that if their own siblings were in pain they would take care of them, hold them close, and take them to school. However, the most important question asked was how children handle death. Women in a fishermen’s community in Bangladesh said that they believe that people bring with them a limited number of years on this earth and this is their destiny. When the time is over, God calls them back with a lot of love. They believe that tragic experiences need to be re-enacted to process pain: “. . . though dead, our loved ones would like us to live for those who are still alive and they continue to love us so much.” —A fisherman’s wife in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh (CCP, 2005, p. 20).

The children liked the story and although they said they would share the story with everyone, they indicated that they would really like to tell it to their friends, siblings, and mothers. The girls in Bangladesh mentioned that they can only tell the story at night to their fathers, as they are not available during daytime.

All these findings were thoroughly analyzed, discussed, reviewed, and incor-porated into the final version of the story. It is expected that this communication package, which also includes a facilitation guideline for teachers, will have much to contribute to the recovery of children affected by the Indian Ocean Tsunami and other disasters such as the 2005 earthquake victims of Pakistan and India. It should be noted that very often in such disasters, social problems, such as gen-

der discrimination, become accentuated. So, a communication tool that addresses recovery problems while also imparting messages about gender equity was seen by UNICEF to be very appropriate.

The Many Uses of Meena

UNICEF Sri Lanka, is integrating “Life Has Changed” into all its protection programs that address psychosocial healing and recovery aspects, especially of

children. These programs include land mine risk education; children affected by armed conflict, including under-age recruitment by the Tamil Tigers; child sex tourism and other forms of sexual abuse; children in institutions; and the Tsunami disaster response program, itself.

The materials supported group dialogue and action. By 2003, 600 service providers were trained and a further 1,000 people participated in community-level orientation workshops to promote Meena. Action plans are drafted to include “Life Has Changed” with other psychosocial materials (teachers’ manual, documents, etc.) in a TOT for teachers in the Tsunami response program fol-lowed by use in school programs. It is hoped that eventually the other trained service providers will also be involved in training others on the use of the new episode.

Meena outreach in Sri Lanka began slowly but has evolved into a multimedia, multichannel approach, using the cartoon films, facilitator’s guides, posters, leaf-lets, comic books, and other interpersonal communication channels. In 2001, 13 regional episodes were dubbed in Sinhala and Tamil and broadcast on national television. At present six more episodes have been dubbed in these languages, ready to be screened.

Currently, a Meena national education package on land mine risk education is under development (see Figure 4). The Meena package on injury prevention is being translated for use in the ongoing Early Childhood Development program. These programs use Meena as the role model for educating children, with a spill-over effect to adult education. Three story books and facilitators’ guides for national use on issues such as iron deficiency anemia, use of iodized salt, and domestic child labor have been developed and widely distributed in schools. In addition, Meena materials and concepts are being integrated into other UNICEF-assisted programs. UNICEF and Plan International (PI) have signed an MoU to use Meena in schools supported by PI.

The uses of Meena in Sri Lanka have grown considerably over the past nine years. However, they represent a small fraction of the overall uses of Meena in Asia. See Appendix 2 for a summary of other uses by the original four countries and some of the other countries that have come on board.

Monitoring and EvaluationIt is too early to determine the impact of the most recent episode of Meena, “Life

has Changed,” on psychosocial recovery following natural disasters as it is only first implemented in 2006. Plans are in place to monitor its use and evaluate its outcomes in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, as well as in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal.

The MCI has been evaluated for its efficacy and to assess national achievements by many country offices of UNICEF. However, these assessments were mostly undertaken independently by the countries without the involvement of UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA). Implementation experiences with Meena in various countries have no doubt reaffirmed the demand for her. What evidence is there that the MCI has achieved the goal and objectives it set out to achieve?

One of the difficulties in answering this question is that unlike many commu-nication programs, the MCI was never set up as a separate program in a specific geographical area. Meena’s uses have grown in issues addressed and in geographi-cal scope in a very decentralized way, with no central authority responsible for measuring or reporting on effectiveness.

Figure 4: A Meena Billboard on Mine Risk Prevention in Sri Lanka Source: UNICEF, Sri Lanka

ROSA recognized the need for an overall statement of the impact of Meena after over a decade of use. In 2003–2004, ROSA commissioned an independent, regional evaluation. The data given below were largely derived from this regional evaluation report (Chesterton, 2004), unless otherwise stated. However, to cross-check and find missing data, the authors accessed the original research reports for Bangladesh (ACNielson Bangladesh, 2004), Pakistan (Gallup, Pakistan, 2004), and India (Centre for Media Studies India, 2004). For Nepal, ROSA decided to use the findings from a previously commissioned study (Valley Research Group, 2003). However, new qualitative research (ACNeilson Nepal, 2004) was commis-sioned for the regional evaluation to which the authors had access. (Note: The India report details were not available to the authors, so figures reported here are from the regional report.)

The approach of the study in each country differed somewhat due to the scope and variations in implementation of the MCI in each country. The research was national in scope except in India, where it was limited to only three states—Orissa, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh—where substantial implementation of the MCI had taken place. A mix of quantitative and qualitative techniques was used. Quantitative data were gathered through household surveys using statistical-ly valid sampling methods and structured interviews. The qualitative methods involved a series of focus group discussion with children, parents/adults, com-munity leaders and officials.

Recognition of Meena

The Bangladesh study revealed that recognition of Meena in that country was 74%–86% among children and 61% among adults. In Pakistan, recognition of

Meena was 32% for the overall sample—40% for children and 24% for adults. In Nepal, it was 58%–70% among children, and 46% of parents recognized Meena. (Data for the general adult population was not available.) In the three Indian states where it was measured, 18% of the total sample was aware of Meena. (Breakdown for children and adults was not available to the authors.)

Gender differences were not given for each country. However, in Pakistan 45% of girls and 27% of adult females were aware of Meena, compared to 36% of boys and 22% of adult males. In Nepal, however, 68% of girls and 42% of mothers, compared to 72% of boys and 49.5% of fathers, were aware of Meena.

The reason for not measuring gender differences in Bangladesh is not given. However, in Bangladesh, there was also a measurement of recognition by com-munity leaders. This was 61% overall, and 85% in urban areas and 52% in rural areas. In Bangladesh, differences between urban and rural recognition of Meena were measured for the general population. For children it was 97% in urban areas and 81% in rural areas. For adults it was 85% and 52%, respectively. These are

important findings for Bangladesh, where Meena has been widely used on televi-sion and for community mobilization.

Access to Meena Messages

Across all countries, television appears to be the main source of exposure to Meena. In Bangladesh, 96% of respondents reported that they became aware

of Meena through TV. In Pakistan 93% of the respondents indicated television as the main source of access to Meena, whereas in India it was 61%. In Nepal, the figure was 37%, but respondents were asked about exposure to the “Meena series,” not necessarily only through TV. However, it may be assumed the majority of these viewers saw the films through TV.

Other reported sources of awareness of Meena are considerably lower, but still important. In Bangladesh, 25% of children reported story books as a source, whereas other media were even lower: stickers (12%), wall printing (10%), post-ers (5%), radio (3%), video (3%), community workers and teachers (3%), and banners (2%).

In Pakistan, 19% of respondents reported being aware of Meena through radio and 19% through story books. Some gender differences are given in this regard: “The figures for radio illustrate the variability of reach among different seg-ments of the target population. . . . It attracted a lower rating among girls (8%) than boys (21%); a lower rating among adolescents (12% for the 16–20 age group) than young adults (28% for the 21–35 age group). . . . By contrast, Meena story books attracted higher ratings among girls (29%) than among boys (17%), those identified as illiterate (7%), or all respondents (19%)” (Chesterton 2004, p. 28). Other channels of recognition in Pakistan appear to be less important: film shows (5%), Meena stickers (5%), Meena folder (4), banners (3%), and training discussion (3%).

In India, other important sources of recognition of Meena by children were story books (24%), street theater (21%), banners (16%), video (15%), child-friendly community committees (14%), radio (10%), and training/discussions (9%).

Awareness via different channels was not measured in the Nepal study. However, it was revealed that less than 30% of the study population of children had a televi-sion set at home and also that “from the ethnicity perspective, high caste (Brahmin, Chettri, Newar) children had more exposure compared to the children from the lower castes (Mongoloids, Dalits and others)” (Valley Research Group, 2003, pp. 14–15). It should also be noted that the three states of India chosen for the study are among the most impoverished in the country. This may also mean that people in these states have limited access to television.

As previously mentioned, each country undertook the implementation of Meena in a decentralized manner using a variety of channels. Moreover, different strate-

gies were used in different countries and areas. In India, for example, in Orissa the dissemination of the MCI was done mainly through local Meena Clubs. In Bihar, it involved a multimedia approach including muppet shows and workshops. In Uttar Pradesh, the education system was mainly used.

Knowledge of Meena Messages

On the question concerning the extent to which audiences gained knowledge of intended messages, the most common messages reported by the respondents

in the Nepal study (Valley Research Group, 2003) were education of girls, equal treatment of girls and boys, and health issues. The study concluded that the respondents learned or became aware of the following messages from Meena:

• Girls are also to be provided education: 98% girls, 96% boys; 92% mothers.

• Girls are to be given equal treatment: 95% girls; 95% boys; 89% mothers.• Need for proper hand washing: 97% girls; 97% boys; 95% mothers.• More fluid should be given during diarrhea: 90% girls; 83% boys; 86%

mothers.• Construction of latrines: 96% girls; 95% boys; 87% mothers.• Should wear sandals/shoes while going to the toilet: 93% girls; 91% boys;

82% mothers.

Chesterton (2004) reported some key messages of which the respondents were aware from MCI in Bangladesh and Pakistan:

• Girls must be educated: Bangladesh: 59% children, 67% adults; Pakistan: 95% children, 96% women.

• Workload must be shared: Bangladesh: 45% children, 43% adults; Pakistan: 86% children, 90% adults.

• Girls and boys must be treated equally: Bangladesh: 44% children, 50% adults; Pakistan: 90% children, 93% women.

• Must wash hands before meals: Bangladesh: children 69%, adults 69%; Pakistan: 89% children, 91% women.

• Must wash hands after defecation: Bangladesh: 67% children, adults 71%; Pakistan: 88% children, 91% women.

No such information was available from India in the regional report. However, it does appear that, overall, Meena is a strong source of gender development and health messages, as reported by respondents.

Behavior Change and Life SkillsThe MCI aims to support behavior change of adults and behavior development

or the acquisition of psychosocial life skills by children, especially girls, as well as the learning of technical skills like hand washing, proper use of latrines, and so forth. The life skills highlighted in the MCI are communication skills, negotiating skills, critical thinking, decision making, problem solving, assertiveness, empathy, and so forth.

In the Nepal study, 96% of the children who reported they were aware of Meena mentioned at least one behavioral change in their life after watching Meena. The most commonly mentioned changes regarding hygiene practices were: washed hands with soap and/or water (72% of girls, 75% of boys); encouraged siblings to maintain personal hygiene (47% of girls, 36% of boys) (Valley Research Group, 2003).

The extent of practice on hygiene issues vary considerably between Bangladesh and India:

• I wash my hands before taking meals: Bangladesh: 71% boys, 68% girls; India: 17% boys, 24% girls.

• I wash my hands after defecation: Bangladesh: 65% boys, 56% girls; India: 13% boys, 16% girls.

In Bangladesh, children reported that 84–86% of these friends/siblings changed their behavior after being exposed to Meena. These behaviors include washing hands after defecation, before and after eating meals, increased interest to go to school regularly, and more awareness regarding personal hygiene and cleanliness.

But the above findings beg the question of whether these same behaviors were adopted by those not exposed to Meena. There were very few examples in the data that make this distinction. In Pakistan, however, a comparative analysis was done on hygiene practices between respondents exposed and unexposed to Meena. Below is an example which highlights this variation in practice between

• Hand washing with soap and water: 80% exposed; 68% not exposed• Hand washing before cooking: 27% exposed; 17% not exposed• Use latrine: 85% exposed;78% not exposed• Treat water before drinking: 32% exposed;22% not exposed

However, more of such comparative analysis would be needed to come to a final conclusion on the specific effects of Meena. This would require a near experimen-tal design that was not part of the evaluation process. Also, given the wide diffu-sion of Meena messages in most countries, it would be difficult to carry out.

On issues of behavioral changes or practices that facilitate gender equality and child’s rights, of the children exposed to Meena in Nepal, over 94% reported that their treatment in their families was equal to their brothers’ treatment, compared to 84% of the children who had not been exposed to Meena. (It should be noted, however, that such statements must be controlled for variables such as education levels of parents to conclude that Meena was responsible for this difference.)

One of the goals of Meena was to try to provide a role model for development of girls and for healthy behaviors. The majority of participants (60%) in discus-sion groups in Pakistan stated Meena’s key qualities helped others to be brave. According to one mother, “I want my children to be like Meena because I want them to be bold and self-reliant and lead their lives according to their wishes and not depend on anyone.” Similar sentiments were discussed in other countries.

Valley Research Group (2003) in Nepal states that about 98% of the parents said that they considered Meena to be a role model for behavior change; 62% of the parents agreed that they have learned from Meena that girls should be given proper education; 69% fathers and 57% mothers stated they began to realize that girls are as capable and as good as boys after watching Meena; and 98% of teachers reported to have changed their perceptions towards female children after watching Meena.

One essential life skill defined above is that children develop the ability to com-municate on issues that impede their development. The researchers attempted to determine whether Meena stories have influenced positive behavior development regarding the rights of girls. In Pakistan the data indicates that 20% respondents have discussed Meena with friends and siblings. The India study data indicated that 17% of the respondents from the survey reported having discussed Meena issues with others (friends, parents, siblings, neighbors, relatives). In Nepal, 70% of the children mentioned that they discussed Meena with others (friends, family members, siblings). The majority (87%) reported having discussed Meena with friends; 67.3% fathers and 57.6% mothers reported they have discussed Meena with others (friends, spouse, neighbors, other family members).

In Bangladesh, about 42% children discussed Meena with their friends, siblings, neighbors, and parents. Around 43% adults and 84% opinion leaders discussed about Meena with others, focusing on washing hands, drinking clean water, girls’ education, equal treatment of boys and girls.

The regional evaluation and national studies undertaken in the four countries indicate that exposure to Meena increases knowledge and intentions to behave in positive ways towards girls’ development and in ways that will protect health. There is also some evidence of positive behavior change and behavior development. However, the data reveal considerable variation in levels of awareness reported by respondents across the four countries and regarding particular message items.

This is not surprising, given the varying degrees of exposure of the children and mothers to the episodes, use of different strategies, and different level of emphasis on messages/episodes in each country.

In addition, it is very difficult to conclude that behavior change has taken place solely because of Meena, especially in areas where there is high access to other programs and sources of messages. For instance, children may report they learned to behave a certain way from Meena but may have actually learned it from their parents. Parents, in turn, may report they learned a behavior from a health worker or from television, but may actually have learned it from a Meena story on televi-sion. In this regard the reported data is far from clear.

Of course, contextual factors also played a major role in influencing the extent of achievement of the MCI.

Findings on the sources of knowledge of the MCI messages among target audiences revealed the significance of parents, villagers/society, teachers, friends and television. Key factors underpinning non-adoption of intended practices were found to include poverty, social norms, the role of adults in attitudinal change among children, local customs and beliefs, and security concerns for girls traveling to school. Together these findings highlight the importance of tailoring the means of communication to meet the specific needs and contexts of the target groups, the need for multidimensional strategic planning that addresses infrastructural and cultural elements as well as those related directly to communication, and the significance of cross-programme planning. (Chesterton, 2004, pp. iii–iv)

It is noted that a communication initiative alone cannot address all these con-textual factors. However, there is ample evidence that Meena has a potential to facilitate change in the greater social environment, not just the individual.

Lessons LearnedThe national evaluation studies provides good evidence that Meena has helped

to create awareness, promote acquisition of psychosocial life skills, and encour-age change in behavior and practices. The exact contribution of Meena cannot be easily measured due to its pervasiveness. As mentioned earlier, Meena was never conceived as a stand-alone project, but rather a set of tools to be used in various programs. This has led to a gradation of outcomes, the most impressive being Bangladesh and the least impressive in India.

There is evidence of the educational value in the concept and materials, because there has been so much demand for use by so many organizations in so many countries. This, alone, is an achievement for an EE project, many of which only last a few years and die when the funding runs out. There are four major factors contributed to this long-lasting uses of Meena:

First of all, the innovativeness of the materials, especially the use of a cartoon character as a spokesperson for girls’ rights, was a novelty that attracted attention from South Asian audiences. The series is a first of its kind in South Asian local languages, set in local environments, addressing local problems, and produced mainly by South Asians.

Secondly, involving top-level policymakers in advocacy events involving Meena has been a key strategy in garnering political commitment for the continuation of Meena and for programs for girls. These strong partnerships have been regionally recognized and highlighted in such events as the annual Meena Day in South Asia, September 24th. This high-level advocacy has helped to facilitate the integration of Meena into the development projects and programs of public and civil society sec-tors. Meena is not just a regional symbol. The wide-ranging activities of Meena’s partners have helped engender the feeling that Meena is “everyone’s daughter” and can be integrated into various health and development programs.

Thirdly, Meena is the creation of a whole consortium—programmers, research-ers, writers, and artists—with communities involved in a true partnership process through formative research methods. People feel Meena is from their country—Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Finally, interest and even passion for Meena was developed in participating countries. There was and remains a sense of ownership by partners from many countries. For 14 years, the core regional team has had many constant members guiding Meena’s development processes, with new members joining. This team has been the informal custodian of the concepts, characters, images, and usesof Meena.

The evident strong ownership by South Asian communities may assure a con-tinuation for Meena for at least another decade. As noted previously, strong emphasis has been placed on community-level implementation of Meena materi-als. Development workers use Meena to allow communities to reflect on their attitudes, perceptions, and existing practices towards girls, and what can be done to bring about change. Building capacity to facilitate such processes has been an emphasis in Meena programming.

The general lessons learned from the Meena experience that might apply to other regional communication programs and initiatives using EE approaches may be summed up as follows:

1. Decentralized management can lead to both successful and less successful experiences in implementation of regional communication initiatives.

2. Encouraging wide “ownership” is crucial to breathe life into such projects and to support their growth and continuation.

3. Extensive and systematic qualitative research is essential when designing an effective EE program that will be utilized in a variety of different cultures. The investment in careful research is responsible for Meena’s continuing popularity and possibly for her “long life” as a communication tool.

4. A well-researched set of cartoon characters can be developed to provide positive role models for people from various regional cultures.

5. The sustained high quality of communication materials is a prerequisite to keep the appeal and demand continuing and growing.

6. Regional communication tools can be developed and successfully used by a wide variety of implementing partners, thereby mobilizing a number of organizations for a common development objective.

7. The easy adaptability of characters and setting to different program areas increases the chances of wider and longer term use.

Meena has taken on a new challenge—assisting children to build resilience and recover psychologically in large-scale disaster situations. The strength of the new story is that it recognizes the pain and sense of grief of children but at the same time encourages, in a simple way and from a child’s perspective, the philosophy that they can be the actors in rebuilding their own lives. Death and loss are explained to children in more realistic terms so that they understand that life has to continue even when tragedy strikes. It is expected that this story will help children to discuss their losses and understand that there are unavoidable circumstances that happen, even to good people. With proper programming, “Life Has Changed” has much to offer to children whose lives have been changed forever.

Meena’s popularity has now spread to a second generation. Many South Asian mothers who met Meena in their girlhood are now introducing her to their children. Meena has, in some way or other, touched the lives of millions of girls, boys, and parents across South Asia where she is now a well-known symbol of the rights of children. Meena is a role model and a star who challenges social norms to create a world where girls will not be afraid to pursue their dreams.

ReferencesACNielsen (2004). (Unpublished). Report on Evaluation of Meena Communication

Initiative in Bangladesh. Dhaka: Center for Social Research.ACNielsen (2004). (Unpublished). Evaluation of Meena Communication Initiative in

Nepal. Kathmandu: ORG-MARG.Carnegie, R., & Weisen, R. B. (2000). The ability to act: Strengthening people’s life skills. In

N. McKee, E. Manoncourt, S. Y. Chin, & R. Carnegie (Eds.), Involving people, evolving behaviour (pp. 121–154). New York: UNICEF, and Penang: Southbound.

CCP (2005). (Unpublished). Report on formative research on psycho-social healing and recovery of children in disaster situations. Baltimore: Center for Communication Programs, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.

Centre for Media Studies (2004). (Unpublished). An evaluation study of the Meena Communication Initiative (MCI) in India. Report submitted to UNICEF ROSA, New Delhi: Centre for Media Studies

Chesterton, P. (2004). (Unpublished). The Meena Communication Initiative in South Asia: An evaluation report for UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, Kathmandu. Melbourne: Australia Catholic University.

Gallup Pakistan (2004). (Unpublished). Meena Communication Initiative in Pakistan. Report submitted to UNICEF, Kathmandu: UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia.

McKee, N., Manoncourt, E., Chin S. Y., & Carnegie, R. (Eds.). (2000). Involving people, evolving behaviour. New York: UNICEF, and Penang: Southbound.

McKee, N., Aghi, M., Carnegie, R., & Shahzadi, N. (2003). Cartoons and comic books for changing social norms: Meena, the South Asian Girl. In A. Singhal, M. J. Cody, E. M. Rogers, & M. Sabido (Eds.), Entertainment-education worldwide: History, research, and practice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

UNICEF (1989). First call for children: The convention on the rights of the child. New York: United Nations.

UNICEF (2001, Dec.). Meeting Meena: Documentation study on utilisation of MCI. Kathmandu: UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia.

Valley Research Group (2003). (Unpublished). Evaluation of the Meena communication initiative. Kathmandu, Nepal.

Appendix 1: Meena Episodes and Issues• Count your Chickens, 1991: Girl’s access to education• Dividing the Mango, 1992: Equality in nutrition and workload• Will Meena Leave School, 1993: Benefit of educating girls• Who’s Afraid of the Bully, 1993: Resisting teasing of girls by boys• Saving a Life, 1993: Diarrhoea management at home• Meena’s Three Wishes: 1993: Water, sanitation, and hygiene education• Say No to Dowry, 1994: Preventing dowry practices• Too Young to Marry, 1994: Preventing early marriage• I Love School, 1997: Quality of education• Take Care of Girls, 1997: Equal access of girls’ to health care• It’s Got to Be a Boy!, 1998: Fighting gender preference for boys• It’s a Girl’s Story, 1998: Preventing stigma regarding HIV and AIDS• Meena in the City, 2001: Preventing child labour• Strangers in the Village, 2002: Dealing with differences, especially in

managing conflict situations• Learning to Love, 2002: Early childhood care and development

• Reaching Out, 2002: Need for care and support for HIV and AIDS affected people

• Meena and Her Friend, 2003: Iodine deficiency disorder• It Could Happen to Anyone, 2003: Injury prevention• The Girls Came Back, 2003: Trafficking of girls• When Meena Was Born, 2003: Safe motherhood practices• When Meena was a Little Girl, 2003: Exclusive breastfeeding and weaning

practices• Seeing in the Dark, 2003: Vitamin A deficiency• Health in Your Hands, 2003: Hand washing and hygiene practices• Safe from Worms, 2003: Prevention of work infestation• Baby Rani’s Four Visits, 2003: Immunization• We Love Books, 2003: Need for additional education materials in school• Learning Can be Fun, 2003: Interactive classroom learning• Learning With Meena, 2003: Advantage of supporting girls’ education• School First, Marriage Later, 2003: Girls’ retention in school after primary

education• Teacher Helps to Learn, 2003: No corporal punishment in school• Let’s Go to School Together, 2003: Preventing girls’ dropping out due to

social security situations• Fair Play for Girls, 2004: Girls’ right to play• Life Has Changed, 2005: Psychosocial healing and support of children in

post natural disaster and any tragic situation

Appendix 2: Some Highlights on Uses of MeenaBangladesh

• Meena series and spots regularly broadcast on national television (BTV).• Meena images used as symbol of girls’ rights on billboards, three-wheel

taxis, rickshaw.• UNICEF-trained local artists, animators, writers to produce five national

educational packages.• Meena integrated into curriculum of formal IDEAL Program and nonfor-

mal education systems such as BRAC. BRAC contracted to print, publish, and market materials to school programs. Training in 54 Primary Teachers Training Institutes on how to incorporate the Meena videos.

• Department of Mass Communication screened Meena films through mobile film units in rural and urban areas reaching over three million people.

• UNICEF distributed 1 million comic books/guidelines of first Meena epi-sode to primary schools.

• Children’s academies and scouts mobilized to popularize Meena through various events and early childhood development programs.

• BBC World Service produced and broadcast first Meena radio series in Bangla, 1994; second series in 1998.

• Celebration of national Meena Day: rallies, screening Meena videos, art and story writing competitions, debates, children’s fairs, advocacy meetings, press briefings, and street drama.

• Repackaging eight Meena stories through puppet shows with traditional games and songs, interactive theatre.

India:• MCI was launched in 1998 on SAARC Meena Day.• Four films dubbed into two languages and Meena talk show aired on

national TV network.• BBC broadcast the Meena radio series in Hindi, 1993–94 and 1997–98• Ministry of Information and Broadcasting used Meena in field publicity

units in 31 Indian states to initiate community discussions. Meena used on educational TV.

• 300,000 Nehru Yuva Youth Clubs disseminated Meena stories at commu-nity level.

• Adaptation of Meena radio series in range of Indian languages, subsequent-ly broadcast on 140 radio stations.

• Meena workshops for 200 trainers from Anganwadi Workers Training Centres in 11 states. Meena campaigns in several states in 1998–99; por-trayal of Meena stories in community theater and Muppet Show, Bihar; other advocacy events/launches with poets, writers, and journalists.

• Partnership agreement signed in with Macmillan publishing company, India, to print, market, and distribute Meena print materials.

Pakistan:• Gradual integration of the Meena into existing UNICEF sectoral programs

in education, health/child rights promotion.• In 1998, Meena launched via a series of events and TV radio announce-

ments, broadcast of series on national TV.• Meena films and promotional messages screened at three international air-

ports, seven railway stations, and on express train.• Serialization of Meena comic books in newspapers, extensive newspaper

coverage of Meena events took place.• Series of special events—shows via AV vans in 158 city venues, festivals,

fairs, and quiz shows.

• BBC broadcast the Meena radio series in Urdu, 1993–94 and 1997–98;• Meena characters integrated in social sectors as “ambassadors” for child

rights; in Baluchistan, Meena is symbol of movement by Boy Scouts to get their sisters into school, “Brothers join Meena.” This spread to 23 districts of Balochistan, 6 districts of Sindh, and 3 districts of Punjab involving more than 40,000 Boy Scouts of the respective Boy Scouts Associations. Immunization, hygiene issues, and HIV/AIDS were later addition to the project.

• Pakistan Girl Guides introduced two Meena Girl Guide badge awards—over 80,000 girls successfully completed requirements in leadership training.

Nepal:• BBC Meena radio series broadcast in Nepali, 1993–94 and 1997–98.• MCI was launched in 1998 on SAARC Meena Day. Reached 36 of 75 dis-

tricts through subregional launches, publication of stories and articles in national and local newspapers.

• Television series, Meena in our Villages, broadcast at prime time on national television.

• Meena spots broadcast on a regular basis by Radio Nepal for nearly 18 months.

• Meena slides screened in local cinema halls.• Meena appointed “goodwill ambassador” and spokesperson for female

children, South Asian Games, Kathmandu, 1999—250 million audience in South Asia.

• UNICEF Nepal formed alliance with government and district level NGOs, human rights groups and community based organizations; decentralized, local ownership of Meena reaching 800 villages by 2001; child protection, parental education, credit/savings schemes, health promotion, water and sanitation through video screenings, group discussions, essay competitions, debates, street drama.

• Meena images and messages on three-wheel vehicles in Kathmandu for rais-ing mass awareness on girls’ right to education.

• “Back-to-School” kits with three Meena stories on water/sanitation and HIV/AIDS integrated into “Quick Impact Program” of World Food Program in eight districts experiencing increasing vulnerability due to con-flict and instability.

Bhutan• Designed and printed Meena postage stamps contain the key message

“Educate Every Girl and Boy.”

• Road Safety and Transport Authority disseminated Meena messages through 5,000 Meena posters in buses and taxis.

• 12,500 copies of five Meena comic books produced in Dzongkha (the national language) for nonformal education.

Southeast Asia:• In Vietnam, eight Meena episodes adapted and produced in Vietnamese and

four ethnic minority languages for use through Women’s Union. Meena in Vietnam is known as “Meena-Mai.”

• In Cambodia, eight Meena episodes dubbed into Khmer and broadcast on most TV channels; copies of videos and facilitators guides distributed in schools.

• In Laos, Ministry of Education conducted field testing for acceptability of Meena and the response from all quarters was positive. Videos regularly broadcast on TV: “Meena’s Three Wishes” has been dubbed in Laos and widely used.

• UNICEF Bangladesh helped a UNICEF team in East Timor to develop and launch their own version of Meena.

2007 pp 00–00ISSN 1555-8711

Book ReviewANG, Peng Hwa. Ordering Chaos: Regulating the Internet. Thompson Publications. 2005. 216 pp.

M AT T JAC KS O N

For such a new medium, the Internet has inspired a vast literature. Even within the more specialized realm of internet law and policy, each year brings forth

dozens of books addressing Internet regulation in some fashion. Most of these books are written for a very small audience of like-minded scholars. Thus, it was a delightful pleasure to read Ordering Chaos: Regulating the Internet, by Professor Peng Hwa Ang, Dean of the School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The book takes a refreshingly straightforward and pragmatic approach in addressing how and to what extent the Internet should be regulated.

The rhetoric against internet regulation should be well known to all by now. The Internet isn’t real space and so should be out of reach of regulators. The Internet is a self-made community and can regulate itself. The design of the Internet is inimical to governmental control. The list goes on. Yet Professor Ang makes a key point with elegant simplicity: “. . . as long as there is human interaction on the internet, some regulations will be needed” (38). The internet’s power is that it facilitates greater human interaction than ever before. With interaction comes conflict and the need for procedures to resolve that conflict. The author quickly distances himself from those who argue that the internet should be a regulation-free zone: “. . . laws are essential and important because they are the social lubri-cant to smooth friction in social interaction” (2).

The book is especially useful for policymakers in developing countries that are just beginning to address internet regulation. Professor Ang provides an easy to follow blueprint for what to do and what not to do when passing regulation. The book begins with a discussion of various modes of regulation and then provides a useful framework for thinking about internet regulation. The author takes pains to note that although international regulation is essential in some areas, each nation has its own values that will determine the scope of censorship it will attempt to

Matt Jackson is head of the Department of Telecommunications at Penn State University

V2/N2_06_BK REV Jcksn 095-098.indd 95V2/N2_06_BK REV Jcksn 095-098.indd 95 6/26/09 8:11:38 AM6/26/09 8:11:38 AM

B O O K R E V I E W S

implement. In some areas, such as child pornography, Professor Ang is a strong advocate for international regulation.

Chapter Two lays out a policy framework for the internet grouped into six major categories: access and service provision, ecommerce, content regulation, security and encryption, intellectual property, and privacy and data protection. Within each of these categories, the book details the key issues that governments must address to regulate the internet in a responsible manner. This blueprint for regulation will be a boon to any regulator or elected official seeking to develop domestic rules for the internet.

Chapter Three briefly discusses the history of internet regulation, providing useful anecdotes to warn those who would rush in and regulate blindly. This chapter then discusses the difficulties of censorship, including the decentralized nature of the internet and the challenge of regulating information that flows across national boundaries. In discussing censorship, the author cautions policymakers not to engage in the “Nirvana fallacy” whereby regulations are rejected if they are not 100% effective. Professor Ang correctly notes that the goal of laws and other social rules is not to completely eliminate the behavior, but rather to limit it as much as possible. Chapter Three ends with an overview of the various means of censorship, including access controls, filtering, technology, laws, and self-regulation.

Picking up where Chapter Three leaves off, Chapter Four examines the possible success of self-regulation. Professor Ang first explicates self-regulation, which is a commonly misunderstood term. He then examines the possibilities for self-regulation by individuals, communities, internet standards bodies, and industry. He notes that self-regulation is most effective when it is backed up by law and implemented in a mature industry with a small number of large companies that have an incentive to enforce the self-regulation (usually to avoid more onerous government regulation). The latter part of the chapter does a nice job outlining the numerous advantages and disadvantages of self-regulation. Advantages include being faster to implement, more flexible, more responsive to new developments, and less likely to stifle innovation. Disadvantages of self-regulation include lack of enforcement, buy-in, and inconsistent standards and application.

Chapter Five addresses the thorny issue of liability for third-party content. The author begins with a detailed discussion of how defamation lawsuits have been applied to the internet in the United Kingdom and the United States. He does a good job of detailing the controversial issue of location of publication and the difficulty in assigning responsibility to ISPs. He explains how the attempt to regulate pornography in the U.S. led to almost complete immunity for ISPs in that country. For copyright law, immunity is conditioned on promptly blocking access to infringing material. After setting the stage, the book provides a wonderful comparative analysis of ISP immunity in the European Union, France, Germany,

Sweden, Australia, Singapore, India, and Bermuda. This cross-country comparison is especially useful for scholar and policymaker alike. As a further bonus, the chap-ter provides the relevant text of each nation’s law for more detailed comparison.

Chapter Six is devoted entirely to privacy, which is justified by privacy’s impor-tance and complexity. Professor Ang begins by comparing notions of privacy in the United States and the European Union, because these two governmental enti-ties have been in the forefront of privacy regulation. As Professor Ang notes, a huge difference is that privacy is recognized as a fundamental human right under the European Convention on Human Rights, whereas the right of privacy is only implied by the U.S. Constitution. The chapter discusses various means for establishing and enforcing privacy rights, including market mechanisms such as P3P and third-party seals of approval such as TRUSTe and BBBOnline. Professor Ang concludes that much more needs to be done to ensure consumer privacy, which will in turn spur more growth of the internet.

Chapter Seven briefly summarizes some of the growing regulatory concerns on the internet, including child pornography, consumer fraud, copyright infringement, spam, and defamation. The author notes that for all of these issues, international cooperation is needed. Professor Ang predicts that eventually most countries will adopt similar laws. Chapter Eight provides clear and thoughtful advice for devel-oping nations seeking to find best practices to regulate the internet. While noting that the U.S. and the European Union will both continue to lead in regulating the internet, Professor Ang predicts that most developing nations will follow the EU model rather than the U.S. model. This is because the U.S., with its First Amendment protection of free speech, is unique in its approach to censorship. Most nations have a different attitude toward censorship and are more likely to use it in limited circumstances. Moreover, EU regulations develop out of a more multicultural perspective than those in the U.S., making EU regulations more robust in an international context.

Professor Ang has written a clear and concise blueprint for how to approach internet regulation. Though neutral in tone, Professor Ang does not shy away from revealing which value system and rules he thinks are most appropriate. Yet he provides a carefully balanced approach that allows the reader to make up her own mind. The language is simple enough so that even legislators, students, and citizens without a background in these issues will be able to grasp the key concepts. There are two minor weaknesses to this book. In order to make the volume accessible to a wider audience, including policymakers and laymen, the book spends less time discussing the scholarly literature. This book is perfect for lawyers, undergraduates, and policymakers. But scholars conducting similar research will wish for more footnotes and sources to pursue additional research. The second “weakness” is really just a small quibble that the book does not spend more time discussing technical and structural regulation of the internet. This book

B O O K R E V I E W S

focuses primarily on content regulation. Content regulation is and will remain a salient topic. But there is little here to guide the reader in terms of issues such as net neutrality, peering arrangements between ISPs, or standard setting for new internet protocols. This is not really a criticism of the book, as few books could tackle both content regulation and structural regulation in one volume.

Overall, this is a valuable book, particularly for policymakers and audiences in developing countries, where many of these issues are beginning to receive thoughtful consideration. Ordering Chaos does a wonderful job of making the daunting job of regulating the internet more manageable. Professor Ang focuses on current issues and cites liberally to current newspaper accounts. He sets out a straightforward framework with key principles to guide regulators and citizens. He exhorts regulators and civil libertarians to take their heads out of the sand and face the fact that some form of regulation is both inevitable and beneficial. This book helps to move beyond the rhetoric to the specific issues and concerns that policymakers and everyone who uses the internet must address.

Communication for Development and Social Change, 2:2, 2008

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