Presented by: CDAC Network
Date and time: 18 July 2011 @ 13:00-14:30

Address: 32-36 Loman Street, London, SE1 0EH

EVENT OVERVIEW

The infoasaid report - Haiti 2010: the communication challenge in earthquake, cholera and hurricane response - to be released soon, aims at identifying and capturing lessons about the design, implementation and evaluation of communication strategies developed and deployed as part of the Haiti responses, both to the earthquake and to cholera. The report has gathered evidence, where possible, about the extent to which particular communications strategies enhanced the quality of humanitarian response. It also identifies and and captures lessons about how to drive change within individual aid agencies including at the global level in order to improve communication with the affected population.

The Internews' local research team led by Jennifer Mandel is establishing itself as an independent research firm called the Bureau de Recherches Économiques et Sociales Intégrées (BRESI), or the Office for Integrated Economic and Social Research (in English). The BRESI surveyed 1,400 people individually and 440 people in focus groups in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps and in rural and urban areas, particularly where the November 2010 cholera outbreak was most severe. The cholera communication campaign consisted of specialized radio and television programs, SMS messages, billboards, and Public Service Announcements (PSAs) that were developed by the Haitian Ministry of Health with support from organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF or Action contre la Faim, to mention just a few, alongside CDAC Haiti. For more information on this research please read: For Haitians, Radio is Key Information Source on Cholera. 

Again, please RSVP to Craig Tucker of the CDAC Network on: craig.tucker@cdacnetwork.org

Rachel Houghton

Coordinator, CDAC Network

(Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities)

Mob: +44 (0)7403 171 373

Email: Rachel.Houghton@cdacnetwork.org

Skype: RachelHoughton1

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/rachelhoughton1

About the partners involved:

infoasaid is a DFID funded consortium of two CDAC members, Internews and the BBC World Service Trust. The objective of this project is to improve how aid agencies communicate with disaster-affected communities. The focus is on providing humanitarian information. The emphasis is on the need to deliver information, as aid itself, through the most appropriate channels. infoasaid is providing the CDAC Network with financial and technical support to become a functional Network.

The CDAC Network brings together humanitarian and development agencies and media development organizations to integrate two-way communication, which includes information provision, into humanitarian preparedness and response in the areas of both policy and practice. Current members of the CDAC Network Steering Committee are: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP), BBC World Service Trust (BBWST), British Red Cross/Irish Red Cross, Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP), International Media Support (IMS), infoasaid, Internews, Merlin, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), Save the Children, Thomson Reuters Foundation and UNFPA. 

‘CDAC Haiti’ has been operational since January 2010 in response to the earthquake. For more information: www.cdac-haiti.org

Internews is an international non-profit media development organization working to improve access to information for people around the world by fostering independent media and promoting open communications policies. Internews' programs are built on the conviction that providing people with access to vibrant, diverse news and information empowers them to make their voices heard and to participate effectively in their communities.