The phrase that springs to mind is: “who is he that despises the day of small things?” It amazes me how much can be done with so little. I think of the bible story of the woman pouring her limited oil into jars that kept overfilling. This picture seems fitting for Amplifying Voices as their resources have had impact beyond what should be possible. How can such a small charity have the sustainable impact that it does?  I believe first and foremost it is due to God’s enabling, but this also goes hand in hand with something I’m really excited about.  That is Amplifying Voices’ community-centred approach to every project.

In the international development sector, placing local people at the centre of interventions is acknowledged as ‘best practice’ . It has different names like ‘people-centred’, ‘participatory’ or ‘community-centred’. But whilst it is recognised as best practice, application is not as easy as you would think.  Coming back to Amplifying Voices after my time away, I have been genuinely impressed, and encouraged by their ability to do what many other organisations struggle with – truly adopt and practice a community-centred approach.

Early discussions between Alex, Theo and Jon, setting up Amplifying Voices (then HCR UK)

One initiative that stands out for me is the ‘Adivasi Voices Project’.  Adivasi/tribal groups are an isolated, outcaste group often facing violence and rejection from mainstream Indian society. Many are deprived of basic facilities (food, clothing, education and medicine) with a low life expectancy. They feel marginalised and rejected by mainstream Indian society. Existing programmes often try and integrate them with the majority society, rather than allowing them to maintain their distinctive way of life.  Amplifying Voices helped its local partner, Seva, to successfully go against the grain with a project that places the Adivasi people right at the centre. They provided training, resources and mentoring support that was so successful, the team has become fully self-sufficient. Using Amplifying Voices’ community-centred approach, the Seva team worked with local Adivasi people to celebrate their strengths while identifying their needs, their desires, their hopes. Out of this community-centred dialogue, the ‘Adivasi Voices’ project was born, fully led by the local community team.  And as the project has progressed, more and more local Adivasi champions have joined the Seva team, building on their learning.

Through the project, formerly media dark villages now have access to critical health information and education.  And through mobile health clinics they have access to medicine and healthcare. An evaluation of the Adivasi Voices project showed impressive improvements in health practices, and a reduction in sickness. The holistic nature of the project really came through in the evaluation as villagers shared stories of improved health practice and a sense of empowerment through increased awareness of their rights.

The Seva team continues to monitor the project through regular community dialogue and regularly report stories of empowerment and lives transformed.

I loved this quote from one of the Adivasi village leaders:

“If you came to our village two years ago, you would be amazed by the many changes that have taken place. We have toilets that work, water that’s clean and our children are attending school. We feel different and we feel like we have found our voice.”

Whilst the Adivasi project stood out to me, Amplifying Voices’ other projects follow the same community-centred approach and have tangible, evidenced-based stories of individual and community transformation, many of which transcend the lifetime of the project.  I’m excited to be a part of the adventure again.

As one of the founders of Amplifying Voices in 2013, Theo Hannides is currently an independent consultant in the development sector. She recently rejoined the Amplifying Voices team to help strengthen the monitoring, evaluation and learning of the charity’s projects.

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By Dr Ross James, Founder, Health Communication Resources 

Background

The communities of Magindanaon province in Mindanao, Philippines, have experienced sustained conflict, disadvantage and disempowerment. Radio Gandingan (RG) has quietly transformed minority Maguindanaon communities, severely affected by decades of armed struggle for political autonomy involving multiple state, civil, political, religious and armed actors. RG began broadcasting in 2000 as a weekly one-hour radio program with airtime purchased from a local commercial radio station but expanded in 2004 to two and a half hours of purchased airtime, spread over five evenings each week. Following the storming of Marawi City in north Mindanao by ISIS-aligned fighters who attacked key government buildings, churches and schools, RG volunteers provided evacuees with field reports, updates and information provided by government and non-government (NGO) service providers. Local communities claimed RG was more trustworthy than other sources of information, because of RG’s demonstrated compassion and credibility through community-centered activities. 

We wanted to understand the processes that led to RG being regarded in this way. We analysed reliable research data collected in the period 2005 to 2009 using realist evaluation, or RE [2].  This method analyses how people within a context respond to mechanisms, such as components or resources, that bring about change. In other words understanding the context is very important, as are the mechanisms that can influence change.

The context of the six communities associated with RG was very complex.  Communities were isolated from health and development service providers and suffered from ill health due to poor hygiene.  There was high unemployment, a poor environment and tension between neighbours and within families.  Ordinary people were further excluded from decision-making, with little access to information resulting in low self-confidence and disempowerment.

What We Found

When we looked at the data we found stories and explanations of how RG’s role had promoted dialogue, and improved livelihood and community participation. Specifically, dialogue had resolved community conflict and strengthened family bonds and relationships, and improved communication and understanding between community leaders and community members; livelihood had improved with behaviours and practices that led to better protection of the environment, livelihood, health, community cohesion and unity; and community participation was better through involvement in the RG radio program, and increased participation and communication in community meetings. 

RG trained 18 Community Radio Volunteers (CRVs), residents in the six communities, to participate in community-centered radio programming. RG programs modelled dialogue that extended into community discourse, social learning and decision-making processes of married couples. Dramas prompted family communication about values such as honesty and tolerance. One man said ‘I’ve learned from the drama that wives have a great role in the family so I should appreciate their hard work’. RG programs resolved a conflict between duck owners and rice farmers (ducks ate the farmers’ rice), and inspired leaders to reconcile two families quarrelling over land. 

People said RG made them aware of harmful practices to environmental resources, such as cutting down trees, and using dynamite or poison for fishing. A project to install community toilets was organised in one community after they had used an RG program to identify cleanliness as a problem. One lady reported that her children began washing in the evening: “I didn’t ask them, it’s RG who taught them of this health practice”.   Another person spoke of better community relationships because of RG: “Our corn used to be stolen before we were able to harvest it. But now we do not fear because no one steals them anymore. The youths who used to give us problems stopped doing bad things”. 

Community members participated in radio programs on health, livelihood or community issues. Community leaders were given opportunities to discuss issues on air with community members and for the first time women, people living with disability and those with little education were included.  

Why is this A BIG DEAL?

Radio programming is a widely recognised communication strategy for health and social development internationally. Community radio provides advocacy, education and information in a diverse range of initiatives for public health and disease, democracy and politics, peacebuilding, empowerment of women, human rights and so on. 

However, and this is a big however, such approaches rely on the skills of professional media workers and service providers, as well as wide-scale, well-funded systematic community development interventions. Participatory communication along the lines of RG does not easily fit the mindset of big funders who shy away from politics or power-dynamics in communities.  And so they limit communication to the dissemination of messages and evaluate message-related factors such as audience reach, message comprehension and recall.

This study is evidence that a local level community-centred radio and their volunteers is powerful way facilitating dialogue, livelihood and participatory communication outcomes in contexts characterised by sustained conflict, disadvantage and disempowerment. 

If you would like to learn more about this project, about Realistic Evaluation (RE) practice or take part in a webinar on RE, then please contact us via our contact page.

[1] Original Article: R James, E Romo-Murphy, M Oczon-Quirante. A Realist Evaluation of a Community-Centered Radio Initiative for Health and Development in Mindanao, Philippines. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health DOI: 10.1177/1010539519870661

[2] There is not enough space to fully explain RE in this blog. A good starting point is the classic text: Pawson R, Tilley N. Realistic Evaluation. London: SAGE Publications; 1997.

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