RFI: Fight against malaria - Media Effectiveness
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Grateful if I could get materials or sites on the above subject. Thank you.
Funmi
Programme Officer, Health
Department For International Development
No 10, Bobo St, Off Gana St.
Maitama District
Abuja. Nigeria
Tel: +234 9 413 7710-19
Fax: +234 9 413 7400
mailto:f-olayiwola@dfid.gov.uk
RFI: Fight against malaria - Media Effectiveness (2)
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Dear Colleagues
Imagine!
Yesterday was a horrible day. In the course of 24 hours 6 Boeing 747s each full of 500 African children crashed in New Jersey less than 50 miles from the Gound Zero World Center disaster of September 11, 2001. Almost the same number of people died in the 9/11 terrorist attack as died yesterday in the crash of the 6 Boeing 747s full of African children.
This is almost a true story. The only facts wrong are the method of dying and the place. I believe if the above was the story, then the media would give it some serious attention ... TV evening network news, TV morning show news, talk shows, print media frontpage above the fold, etc. ... the works.
The fact is almost this. Part of this story unfolds every day ... around 3,000 African children die every day from malaria every day and the media might as well not exist.
This is not news ... and the story is old ... and there is no reason for the media to pay attention. Especially mainstream media that has business survival as its priority. Readers are not interested. Readers don't care, because they have no idea that this crisis is existing and ongoing and leaders are quite happy with the obscene status quo.
But maybe somewhere there is a story. The UN, World Bank, donors, leadership generally in the relief and development sector (RDS) have ignored this crisis in a totally unacceptable way. We know that these institutions have done rather little of success in the field of malaria impact reduction in the past 30 years. But because there is little easily accessible public information about WHY and HOW the RDS community has come to be so unsuccessful, nobody seems interested in writing up the failure. Getting the story from the press releases of the RDS organizations is not going to do much good ... but where else to get information? I am not a journalist, so I don't know how journalists work.
But I am an accountant and I have a lot of experience with operations analysis and management information. My contention is that the management of the RDS is dysfunctional, and the organizations can maintain a dysfunctional status quo because the management information that it uses is, at best, very, very limited. Because the management information is weak, decisions are based on opinions, power structures, personal agendas, and so forth ... rarely for the benefit of legitimate beneficiaries. And even good programs easily get subverted because the accounting and accountability is primitive.
My own organization is developing a methodology for the analysis of relief and development sector performance based on value analysis ... everything has a cost, and the result of any activity is something. What is the value of this something? Is it bigger than the cost, in which case there is value creation. Is it smaller than the cost, in which case there is value destruction. Apply this to any and all activities of the relief and development sector, and it soon becomes very clear than a big proportion of the activities are in the value destruction mode.
No wonder the relief and development sector has done so little, in spite of quite substantial fund flows into the system.
Sincerely
Peter Burgess
The Transparency and Accountability Network
http://www.tr-ac-net.org
mailto:peterbnyc@gmail.com
RFI: Fight against malaria - Media Effectiveness (3)
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I want to thank Peter Burgess for this commentary. It makes very important points. However, I would like to place it into a broader context.
While it is true that malaria kills millions of children every year, there are several other things that are big killers as well. Here is a graphic from UN agencies that shows the distribution of causes of death.
Regardless of which of these causes may interest us, it is important to know that every single year, over ten million children die before their fifth birthdays. There are two important things about this:
(1) the number is so large, and
(2) many people don't know it. Isn't that strange?
Of course, there is something to what you say Peter. But why are the current patterns of management so dysfunctional? I think it is because there is no serious commitment on the part of the rich countries to help
the poor countries. Thus, the rhetoric is fine, but the delivery is not. Just look at the Millennium Development Program.
I appreciate Peter's concern with clarifying the relevant values. (My paper at http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kent/Valuation%20in%20Development%0Projects\.pdf may be of interest.) However, I think there is an important point that is missed. In the World Bank's recent book on Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development, they make the argument that "investing" in nutrition would be wise because small inputs are likely to yield large benefits. However, there is little discussion about who is to do the investing and who is to get the returns. If I am told that if I invest a thousand dollars in some project, you will get fantastic returns from it, I don’t really have much incentive to make that investment. If you were my brother or my uncle, I might consider the investment, but if you were a complete stranger, I would walk away from this so-called opportunity.
I think the bottom line is that the rich really don't care that much about the poor. How do you fix that?
Aloha, George
--
Professor George Kent
Department of Political Science
University of Hawai'i
Honolulu, Hawai'i 96822
USA
Phone: +1 808 396-9422
Cell: + 1 808 389-9422
Fax: + 1 808 956-6877
Email: mailto:kent@hawaii.edu
Website: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kent
Skype ID: geokent
New book: Freedom from Want: The Human Right to Adequate Food
http://press.georgetown.edu/detail.html?id=1589010566
RFI: Fight against malaria - Media Effectiveness (4)
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Dear Prof. George Kent and Peter Burgess,
May I butt in here.
Well said Prof. George. Yes. When greed over takes real need, such cruelty / injustice shall occur.
The only foreseeable solution is total transparency and accountability.
Ban currency circulation and make all transactions transparent on the web for all to see.
Create a true level playing field and equality of opportunities and all round peace and prosperity.
After all, human life is short and is to be enjoyed ; not just by a few; but equally by all. How many realise it and would accept it as a way of life?
Let me know what you think.
Regards,
Kris Dev
mailto:krisdev@gmail.com
RFI: Fight against malaria - Media Effectiveness (5)
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Kris, since you asked, I will tell you what I think, but you won't like it.
I have noticed on this list that you keep proposing the same remedy, no matter what problem is raised. You sound like a doctor that has only one therapy to offer, regardless of the diagnosis of the problem. I agree that transparency and accountability are hugely important, but they are not total solutions. Your approach seems to ignore the reality of differences in interests and differences in power of different parties. Transparency will not compensate for a lack of compassion. Conflicts do not arise simply out of misunderstandings or misinformation.
Also, where increasing accountability is needed, we need to take the next step and figure out how to design and implement the institutional arrangements that are needed. Sometimes those who need to be held accountable actively resist, as in the case of business enterprises. Perhaps you could offer some suggestions along those lines. At a very micro level, I have illustrated how accountability could be achieved in connection with school meals, in a paper at:
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kent/SCHOOL%20MEALS%20AS%20ENTITLEMENTS.doc
Aloha, George
mailto:kent@hawaii.edu