Communication for Development (C4D) Promising Practices

"Communication for Development (C4D) promising practices are dialogue-driven interventions that lead to the sustainable improvement of living conditions for children and their families, particularly the most vulnerable. This booklet brings together four outstanding examples from Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Viet Nam, where UNICEF-supported interventions by governments and civil society organizations are bringing about positive change."


From the UNICEF East Asia & Pacific Promising Practices series, this pamphlet focuses on examples from four countries in the hopes of inspiring practitioners and encouraging progamme managers "to more systematically integrate Communication for Development in people-centred programme design." The document organisation is as follows: for each country focus, the document selects a beneficiary, explains the need, the promising practice, the investment strategy in C4D for the programme, what made the difference, the impact to date of the investment, and what the programme developers would do again and what they would do differently.

Chapters include:

1. Cambodia - Helping Local Leaders Help Vulnerable Households - the promising practice is: "Driving Social Accountability and Investment in Holistic Child Development with Improved Communication and Engagement Between Local Leaders and Caregivers". From building toilets to birth registration and school enrolment, local leaders are encouraged to focus on vulnerable women and children in budgeting for service deliver.  Advocacy at the national level brought a social service mapping initiative to sketch household needs at the commune level resulting in printed guidelines and manuals for action that include more citizen engagement and accountability monitoring.
2. Malaysia - #Thisability Captures the Spirit of Inclusion and the Value of Children with Disabilities - the promising practice is: "Using Non-Traditional Communication Events and Channels to Promote the Acceptance, Value and Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Society". Knowledge, attitudes, and practices [KAP] surrounding childhood disability in Malaysia were surveyed. Methods used were social mobilisation, advocacy  to change perceptions of disability included a message and hashtag #ThisAbility, AND use of "sports as an entry point to showcase the athletic abilities of children with disabilities, especially the Borneo International Marathon which includes 330 young people with and without disabilities, as well as their parents, in a shorter run within the event". also, UNICEF and the Malaysian Press Institute organised three one-day workshops for 80 journalists in three cities, and the  Petrosains Discovery Centre brought children with and without disabilities, parent,s and a range of technical specialists, such as inventors, designers, doctors, and therapists, to develop prototypes of an assistive device to help solve problems in a #ThisAbility Makeathon. Differences were made by meaningful participation of children, a reader-friendly booklet that used a dyslexia-friendly font and an audiobook with KAP study results, and short participatory videos featured on social media, as well as on an outdoor media display.
3. Philippines - Childhood Diseases Don’t Stand a Chance When Local Political Leaders Are Socially Accountable - the promising practice is: "Talking Social Accountability With Local Politicians And Communities On Every Child’s Right To Be Protected From Disease". To engage with local officials, UNICEF used various communication platforms and materials including an advocacy video for local officials and copies of laws and policies on immunisation, as well as face-to-face dialogue and joint planning workshops for local officials and health workers, leadership training. and outreach and assessment.
4. Viet Nam - Games You Can Play, Things You Can Learn - the promising practice is: "Board Games with Environmental Messaging for Children" - Spurred by drought as a natural disaster, UNICEF used information, education, and communication interventions guided by a rapid needs assessment involving children in all stages, to develop a "climate change game with no text but easy-to-understand drawings on the board, cards and tokens. Children learn the message through each situation." In order to supply a largerpopulation segment, the assessment needed to be geographically wider, and "partners and private sector players need to be involved from the planning stage. Media, especially social media platforms, also need to be incorporated into the process of development, production and the evaluation of the board games."