Communication for Transition in Mauritius

This six-page report comments on the communication strategies used in Mauritius during the three-year period of transition toward "graduation" from United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) cooperation. Due to the country level of economic development and an improved situation for children after 27 years, Mauritius was no longer eligible for UNICEF cooperation and the UNICEF office has been closed as of December 31 2003.

The author comments that in Mauritius, considerable progress has been achieved in the promotion of children’s rights, child protection and growth. He notes: “Mauritius has reached universal access to primary health care and to primary education. Malaria and polio have been eradicated, Infant Mortality Rate has decreased to 14.6/1000 in 2002 and all Mauritian children have access to free primary school up to the age of 12 … The country had reached the combined ineligibility threshold of GNP [gross national product] per capita above US$2,895 and an U5MR [under-five mortality rate] of less than 30 per 1,000 live births as early as during the 1990s.”

The transition process was designed and implemented as a strategy for a political and social change based on two approaches, intended to be mutually reinforcing: national capacity-building and communication for change. Capacity-building included issuing new policies for children, new laws on child protection, a situation analysis and studies, training, new institutions for children, and new social alliances. Transition became a gradual process of substitution of UNICEF functions by national bodies.

From the communication point of view, the transition strategy consisted in mix of advocacy with the country’s highest political authorities, building of public opinion awareness about transition through frequent media relations, Mauritius Experience publication series, studies and repetition of ‘transitional messages’ piggy-backed on programme achievements. Public statement opportunities were used to reassure Mauritian counterparts about the confidence of UNICEF in the capacity of Mauritian child protection systems to take care of new challenges. The communication activities also included distributing materials and leaflets, holding workshops and seminars and diverse public ceremonies.

The author cites a central message of the communication strategy as follows: “You will not need UNICEF anymore, but not because you are the 'victims' of your own success (as frequently said). To the contrary you may wish to share your successful experience and expertise to the region.”

The report also comments on a key component of the transition strategy, the Evaluation of the Country Program launched in 2001.This evaluation aimed to account for performance and achievements between 1996 and 2000, expecting that the exercise would yield lessons to guide the transition process and the modification of UNICEF presence in Mauritius after the end of the full country programme. It was intended to explore what difference UNICEF made during its 25 years of presence in Mauritius. The evaluation process also raised awareness about the challenges of transition and of building the momentum for renewing commitment to children and as instrument to promote national discussion about transition.

The report comments on the importance of the government of Mauritius renewing its commitment to children and their rights, maintaining that before economic and social proxy indicators (GNP/capita and U5MR) can be reached, issues related to unfulfilled rights need to be identified (via situation analysis), articulated (via social mobilisation and advocacy) and addressed (by identifying who needs to act). A recommendation of the evaluation was that the transition programme of 2001-2003 should focus on supporting the creation and development of a national body (or bodies) that would assume these functions.

Given the belief that advocacy messages should be supported by facts, the chronology of the communication strategy closely followed transition process milestones, including three internal planning and team building workshops, a series of official events and visits, the country programme evaluation process, presentation of new policies and studies, and publications launches. This approach was bolstered by contact with media via interviews, reports and visits to projects. These opportunities were used to address the issue of transition with child rights stakeholders - government agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society and the private sector - in order to inform and guide the transition process, and promote national dialogue.

The author’s conclusions include the following: “Communication for transition in Mauritius used simple, traditional approaches such as advocacy, public meeting speech amplified by mass media, opportune press interview, press release, workshop and group discussion, publications and leaflets. Only use of evaluation as guide for transition was original and novel. What was quite unusual and challenging in this exercise was a dimension of the communicational objective: to gradually build national awareness and confidence in national capacity to take care for children’s rights without external co-operation.”

To request the full document, please contact czaplickistas@hotmail.com