MEASURE Communication Final Report - Population Reference ...

MEASURE Communication 

Final Report 

June 30, 2004 

Population Reference Bureau 

and 

Academy for 

Educational Development


1875 Connecticut Ave., NW • Suite 520 

Washington, DC 20009-5728 

Telephone: (202) 483-1100 

Fax: (202) 328-3937 

AED 

Academy for Educational Development 

1825 Connecticut Ave., NW 

Washington, DC 20009 

Telephone: (202) 884-8700 

Fax: (202) 884-8844


Final Report 

June 30, 2004 


and 

Academy for 

Educational Development 

USAID Agreement number HRN-A-00-98-000001-00

Table of Contents 

Introduction and Lessons Learned ......................................................................... 1 

Background ............................................................................................................. 1 

Lessons Learned ...................................................................................................... 1 

Results Framework and Evaluation Approaches .................................................... 5 

Results Framework.................................................................................................. 5 

Monitoring and Evaluation Approaches................................................................ 5 

Country Work............................................................................................................. 7 

Cambodia .............................................................................................................. 10 

India ....................................................................................................................... 11 

Kenya...................................................................................................................... 13 

Global Activities ....................................................................................................... 13 

Publications ........................................................................................................... 13 

Innovative Uses of Electronic Media ................................................................... 16 

Policy Information Services.................................................................................. 17 

Media ......................................................................................................................... 18 

The Network Approach ........................................................................................ 18 

International Conferences .................................................................................... 19 

Access to Information ........................................................................................... 19 

Impacts .................................................................................................................. 20 

Capacity Building..................................................................................................... 22 

Training Programs ................................................................................................ 22 

Impacts .................................................................................................................. 23 

Policy Communication Techniques........................................................................ 26 

Workshop Materials.............................................................................................. 26 

Master’s Course ..................................................................................................... 26 

Framework............................................................................................................. 26 

Presentation Guidelines ........................................................................................ 26 

Population, Health, and the Environment ............................................................ 27 

Goals and Objectives............................................................................................. 27 

Activities ................................................................................................................ 27 

Impacts .................................................................................................................. 29 

Gender ....................................................................................................................... 31 

PRB’s Work With IGWG....................................................................................... 31 

Endnotes.................................................................................................................... 47 

Figure 1 MEASURE Communication Framework.................................................................... 6 

Figure 2 Countries in Which MEASURE Communication Worked........................................ 8 

Table 1 Summary of MEASURE Communication Budget FY98-FY04 ................................. 1 

Table 2 Pre- and Post-Test Workshop Results (Four Provinces in Cambodia) .................. 10 

Table 3 Copies of International Publications Requested, by Region................................... 14 

Table 4 Top 10 Developing Countries Requesting International Publications................... 14 

Table 5 Organizations That Requested 1,000 or More Copies 

of MEASURE Communication Publications ....................................................... 15 

Table 6 Reported Uses of MEASURE Communication Publications................................... 17 

Box 1 Overview of MEASURE Communication Activities.................................................. 2 

Box 2 Overview of MEASURE Communication Country Work......................................... 9 

Attachment 1 MEASURE Communication Results Framework..................................................... 33 

Attachment 2 Global Publications Produced Under MEASURE Communication ....................... 35 

Attachment 3 Media Articles From 1/1/1997 to 7/31/2003............................................................ 37 

Attachment 4 Women’s Edition Participants 1998-2003................................................................ 38 

Attachment 5 Conferences to Which PRB Sponsored Journalists ................................................. 39 

Attachment 6 Policy Communication Workshops & PRB Population Policy 

Communication Fellows by Year.......................................................................... 40 

Attachment 7 IGWG Publications Under MEASURE Communication......................................... 43 

Attachment 8 Project Staff FY98–FY04 ........................................................................................... 45

MEASURE Communication Final Report 

1 

Introduction and 

Lessons Learned 

Background 

MEASURE Communication, one of the five projects that 

comprised the USAID-funded MEASURE-I Program 

(“Monitoring and Evaluation to ASsess and Use REsults”), 1 

was initiated in October 1998 and concluded on March 31, 

2004. All of MEASURE-I’s projects shared the same strategic 

objective: To improve and institutionalize the collection 

and utilization of data for monitoring, evaluating, and 

making policy decisions. MEASURE Communication was 

implemented by the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), 

in collaboration with the Academy for Educational 

Development, through a cooperative agreement (HRN-A- 

00-98-000001-00) with the United States Agency for 

International Development (USAID). 

MEASURE Communication had a unique role in the 

MEASURE program. The project combined communication 

theory with an understanding of the dynamics of the 

policy process to enhance the use of MEASURE data in 

policies and programs. Key audiences for MEASURE 

Communication included developing country policymakers 

and program managers in government agencies and 

non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international 

organizations, donors, educators, and the media. Box 1 

(page 2) provides a quick summary of the range and 

scope of the project’s activities. During the six-and-a-half 

years of the project, the budget totaled $24.6 million 

including a 22 percent match, significantly more than the 

8 percent match offered in the project proposal. In addition, 

the indirect rate dropped substantially over the life 

of the project, freeing more funds for project activities. 

Table 1 provides additional budget detail. 

MEASURE Communication accomplished a substantial 

body of work, made clear contributions to 

TABLE 1 

SUMMARY OF MEASURE COMMUNICATION 

BUDGET FY98–FY04 

PRB Personnel $5,989,681 

Contractual Services $3,991,218 

Printing and Dissemination $2,659,233 

Travel $2,493,475 

Other Direct Costs $531,171 

Indirect Costs $3,552,874 

Sub-Total (USAID portion) $19,217,652 

PRB Match $5,391,639 

Total Project Expenditures $24,609,291 

MEASURE-I’s strategic objective, and achieved the project’s 

specific intermediate results. Project evaluations 

highlight improved use of MEASURE-generated data for 

policies and planning in Cambodia, India, Kenya, 

Madagascar, and other places. Furthermore, based on a 

genuine commitment to individual and institutional 

capacity building, the project’s in-country partners and 

participants in the project’s many workshops have gained 

the skills to continue policy communications and datause 

activities. PRB’s innovative work with journalists created 

media leaders who will continue to cover the future’s 

major population and health stories. Finally, the project’s 

extensive publications list and client-oriented system for 

responding to requests for publications and information 

contributed to the public debate on key population, 

reproductive health, maternal and child health, environment, 

and gender issues around the world. 

This report summarizes the activities and impacts over 

the six-and-a-half years of the project, drawing on the project’s 

extensive monitoring and evaluation database, semiannual 

and annual reports, and trip reports. This section 

presents the lessons learned for ways to enhance policymakers’ 

access to and use of data and research. The sections 

that follow provide more detail on MEASURE 

Communication’s results framework and evaluation 

approaches, followed by a description and assessment of 

each of the project’s main categories of activity: in-country 

work; global dissemination efforts; media; capacity building; 

policy communication techniques; population, health 

and the environment (PHE); and gender. 

Lessons Learned 

Over the life of the project, PRB staff learned a variety of 

important lessons about the dissemination process, working 

with the media, capacity building, and how to best 

communicate with policymakers to maximize the use of 

data and research in policy, planning, and programs. 

In-country programs 

● Including a communication specialist in the initial 

data collection design process leads to an increased 

focus on and resources for dissemination and data 

use activities. MEASURE Communication’s participation 

in several initial country assessment teams 

(Guinea, India, Kenya) improved local partner 

involvement and the design of dissemination strategies 

from the outset, and significantly increased the 

amount of resources allocated for data dissemination 

and use activities. 

● Using participatory approaches creates alliances 

and helps build consensus toward policy action. 

Bringing together multi-disciplinary teams to assist 

with the interpretation of research findings promotes 

a commitment to action. These participatory

2 MEASURE Communication Final Report 

settings also provide an excellent opportunity for 

stakeholders to explore which policies will be affected 

by new findings (thus “jumpstarting” the policy 

action process) and to identify measures for improving 

the policy environment. 

● Integrating policy advocacy activities into routine 

planning and management exercises increases the 

likelihood that data will be used. Brainstorming 

with planning teams to identify “best time” opportunities 

to reach audiences and affect change, such as 

linking data dissemination activities to routine planning 

and regulatory meetings, annual budgeting 

processes, or quarterly technical reviews, significantly 

increases the potential for findings to be used for 

program and policy improvements. 

● Promoting dialogue with members of key regulatory and 

decisionmaking bodies increases the likelihood that data 

will be used. Reaching special advisory or coordination 

groups that meet regularly to address PHN program and 

policy issues enhances data use. Examples of key groups 

include government reproductive health advisory boards 

and subcommittees, NGO coordination committees and 

consortiums, donor coordination groups, and professional 

association committees. 

●When communication and data collection teams work 

together the resulting synergies lead to more efficient 

use of human and financial resources. Examples include 

the development of integrated workplans and budgets 

that help Missions make more rationale budget allocation 

decisions from the outset, economies of time for Mission 

BOX 1 

OVERVIEW OF MEASURE COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES 

In-country support: MEASURE Communication worked in 17 countries. The activities ranged from developing and 

implementing policy communications strategies (Jamaica), to multi-year efforts to support the use of data produced 

by other MEASURE partners (India, Cambodia, Kenya, Honduras, Madagascar), to support for other USAID 

efforts (Mexico, Brazil). 

Global dissemination: MEASURE Communication produced 36 new publications plus five annual updates of PRB’s 

World Population Data Sheet, all in multiple languages and many in multiple formats. (All of the formats and languages 

totaled 114 new materials.) The project distributed a total of 950,000 copies of materials, including 

requests for 344,000 copies from 150 countries, and roughly 40 percent of all entries on the mailing list. The project 

also responded to requests for 2,900 country briefing packets from USAID and cooperating agencies staff. 

Electronic dissemination: MEASURE Communication used websites and listservs as channels for reaching the project’s 

audiences. MEASURE Communication supported four websites and posted all project publications on 

www.prb.org. One product partially supported by MEASURE Communication, the World Population Data Sheet, is the 

most popular publication on PRB’s website. In 2002, 732,000 visitors clicked on the data sheet. 

Capacity building: Almost 500 individuals from 67 countries participated in 33 policy communication workshops. 

Of these, 278 participated in reproductive health workshops; 127 in population, health, and environment workshops; 

and 77 in Policy Fellows workshops (designed for developing country graduate students in the United 

States). The MEASURE Communication team also developed a master’s level course syllabus for policy communications, 

which was introduced into three developing country universities. 

Media: MEASURE Communication supported 34 seminars for 337 journalists from 35 countries. Participants of the 

workshops wrote over 1,200 media articles. The project also sponsored 128 journalists to attend 15 regional and 

international conferences. It is estimated that the project’s international media networks reach as many as 25 million 

readers and listeners. 

Population, Health, and Environment (PHE): The PHE program is designed to increase understanding of population 

and environmental linkages and improve environmental and health policies. MEASURE Communication supported 

14 publications and eight PHE capacity building workshops, as well as work with the media. 

Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG): MEASURE Communication played a key role in the production and dissemination 

of a variety of IGWG products—CD ROMs, publications, discussion guides, and PowerPoint presentations. 

PRB managed the IGWG listserv and website; designed, edited, produced, and disseminated much of IGWG’s print 

materials; and developed promotional materials for the IGWG and related workshops and presentations.


3 

and local staff owing to joint team visits, and more 

timely dissemination of research results. 

● USAID Missions lack incentives for data use. Since 

USAID Mission result frameworks rarely include 

results that focus on data use activities, there are limited 

incentives for devoting resources to these activities 

in the field. 

Publications 

● Cross-country comparisons are valued. From a policy 

standpoint, users place high value on being able to 

compare their own country’s progress to others and 

on learning about approaches to issues and problems 

that have been tried elsewhere. 

● The publications had a wider range of end-uses and 

-users than those specified in the project’s results 

framework; USAID should support publications to 

reach these audiences. In addition to use for policy 

and program development, the materials were used in 

research, classroom teaching, training of nurses and 

other service providers, and community education in 

rural areas, where there is typically a dearth of information 

materials. 

● There is no “best” format or style for international 

publications. Key informant interviews revealed that 

some readers prefer shorter, more concise materials 

while others seek greater detail. Similarly, some prefer 

more data-oriented presentations while others appreciate 

stories and experiences. Also, readers differed on 

the importance of making publications visually 

attractive. Making each new publication available as a 

set of materials, or covering a single topic from multiple 

angles could be most effective for meeting the 

needs of diverse audiences. 

● Developing country users still want print materials. 

Increasing numbers of users are retrieving information 

via e-mail and the Internet, but the vast majority of 

audiences still prefer having print copies of materials 

for convenience, cost, and readability. 

Media 

● A series of media workshops that include the same 

journalists over time builds a deeper knowledge 

base and stronger commitment among the participants. 

This approach develops stronger and broader 

expertise on reproductive health among participants; 

bolsters relationships among journalists as they draw 

support from each other, strengthening their commitment 

to and coverage of the issues; and enables the 

journalists to gain respect and influence in their 

newsrooms and in their communities. 

● Support for high-level media networks creates leaders. 

By arming journalists with accurate and timely 

information and helping them to incorporate this in 

their news stories, PRB’s media work created leaders 

as well as media experts—leaders in local journalism 

communities as well as civil society. Some of the journalists 

moved on to serve in policymaking positions 

within their governments, while others move up in 

their journalism profession. Others were tapped by 

NGOs, businesses, and government officials to share 

their knowledge by serving on panels and facilitating 

workshops on reproductive health issues. 

● Networks that include journalists and policymakers 

open communication channels. PRB explored different 

models for its media work, most notably by 

including policymakers and other influential people 

in a network with high-level journalists. This model 

showed that mixing the two groups improves communication 

between them and, as a result, improves 

news coverage of important issues. Each learns how 

to talk to the other, clearing the way for more effective 

and accurate news reporting. 

Capacity building 

● Workshops can lead to institutional change 

if that is an explicit part of the curriculum. 

Dedicating structured time to discuss with participants 

how they can institutionalize new skills and 

concepts within their organizations can result in the 

official adoption of new approaches once they return 

home. 

● Creative funding approaches build sustainability 

and increase participant commitment. Requiring 

interested workshop candidates to try to find their 

own funding, but with the caveat that funding is 

available for a limited number of qualified applicants, 

significantly increases the likelihood that participants 

will come with their own funding and builds the sustainability 

of the training program. 

● MEASURE Communication’s capacity building 

approach strengthened the project’s partner universities. 

Establishing the training programs within 

credible regional universities and transferring workshop 

techniques to local faculty helps build the 

capacity and the reputation of each institution as a 

regional training center or “hub.” 

● Building a training team reduces the staff burden 

and adds to sustainability. Each regional university 

has one to two “star” faculty who often find themselves 

pulled in many directions. Building teams of 

faculty with the requisite skills over time helps reduce 

overload and ensures a “threshold’ of trained staff 

who can share the burden of conducting intensive 

two-week workshops or a semester course. 

● Using alumni to facilitate training is cost effective. 

Drawing on local or regional workshop alumni to


augment the number of university faculty trainers 

ensures an adequate number of facilitators for each 

workshop, maximizes investments, and strengthens 

South-to-South relationships. 

Population, Health, and 

the Environment (PHE) 

● The most valid and reliable research resides in each 

of the separate P-H-E areas, thus there is still a need 

to promote more interdisciplinary work on the linkages. 

Efforts to link the three fields have been stymied 

by the very diversity of the scientific disciplines 

involved. Each field has its own terminology, methodology, 

and priorities. Fortunately, there is a growing 

awareness that closer cooperation among scientists 

from different disciplines will help head off current 

and impending threats to human and environmental 

well-being. 

● A combined understanding of journalists’ needs and 

the complexities of PHE linkages must underpin 

efforts to help journalists make the PHE connection. 

Journalists face three important challenges in reporting 

on PHE stories. First, many reporters understand that 

environmental issues have demographic and health 

dimensions, but may be intimidated by the complexity 

of explaining these links. Second, reporters must have a 

news peg that gives them a premise for writing the 

story. PHE angles on a news story are often long-term 

and rarely offer a direct hook around which to frame a 

story. Third, given the vastness of the field and degree 

of technical specialization among researchers, it is difficult 

for journalists to determine the best resources and 

experts to consult. MEASURE Communication’s handson 

approach to working with journalists helped them 

overcome these challenges and improve the quantity 

and quality of PHE news coverage. 

Gender 

● Coordinated dissemination of key results from 

USAID special initiatives, like the Interagency 

Gender Working Group, facilitates network building 

and knowledge sharing among technical communities. 

MEASURE Communication’s series of IGWG 

publications documented the technical evolution of 

the IGWG knowledge community. The collective 

thinking moved from working to define gender and 

its role in reproductive health (RH) programming to 

the importance of documenting impact. The steady 

stream of papers served to emphasize the importance 

of USAID’s investment in gender-related activities. 

● Proactive publications management and dissemination 

of the technical work of USAID special initiatives 

can support important debates on USAID 

investment priorities. The final IGWG publication 

supported by MEASURE Communication—the “So 

What” paper—clearly identified the need for additional 

rigorous evaluation of the gender component in RH 

projects that have included gender. While MEASURE 

Communication did not support the substantive development 

of the paper, by making the important content 

accessible and widely available, MEASURE 

Communication helped support discussion within the 

USAID community of investment priorities. 

Monitoring and evaluation 

● Having a framework of the policy process that 

included the role of information in creating windows 

of opportunity for policy change helped the 

project design useful M&E approaches. 

● Effective, relatively low cost mechanisms exist to 

monitor policy communications activities. 

Establishing databases using commercially available 

software that allow staff to track activities and document 

impact significantly improves monitoring 

capacity, but it requires diligence by project staff to 

create and maintain the systems. 

● The project collected more information on publications 

than staff could usefully absorb, analyze, and 

respond to. The thousands of questionnaires 

returned with information on our audiences and 

their opinions, in multiple languages, created a burden 

for staff who had to enter these into our database 

and analyze for future use. In the future, PRB could 

use bounceback questionnaires only periodically, for 

publications that are particularly innovative or different 

(to find out how they are used) or for those that 

we hope to repeat in the future (to solicit suggestions 

for improvement). 

● Written questionnaires and telephone interviews 

both have advantages and disadvantages as data collection 

tools. Contrary to what PRB staff anticipated, 

bounceback questionnaires provided more specific 

examples of the use of particular publications (i.e., “we 

used it in developing our guidelines on gender”), while 

the interviews gave a broader perspective of how 

organizations use information over time, with fewer 

specific examples (in spite of probing), because of difficulty 

of recall. Key informant interviews also had a 

greater disadvantage of taking about six months to 

complete, with substantial staff time. Because questionnaires 

are far cheaper than interviews and the 

information is almost equally rich, periodic written 

questionnaires may be sufficient to find out how information 

is used and its potential for impact. 

● Establishing a comprehensive workshop follow-up 

program facilitated the documentation of impacts 

and strengthened commitment. By helping each participant 

establish goals, creating and maintaining an


5 

alumni listserv, sending out periodic reminders of participant 

objectives, and conducting follow-up evaluations, 

the team was better able to document training 

impacts, reinforce new concepts, and increase participant 

commitment to practicing effective policy communication 

techniques. 

Results Framework 

and Evaluation 

Approaches 

MEASURE Communication was guided by a results 

framework that evolved over the life of the project. This 

section briefly explains the project’s research-based 

results framework and the techniques staff used to monitor 

and evaluate activities. Specific impacts are highlighted 

in the activity sections that follow. 

Results Framework 

In FY01, MEASURE Communication developed a new 

results framework that better articulates the role of information 

in the policy process and how specific project 

activities contribute to improved policies and programs. 2 

Using a nonlinear model to capture the realities of policymaking, 

the framework identified problems, solutions, 

and politics as streams that move through the policy system. 

Policy change occurs when these streams converge 

to create a “window of opportunity” for change (see 

Figure 1, page 6). 

The policy process can be influenced by carrying out 

activities relevant to each of the streams to create these 

windows of opportunity. The three main ways to intervene 

are by focusing attention on issues to get them on 

the policy agenda (agenda-setting), creating or strengthening 

coalitions that keep attention focused on issues 

(coalition building), or increasing the knowledge that 

policymakers have on issues (policy learning). Each of 

these three categories of policy work can be supported by 

communication interventions. The project added two 

more categories to reflect the foundation needed to 

strengthen the capacity of host-country counterparts and 

the development community to use country-specific data 

and research for policy change. Thus, the new results 

framework was designed to document the affects of 

MEASURE Communication’s interventions on the policy 

process. The Intermediate Results (IRs) based on this 

approach are listed below. The old framework focused on 

kinds of activities, i.e. publications, journalists’ networks, 

and capacity building. The new one focused on why these 

activities are important components of policy change. As 

such, the new Intermediate Results were a better reflection 

of the Strategic Objective of the overall MEASURE 

Program. (See Attachment 1 for the indicators used to 

measure results.) 

MEASURE-I’s Strategic Objective: To improve and institutionalize 

the collection and utilization of data for 

monitoring, evaluating, and making policy decisions. 

MEASURE Communication’s Intermediate Results: 

● Process through which key population, health, nutrition, 

and environment (PHN/E) issues are placed and 

maintained on the policy agenda strengthened. 

● Coalitions or alliances around key PHN/E issues created 

or strengthened. 

● The effective dissemination of PHN/E information to 

priority policy audiences supported. 

● Individual and institutional capacity to disseminate 

policy-relevant PHN/E data and information 

strengthened. 

● Policy communication techniques developed 

and tested. 

Monitoring and 

Evaluation Approaches 

The MEASURE Communication staff developed effective 

approaches to track project activities within the new 

results framework. This section provides an overview of 

these monitoring and evaluation (M&E) approaches. 

In-country activities 

The in-country M&E activities mirrored those presented 

for specific kinds of activities in more detail below; for 

example, including bounceback questionnaires with 

mailings, tracking newspaper articles, and sending follow-up 

surveys after workshops. Evaluation of in-country 

work was tailored to the size and scope of the activity as 

well as each USAID Mission’s strategic objectives and 

intermediate results. Monitoring information was collected 

on a routine basis. In addition, the project conducted 

special studies for several of the in-country efforts. 

Following are a few examples: 

● In India, the MEASURE Communication team 

assessed the policy impact of the National Family Life 

Survey (NFSF)—one of the largest and most 

resource-intensive, USAID-supported national surveys 

in the world—and the MEASURE program’s dissemination 

activities. The team sent questionnaires to 

all the 680 members of the NFHS-2 mailing list, 

which included public- and private- sector PHN programs, 

research institutions, universities, USAIDfunded 

CAs, and donors working throughout the 

country. The mailing yielded an astounding 25 percent 

questionnaire return rate (the usual rate of


FIGURE 1 

MEASURE COMMUNICATION FRAMEWORK 

Capacity 

Building 

Capacity 

Building 

Coalition 

Building 

POLITICS 

Policy 

Learning 

PROBLEMS 

Window of 

opportunity 

SOLUTIONS 

Agenda 

Setting 

return is 3 percent to 5 percent), and a rich compilation 

of user information, ranging from how data 

influenced thinking on a topic to how the data have 

been used. 

● In Cambodia, MEASURE Communication supported 

an extensive evaluation of the provincial-level, data-use 

workshops that included the participation of government 

and NGO staff to design the instruments, collect 

the data and analyze it. Approaches included pre- and 

post-workshop questionnaires, focus groups, and indepth 

interviews. 

● In Madagascar, the project maintained detailed 

records of the articles published in the press by both 

project-sponsored Intermedias media network members 

and journalists who were not in the network. 

The project also supported a special assessment of 

Intermedias. 

Publications 

Project staff monitored use and gathered feedback on 

international publications continuously, using three 

M&E approaches: 

1. The project database tracked detailed distribution 

data for each publication. The level of requests and 

the identity of the requesters provided valuable information 

about who made use of which materials. The 

project database sorts distribution information by 

country, region, language, field of work, organizational 

type, and other specifics. A query to the database 

can reveal, for example, how many religious organizations 

receive and request PRB materials, or how many 

recipients are government agencies versus NGOs. 

2. “Bounceback questionnaires” enclosed with each new 

material provided quick feedback on a limited number 

of questions. The questionnaires, formatted as a 

one-page self-mailer, allowed for quick feedback: 

Users responded to 4-5 questions, usually when 

ordering additional materials from PRB. (The mailer 

allows the user to place an order for additional copies 

at the same time.) The questions included whether a 

material is very useful, useful, or not useful; what 

activities readers use the materials for; how many 

people see and use the material; and, in some cases, 

ways to improve the materials or suggested topics for 

future publications. These responses yielded an enormous 

amount of both quantitative and qualitative 

information for the project. Though a small percentage 

of respondents returned questionnaires for each 

publication, 3 PRB received at least several hundred 

questionnaires for each material in each language, 

yielding more than 7,500 questionnaires over the 

course of the project. 

3. Key informant interviews allowed for more in-depth 

probing of selected members of PRB’s audiences. Key 

informant interviews, conducted mostly by telephone,


7 

allowed PRB staff to explore the use of materials more 

in-depth, both with those audiences who requested 

additional materials and those who did not. These 

interviews were organized in two stages: First, from 

2001-2002, PRB staff interviewed 37 individuals from 

17 countries whose organizations had frequently 

requested additional copies of PRB publications during 

the previous five years (“frequent requesters”). 

These interviews explored how the publications had 

been used and what impact, if any, could be identified 

as resulting from this use. Second, in 2003, consultants 

in seven countries contacted 36 recipients who had 

never given feedback on our publications nor requested 

additional publications (“nonresponders”). 

Media 

MEASURE Communication tracked the project’s media 

activities by asking journalists who attended seminars or 

conferences under the project’s auspices to submit all the 

newspaper articles or TV/radio transcripts that they prepared 

after participating. The articles were catalogued 

electronically and kept in binders. PRB’s media staff regularly 

reviewed the articles and sent feedback to the 

authors. 

Project staff also sought feedback from seminar participants 

as to how they had been able to use the information 

or skills beyond specific articles, and if they 

perceived any policy or coalition building results from 

their efforts. Their responses were catalogued according 

to the project’s results framework. 

In addition, project staff conducted several special 

media analyses: for example, staff surveyed all the journalists 

who were on the media listservs to ascertain how they 

had used the information and how the service could be 

improved; conducted an assessment of all the articles written 

after the national seminar to release the India National 

Family Health Survey to identify themes and errors in the 

coverage; and engaged a consultant to do a detailed review 

of the project’s West Africa media activities. 

Capacity building 

MEASURE Communication developed an extensive follow-up 

and evaluation process for the capacity-building 

program. At the end of each training seminar, facilitators 

worked with participants to establish objectives on skills 

use over the next year. Then PRB staff worked actively to 

follow up: 

1. At three months, the participants were reminded of 

their objectives via e-mail; at six months each participant 

received a postcard from MEASURE 

Communication (written by the participants themselves 

on the final day of the workshop) that contained 

the objectives that they developed; and at one 

year they received an evaluation questionnaire to 

determine whether they were able to implement any 

of their objectives. Participants were also asked to give 

examples of individual skill use and institutional 

(programmatic or operational) changes that have 

come about as a direct result of the training received. 

2. PRB established a listserv after each workshop to promote 

regular exchange among participants to share 

ideas and news, seek advice, and keep the workshop 

participants and facilitators informed of progress in 

implementing their objectives outlined in the final 

week. 

Because of the efforts to keep in contact with alumni, 

MEASURE Communication had up to a 65 percent 

response rate from the follow-up questionnaires sent to 

participants at the one-year mark. 

Special assessments 

PRB staff organized special assessments throughout the 

life of the project to monitor the pace and impact of project 

activities. The results of these studies were used to 

modify and improve project services. Following is a list of 

some of the activities that were studied: 

● The policy files (a survey of requestors); 

● The Policy Fellows (a survey of participants); 

● The International Programs Fellows (a survey 

of the Fellows); 

● PopPlanet, a collaborative website between 

PRB and the National Center for Science and 

the Environment (a detailed user assessment, 

comparative analysis and content review done 

by outside consultants); and 

● The IGWG listserv (an electronic survey using 

“Survey-Monkey” software). 

Country Work 

MEASURE Communication carried out an extensive set of 

country activities, often in collaboration with other MEA- 

SURE partners, to enhance the use of MEASURE-generated 

and other local data and information (see Figure 2, 

page 8). Box 2 (page 9) provides a quick overview of the 

range and scope of this aspect of the project. This section 

will review in more detail the impacts of three country 

activities: India, Kenya, and Cambodia. 

The project’s approach to in-country technical assistance 

flowed directly from the policy-change model, particularly 

in countries where technical assistance was 

significant and multiyear. In a highly collaborative and 

participatory style, staff worked on a range of activities


that addressed agenda setting, coalition building, and 

policy learning. Collectively, this was a substantial body 

of work: the MEASURE Communication team worked in 

17 countries or regions, including assistance to two 

regional institutions (in Jordan and Mali) that in turn 

supported PHN/E dissemination and data use to a large 

number of countries throughout their regions. 

The in-country work reflects the true character of the 

MEASURE Communication team. Project staff brought a 

deep commitment to working collaboratively and tirelessly 

with partners around the world to support 

enhanced population and health policies by making 

MEASURE-generated and other data accessible and by 

creating forums and opportunities to support use of 

those data for policies and programs. PRB received feedback 

from in-country partners throughout the life of the 

project that recognized not just the commitment to technical 

excellence but also the genuine spirit of partnership. 

The in-country work covered a wide range of activities, 

including developing policy communications strategies, 

preparing publications, and working with incountry 

media. For example, MEASURE Communication 

supported five country-data sheets, six booklets or chartbooks, 

40 fact sheets, more than 100 PowerPoint presentations, 

one video, and more than a dozen other reports 

or translations. 

Capacity building lay at the heart of MEASURE 

Communication’s country work. Project staff wanted not 

just to convey the invaluable information developed by 

the other MEASURE partners, but also to develop a sustainable 

capacity to continue policy communications 

work in the future without project assistance. Thus all the 

multiyear, in-country efforts included extensive capacitybuilding 

activities, tailored to the needs of partner organizations 

and directed toward strengthening the following: 

● Information needs assessments that can be used to 

improve information collection activities, strengthen 

the relationship between data producers and users, 

and facilitate the identification of mutual priorities. 

● Strategic plans for information communication that 

include identifying the policy and program implications 

of research findings; establishing communication 

objectives; identifying appropriate audiences; selecting 

messages, formats, channels, and spokespersons; pretesting 

the information and the dissemination 

approach; and evaluating the process and the results. 

● Data use activities such as using household and facility 

survey data or routine health management data for 

program planning and policy reform. 

● Use of state-of-the-art (SOTA) tools and techniques 

to produce quality materials and presentations and to 

effectively evaluate communication activities. 

FIGURE 2 

COUNTRIES IN WHICH MEASURE COMMUNICATION WORKED 

Russia 

Romania 

Mexico 

Honduras 

Jamaica 

Senegal 

Guinea 

Mali 

Pakistan 

Jordan 

India 

Kazakhstan 

Cambodia 

Japan 

Brazil 

Tanzania 

Kenya 

Madagascar


9 

BOX 2 

OVERVIEW OF MEASURE COMMUNICATION COUNTRY WORK 

Brazil: Prepared a 24-page report highlighting the 

accomplishments and lessons learned in USAID’s last 

phase of assistance to family planning and reproductive 

health in Brazil. 

Cambodia: Supported dissemination of the Cambodia 

DHS and conducted a series of national and provinciallevel 

training sessions for health staff that focused on: 

(1) a need for strengthened capabilities to interpret, 

analyze, and use the Demographic and Health Survey 

results; (2) increased dissemination to sub-national 

decisionmakers as well as national policy audiences; and 

(3) increased health planning capacity. 

East Europe and Eurasia: Worked with CDC and DHS+ 

partners to develop and disseminate a comparative 

summary of 11 surveys in the region, in English, 

Russian and Romanian, and a summary of RH survey 

findings in Romania. 4 

Guinea: Participated in the first joint assessment visit 

with MEASURE DHS+ and MEASURE Evaluation staff; conducted 

initial information and capacity building needs 

assessments among 14 public- and private- sector institutions 

and donors and developed a detailed, DHS implementation 

and dissemination workplan and budget that 

resulted in the mobilization of significant additional 

funds from the World Bank for dissemination activities. 

Honduras: Collaborated with USAID/Honduras and CDC 

to disseminate policy-relevant data on maternal-child 

health and HIV/AIDS. Using data from the 2001 

National Epidemiological and Family Health Survey prepared 

one national and eight regional wallcharts that 

highlight the most important findings in the survey. 

India: Provided assistance to the International Institute 

for Population Studies to disseminate the findings of 

the second National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2). 

Support included conducting seminars in 20 states; producing 

a series of materials, a video, and 90 graphic 

presentations; and orchestrating press events that 

resulted in over 275 newspaper, Internet, and wire service 

articles and broadcast programs that featured NFHS- 

2 data. 

Jamaica: Provided assistance to CDC for the dissemination 

of the results of the 1997 Reproductive Health 

Survey in national and regional level seminars. For the 

national level seminar, prepared a Summary Chart Book, 

overheads, speaking notes, and a press kit. Following 

the National Seminar, participated in four regional, daylong 

seminars. 

Japan: Working in support of the Clinton administration’s 

“Common Agenda,” participated in seminars with 

Japanese officials, prepared a Japanese newsletter summary 

of English-language research reports, and translated 

data sheets and publications. 

Jordan: Provided support to the Jordan National 

Population Commission to translate into Arabic four 

reproductive health publications; disseminated of over 

8,000 copies throughout the Middle East. 

Kenya: Supported both national and sub-national dissemination 

efforts for the Kenya Demographic and 

Health Survey and the Kenya Service Provision 

Assessment (KSPA) in collaboration with the Ministry of 

Health, the Ministry of Planning, MEASURE DHS+, and 

MEASURE Evaluation. Assisted with implementation of 

16 district seminars and the production of 16 district 

fact sheets and discussion guides used during the seminars; 

supported four regional seminars on the KSPA 

findings that resulted in the development of 70 databased 

district health plans. Prepared a special assessment 

of the Bungoma Malaria Project. 

Madagascar: Supported the dissemination of DHS data, 

published wall charts, policy briefs, and fact sheets, 

established an independent association of journalists, 

and undertook several capacity building workshops. 

Mali: Working with CERPOD, increased regional capacity 

to disseminate policy-relevant research findings and to 

advocate for country-specific program changes based on 

data and other research information. 

Mexico: Prepared a detailed review and policy summary 

of USAID’s support for family planning activities in 

Mexico. 

Pakistan: Provided technical assistance to support the 

Population Council/Pakistan’s policy communication 

activities, including consultant support for a workshop 

and assistance in developing a communications strategy 

for two surveys, one on youth and one on unintended 

pregnancy. 

Russia: Supported an extensive set of activities in the 

development of health policy reforms for reproductive 

health, lead abatement, and management of diabetes. 5 

Senegal: Developed and field-tested an audience 

assessment tool to guide HIV/AIDS policy communications 

and advocacy strategies. 6 

Tanzania: Developed a series of PowerPoint presentations 

to support a wider distribution of DHS data, produced 

three chartbooks including an overview of 

HIV/AIDS, and provided support for a national dissemination 

seminar and a special meeting of key health officials 

working on HIV/AIDS. 7


Cambodia 

In FY99, USAID’s Asia/Near East Bureau provided field 

support to MEASURE Communication for policy communication 

activities in Cambodia. 8 PRB and USAID staff 

identified three needs during an assessment visit to 

Phnom Penh in May 2000: 

1. A need for strengthened capabilities to interpret, analyze, 

and use the Demographic and Health Survey 

results; 

2. A need to disseminate data to sub-national decisionmakers 

as well as national policy audiences; and 

3. A need to build capacity to disseminate critical information 

on maternal health to a variety of audiences. 

To meet these needs, MEASURE Communication 

supported the release of the 2000 Cambodia Demographic 

and Health Survey (CDHS) through publications 

and data-use workshops. Local partners included 

the Department of Planning and Health Information 

(DPHI), Ministry of Health (MOH), and the Reproductive 

Health Association of Cambodia (RHAC). 

Publications included seven four-page policy briefs, a 

wall chart containing national and provincial health and 

family planning indicators, and a six-page foldout of key 

national indicators. All materials were produced in 

Khmer and English and disseminated to policy audiences 

in Cambodia and the Southeast Asia region. To 

meet the third need, staff provided technical support to 

the Cambodian Midwives Association to develop a 

newsletter for their members. 

These initial activities led to the use of CDHS data in 

Cambodia’s second development plan. In May 2000, the 

Secretary of State of the Ministry of Planning (MOP), Lay 

Prohas, requested MEASURE Communication staff to 

review the accuracy of the data in the health chapter of 

the draft Second Five-Year Socioeconomic Development 

Plan (SEDP II). The MEASURE Communication team, in 

collaboration with MOP representatives, reviewed the 

document and edited the health chapter to replace old 

health and demographic indicators with data from the 

Cambodia DHS preliminary tables. Indicators such as 

infant and child mortality, maternal mortality, and fertility 

were revised and submitted to Secretary Prohas. He 

informed PRB staff that these changes had been incorporated 

into the final development plan. 

The largest set of activities was addressed to health staff 

at the provincial level. The project team conducted 23 

three-day provincial workshops in late 2002, attended by 

over 450 local health staff, and 50 staff of local and international 

NGOs and donor agencies. The first two hours of 

each workshop included presentation of key maternal/child 

health and family planning data from the CDHS. The rest 

of the workshop focused on basic epidemiology and its 

applications, analysis of local health services, monitoring 

and evaluation, and data integrity and use. 

Workshop results 

MEASURE Communication conducted a detailed evaluation 

of the workshops in the spring of 2003 to document 

how the participants had been able to use the knowledge 

and skills they had acquired, and the impact of that use 

on their own performance, as well as that of their organizations, 

including development of Action Plans per the 

new health planning cycle introduced by the MOH in its 

Health Sector Strategic Plan, 2003-07. 9 

The evaluation revealed that the workshops not only 

helped the participants better understand data and how 

to use it but also led to improved planning. For example, 

the average score (percentage of correct responses to 10 

questions) at the pre-test for all of the workshops was 55 

percent and the post-test score was 75 percent. Fifty-nine 

participants in four provinces received the same post-test 

approximately six months later to determine learning 

retention. Table 2 shows that while all of the provinces 

scored lower on the second post-test than they did on the 

first, the average scores were higher than the initial pretests. 

These results indicate that significant learning did 

take place during the workshops, that basic concepts 

introduced during the workshop were well understood by 

participants, and that, despite the varied educational 

backgrounds of the participants, the workshop curriculum 

proved to be accessible and comprehensible to the 

vast majority of participants. 

The evaluation also asked participants in which 

areas they had applied their new knowledge and skills. 

The highest proportion (90 percent) stated “planning” 

followed closely by “monitoring and evaluation” 

(88 percent), with much lower proportions for “program 

management” (73 percent), “service delivery” (61 percent), 

“resource allocation” (53 percent), and “research” 

TABLE 2 

PRE- AND POST-TEST WORKSHOP RESULTS 

(average percentage correct 

responses to 10 questions) 

FOUR PROVINCES IN CAMBODIA 

Province Pre-Test Post-Test Second 

(%) (%) Post-Test (%) 

Kaoh Kong 58 83 76 

Takaev 62 91 75 

Steung Traeng 63 78 75 

Siem Reab 51 75 69


11 

(51 percent). Ninety-eight percent of the participants 

agreed that data played a critical role in the development 

of the action plans for their provinces or operational 

districts, and 92 percent confirmed that the knowledge 

and skills they had learned in the workshop had been 

used in the preparation of their action plans. As one 

program manager said, “Since the training there is 

an improvement because we understand input, output, 

objectives, indicators so that it is easier to identify objectives 

in our programs.” 

The evaluation also yielded a rich pool of information 

to support ongoing policy communication and datause 

activities in Cambodia. The following are some of the 

key findings: 

● In terms of the workshop curriculum, the greatest 

obstacle encountered was in translating the modules 

from English to Khmer. There is a lack of specific 

Khmer language equivalents for many of the technical 

terms in English. For example in Khmer, there are not 

separate words for “effect” and “impact,” a real challenge 

when trying to explain M&E techniques. PRB 

staff recommend that a standardized glossary of technical 

terms specific to the health sector be compiled 

and published by the MOH which will make future 

capacity-building efforts more effective. 

● Conducting the workshops within the provinces 

contributed significantly to their success. Holding 

the workshops in the provincial capitals closer to 

their places of work ensured that attendance 

remained at 100 percent for all workshops. A subtle 

but strong signal was sent to participants of the 

importance of their work and their contributions to 

health service delivery by having the facilitator teams 

attend their provincial offices instead of the other way 

around. An added benefit was that staff of international 

and local NGOs working in the provinces 

could also attend as observers – more than 50 such 

staff participated. 

● To improving data use, it is key to establish a positive 

culture of information. It is clear from the evaluation 

that such a positive culture does not yet exist. 

While most respondents did cite data use as important, 

far fewer could cite instances where they were 

actively using data in their work. Although some key 

staff from referral hospitals such as directors and 

chiefs of technical bureaus were included in the training, 

very few health center staff were included. The 

evaluation team recommends that training health 

center staff, particularly those who are instrumental 

in the development of action plans, be carried out as 

a priority in the near future. 

● Participants would like to learn from other 

provinces’ experiences in using data for planning 

purposes. “What is working in other provinces?” 

“What action plans could be considered exemplary?” 

“Do you have any examples?” These were frequently 

raised questions during the workshops. Clearly there 

are lessons that could be learned across provinces and 

these information exchanges should be encouraged. 

Possible fora for such exchanges could include 

regional workshops or study tours. 

As one other indicator of success, the Department of 

Planning and Health Information of the Ministry of 

Health conducted a second set of workshops in late 2003. 

Impressed with the MEASURE Communication workshops 

and their outcomes, MOH secured funding for the 

second set entitled Planning for Change: From Health 

Information to Planning and Action. PRB staff (with 

other sources of funding than MEASURE) worked with 

URC and the Ministry of Health to develop the curriculum, 

conduct the training of trainers, and prepare for the 

workshops that were held in all 24 provinces. 

India 

MEASURE Communication initiated a multi-year workplan 

in FY00 to expand the dissemination of the National 

Family Health Survey (NFHS) to high-level policymakers 

at the national and state levels and to enhance the use of 

that data for advocacy and planning purposes. 10 At the 

national level, PRB assisted with the preparations for the 

national seminar and associated events in close collaboration 

with MEASURE DHS+ staff. MEASURE 

Communication supported the development of a 20- 

minute video, in English and Hindi; three wall charts on 

key population and health topics; and a series of factsheets 

for journalists. PRB and Indian partners also 

organized press coverage, which resulted in 275 news 

articles and broadcasts. 

At the state level, MEASURE Communication’s 

approach to disseminating the NFHS-2 survey findings 

was threefold. First, dissemination seminars were conducted 

in 22 states, with a more intensive effort in six 

priority states (Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, 

Bihar, Orissa, and Jharkhand). In the priority states, the 

team sponsored two-day seminars, produced state-specific 

graphic fact sheets, and conducted full press briefings 

the day before each seminar. One-day seminars were conducted 

in the remaining states, which included the distribution 

of press releases and press interviews. 

Second, the team used a strategic dissemination 

approach by making the most of existing opportunities 

such as regularly scheduled annual meetings or other 

planning and policy events. For example, in preparation 

for a Futures Group-sponsored seminar to kick off the 

state population policy planning process in Uttar 

Pradesh, MEASURE Communication provided a fact


sheet depicting NFHS-2 population and health data and 

trends to use in the planning process. MEASURE 

Communication also supported a special NFHS-2 session 

during the annual conference of the Indian Association 

for the Study of Population. Over 80 researchers, program, 

and policy officials attended. 

The third strategy was to transfer skills and build 

capacity among local staff in designing dissemination 

seminars, developing effective policy-level presentations 

tailored for each state, and preparing materials and giving 

interviews with the press 

Impacts 

The PRB team tracked results over the life of the project 

and documented innumerable examples of enhanced 

awareness, the use of specific products, and policy 

impacts. For example, the wallchart released in May 2000, 

received wide press coverage in India’s leading national 

newspapers, such as The Times of India and The Hindu. 

The wallchart was developed with input from the 

Secretary of Family Welfare, head of one of the Ministry 

of Health’s two branches. During this meeting, the 

Secretary noted some things he wanted to change on the 

wallchart to enhance its effectiveness. He also noted that 

in his view wallcharts and fact sheets such as those produced 

by MEASURE Communication are the most effective 

means of disseminating information to policymakers. 

It is clear that the NFHS-2 data and their implications 

gained the attention of program staff and policymakers. 

Key issues cited in the evaluation questionnaire included 

differentials in infant mortality by number of living children 

or by birth interval, and several references to the 

high prevalence of domestic violence and low status of 

women in terms of household decision-making. Trends 

between the NFHS-1 and 2 also provided new insights 

and raised awareness about ongoing challenges. Following 

are several concrete examples: 

● Immediately after the Madhya Pradesh dissemination 

seminar, the Principal Secretary for Health convened 

a meeting of the heads of each health department 

to discuss the NFHS-2 findings and to map out a 

strategy for addressing priority problems at the 

district level. 

● Following the Rajasthan dissemination seminar, Mr. 

Nanda, the National Secretary of Health and Family 

Welfare, agreed to provide resources for four regional 

workshops, to examine regional programs based on 

NFHS-2 findings, and to define priority issues for 

planning purposes. 

● High-level officials at the Ministry of Health and 

Family Welfare held discussions with research and 

program staff about the status of maternal health and 

the measurement of maternal mortality following the 

publication of one newspaper article that erroneously 

reported that maternal mortality was increasing. (The 

data indicate that the real story is that India’s very 

high maternal mortality ratio changed very little 

between NFHS-1 and NFHS-2.) 

● A staffer in the State Family Welfare Bureau in 

Maharashtra said, “It was revealing that the contribution 

of younger couples to fertility [high] and unmet 

need of contraception in Maharashtra has not 

changed much since NFHS-1.” 

The evaluation questionnaires and other kinds of feedback 

also highlighted extensive use of the data for policy 

development, planning, and management. For example: 

● The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in Delhi 

cited use of the data for the development of the 10th 

Five-Year Plan. 

● The National Commission on Population explained 

that the NFHS-2 helped to sensitize policymakers to 

be more precise. For the first time, the 10th National 

Plan established quantifiable social indicators to monitor 

progress and included goals for the reduction of 

malnutrition levels and infant feeding under the 

national nutrition goals. 

● The Government’s Department of Women and Child 

Development staff used NFHS-2 data to formulate 

their “Nutritional Policy for Children,” as well as to 

prepare plans, reply to questions from members of 

parliament, and conduct situational analyses. 

● In Tamil Nadu, high-level officials were not aware 

how much data on maternal and child nutrition status 

were available in the NFHS-2 until these data were 

presented at the state dissemination seminar. 

According to the Secretary for Social Welfare, these 

data were then used as baseline information in their 

new state nutrition policy. 

● Several states cited use of NFHS findings and trends 

in the drafting of state population policies or action 

plans (Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and 

Uttar Pradesh); and the new state of Jharkhand, 

a USAID priority state, also used the data in the 

development of their first Reproductive and Child 

Health Policy. 

● The NFHS-2 data also had impacts on family planning 

efforts: UNFPA has used the data for project formulation 

in specific states; the Commercial Market Strategies 

Project (CMS) in New Delhi stated that the data were 

used to help justify the decrease in subsidy support for 

oral contraceptives and condoms; and the Family 

Planning Association of India used the data on India’s 

over-emphasis on female sterilization to advocate for 

expanding the range of family planning methods available 

in the government family welfare program.


13 

Kenya 

The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) was 

completed in 1999. A Service Provision Assessment 

(KSPA) was finalized in 2001. In collaboration with the 

National Council for Population and Development 

(NCPD), the Ministry of Health, and MEASURE DHS+, 

MEASURE Communication’s role was to ensure that findings 

from these surveys reached key policy and program 

officials in accessible formats for planning, management, 

and policy purposes. 11 Dissemination activities contributed 

to the achievement of the following Mission 

objectives: SO3, “Reduce fertility and the risk of HIV/AIDS 

transmission through sustainable, integrated family planning 

and health services”; and IR1.1, “Policies and program 

approaches for FP/AIDS/CS services improved.” 

MEASURE Communication supported both national 

and sub-national dissemination efforts for the KDHS and 

KSPA. Specific activities included assisting with the 

implementation of 16 district seminars by creating six 

provincial-level presentations,16 district fact sheets, and a 

brief discussion guide that was used during seminar 

breakout sessions to encourage dialogue among local representatives 

and national officials. The project provided 

support for media coverage of the national seminar by 

calling local media contacts, developing a media list, writing 

a press alert, and preparing a fact sheet of key findings 

designed specifically for journalists. Through 

MEASURE Communication’s efforts, the DHS survey 

results received substantial coverage in national print and 

broadcast media. 

In 2001, through a series of regional seminars, 

MEASURE Communication staff worked with the MOH 

and the NCPD to disseminate and use the results of the 

KSPA. The seminars provided an opportunity for the 

MOH to launch its new, decentralized program reform 

initiative—a planning process that used the KSPA data as 

a means of identifying priority issues. The primary benefit 

was the development of district health plans for each 

of the 70 districts. Another related benefit was the opportunity 

to link information from the KSPA (used as a 

baseline) with district work. According to Ministry officials, 

it was very important for district staff to see this 

link because it gave credibility to the MOH’s reform 

planning effort. To date, the MOH has approved about 75 

percent of the district work plans. 

MEASURE Communication also provided policy 

communication support to other USAID initiatives. Since 

1998, USAID has supported an extensive pilot project in 

the Bungoma District to improve maternal and child 

health and survival by preventing and treating malaria. 

Now in its fifth year, the project has supported over 24 

operations research studies and numerous interventions. 

MEASURE Communication worked with AMREF (the 

implementing agency) and representatives of CDC, the 

Quality Assurance Project, CARE, the USAID Bureau for 

Africa, and Mission staff to synthesize the studies and to 

identify key findings and lessons learned. This report also 

includes 10 program and policy implications that have 

relevance at national and sub-national levels. Examples of 

programs and policies that were improved as a result of 

the study include scaling up a vendor-to-vendor education 

program to improve malaria prescribing practices in 

selected districts, and reducing taxes on netting materials 

and insecticides for bednets. 

Global Activities 

MEASURE Communication carried out a wide range of 

dissemination activities to make MEASURE-supported 

data and research available to key audiences around the 

world, as well as exciting results from other CAs and 

international agencies. This section describes those activities 

and their impacts. 

Publications 

Under MEASURE Communication, PRB developed print 

materials as a key channel for disseminating policy-relevant 

information on population, reproductive health, 

maternal and child health, and the environment. 

MEASURE Communication’s mandate was to provide a 

regular source of up-to-date information to those who 

participate in and contribute to population and health 

policy. The flow of information contributed to IR3: The 

effective dissemination of PHN/E information to priority 

policy audiences supported. In the project’s policy 

model this IR contributed to policy learning. 

Attachment 2 provides a list of publications produced 

for global audiences over the life of the project. 

PRB produced 36 new publications plus five annual 

updates of PRB’s World Population Data Sheet, all in 

multiple languages and many in multiple formats. (All 

of the formats and languages totaled 114 new materials.) 

We distributed 606,718 copies of publications in 

targeted mailings and fulfilled requests for an additional 

344,101 copies, resulting in a total dissemination of 

950,000 materials. 

Each material produced under the project was disseminated 

to selected audiences on MEASURE 

Communication’s international mailing list, which contains 

more than 16,000 entries in over 100 countries. 

The greatest concentration of recipients was in USAIDsupported 

countries, and about half of all recipients 

work in the population and health field. The other half 

were categorized as general development and environment, 

business and labor, finance, education, libraries, 

women, youth, religion, and media.


Following the release of new materials, MEASURE 

Communication broadcast their availability via e-mail to 

numerous U.S. and international listservs and posted them 

on the project’s and PRB’s websites. The materials were also 

regularly displayed and disseminated at professional conferences 

(PAA, APHA, and GHC) and international technical 

and policy forums, such as numerous Cairo+5 meetings 

in 1999, Beijing+5 meetings in 2000, and the World 

Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. 

Evidence of impact 

Orders for publications after initial mailings were a key 

indicator that MEASURE Communication publications 

contributed to policy learning by maintaining a steady flow 

of information. Over the course of the project, PRB 

received nearly 43,000 requests for a total of 344,101 copies 

of publications. Forty-one percent of these copies went to 

recipients in Africa, 20 percent to Latin America and the 

Caribbean, and 15 percent to South and Southeast Asia 

(see Table 3). The large demand for print materials in 

Africa probably resulted from the relevance of the materials 

to that continent’s reproductive health problems and the 

dearth of materials available locally (frequently mentioned 

in questionnaires and key informant interviews). Beginning 

in 2001, the bounceback questionnaires asked recipients to 

estimate how many people would SEE the reports and how 

many would USE them. In the 5,035 questionnaires that 

contained responses to these questions, recipients stated 

that a total of 630,716 people would see the reports and 

163,733 would use them. This represents an average of 125 

people seeing each copy, and 33 people using it. While 

these are estimates, it is clear that readership far exceeded 

the number of initial recipients. 

More requests originated in the United States (11 percent 

of additional copies distributed) than any other 

country because USAID cooperating agencies often 

requested copies for redistribution to their projects’ audiences 

in developing countries. Apart from these requests, 

TABLE 3 

COPIES OF INTERNATIONAL 

PUBLICATIONS REQUESTED, BY REGION 

Region 

% copies requested 

Sub-Saharan Africa 41 

Latin America & Caribbean 21 

South & Southeast Asia 15 

North America 11 

Oceania 7 

Middle East & North Africa 3 

Western Europe 1 

Eastern Europe & Eurasia 1 

25 percent of requests came from four developing countries 

(see Table 4), and 34 percent of requests came from 

the top six countries. 

In all, nearly 43,000 requests came from about 150 

countries, and roughly 40 percent of all organizational 

entries on the mailing list requested a publication. Some 

organizations repeatedly requested additional copies for 

distribution to their staff, field offices, and affiliates—and 

for redistribution in conferences and training workshops. 

While it is not possible to display the diversity of organizations 

here, Table 5 (page 15) lists those organizations 

that requested more than 1,000 copies of publications 

(multiple orders for multiple publications). These organizations 

represent diverse fields and countries, but most 

can be characterized as having both policy and educational 

missions in their countries and communities. 

The bounceback questionnaires included with all publications 

gathered evidence of policy learning through 

several multiple choice and open-ended questions. 

Readers could respond to multiple choice questions rating 

the usefulness and selecting from a range of possible uses. 

Open-ended questions asked readers to describe how the 

materials were used and whether the materials changed 

their views. The thousands of responses provided 

glimpses of incremental learning in many facets of 

national life as well as decisionmaking at a grassroots 

level. The following are illustrative examples from three 

publications that focused on reproductive health. 

Regarding “New Population Policies: Advancing 

Women’s Health and Rights”: 

It will be very helpful for policy development of women’s 

RH rights and designing programs. 

—Assistant Director, Women’s Program, 

Family Planning Association of Bangladesh, 

Dhaka, Bangladesh 

TABLE 4 

TOP 10 DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 

REQUESTING INTERNATIONAL 

PUBLICATIONS 

Country 

% copies requested 

India 8 

Nigeria 7 

Ghana 6 

Kenya 5 

Philippines 5 

Zimbabwe 3 

Bolivia 3 

Uganda 3 

Pakistan 2 

Peru 2


15 

…Developing church leaders’ policy statement and 

guidelines on gender issues and women’s health rights. 

—General Secretary, Christian Council of Tanzania, 

Dodoma, Tanzania 

This report will be of help in identifying what questions 

to put in the [demographic and socioeconomic] questionnaire, 

what specific indicators to calculate, how to present 

the data in the report publications such that our work is 

comparable to other countries internationally. 

—Secretary General, Population Analysis and 

Studies Center, Central Statistical Authority, 

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 

I use the facts and figures to do advocacy, to include in 

presentations made at training programs my organization 

runs on human rights of women in Ghana. 

—Executive Director, The Ark Foundation, 

Accra, Ghana 

Similar information is not available locally… Being an 

employer organization, social development indicators 

form an important part of our work… It is useful for the 

preparation of proposals for projects. 

—President, Employer’s Federation of Pakistan, 

Karachi, Pakistan 

TABLE 5 

ORGANIZATIONS THAT REQUESTED 1,000 OR MORE COPIES 

OF MEASURE COMMUNICATION PUBLICATIONS (MULTIPLE ORDERS FROM 1998-2003) 

Name 

City (State), Country 

Africa 

GASSPE – Groupement d’Appui aux Soins de Sante Primaire et Environnement 

Centre for Youth Welfare and Development 

Ghana Education Service – Training Division 

Moslem Ladies Association 

Koriko Medical Clinic 

JSI Project 

Assoc. for Reproductive and Family Health 

Health Committee, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria 

Dotson Stockwell Enterprises 

Ministere Charge Protection de l’Environnement 

Health Education Training Institute 

Kamuli Network of NGOs 

MCH/FP Division, Ministry of Health 

HIV/AIDS Education, Ministry of Education 

Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council 

The Americas 

CARE Bolivia 

PROCOSI – Programa de Coordinacion en Supervivencia Infantil 

UNESCO/Ministrio de Educacion 

Programa Nacional de Atencion Integral en Salud de la Mujer 

Conseil d’Action Social d’Haiti 

AED- Linkages Project 

Asia 

National FP Coordinating Board (BKKBN) 

Commission on Population, Regional Office 

Commission on Population 

Manipur University, Chief Medical Officer 

National Women’s Welfare Centre 

Orissa State Volunteers and Social Workers Assoc. 

UNICEF 

National Center for Population Research and Training 

Ouesse, Benin 

Bolgatanga, Ghana 

Accra, Ghana 

Bolgatanga, Ghana 

Eldoret, Kenya 

Antananarivo, Madagascar 

Ibadan, Nigeria 

Lagos, Nigeria 

Ibadan, Nigeria 

Kigali, Rwanda 

Freetown, Sierra Leone 

Kamuli, Uganda 

Lusaka, Zambia 

Harare, Zimbabwe 

Harare, Zimbabwe 

La Paz, Bolivia 

La Paz, Bolivia 

Quito, Ecuador 

San Salvador, El Salvador 

Port-au-Prince, Haiti 

Washington, DC, USA 

Mataram, Indonesia 

Cagaya, Philippines 

Manila, Philippines 

Manipur, India 

Kerala, India 

Orissa, India 

New Delhi, India 

Kathmandu, Nepal


It is mentioned in the Joint Directors of Health Services 

and Deputy Directors of Medical Meetings held in a 

month. It is used to develop the “policy note.” 

—State Demographers, Directorate of Family Welfare, 

Chennai, India 

Regarding the “Women of Our World 2002” data sheet: 

We are planning to advocate for education of the girl 

child. We will use the data for developed and developing 

countries, including Turkey. 

—Executive Director, 

Family Planning Association of Turkey, Ankara, Turkey 

[Usefulness is to] ensure that gender is integrated into programs 

and projects submitted to the PIOJ for approval 

—Manager, Population Planning Unit, Planning 

Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), New Kingston, Jamaica 

The data provided allows us to compare MMR in South 

Africa with other countries. In terms of advocacy, it 

offers the opportunity to guide policy and programs 

related to human resources. 

—Director, Health Systems Research, 

Department of Health, Pretoria, South Africa 

The data sheet will be used in our information system as 

a baseline of structured data to show trends in women’s 

health. 

—PHC Undersecretary, 

Ministry of Health and Population, Cairo, Egypt 

Hundreds of readers commented on how “Abandoning 

Female Genital Cutting” changed their views: 

I am one of the pioneers fighting this practice in my country, 

yet this booklet enriched my knowledge on the topic. 

—Dean, Institute for Training and Research in Family 

Planning, Alexandria, Egypt 

Personally, in the past my knowledge of the effect of FGC 

was very limited. By reading the text, my knowledge 

increased on the extent of the problem operating under 

our organization. 

—Director, Archdiocesan Catholic Secretariat, 

Social and Development Coordination, 

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 

I was helpless in ways to stop FGC. Now I know that 

international organizations are concerned and provide 

support. I am convening NGOs in northern Ghana to 

form a network for FGM elimination. 

—Director, Community Welfare Foundation, 

Kumasi, Ghana 

It made me more determined to include FGM as a 

subject in our week long trainings for traditional healers 

and birth attendants. 

—Coordinator, Community-based Health Promotion 

Program, HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Unit, 

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 

Audiences used materials for a wide range of purposes, 

not just those that appear directly linked to policy. 

Many uses, however, such as reports, speeches, and conferences, 

contributed to policy learning even if they were 

not identified as “policy” per se. Table 6 summarizes the 

multiple-choice questions regarding uses from all the 

bounceback questionnaires and for three specific publications. 

Uses of MEASURE Communication materials 

were wide-ranging, spanning diverse audiences and purposes. 

Many institutions and communities used the 

materials for basic education and awareness-raising 

about key issues affecting the population—and particularly 

women, youth, and other specific groups highlighted 

in the reports. 

Innovative Uses 

of Electronic Media 

MEASURE Communication also used websites and listservs 

to achieve IR3, i.e. as channels to extend the flow of 

information reaching audiences. Though quality print 

materials with a long “shelf-life” are still in demand in 

places where Internet access is poor, the project reformatted 

all materials for posting on the project’s website, 

made materials available through PRB’s electronic library 

(e-library, or PH Infoshare), and produced CD-ROMs. 

Graphics contained in the publications were also reformatted 

for the graphics bank on PRB website. 

MEASURE Communication supported four websites: 

MEASURE Communication, MEASURE Gateway, PopNet, 

and PopPlanet. 12 The MEASURE Communication and 

PopNet sites became part of PRB’s dynamic web database 

in August of 2001. After that time, all content generated 

by these two sites was included on PRB’s website, indexed 

in its database by topic and region. Because of this database, 

MEASURE Communication publications received a 

wider audience. In FY2003, for example, the PRB websites 

recorded more than 1 million “unique visitors,” and visitors 

looked at more than 13 million pages on all PRB 

websites. From the PRB website alone, users downloaded 

the equivalent of 290,000 200-page books. 

The World Population Data Sheet, which was supported 

in part by MEASURE Communication, is the most 

popular publication on PRB’s website. In 2002, on average, 

61,000 visitors clicked on the data sheet each month. 

In addition to having the data sheet in pdf format, PRB 

also uses the data in another popular PRB website feature, 

“DataFinder.” This is a simple database that visitors can 

query to receive data by world region, country, and demographic 

variable. Currently DataFinder contains data 

for 95 variables and for more than 200 countries. The 

MEASURE Communication publication, 2002 Women of 

Our World datasheet, is also featured in DataFinder. 

The Population Bulletins are viewed and downloaded 

by thousands of visitors a month. One MEASURE-spon-


17 

sored Population Bulletin, “New Population Policies: 

Advancing Women’s Health and Rights” (published in 

March 2001) was viewed by 3,000 visitors in 2002 and 

1,600 in 2003, numbers that show its continued popularity 

two years after publication. 

PopNet was a very popular website: In FY2003 and 

2004, the site averaged between 8,000 and 10,000 unique 

visitors a month. This award-winning website was developed 

with USAID funding in 1997 and became part of 

MEASURE Communication in FY98. PopNet was a wellregarded 

resource for population information: it was 

included in the Encyclopaedia Britannica’s list of the 

Web’s Best Sites, in the University of Wisconsin- 

Madison’s selective collection of Internet resources chosen 

by librarians and content specialists known as The 

Scout Report for Social Sciences, in the United Nations 

Population Division’s POPIN Electronic Library, and as 

one of the main information resources on the home page 

of Population.com. The Population Media Center 

described PopNet as “a very large reference site, probably 

the best resource for population information available 

with a comprehensive directory of population-related 

websites searchable by topic or keyword, by organization, 

or through a world regions map.” 

Policy Information Services 

MEASURE Communication’s Policy Information Services 

also contributed to IR3 by responding to information 

requests from USAID/W, USAID missions, USAID cooperating 

agencies, the U.S. State Department, and other 

major international health and population organizations. 

Over the life of the project, PRB staff responded to 

requests for 2,943 briefing packets and other information. 

One-quarter of these requests came directly from 

USAID staff and three-quarters from CAs and other 

development organizations. 

The Policy Information Services relied on two sets of 

information gathered and maintained in the Policy Files: 

(1) demographic, socioeconomic, family planning/reproductive 

health, HIV/AIDS, gender, and population policy 

indicators, all used to produce eight-page reports for over 

100 countries; and (2) a collection of country-specific 

policy-related materials, such as government reports and 

policy statements, journal articles, and articles from daily 

newspapers and Internet sources. This information was 

compiled into country packets to inform USAID staff 

and other audiences of the most current information on 

population, family planning, and reproductive health 

policies and issues of developing countries. 

PRB staff conducted a survey of people who had 

requested briefing packets to determine how they had 

been used. Most of the recipients used them as reference 

or briefing material when going on a work-related trip or 

preparing presentations. Some recipients distributed the 

briefing packets to visitors or other colleagues. One 

respondent said, “I distribute many more copies than I 

use personally. I distribute them to decisionmakers and 

discuss parts with them, urging them to use the information 

for policy development or logistics systems design, 

for example.” 

TABLE 6 

REPORTED USES OF MEASURE COMMUNICATION PUBLICATIONS 

(AS PERCENTAGE OF QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONDENTS) 

All publications Abandoning Making 2002 Women of 

(%) FGC (%) Motherhood Our World 

Safer Data Sheet (%) 

Reference 47 43 49 56 

Writing 48 41 50 66 

Library 53 63 49 54 

Classroom 36 29 46 40 

Policy 22 21 25 30 

Project/program 37 32 37 40 

Training 49 53 57 55 

Conference 27 24 24 32 

Research 48 49 46 57 

Other 10 17 11 13 

Note: Responses add to more than 100 percent because respondents identified more than 

one use. English responses only are shown for the three selected publications.


Recipients reported that they valued the briefing 

packets because they were comprehensive and saved time: 

“They are among the most valuable resources I use, both 

for myself and for the in-country colleagues I work with. 

There are many sources of information, but they are not 

distilled. And few come as close to being as ‘one stop 

shopping.’ You also have the sense that the essentials are 

not escaping you. Somebody with the expertise and the 

attention has captured the most important elements and 

given the sources for other info should you need it.” The 

questionnaire also asked “How would your work be 

affected if you did not use them?” One USAID recipient 

wrote, “I’d have to ask someone else to put the information 

together, and I am not sure anyone would be available 

to do so.” Another respondent said, “I would have to 

spend considerably more time gathering information 

myself, and frankly, I wouldn’t. I don’t have the skills in 

information access or even the time. This is to say that 

my work wouldn’t be as good.” 

Media 

Under MEASURE Communication, PRB supported hundreds 

of journalists in less developed countries, helping 

them to produce more and better news stories about 

population, reproductive health, environment, and gender. 

The media program had three basic approaches toward 

improving media coverage of population, health, and environment 

issues: developing networks of journalists, supporting 

journalists to attend international conferences, and 

providing increased access to written materials and news 

stories. By forming and maintaining networks of journalists 

and informing them through seminars and workshops, 

the project formed alliances among these reporters, editors, 

and producers (IR2); built their capacity to report 

PHN/E issues (IR4); and fostered a commitment to raise 

awareness of these issues among policymakers and the 

public (IR1). Because of these media activities, many 

PHN/E issues have more prominence on policy agendas in 

countries around the world (IR3). 

Over the life of the project, MEASURE 

Communication staff facilitated a half dozen networks 

and conducted workshops for more than 340 editors, 

reporters, and producers from 35 countries. (Some participated 

more than once.) As a direct result, the journalists 

produced more than 1,200 print articles and 

broadcast stories and programs on reproductive health, 

gender, and environmental issues, most of which would 

not have been done otherwise (see Attachment 3). Many 

of the journalists continue to write about these issues, 

and some now write columns and features that run regularly 

in their publications. PRB estimated that MEASURE 

Communication’s international media networks reached 

as many as 25 million readers and listeners. 

The Network Approach 

MEASURE Communication’s work with the news media 

had a distinctive approach to training: a cross-border, 

sustained network design that brought together journalists 

from different countries and regions to learn about 

population-related issues and receive up-to-date regional 

and country-specific information. Most of these journalists 

remained in their networks for two years or more, 

building bonds with the other journalists as they attended 

informational seminars and workshops together and 

maintained regular contact through e-mail and listservs 

in between seminars. 

Through these networks, the journalists motivated 

and encouraged each other to expand and improve their 

work. They learned during the seminars about population, 

reproductive health, environmental, and gender 

issues around the world as well as in their own countries. 

They discussed the issues with health and medical 

experts, women’s advocates, and international and 

national officials. Site visits helped them to understand 

the practical aspects of the issues by seeing successful 

programs at work. They also shared personal and professional 

experiences, developed coverage strategies and 

story ideas, and discussed how their role as journalists 

can affect policy decisions. 

PRB’s longest running network is Women’s Edition 

(WE). It was launched in 1993 with USAID funding and 

included in MEASURE Communication in FY98. WE 

consisted of 10 to 12 senior-level women editors and producers 

from influential media networks in developing 

countries who gather twice a year for seminars that focus 

on women’s reproductive health issues. Seminars were 

held on such topics as family planning, adolescent sexuality, 

and maternal mortality. Following each seminar, the 

journalists wrote, edited, and produced in-depth supplements, 

series of articles, and radio and TV programs for 

their news organizations on the theme of the seminar. 

(See Attachment 4 for Women’s Edition participants from 

1998–2003.) 

Capitalizing on new democracies and the proliferation 

of a free press, PRB provided technical support to networks 

of newspaper and broadcast journalists in West 

Africa with USAID funding since 1996. Pop’Mediafrique is 

a network of 15 editors (“gatekeepers”) and local health 

officials from five Francophone countries: Burkina Faso, 

Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal. In 2000, 

based on the success of the Pop’Médiafrique model, the 

MEASURE Communication team, in collaboration with 

the PANOS Institute, launched a second regional network 

to support women journalists, calling it Fem’Mediafrique. 

This initiative brought women journalists together with 

public policymakers and influential leaders from their 

respective countries for seminars on selected topics. In 

2002, the two networks were combined and continued to


19 

work together providing responsible news coverage and 

serving as leaders in reproductive health. 13 

The West Africa model was designed to increase the 

quality and quantity of reporting on reproductive health 

and gender issues, provide a forum for South-to-South 

exchange of newsworthy research findings and their policy 

implications, and to strengthen linkages between the 

news media and researchers from regional institutions. 

The team conducted annual seminars in the different 

countries on a rotating basis to provide a forum for 

learning and for discussing issues with local experts. Over 

the years, members participated in seminars focused on 

HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), family 

planning, maternal health, and advocacy. The original 

model for this activity evolved over the course of the 

project, and network members in Burkina Faso, Mali, and 

Senegal formed their own country-specific reproductive 

health networks. 

MEASURE Communication’s newest regional media 

network, the Eastern and Southern Africa Women’s Media 

Network (ESAWomen), links 10 newspaper, radio, and TV 

journalists in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, 

Uganda, and Zambia. MEASURE Communication launched 

the network in 2002 to focus on reproductive health issues 

with a seminar once a year to sensitize the journalists to key 

issues, provide them with accurate, up-to-date information, 

and connect them with policymakers, researchers, and 

other experts on the issues. 

MEASURE Communication extended its reach within 

the media by working with existing networks of journalists, 

including Africawoman, a group of women journalists 

from eight African countries who produce a monthly 

newspaper on issues that concern women. In FY04, PRB 

conducted a seminar on key reproductive health topics 

for Africawoman journalists from each of the countries 

represented in the network: Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, 

Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. 

Following the seminar, PRB sponsored a 12-page special 

issue of the newspaper, also called Africawoman, that was 

posted on the group’s website and distributed in the eight 

countries to members of parliament, the media houses 

(which use some of the stories in their local newspapers) 

NGOs, and others who influence policymakers. The network 

is also linked to community radio stations across 

Africa that use the stories in their broadcasts. 

International Conferences 

MEASURE Communication sponsored 128 journalists to 

attend and cover 15 regional and international conferences 

on topics related to population and development. 

(Some attended more than one conference.) For these 

events, PRB usually organized mini-workshops before the 

conferences to brief the journalists on the issues. 

Journalists from the media networks often were selected 

for sponsorship, though PRB also chose journalists based 

on written applications and recommendations. (See 

Attachment 5 for conferences and the number of journalists 

sponsored.) 

Access to Information 

MEASURE Communication made extensive use of listservs 

to disseminate information and stay in touch with 

journalists. For example, the project sent information 

selected from approximately 15 population and reproductive 

health listservs to 75 journalists on a daily basis. 

MEASURE Communication conducted a survey to determine 

the effectiveness of this service. About 30 percent of 

the journalists responded. Close to 70 percent of the 

respondents reported that the information provided to 

them was “very relevant” to their work, and another 20 

percent responded “somewhat relevant.” All respondents 

reported that the information provided was new, and that 

they used the information for their work. One-third 

reported they used the information to develop presentations 

and/or prepare for seminars; two-thirds stated they 

used the information to write news articles; one-third 

responded that they had used information from the service 

to develop projects or programs; and three-quarters 

reported that they had used the information to either 

persuade others to support their view or to persuade others 

to take specific actions. Many of the respondents also 

reported sharing the information with other editors, 

columnists, feature writers, and journalists who then used 

the information to write news articles, television scripts, 

develop programs, and commission articles. 

MEASURE Communication also used listservs to link 

participants of its media networks to enable members to 

share stories, solicit comments, exchange views, and provide 

moral support to one another. In one exchange on 

the ESAWomen listserv, a Malawi journalist wrote to her 

network colleagues that she appreciated their positive 

comments on an article she had written. “I must admit 

I do find it difficult sometimes and wonder if at all what 

I report on is making a difference, and when I get 

responses (from ESAWomen), I get charged up again and 

keep on going.” 

A participant at a MEASURE Communication media 

seminar on HIV/AIDS in Senegal built on the momentum 

of that event to create the electronic THIAT Group, 

which provides an e-forum for journalists, donors, and 

health experts to discuss breaking news and controversial 

issues, ask questions related to AIDS and AIDS reporting, 

and share information. Over the course of just a few 

months, the THIAT group grew to about 65 members 

including a large number of journalists, local health 

experts, and donor representatives from UNICEF, ILO, 

UNFPA, USAID, and UNESCO. The forum supported a 

lively and productive electronic dialogue among these


groups with a goal of encouraging more responsible news 

coverage on HIV/AIDS, and represents one of the first 

electronic forums of its kind in a West African nation that 

promotes frank exchange among prominent medical and 

development officials, donors, and journalists. 

Impacts 

MEASURE Communication ’s media work had clear 

impacts. Results supported the project’s strategic objectives 

and each of the intermediate results. The illustrations 

below highlight policy-level (SO) impacts followed 

by examples of IR-level results: 

● Media activity leads to new program. In 2001, Awa 

Gueye Kebe attended a Fem’Mediafrique seminar on 

women and HIV/AIDS in Senegal. At that time, she 

was the head of the Division of Women in the 

Ministry of the Family, Social Development and 

National Solidarity and was participating in the journalist 

seminar as an influential in the policy arena. She 

said the seminar changed her perception of women 

and AIDS. She learned that women are more vulnerable 

to AIDS than men and are also the most neglected. 

Ms. Kebé, who now heads the Ministry, said that after 

the seminar she designed a five-year strategic plan on 

women and AIDS and has since obtained funding 

from the World Bank. The strategic plan is part of the 

country’s Global AIDS program and will be implemented 

with women’s associations of Senegal. Each 

Ministry has to design an AIDS program and this is 

the program for her Ministry. 

● Increased resource allocations. In a 2003 assessment 

of the project’s West Africa media activities, several 

network members said the seminars influenced 

their careers. For example, Jerome Bilélé Benin, a 

Pop’Mediafrique member and former editor-in-chief 

of the newspaper Sidwaaya in Burkina Faso, said that 

he was named to his present government post as the 

communication specialist at the national AIDS program 

because of his AIDS coverage. Benin is now 

using his position and AIDS/media experience to reinforce 

national AIDS policy. He recently designed the 

national AIDS communication program that entails 

supporting media coverage of AIDS by giving 2 million 

CFA (approx. $3,700) to each of the four daily 

papers and 6 million CFA (approx. $11,000) to television 

and radio stations. These funds will be used for 

special AIDS coverage every Tuesday for a trimester. 

If the plan is successful, the sums will be increased. 

● News coverage supports contraceptive security. 

Miriam Mendoza, a journalist with CIMAC, a 

Mexican news agency, wrote stories that appeared in 

newspapers throughout Mexico and prompted TV 

and radio stories during and following an international 

conference in Istanbul on contraceptive supplies 

in 2001 that she attended with MEASURE 

Communication support. Several months later, the 

Mexican government elevated contraceptive supplies 

to the category of national security, which essentially 

secured more funds to procure adequate supplies. 

Dr. Vicente Diaz, who at the time was director of 

family planning in the Ministry of Health and a participant 

at the conference, said later that Mendoza’s 

coverage of the Istanbul conference helped focus 

attention within the government and the public on 

the importance of ensuring adequate contraceptive 

supplies and was a “catalyst” for the government’s 

action. 

● News coverage prompted policy debate on maternal 

mortality. Eunice Mathu, editor of Parents magazine, 

an influential magazine based in Kenya and widely 

circulated throughout East Africa, says her Women’s 

Edition supplements are quoted by government officials, 

politicians, church pastors, and NGOs. 

Following a July 2002 seminar on reproductive health 

care, a story in her supplement on the large number 

of women dying from unsafe abortion in Kenya drew 

the attention of government officials. They cited the 

monthly magazine’s supplement, prompting a public 

discussion about the causes of maternal mortality and 

the status of abortion. 

IR1: Agenda Setting 

Feedback from the network members illustrates how 

MEASURE Communication activities contributed 

to greater public awareness of and debate on key 

PHN/E issues: 

● Kenya. A Women’s Edition supplement on genderbased 

violence prompted the Federation of Kenya 

Women Lawyers to ask Parents magazine to run a permanent 

column on the topic, which Parents agreed to 

do. Similarly, public reaction to the supplement on 

HIV/AIDS and women led the magazine to adopt a 

policy of including at least one article on the subject in 

every issue. The magazine’s editor also routinely sends 

the publication to Kenya’s members of parliament. Also, 

the Women’s Law Centre at the University of Zimbabwe 

has adapted two issues of her magazine containing 

Women’s Edition supplements (on women’s leadership 

and reproductive health) as library materials. 

● India. The editor of Femina, India’s most widely circulated 

women’s magazine, says the time she spent in 

Women’s Edition has made her more concerned with 

RH and gender issues, which is reflected in the content 

of her publication. “Thanks to Women’s Edition, I 

have been able to bring reproductive health awareness 

to 1.9 million readers of my magazine, a subject that 

was not really important or visible in the same context 

before 1992,” when she was selected to participate in


21 

the program. Indeed, when she was invited recently to 

be the only journalist on a panel with physicians for a 

program on women’s empowerment and contraception, 

she was told she was asked because her magazine 

was “aware and involved” in these issues. 

● Nepal. After airing a program on women’s leadership, 

a Nepalese participant in Women’s Edition was 

called to a meeting with the State Minister for 

Women, Children, and Social Welfare. The discussions 

focused on various aspects of womens involvement 

in media and leadership, including wider use 

of the media for improving women’s status. 

● Burkina Faso. After the Fem’Mediafrique seminar on 

women and HIV/AIDS in 1999, the director of Radio 

National Burkina, Mafarma Sanogo, created “Priorité 

Femmes,” a weekly health program that continues to 

this day. Program topics have included a number of 

reproductive health issues, such as women and modern 

contraception. 

● Malawi. Soon after the first ESAWomen’s seminar, 

which focused on HIV/AIDS and gender, a journalist 

from an independent weekly in Malawi persuaded her 

editor to give her one page every week for coverage of 

HIV/AIDS. Just a few months later, she was asked by 

her country’s National AIDS Commission to sit on a 

panel to review a draft HIV/AIDS policy. In response 

to articles she wrote following the second ESAWomen 

seminar (gender-based violence, family planning, and 

HIV/AIDS), a community radio station invited her to 

participate in a weekly program on women’s health to 

discuss the issues addressed by her HIV/AIDS page. 

They have received funding, and the program began 

in 2004. 

● Ghana. At the Ghana Broadcasting Corp., a Women’s 

Edition member led the movement to get better editorial 

treatment for issues on women’s health and 

reproductive rights, HIV/AIDS, and gender-based 

violence. “Today, these are no longer pushed aside as 

‘soft news’. Reportage of these issues has improved 

qualitatively and quantitatively at my station.” Also, 

acting on information she learned about from MEA- 

SURE Communication listservs, she was selected to 

participate as a volunteer at the Barcelona AIDS conference 

in 2002; through a similar lead, she won a fellowship 

to receive training in the United States. 

IR.2: Coalition Building 

MEASURE Communication emphasized the importance 

of coalitions among journalists and between journalists 

and technical experts both to share information and 

to strengthen people’s commitments to working to 

improve health status in their countries. This approach 

had clear results: 

● Burkina Faso. MEASURE Communication 

consultant Sié Somé and two local members of the 

Pop’Mediafrique network, helped create an independent 

entity called Pop’Media Burkina. This country 

network comprises radio and print journalists from 

both urban and rural areas throughout the country. 

Now registered as a nonprofit organization, 

Pop’Media Burkina undertakes a diverse range of 

population-related media activities that include serving 

as an information agency to produce articles on 

population themes for two newspapers and the 

national radio station. The group also supports and 

carries out coverage of an AIDS organization and 

local human rights group, and facilitates AIDS training 

for journalists for the national AIDS program. 

● India. A visit to a rape crisis center in New York 

inspired the Femina editor to start such a center in 

Bombay. She got in touch with the dean of a municipal 

hospital serving Asia’s biggest slum (Dharavi). 

Using the guidelines in a booklet she took back from 

the New York center, the dean set up a Crisis 

Counseling and Help Center at Sion Hospital. 

● Philippines. A Women’s Edition participant from the 

Philippines, who won awards for articles she wrote 

following the Women’s Edition seminar held in conjunction 

with the AIDS conference in South Africa in 

2000, has been commissioned by numerous organizations 

to conduct workshops for journalists on how to 

write about reproductive health and controversial 

issues within the topic. She also has been asked to 

speak to NGOs and businesses about how to package 

their causes into stories that will make the news and 

feature pages. Within her newsroom she is known for 

her opposition to sensational reporting on violence 

against women and is often consulted when her 

newspaper is criticized for such coverage. She says her 

activism, reinforced with information from Women’s 

Edition seminars, is at least partly responsible for her 

paper’s desk editors having become more gender-sensitive 

with headlines and story treatment. 

● Zambia and Malawi. Two of the ESAWomen journalists 

from Zambia and Malawi said that because of 

their reporting following the network’s first seminar 

on HIV/AIDS and gender, they had been asked to 

facilitate workshops on related topics, the Zambian 

by a regional NGO and the Malawian by the 

World Bank. 

● Journalists value highly the binders of information, 

including country-specific data, that PRB distributes 

at seminars and workshops on the topic being 

explored, and they make these available to their colleagues 

back home. One journalist told us: “The 

material binders are a wealth of information that 

would have taken me ages if at all to get in one single


place and time. I have also made this information 

available in our small library … for other female 

journalists willing to specialize and improve their 

research and writing skills.” 

IR.3: Capacity Building 

PRB staff’s commitment to capacity building laid the 

groundwork for the media activities: 

● Philippines. The journalist from that country says 

her five years in Women’s Edition made her a better 

journalist, “because now my commitment to exposing 

women’s concerns has been bolstered with facts from 

experts and resource persons grounded on the issues. 

Passion supported by information now guides my 

writing.” 

● A Zambian journalist in ESAWomen said she spoke 

for the group when she remarked after the network’s 

second seminar that the information they receive has 

raised their level of awareness to reproductive health 

and gender issues, which in turn raises the public’s 

awareness: “We’re doing stories that two years ago we 

would not have done.” 

● Nepal. The member of Women’s Edition from that 

country said that the information and training she 

received from PRB has “set a solid foundation” in her 

professional life with her radio programs and as 

deputy executive editor of the government daily, 

Gorkhapatra, enabling her to wield more influence in 

decisions on what issues to cover. “Now I think globally 

and write locally. Thanks to PRB/Women’s 

Edition, now I am more confidant, competent, 

empowered and more skillful.” 

● Ghana. A participant from that country says 

Women’s Edition as been “the one consistent training 

ground which has given me the opportunity to sharpen 

my journalistic skills and strengthen my commitment 

to bringing my profession to bear on the whole 

agenda of improving the conditions of women and 

children.” 

Capacity Building 

One of MEASURE Communication’s key objectives was to 

improve the capacity of developing country institutions 

and individuals to communicate effectively and use data 

for planning, management, and policy purposes. PRB 

staff developed a training program to transfer these skills. 

Over the life of the project, the team conducted 32 workshops 

(1-4 weeks long) for 483 researchers, program 

managers, communication specialists, and graduate students 

from 66 countries. Attachment 6 provides information 

on these workshops. 

MEASURE Communication’s training helped participants 

to understand how research can influence the policy 

process, what types of data and information are 

critical for decisionmaking, and what policy communication 

strategies ensure data and information use. The 

workshops explored several aspects of the research-topolicy 

process, emphasizing long-term planning and 

communication strategies to ensure that research findings 

have policy impact. Specific components included: 

(1) examining the research-to-policy gap and the fundamentals 

of the policymaking process; (2) identifying key 

findings from data and their policy and program implications; 

(3) developing a policy-level communication strategy 

and action plan based on participants’ own research; 

(4) preparing concise written materials that summarize 

research findings and present clear policy recommendations; 

(5) learning techniques to reach policymakers 

through the media such as writing press releases and 

interviewing; and (6) creating and delivering oral policy 

presentations using PowerPoint. Each participant 

brought relevant survey or research findings (often drawing 

on information from the other MEASURE partners) 

and worked to produce a range of products with these 

data throughout the workshops. 

Training Programs 

MEASURE Communication developed regional, U.S.- 

based, and in-country training programs. (The in-country 

programs are described in the section on country 

work, pages 7–13). 

Regional training programs 

At the regional level, the goal was to establish and sustain 

policy communication training by 

● Conducting short-term workshops for regional population 

and health researchers and program officials at 

well-respected universities; and 

● Developing and incorporating policy communications 

curricula into the universities’ masters programs 

as full courses. 

MEASURE Communication achieved its regional 

training goals. Over the course of six years, the project 

built teams of faculty at three prestigious developing - 

country universities—the University of Costa Rica, the 

University of Makerere in Uganda, and the University of 

Mahidol in Thailand—which are now capable of conducting 

policy communication workshops without technical 

assistance. Two of them, the University of Costa 

Rica and the University of Mahidol, have added master’s 

courses on policy communication and data use. 14 

To build sustainability, the project team sought to 

leverage funding from USAID missions, CAs, and other 

donors to support participants. As a result, a high per-


23 

centage of the costs were covered by the participants. For 

example, by year two of the workshop program in 

Uganda, 16 of the 17 participants were fully funded from 

a variety of USAID-funded CAs and other donors: 

CEDPA, The Futures Group (Policy Project), Abt 

Associates, Population Services International (PSI), the 

Bureau for Africa’s SARA Project (AED), Population 

Council (Navrongo Project-Ghana), The University of 

Southampton, UNFPA, and Aga Khan. 

Developing the regional training programs had challenges. 

The faculties at the participating universities were 

less familiar with the theory and techniques involved in 

policy communications than they were with data collection, 

data analysis, program monitoring, and evaluation. 

To provide them with the needed background, teams 

from each of the three universities were selected and 

trained at the East-West Center in Hawaii in 1998-2000. 

U.S.-based training program 

MEASURE Communication supported two U.S.-based 

training programs, The Policy Fellows and a collaborative 

Summer Seminar with the East-West Center. The Policy 

Fellows Program, initiated in the 1980s with USAID funding, 

continued to attract high-quality graduate students 

from developing countries who attend stateside universities. 

Each year about 12 fellows were selected to participate 

in the two-part program, which began with a two-week 

seminar at PRB. The fellows learned how to analyze their 

research from a policy perspective and communicate the 

findings to a policy audience. The second part occurred at 

the annual meeting of the Population Association of 

America (PAA). PRB hosted a day-long seminar during 

which the fellows presented a policy presentation to each 

other and received a critique from discussants. 

During MEASURE Communication, the PRB team 

trained 77 policy fellows representing 35 countries. In 

December 2002, PRB sent evaluation questionnaires to 

the full roster of former policy fellows (194) to assess 

how they are using policy communication skills and to 

learn if they have had an influence on population or 

health policies. Forty-three responded, providing a 22 

percent response rate. Currently, 60 percent of the fellows 

reside in the United States and 40 percent elsewhere, 

although many fellows who work in the United States 

focus on international issues. Current positions of fellows 

who were involved in the program between 2001 and 

2004 range from working at universities (professor at the 

University of Texas, policy analyst at Brown University, 

and lecturer at Makerere University in Uganda) to technical 

advisory and director positions at organizations such 

as the International Rescue Committee, the Alan 

Guttmacher Institute, MAP International, Family Care 

International, UNICEF, and UNESCO. In addition, the 

majority of fellows reported significant use of policy 

communication skills: 95 percent have used PowerPoint 

to design effective oral presentations; 88 percent have 

identified the policy implications of their research; and 

84 percent have tailored messages to specific audiences. 

The East-West Center summer seminar series provided 

an ideal setting for training regional university faculty 

members who then collaborated with MEASURE 

Communication staff as well as expanding PRB’s relationships 

with high-level officials from Asia region research 

institutions and population and health programs. 

Professors from Mahidol University, the University of 

Costa Rica, and the University of Makerere participated in 

the four-week training over the first three years of the 

project, effectively building teams of well-trained faculty 

within each regional institution. MEASURE 

Communication staff were also able to draw from the 

EWC alumni pool to assist with regional and countrylevel 

training programs in India, Cambodia, and Pakistan. 

Impacts 

The capacity-building activities addressed MEASURE 

Communication’s IR4: Individual and institutional capacity 

to disseminate policy-relevant PHN/E data and information 

strengthened. Project staff collected numerous 

examples of the use and impact of the skills gained during 

the workshops. Just a few are highlighted below to 

provide a spectrum of the results. 

Evidence of training concepts or 

skills leading to changes in policies, 

programs, or resource allocations 

● Kenya. Charles Obonyo from the Kenya Medical 

Research Institute reported that through his advocacy 

efforts, and with the help of communication skills 

learned at the regional workshop, he played a significant 

role in convincing the Ministry of Health to 

adopt a new treatment policy for uncomplicated 

malaria—the Artemisinin-based Combination 

Therapy (ACT)—and in mobilizing resources for 

treatment effectiveness studies at six sites in Kenya. 

● Guatemala. Dr. Eric Hidalgo, Technical Director for 

Maternal and Infant Health Research at the Instituto 

Nacional de Estadistica (working with MEASURE 

DHS+) persuaded cabinet members, government 

ministers, and key advisors on the importance of 

reproductive health for the country. Subsequently, 

Dr. Hidalgo was invited to the President’s Office to 

discuss followup activities and to develop strategies 

on how to move the RH issue forward. 

● Mexico. The Coordinator for Epidemiology at the 

Health Services in San Luis Potosi says that, thanks to 

the [2002 workshop] strategies for how to negotiate


with authorities (and key contact people), they 

recently were able to get municipal funds to finance a 

flu vaccination program for older adults. This is the 

first such action at the national level and sets a precedent 

for this type of action. 

● Peru. Dr. Wilder Carpio Montengro from Jefe de la 

Unidad de Investigacion, Direccion de Salud V. Lima 

Ciudad, in Lima, gave a presentation at a meeting of 

the committee on maternal mortality at the 

Department of Public Health for the City of Lima. 

The meeting was attended by 45 local professionals. 

Following the presentation on safe motherhood, he 

reports that: “We received an invitation to participate 

in the creation of new protocols for attention on the 

mother/child area in the Department of Health.” 

Evidence of policy communication skill 

use following training activities 

MEASURE Communication documented hundreds of 

examples of post-training skill use. Among questionnaire 

respondents, alumni made 190 presentations to national 

and sub-national policy and program audiences, participated 

in 25 interviews with journalists, and produced 45 

briefs for policy audiences (fact sheets, policy briefs, or 

policy memoranda). Here are some examples of reported 

skill use: 

● Nigeria. Zaccheus Akinyemi from Population 

Services International (PSI), Nigeria, returned from 

the Uganda workshop and immediately developed a 

results-based strategy for disseminating their recent 

research findings on sex-worker behavior and condom 

use. Objectives included incorporating a budget 

line item for sex-worker interventions to reduce the 

spread of HIV/AIDS in the upcoming national health 

development plan. 

● Bolivia. Ms. Gloria Tellería has made 30 presentations, 

all in PowerPoint, and helped 60 people with 

their presentations as well. She gave some of the presentations 

to health and education ministers, viceministers, 

and to other authorities working in sexual 

and reproductive health programs. She also prepared 

press releases for International Women’s Day and for 

World Population Day. 

● Kenya. Dr. Linus Ettyang, Deputy Director of the 

Family Planning Association of Kenya, used the communication 

training skills to give multiple presentations 

on the organization’s family planning program. 

One example is a presentation given to the Assistant 

Minister of Education that emphasized the need to 

get girls back in school as soon as possible after delivering 

a child. 

● Peru. Maria Reyna Liria, a recent workshop alumna 

who works at the Ministry of Health on nutrition 

issues, held discussions with the different health units 

(DISAS) in the Ministry and with the National Center 

for Food and Nutrition (CENAN) about creating a 

Web page to raise awareness on nutrition. They also 

initiated discussions with local media organizations 

about the possibility of publishing a monthly column 

on nutrition issues. 

● Guatemala. Soon after returning to Guatemala, 

Bernardo Uribe, one of the participants sponsored by 

the DELIVER Project, gave a presentation to the Vice- 

Minister of Health to inform him about a study that 

they are implementing on the implications of decentralizing 

the provision of contraceptives in the health 

sector and to obtain his commitment to conduct two 

seminars. As a result, the Vice-Minister agreed to 

organize a meeting chaired by the Ministry of Health 

to discuss the conclusions and recommendations of 

the study. 

● Peru. Carmincha Rosa Murguia from the Institute of 

Education and Health in Peru gave approximately 10 

interviews to journalists from radio, TV, and newspapers. 

For example, as a Latin American expert working 

on the issue of HIV/AIDS among youth, she was 

interviewed by CNN during the UNGASS meeting in 

New York on HIV/AIDS. She noted, “ During the 

interview all that you taught us immediately came to 

mind … what’s my key message, support it with 

salient facts, be brief, simple and direct … I tell you 

the interview was the ultimate test for all that I 

learned in the workshop. I would have never done this 

prior to your workshop.” 

● Ghana. Samuel Nii Codjoe, researcher with the PIP 

team at the University of Legon, has used the workshop 

skills to prepare summary booklets for policy 

audiences. He reports that one, Adolescent Fertility and 

Reproductive Health in Ghana, an easy-to-read publication 

that describes the determinants and consequences 

of adolescent fertility, youth and HIV/AIDS, 

is in high demand. 

● India. Dr. Rajeshri Chitannand, Senior Researcher 

with the International Institute of Population Sciences 

(IIPS) in Mumbai, played a key role in MEASURE 

Communication’s state-level dissemination efforts of the 

National Family Health Survey findings. After attending 

the EWC policy communication workshop, she organized 

and helped facilitate two state seminars (Gujarat 

and Maharashtra), and coordinated a local two-week 

workshop for four state-teams on “Communicating 

NFHS-2 findings to Policy Audiences.” 

● Nepal. Mahesh Puri from CREPHA in Nepal made a 

presentation on the need for better women’s reproductive 

rights policies to officials from the Ministry of 

Health and Parliamentarians. He also wrote a policy 

memoranda for parliamentarians on the need to


25 

reduce the number of unsafe abortions. This action 

prompted the Ministry of Health to request technical 

guidance from his institution to prepare a similar 

memorandum for parliamentarians. 

● Pakistan. Muhammad Mahmood (1998-1999 Fellow) 

made presentations on Pakistan’s demographic situation 

to journalists at a press briefing and to contribute 

to print coverage of the data and trends. He 

also used the skills while preparing a case for the need 

to decentralize Pakistan’s Population Welfare 

Program, which was presented to the President of 

Pakistan last year. He reports: “I always keep in mind 

the video recorded during the seminar in Washington 

whenever I present any talk.” 15 Dr. Mahmood is currently 

the director of the Ministry of Population 

Welfare in Islamabad, Pakistan 

● Thankam Sunil (2000-2001 Fellow): “One of the 

major skills I learned in the training is the importance 

of deriving policies based on the study findings. 

Since then I always include a section on policy implications 

in my research.” Currently, Dr. Sunil is a professor 

at the University of Texas at San Antonio. 

Training sessions or workshops 

replicated (spin-offs) 

Over the course of the project, 30 participants reported 

that they had replicated either all or part of the workshop 

for other groups. Here are some examples: 

● Bolivia. Ms. Gloria Tellería reported that she organized 

a one-day workshop for the eight departmental 

coordinators of the sexual and reproductive health 

program. After the workshop, the departmental coordinators 

used the techniques they learned to give presentations 

to local authorities (health and education 

directors, mayors, etc.). These authorities are reported 

to have, in turn, provided more support for sexual 

and reproductive health issues in each department. 

● Turkey. Dr. Ismet, from the University of Istanbul 

(participant at the EWC workshop in 1999), reports 

the following: “I have opened an MA course on 

‘population policies and development plans’ at the 

institute. Within the context of the MA course, I have 

added some of the sessions of the workshop [to the 

curriculum] such as the policy process and the 

research-to-policy gap, identifying the barriers to and 

solutions for reducing the research-to-policy gap, 

identifying the policy and program implications of 

research, and developing a strategy for communicating 

research results.” 

● Uganda. Mr. Luswa Lukwego from the University of 

Makerere conducted workshops for district-level statisticians 

in the dissemination and use of surveillance 

system data using adapted versions of the MEASURE 

Communication training modules. 

● Mongolia. Gelegjamts Uranchimeg organized a 10- 

day advocacy trainers’ training for 23 participants. 

Ms. Uranchimeg reports that she applied many of the 

sessions and strategies from the EWC workshop 

including fact-sheet writing techniques (participants 

drafted fact sheets) and role-play scenarios that were 

recorded and played back for comments. 

● Ghana. Samuel Nii Codjoe, University of Legon, has 

used policy communication sessions from the workshop 

to train colleagues as well as personnel in district 

assemblies. Currently, he is planning a training 

for members of the Planned Parenthood Association 

of Ghana. 

Training model replicated and 

supported by other donors 

● Drawing on alumni from MEASURE 

Communication’s policy communications training 

programs in Asia in 2001, 2002, and 2003, PRB 

worked with a team from the Population 

Commission, the Philippine Legislators’ Committee 

on Population and Development, and Save the 

Children to conduct a PHE training for 40 vice mayors 

in the three provinces of Aklan, Capiz, and Iloilo. 

The training was funded by UNFPA and focused on 

reproductive health/population-development communication. 

● PRB received a request from the Institute of 

Education and Health (IES) in Peru to co-facilitate a 

six-day policy communications workshop in Peru 

with a focus on research and programs on reproductive 

health and HIV/AIDS. Three of the IES staff were 

alumni from our regional workshops (one participant 

each in 2000, 2001, and 2002 workshops). Funding 

from other institutions (GTZ, IWHC, Save the 

Children—UK, and the Bill & Melinda Gates 

Foundation) made the development and implementation 

of the workshop possible. Twenty participants 

attended the training from different regions of Peru 

and one participant from El Salvador. 

Institutional capacity for policy 

communication improved 

MEASURE Communication institutionalized the project’s 

training programs by developing a master’s level course in 

collaboration with the project’s university-based partners. 

The course, was conducted for the first time in FY02 at the 

University of Costa Rica and was launched at the 

University of Mahidol in Bangkok FY03. In addition to the 

course, alumni responding to post-workshop questionnaires 

and through workshop listserv correspondence provided 

more than 20 examples of how they have been able 

to institutionalize new dissemination and data use strategies 

within their organizations. Here are some examples:


● Mali. The Center for Research and Population 

Development (CERPOD) in Bamako, Mali, adopted 

an institutional “Dissemination Protocol” for use in 

the development of each new research proposal. The 

purpose of the protocol is to mobilize resources for 

anticipated dissemination efforts at the early stages of 

the research development stage. The protocol outlines 

examples of dissemination and data use activities and 

includes estimated costs for each type of activity. 

● Kenya. Linus Ettyang from FPAK states that as a result 

of the training his institution now focuses more on 

getting results out in useful formats. 

● Ghana. Mr. Lawrence Damnyag, Programme Officer 

of Reseau Ghaneen of the SADAOC Foundation in 

Ghana, presented the results of what he learned at the 

workshop at the organization’s international conference. 

Based on his presentation and further discussions, 

an institutional decision was made to 

incorporate “strategic policy communication of 

research findings to the stakeholders” into the organization’s 

international work plans. 

● Nepal. A team from CREPHA, an organization that 

conducts research for several USAID-funded projects, 

reports that “We began to give emphasis on ‘to the 

point’ information rather than disseminating everything 

at once. After the workshop, we prepared advocacy 

and public education messages according to the 

target audiences and began using the media channel 

for dissemination.” 

● Mongolia. Gelegjamts Uranchimeg reports that based 

on strategies learned during the training, she has organized 

an information repackaging core group that meets 

once a month. The objective of the group is to assist in 

the development of advocacy materials (fact sheets, policy 

briefs, and lessons learned/best practices). 

● Philippines. Elma Laguna instituted a more strategic 

approach to communication and dissemination. 

Based on the “communication plan” worksheets, she 

helped her team map out a more detailed strategy 

(specific audiences and approaches for each audience) 

for disseminating results of the 2002 Young Adult 

Sexuality and Fertility Study. 

Policy Communications 

Techniques 

MEASURE Communication’s fifth Intermediate Result is 

as follows: Policy Communications Tools and Techniques 

Developed and Tested. MEASURE Communication made 

substantial contributions to the field in expanding policy 

communication training materials and refining a results 

framework for the research-to-policy process 

Workshop Materials 

MEASURE Communication developed and field-tested an 

extensive set of capacity-building materials to meet 

regional and country needs. Materials include resource 

binders on Communicating Population and Health 

Information to Decisionmakers; Population and Health 

Online Resource Guides; Strategic Planning for Information 

Dissemination and Use; Connecting People to Useful 

Information: Guidelines for Effective Data Presentations; 

Data Use for Health Planning; and Training-of-Trainers 

Manuals for Teaching Policy Communications. The 

resource materials are divided into learning modules that 

make it easy to tailor training programs for individual 

program needs and timeframes. 

Master’s Course 

Building on the workshop format, the MEASURE 

Communication team, in collaboration with faculty from 

the regional training institutes, developed a master’s level 

course syllabus for policy communications. The course 

was structured around 16 three-hour class sessions and 

includes readings and exercises on the models of policy 

formation and implementation, policy content analysis, 

bridging the research-to-policy gap, planning for strategic 

communication and data use activities, state-of-the art 

communication techniques, and managing conflict and 

controversy. 16 

As mentioned above, the course has been introduced 

into two regional universities, the University of Mahidol 

(Thailand) and the University of Costa Rica, and is being 

taught by university faculty who have received training in 

one of MEASURE Communication’s regional policy communication 

workshops. 

Framework 

PRB staff believe that the results framework developed in 

FY01 (see pages 5–7) made a contribution to the field. 

Staff have used it to modify training modules and have 

made presentations on the framework in many settings, 

including, for example, the DHS-30 Year Symposium. 

Presentation Guidelines 

In FY03, MEASURE Communication produced a new 

guide that gives practical advice and examples in the art 

of presenting data to nonspecialist audiences. It was done 

in collaboration with all the other MEASURE partners as 

an output of the MEASURE Dissemination Working 

Group chaired by PRB. The guide, called Connecting 

People to Useful Information, was intended for people 

whose positions require interpreting and disseminating 

information to a variety of audiences who may not be 

familiar with statistics. Potential users of the guide 

include staff of statistical offices, research institutions,


27 

public- and private-sector population and health programs, 

monitoring and evaluation units, donor agencies, 

and universities. The guide addresses a number of questions 

for developing effective presentations and includes a 

popular section on the most common do’s and don’ts for 

creating text and graphic slides. Other sections present 

practical techniques on how to organize and deliver effective 

presentations and organize a successful data dissemination 

seminar. The guide also contains two appendices 

with sample slides and reference material for preparing 

presentations in PowerPoint. 

The guide was used in at least five international 

workshops sponsored by MEASURE partners, as well as a 

workshop on HIV/AIDS and Adult Mortality sponsored 

by the UN Population Division. Examples of feedback 

include: 

“It’s with greatest pleasure that I forward my gratitude 

to you for availing such valuable information to me. I 

am one of the participants who attended the six-days 

workshop “HIV/AIDS and Adult Mortality in 

Developing Countries” in UN Headquarters New York. 

Thanks again for the publication and the CD. This is 

very useful for my day-to-day activities.” 

—Ivy Makoa, participant 

“I wanted to tell you that the presentation guides look 

terrific! I really like them. I do have a workshop starting 

next Monday with ten participants. If it’s feasible, it 

would be good if you can send me ten more to replace 

the ones I will give to each participant. We (all of us) 

have needed a guide like this for a very long time, and 

the powerpoint samples are great too!” 

—Larry Hartke, U.S. Census Bureau 

Excerpt from the DRUMBEAT/Listserv: 

“Dear colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to a 

recently released publication by the Population Reference 

Bureau on “Effective Data Presentation” The issue of effective 

data presentation is an increasingly pressing one. Inept 

presentations leave the impression that there is too much 

data and not enough meaning—making it hard to plead for 

more data collection. Some universities are now putting 

more effort on teaching their students basic communication 

skills - but still too many academic presentations are spectacular 

communication disasters. It’s great that the PRB 

[and their partners] who work in data collection and 

analysis are trying to help the population community with 

this manual.” 

—Armindo Miranda, Interregional Adviser, 

United Nations Population Division 

Population, Health, 

and the Environment 

Goals and Objectives 

MEASURE Communication’s work in Population, Health, 

and the Environment (PHE) promoted a better understanding 

of PHE problems, their causes, consequences, 

and the ways in which they can be addressed. The program 

contributed to MEASURE Communication’s 

Strategic Objective and all of its Intermediate Results. 17 

Activities 

In order to meet MEASURE Communication’s objectives, 

the PHE program strengthened journalists’ ability to 

focus policy attention on key PHE issues; helped build 

PHE coalitions and networks; produced a range of publications; 

and conducted training to build local expertise to 

contribute to policy decisions. 

Strengthening journalists’ 

ability to focus policy attention 

on key PHE issues 

The PHE media activities addressed IR1’s agenda setting. 

To enhance awareness of PHE linkages, MEASURE 

Communication worked to expand the quantity and quality 

of news coverage on PHE linkages. Project staff supported 

collaborative media networks, prepared 

background publications, and conducted seminars, press 

conferences, and briefings. Following are three examples: 

● In 2001, MEASURE Communication supported four 

members from the Malgasy journalists association 

Intermédias (Interprofessionnel des Médias pour le 

Social) to attend a training workshop on population 

and environmental linkages in Perinet National Park, 

Madagascar. During the workshop, journalists toured 

the park with guides trained by the national park service, 

then participated in writing exercises to incorporate 

what they had seen during the tour into a larger 

environmental context. 

● In 2002, the project sponsored 15 developing-country 

journalists to cover the World Summit on Sustainable 

Development (WSSD). 18 Participants were senior 

journalists from Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, 

Madagascar, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Pakistan, 

Thailand, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Brazil. PRB 

organized a two-day pre-summit seminar to expose 

the journalists to salient regional population and 

environment linkages, provide information about the 

WSSD, and introduce them to the terms and defini-


tions that would be used during the meeting. The 

journalists produced more than 100 articles, reports, 

and supplements in their home countries. 

● In 2003, a Women’s Edition seminar explored the links 

among population growth, gender, family planning, and 

the environment. Experts spoke to the journalists about 

how gender affects environmental issues; agriculture 

and food security; women’s land ownership; the gender 

perspective on water and forestry issues; the relationship 

between population growth and the environment; 

and the gender dimensions of environmental policies. 

Collaboration to build 

coalitions and networks 

MEASURE Communication’s PHE team addressed IR2— 

coalition building—by collaborating with four other 

organizations: 

● National Council for Science and the Environment. 

In FY2000 and FY2001, the PHE team collaborated 

with the National Council for Science and the 

Environment to develop PopPlanet, a multilingual 

online resource. It provided a forum for networking 

via moderated bulletin boards, and in-depth country 

profiles that served as a gateway to online PHE 

resources. The website initially received national and 

international attention from the press and was a featured 

link on many other websites. In September 

2001, MEASURE Communication undertook an 

assessment of PopPlanet, which showed that the website 

required significant reformulation to stay competitive. 

Implementing these recommendations required 

resources beyond MEASURE Communication’s budget 

and scope of work, and the partners decided that 

PopPlanet would become a part of NCSE’s National 

Library of the Environment. In FY2003 and 2004, 

PRB concentrated on adding PHE content to the main 

PRB website. 

● The Community Conservation Coalition (CCC). 

Through its collaboration with CCC, MEASURE 

Communication staff hosted briefings and contributed 

to the production of a CD ROM entitled Putting 

Conservation in Context: Social Science Tools for 

Conservation Practitioners, which contains tools from 

over 30 conservation, development, population, 

research, and policy organizations. The CD ROM was 

disseminated at the World Parks Congress in Durban, 

South Africa. 

● The Woodrow Wilson Center’s Environmental 

Change and Security project (ECSP). PRB collaborated 

with the ECSP on dissemination and outreach 

activities. Activities included two presentations, participation 

in panels on PHE topics, contributions to 

an electronic forum on the role of population in the 

World Summit on Sustainable Development, and a 

review of UNFPA’s recent report on PHE linkages, 

Footprints and Milestones. 

● University of Michigan’s Population and 

Environment Fellowship Program. Staff serve on the 

Advisory Board for the USAID-funded fellowship 

program. In addition PRB staff helped teach a summer 

course on population and reproductive health 

and conducted short training sessions for the program’s 

Minority-Serving Institutions Initiative and its 

Professional Exchange for Applied Knowledge (PEAK) 

initiative. 

MEASURE Communication staff also gave more than 

30 presentations on PHE linkages to a variety of international 

and domestic audiences. These have included sessions 

at PRB’s monthly seminars, papers presented at the 

annual meetings of the Association of American 

Geographers, the Population Association of America, the 

Global Health Council, and the Society of Environmental 

Journalists. 

Publications 

To support IR3—policy learning—MEASURE 

Communication supported 14 new PHE publications (in 

English, French, and Spanish), and supported the distribution 

of materials produced with funding from other sponsors 

(the titles are included in Attachment 2). These 

included policy booklets, fact sheets, briefing papers, specialized 

information bulletins, data sheets, teaching kits and 

classroom guides, and newspaper articles. About 80,000 

copies of PHE publications were mailed, primarily to the 

developing world. Over one-third of the copies went to 31 

countries in sub-Saharan Africa; over a quarter went to 

recipients in Latin America, and nearly one-fifth to Asia. 

About two-thirds of the copies were distributed in targeted 

mailings to PRB’s international list, and one-third in 

response to requests. 19 

PRB staff also distributed over 20,000 copies of 

PHE publications at the 2002 World Summit on 

Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. In addition 

to providing these materials to WSSD attendees, staff 

conducted targeted dissemination to members of official 

government delegations, key NGO and UN representatives, 

and other global policymakers participating in the 

official negotiations. 

Policy communications training 

To develop local capacity in Africa, Asia, and Latin 

America to contribute to policy dialogues on PHE linkages, 

MEASURE Communication staff collaborated with 

local partners on a policy communications training program. 

The program had the same philosophy and used 

the same basic model as described above.


29 

MEASURE Communication staff conducted eight 

PHE workshops funded at least in part by USAID. These 

workshops provided training to 127 participants (see 

Attachment 6). Almost one-third (51) of the participants 

at these workshops were from African countries, 43 were 

from Latin America, 63 from Asia. Just over 44 percent 

(56 out of 127) participated in the training with their 

own funding or with funding that PRB secured from private 

foundations such as the Compton, Summit, and 

David and Lucile Packard foundations. 

Impacts 

MEASURE Communication’s PHE activities had clear 

impacts. This section highlights the results with a few 

examples based on all the feedback obtained from 

bounceback questionnaires, workshop follow-up, etc. 

SO-level impacts 

The PHE policy brief, Women, Men, and Environmental 

Change: The Gender Dimensions of Environmental Policies 

and Programs, was used as a background paper for a meeting 

of women ministers hosted by the World Conservation 

Union (IUCN), the Ministry of the Environment for 

Finland, and Harvard University’s Council of Women 

Leaders in Helsinki, Finland, in 2002. The meeting brought 

together women ministers of the environment from 22 

countries and leaders of 28 international organizations to 

draft a declaration to present to the World Summit on 

Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South 

Africa. The ministers adopted the recommendations in the 

brief and the organizing committee of the WSSD agreed to 

make these recommendations and background paper part 

of the official proceedings. 

IR.1: Agenda Setting 

MEASURE Communication’s PHE media activities 

improved the depth and quantity of news coverage on 

PHE issues and thus increased the public’s and policymakers’ 

awareness of problems and their impact on sustainable 

development. The journalists who attended the 

WSSD with MEASURE Communication sponsorship, for 

example, reported that they benefited from the pre-summit 

seminar and were able to cover issues more effectively. 

They produced close to 100 stories that have appeared 

in various prominent newspapers, magazines, wire services, 

and radio programs around the world. 

In Madagascar, the project conducted two training 

workshops for the journalists association Intermédias 

(Interprofessionnel des Médias pour le Social) that included 

PHE issues. During FY 2000 the members of 

Intermédias published 501 newspaper articles (54 percent 

of all articles) on population, health, nutrition, 

environment, and other social issues. In the following 

year, 1,194 newspaper articles were published on these 

topics—a 138 percent increase. 

In Tanzania, Mr. Adolph Simon Kivamwo, a journalist 

with The Guardian and Sunday Observer,wrote several 

articles on the workshop participants and the outcomes 

of the training. One of the articles was based on three 

policy memos that participants developed around 

research results from a population and environment case 

study used in the training. The article highlighted the 

participants’ findings and recommendations for action 

regarding a population, health, and environment issue in 

central Tanzania. The article’s appearance in the leading 

daily was especially timely as Tanzanian policymakers 

were examining the issue addressed in the case study. 

In a second PHE policy communications workshop in 

December 2002, Mr. Kivamwo recruited several of his 

colleagues to help give media attention to the workshop 

and provide workshop participants with media contacts. 

A TV news crew from Tanzania’s most-watched TV news 

station, ITV, conducted a series of interviews with workshop 

participants and organizers on the goals of the 

workshop, PHE issues, and the research to policy gap. 

The series aired during ITV’s evening news broadcast on 

six separate occasions (twice on three separate nights). 

The East African Radio Network also broadcast portions 

of these interviews on its radio stations that reach Kenya, 

Tanzania, and parts of Uganda and Malawi. 

In India, Mr. Sanjay Gupta, the former communications 

director of Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) 

of India, participated in our first Asian PHE policy communications 

workshop in 2000. In 2001, following that 

workshop, PRB and TERI secured funds from the U.S. 

Embassy to conduct journalist training in New Delhi 

and Bangalore for 41 South Asian journalists who cover 

environmental issues. In addition to the articles that the 

journalists produced, these workshops led to additional 

collaborations. For example, the chairman of the 

Bangladesh Environmental Journalist Association, 

Shamsuddin Peara, sponsored Sonu Jain, chief reporter 

for the Indian Express and fellow workshop participant, 

to travel to Dhaka to make presentations to NGOs and 

media groups about the air pollution situation in New 

Delhi and to highlight steps that Indian policymakers 

have taken to deal with the issue. Ms. Jain’s coverage of 

the issue was highly influential in convincing Indian policymakers 

to take action on the air pollution issue. In 

addition, several of the journalists who participated in 

the training in India were selected for participation in 

the WSSD program. These included the national environment 

editor of the Times of India, the environment 

chief of Frontline, and a syndicated population and environment 

columnist from India Today. These publications 

are some of the most prestigious and influential publications 

in India.


IR.2: Building Coalitions and Networks 

Through the project, PRB staff contributed to coalitions 

and networks for PHE advocacy. In addition to the collaborative 

activities highlighted above, PRB worked with 

Mexican participants from its Latin American PHE workshop 

to support a coalition of experts working to address 

population and environment interactions in the Bahía de 

Santa Maria natural area and surrounding ecosystems in 

the Sinaloa and Nayarit regions of the Gulf of California 

in Mexico. This natural area is considered to be one of 

the world’s hotspots, an area with high biodiversity and a 

large number of endemic species. In the Philippines, a 

number of workshop participants worked with PRB to 

support three coalitions working on PHE advocacy: the 

Northern Iloilo Alliance for Coastal Development, the 

People’s Legislative Advocacy Network (PLAN), and the 

SIGUE PHE advocacy group. 

IR.3: Policy Learning 

MEASURE Communication supported the effective dissemination 

of PHE information to priority audiences and 

generated significant demand for copies after the initial 

mailings. The project’s PHE publications received feedback 

from around the world. Here are a few examples 

from the policy audiences the project was hoping to reach: 

“This publication of yours [PHE Wallchart] is among 

the few of such publications that provide relevant and 

accurate information on population, health and environment 

issues. Must be sustained.” 

—Public Relations Officer, Ministry of 

Education, Ghana 

“I was pleased to learn about your initiative to keep people 

informed about the actual problems regarding health 

and environment. I think this is an efficient way of building 

people’s awareness on certain facts that may, in the 

future, endanger our existence. The issue of Measure 

Communication you have sent to me was, indeed, very 

interesting. The policymakers are the first who have to be 

aware of the environmental problems we have to deal 

with in this time of explosive evolution of technology. I 

wish you luck and I hope you’ll succeed in accomplishing 

the important task you yourself have taken.” 

—Minister, Ministry of Agriculture, 

Food and Forestry, Romania 

“The [Women, Men, and Environmental Change policy 

brief] clearly explains the impacts of environmental 

degradation on people, exhibits the hazardous nature of 

indoor pollutants on women’s health. I have also come to 

understand that indoor smoke can cause stillbirth and 

underweight…births. My institution’s duties and 

responsibilities deal with population. Hence, this paper 

will be of help in my report writing, research activities in 

program design for population and environment related 

policy development work.” 

—Head, Population Analysis and Studies Centre, 

Central Statistical Authority, Ethiopia 

IR.4: Policy Communications Training 

The outcomes of the PHE workshops mirror those 

reported above. However, two cases illustrate in more 

depth how PHE participants have been able to use their 

policy communication skills. 

The first example is Nelly López, currently the vicedean 

for social sciences and statistics at the National 

University of Costa Rica and lecturer on gender, environment, 

and land use policy. She participated in MEASURE 

Communication’s Latin America FY00 PHE workshop. 

During the workshop, she expressed her fears about working 

with the media and communicating with policymakers, 

largely due to her lack of experience in these areas. 

PRB staff worked with her to develop an action plan. 

In the year after the workshop, Ms. Lopez realized 

several of her goals as a communicator and was invited to 

participate in several radio programs, including Costa 

Rica’s most highly regarded radio show, Punto Critico. 

During the show, she discussed the outcomes of Costa 

Rica’s recent census and her research on population, gender, 

and environment linkages. In a feedback questionnaire, 

Ms. Lopez stated that she used many of the skills 

she learned during the workshop, which enabled her to 

communicate more effectively with a number of journalists 

and convey her key messages to their listeners. 

PRB staff recognized her potential as a communicator 

and invited her to help facilitate several sessions in the 

next PHE Latin American workshop held in Costa Rica 

in FY01. Soon after co-facilitating that workshop, she was 

invited by the president of Costa Rica to join a presidential 

advisory group on urban affairs. In this group, she 

contributed to several research reports and policy presentations 

in which she emphasized the importance of 

demographic trends and gender equity for urban planning. 

She also spearheaded the group’s media outreach 

efforts, directly using the skills she acquired in the PRB 

workshop. 

The second story is from Asia. Naida Pasion, deputy 

director of Save the Children’s (SC) office in the 

Philippines, used the skills developed in our FY01 PHE 

workshop in Thailand to work with PRB to reach local 

and national decisionmakers, to develop new directions 

for PHE integration, and to share her policy communication 

skills with others. 

Ms. Pasion has taken the tools developed with PRB to 

convince mayors in two key municipalities to develop 

policies that integrate reproductive health and coastal


31 

resource management. These policies are closely tied to a 

SC project that works to ensure people’s health in coastal 

communities by linking family planning and community-managed 

coastal resources initiatives. The mayors have 

requested technical assistance, additional training, and 

further collaboration with SC and PRB as a result. 

Working with PRB, Ms. Pasion has also helped develop 

new directions in PHE in the Philippines. PRB staff 

collaborated with Filipino PHE experts from the 

University of the Philippines to design and conduct a 

new training program in PHE design and communication. 

The new program, “Designing Policy Relevant 

Population, Health and Environment Projects and 

Communicating Results to Filipino Policymakers,” built 

on past USAID-supported training and was funded by 

the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. 

Ms. Pasion has made PHE integration one of the pillars 

of SC’s work in the Philippines. Five of her staff from 

different regions in the Philippines have now participated 

in PRB’s training programs and are using PRB policy 

communications techniques for interventions at various 

policy levels. She has also reached out to the local USAID 

Mission by convincing the head of the population office 

to conduct a four-day site visit of a SC project. With 

technical assistance from PRB, Ms. Pasion also developed 

a training program to improve PHE coverage by journalists. 

Specifically, the program worked with a national 

media network developed and trained by the Philippine 

NGO Council for Population, Health and Welfare. In 

addition, Ms. Pasion used the framework for policy communications 

developed by PRB to develop a training 

manual on health policy advocacy. The training manual 

was used by the Healthy Indonesia 2010 Coalition and 

Johns Hopkins University. The guide and the PRB policy 

framework are being used by trainers in the coalition 

member organizations to train their personnel and collaborators 

in techniques of policy advocacy throughout 

the region and in other SC field offices. 

GENDER 

MEASURE Communication staff were committed to integrating 

gender considerations into every aspect of the 

project. Staff prepared publications with a gender focus 

(for example, Women 2000: A Profile of Women’s 

Reproductive Lives, a set of policy briefs to inform the discussion 

at the Beijing+5 conference review in New York 

in 2000); added discussion of the importance gender to 

all publications; worked with other CAs to incorporate 

gender into their publications (for example, the Deliver 

Project’s assessment tool); and made gender balance an 

explicit component of the selection process for seminars 

and workshops. A secondary goal of several of the project’s 

media networks, which were comprised of only 

women members, was to enhance their credentials as 

journalists to better compete in what is often a maledominated 

field. 

The project’s most public contribution to the gender 

field was the staff’s active participation in many aspects 

of the Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG). Staff 

co-chaired the Research and Indicators sub-committee 

and participated actively in others, wrote IGWG technical 

papers, helped pre-test publications like the Men’s 

Orientation Guide, and served on the Steering Committee 

and its successor, the Technical Advisor Group (TAG). 

MEASURE Communication received special funding to 

support IGWG’s dissemination activities. This section 

will describe those activities in more detail. 

PRB’s Work With IGWG 

The IGWG dissemination activities contributed to coalition 

building (IR2), i.e., creating and strengthening 

alliances around key PHN/E and gender issues such as 

integrating men into reproductive health and exploring 

gender-based violence as a part of reproductive health 

programs. Its work also encouraged policy learning (IR3) 

by supporting effective dissemination of PHN/E and gender 

information to key policy audiences. 

IGWG publications 

PRB designed, edited, and produced 10 IGWG publications 

that covered the spectrum from an explanation of 

gender perspectives to a framework for identifying gender 

indicators to case studies that provide program models 

for involving men. (See Attachment 7 for a 

description of each publication and how many copies 

were distributed.) The publications were truly a coalition-building 

enterprise, as they were co-authored by a 

wide variety of participants, most of whom served on 

IGWG subcommittees and represented many different 

agencies, including the Population Reference Bureau, 

John Snow International, Population Action 

International, CEDPA, JHPIEGO, Family Health 

International, and Futures Group. 

Through initial mailings to the IGWG mailing list 

and to Population Reference Bureau’s gender list, as well 

as through specialized requests and distribution at conferences 

and workshops, the IGWG publications were 

disseminated far and wide. 

The IGWG listserv and website 

Through MEASURE Communication, PRB expanded and 

administered the IGWG listserv. When PRB took over the 

listserv, it had around 200 members. By the end of the 

project it had over 450 members. Almost daily, two to 

four emails are sent, and contain a variety of information


on gender issues, including news clips, new publications, 

conferences, events, and job postings. The website contained 

IGWG publications in different formats (pdf and 

html), along with information about IGWG and its various 

subcommittees. 

An e-mail survey of the members elicited a 22 percent 

response rate. When asked how many of the IGWG listserv 

e-mails they read, 53 percent responded with “more 

than half of the e-mails.” Twenty-eight percent said they 

read every e-mail, and 20 percent read some e-mails. The 

majority of listserv respondents said they find the information 

in the e-mails to be useful. Fifty-five percent said 

the information is “very useful,” and 44 percent said 

“somewhat useful,” and only 1 percent said “not useful.” 

Most respondents said they use the information in the e- 

mails for reference in daily work and for research. After 

those, most respondents reported using the information 

for project or program design and writing reports and 

speeches. Eighty-two percent said they forward the e- 

mails to other people, and 92 percent use the links in the 

e-mails to seek further information on the Internet. 

Workshops, conferences, and outreach 

PRB supported various gender-related workshops under 

MEASURE Communication, including organizing: 

● Gender-Based Violence and Reproductive Health & 

HIV/AIDS—A Technical Update. A day-long meeting 

on May 1, 2002, attended by more than 130 program 

managers, policymakers, service providers, and trainers, 

that explored ways of integrating gender-based 

violence into reproductive health and HIV programs. 

● Reaching Men to Improve Reproductive Health for 

All. A four-day international conference in September 

2003 that provided state-of-the-art tools and strategies 

for involving men in reproductive health for the 

good of all. 

PRB also took advantage of other major workshops 

and conferences, such as those of the Population 

Association of America, the American Public Health 

Association, and the MAQ (Measuring Access and 

Quality) Mini-University to distribute and publicize 

IGWG publications. As part of an outreach campaign, 

PRB developed an IGWG travel kit that is distributed at 

various conferences and meetings, established links to 

IGWG from numerous organizational websites, and 

advertised IGWG products in a number of national publications, 

including Network magazine.


33 

Attachment 1. 

MEASURE Communication Results Framework 

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 

To improve and institutionalize 

the collection and utilization of 

data for monitoring, evaluating 

and making policy decisions. 

INTERMEDIATE RESULTS 

1 Process through which key 

PHN/E issues are placed and 

maintained on the policy 

agenda strengthened 

INDICATOR 

Evidence that MEASURE-generated data and MEASURE-sponsored activities 

have resulted in improved PHN/E policies and programs 

INDICATORS 

Process Indicators 

1: Attention-generating events for PHN/E issues sponsored or supported 

by MEASURE Communication 

2: Participants attending attention-generating events for PHN/E issues 

sponsored or supported by MEASURE Communication 

3: Participants sponsored/supported by MEASURE Communication attending 

attention-generating events for PHN/E issues sponsored/supported by 

donors or other CAs 

4: News media coverage of PHN/E issues resulting form MEASURE 

Communication interventions 

5: Direct interaction by MEASURE Communication staff with policy 

audience members that focus attention on PHN/E issues. 

6: Outreach activities 

Outcome Indicators 

1: Evidence that PHN/E issues have gained the attention of policy makers. 

(i.e., get on the “policy agenda”) 

2. Coalitions or alliances 

around key PHN/E issues 

created or strengthened 


1: Coalitions or alliances created 

2: Uses by coalitions/alliances of information/data provided by 



1: Evidence that MEASURE Communication interventions have enhanced 

coalition/alliance efforts to increase the saliency of key PHN/E issues 

3. The effective dissemination 

of PHN/E information 

to priority policy 

audiences supported 

Global Materials—Process Indicators 

1: Individuals on the global mailing list who represent key target audiences 

2: Products disseminated by format (print/electronic) and topic 

3: Individuals on the email list who represent key target audiences 

4: Respondents to questionnaires/interviews who report MEASURE 

Communication products are accessible i.e., the information provided 

was understandable or rated it highly 

5: Respondents to questionnaires/interviews who report that MEASURE 

Communication products were relevant to their work 

Global Materials—Outcome Indicators 

1: Evidence of use for policy learning 

2: Requests generated after the initial dissemination


INTERMEDIATE RESULTS 

INDICATORS 

In-country Materials—Process Indicators 

1: Individuals in materials dissemination plan for a given country 

that represent key target audiences 

2: Products disseminated in country by format and topic 

3: Individuals on the email list for a given country who represent 

key target audiences 

4: Respondents to questionnaires/interviews in a specific country 

who report MEASURE Communication products are accessible i.e., 

information provided was understandable or rated it highly 

5: Respondents to questionnaires/interviews in a specific country 

who report MEASURE Communication products that they received 

requested materials 

6: Respondents to questionnaires/interviews in a specific country who 

eport MEASURE Communication products are relevant to their work 

In-Country Materials Outcome Indicators 

1: Evidence of use for policy learning 

2: Requests generated after the initial dissemination. 

C. Policy Information Services Process Indicators 

1: Requests for policy-related population and health information for 

approximately 100 developing or emerging-economy countries 

2: Requests for country-specific briefing packets on policy-related 

population and health information for approximately 100 developing 

or emerging-economy countries 

4. Individual and institutional 

capacity to disseminate policy-relevant 

PHN/E data and 

information strengthened. 

5. Policy communication techniques 

developed and tested 


1: Participants trained 

2: Collaborators for Training Workshops 


1: Policy communication skill use 

2: Training sessions or workshops replicated (spin-offs) 

3: Evidence of workshop financial sustainability 

4: Workshop alumni who use acquired skills to support 

MEASURE Program goals 

5: Institutional capacity for policy communication improved 

Process Indicator 

1: Number of audience assessment and policy communication 

methodologies and techniques developed and tested


35 

Attachment 2. 

Global Publications Produced Under MEASURE Communication 

YEAR, TITLE 

FORMAT, LANGUAGES 

(E = ENGLISH; F = FRENCH; 

S = SPANISH; A = ARABIC; 

P = PORTUGUESE) 

FY 2003 

Critical Links: Population, Health and the Environment 

PRB Population Bulletin, E 

Ripple Effects: Population and Coastal Regions 

Policy brief, E 

Gender, Health and Development in the Americas 2003 

Data sheet, E/S 

Nutrition of Women and Adolescent Girls: Why It Matters 

On-line, E 

Health Sector Reform: How it Affects Reproductive Health 

Policy brief, E/F/S 

Unmet Need for Family Planning: Recent Trends and Their Implications for Programs Policy brief, E/F/S 

New Perspectives on Quality of Care Series 


Improving the Quality of Reproductive Health Care for Young People 

Improving the Quality of Reproductive Health Care: How Much Does It Cost? 

2003 World Population Data Sheet Data sheet, E/F/S 

FY 2002 

Children’s Environmental Health: Risks and Remedies 


Hidden Suffering: 

Disabilities From Pregnancy and Childbirth in Less Developed Countries Policy brief, E/F/S 

Meeting the Reproductive Health Needs of Displaced People 

Policy brief, E (F/S on-line only) 

Healthy People Need Healthy Forests 


Making the Link: Population, Health, and the Environment 

Wallchart, E/F/S 

Making Motherhood Safer: Overcoming Obstacles on the Pathway to Care 

Booklet and poster, each in E/F/S 

New Perspectives on Quality of Care Series 

Policy briefs, E/F/S 

Overview of Quality of Care in Reproductive Health: 

Definitions and Measurements of Quality 

Client-Centered Quality: Clients’ Perspectives and Barriers to Receiving Care 

Providers and Quality of Care 

2002 Women of Our World Data sheet, E/F/S 

Securing Future Supplies for Family Planning and HIV/AIDS Prevention 


Women, Men, and Environmental Change 


Understanding and Using Population Projections 

Policy brief, E 


FY 2001 

Abandoning Female Genital Cutting 

Chartbook, E/F 

Conveying Concerns: Media Coverage of Women and HIV/AIDS 

Booklet, E/F/S 

Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa: 

A Chartbook on Sexual Experience and Reproductive Health 

Chartbook, E/F 

New Population Policies: 

PRB Population Bulletin, 

Advancing Women’s Health and Rights 

E/F/S/A 

Conveying Concerns: Women Report on Families in Transition 

On-line, E 

2001 World Population Data Sheet Data sheet, E/F/S


YEAR, TITLE 


(E = ENGLISH; F = FRENCH; 

S = SPANISH; A= ARABIC; 

P = PORTUGUESE) 

FY 2000 

The World’s Youth 2000 

Data Sheet and accompanying 

report, each in E/F/S 

Social Marketing for Adolescent Sexual Health 

Booklet, E/F 

Women 2000: A Profile of Women’s Reproductive Lives (series) 

Policy briefs and folder, E/F/S 

Meeting Young Women’s Reproductive and Sexual Health Needs 

How Does Family Planning Influence Women’s Lives? 

Is Education the Best Contraceptive? 

Making Pregnancy and Childbirth Safer 

Conveying Concerns: Women Write on Gender-Based Violence 

Booklet (media stories), E/F/S 

Emerging Issues in Women’s Health and Rights 


Building on Global Gains in Health, Education, and Rights 



FY 1999 

Female Genital Cutting: The Facts and Myths (Report of a USAID Symposium) Booklet, E 

Breastfeeding Patterns in the Developing World 

Data sheet/wallchart, E/F/S/A 


PRB Publications Distributed 

Through Targeted Mailings Under MEASURE 

YEAR, TITLE 

FY 2002 

Finding the Balance: 

Population and Water Scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa 

Attaining Global Health: Challenges and Opportunities 

International Migration: Facing the Challenge 

Family Planning Worldwide 2002 

Kids Count International Data Sheet 

FY 2001 

World Population Futures 

FY 2000 

An Urbanizing World 

FY 1999 

World Population Beyond Six Billion 

International Population Handbook, 4th Edition 


Policy brief, E/S/F 



Wallchart, E/F/S 

Wallchart, E 




Booklet, E/F 

FY 1998 

Population Change, Resources, and the Environment 


Population and Reproductive Health in Sub-Saharan Africa PRB Population Bulletin, E/


37 

Attachment 3. 

Media Articles From 1/1/1997 to 7/31/2003 

YEAR LOCATION SEMINAR PROJECT AND TITLE NO. ARTICLES 

1997 Ivory Coast Pop’Mediafrique workshop on HIV/AIDS 15 

1998 Kathmandu ICPD+5 Asia Regional Seminar 67 

1998 Ouagadougou, Pop’Mediafrique workshop on STIs 19 

Burkina Faso 

1998 Washington, DC Women’s Edition seminar on Reproductive Health 55 

1998 New York Women’s Edition seminar on Gender-based Violence 56 

1999 Saly Portudal, Fem’Mediafrique workshop on Women and AIDS 36 

Senegal 

1999 Johannesburg ICPD+5 Africa Regional Seminar 36 

1999 Netherlands ICPD+5 The Hague 47 

1999 New York ICPD+5 UNGASS 36 

1999 San José, Women’s Edition seminar on Women’s Empowerment 31 

Costa Rica 

1999 New York Women’s Edition seminar on Families in Transition 29 

2000 Durban 13th International AIDS Conference 49 

2000 New York Beijing+5 Conference 33 

2000 Bamako Pop’Mediafrique National Seminar – AIDS/Young People 41 

2000 Tunis IAG Conference on Saving Mother’s Lives 25 

2000 Durban Women’s Edition seminar on Women and HIV/AIDS 59 

2001 Manila Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive Health 7 

2001 Taiwan Asian Youth at Risk Conference 16 

2001 Basel, Switz. Conference on Population and Health in the 21st Century 4 

2001 Istanbul Contraceptive Security Meeting 26 

2001 Madagascar Ongoing media network in Madagascar 67 

2001 Bamako, Mali UNICEF Conference on Maternal Health 36 

2001 Ouagadougou, Intl. Conf. on AIDS and STDs in Africa 38 

Burkina Faso 

2001 New York HIV/AIDS-UNGASS 17 

2001 Washington, DC Women’s Edition seminar on Women and Leadership 63 

2001 New York Women’s Edition seminar on Women and Trafficking 33 

2002 Barcelona 14th International AIDS Conference 36 

2002 Finland Environmental Ministers meeting 1 

2002 Munyonyo, ESAWomen seminar on HIV/AIDS in Young Women/Girls 56 

Uganda 

2002 Dakar Post-Abortion Care Conference 27 

2002 Barcelona Women’s Edition seminar on Quality of Reproductive Health Care 32 

2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development 117 

2003 Nairobi, Kenya ESAWomen seminar on GBV, AIDS, and Family Planning 10 

TOTAL NUMBER OF ARTICLES: 1,220 

Note: Articles listed are those provided to the Population Reference Bureau, generally by the author.


Attachment 4. 

Women’s Edition Participants 1998–2003 

Gabriela Adamesteanu, editor-in-Chief, 22; weekly columnist, Romania Libera, Romania 

Harikala Adhikary, associate editor, Gorkhapatra, Nepal 

Thaís Aguilar, director for Latin America, Servicio Especial de Noticias de la Mujer (SEM), Costa Rica 

Sarah Akrofi-Quarcoo, chief editor, News and Current Affairs, “Ghana Radio News,” Ghana Broadcasting Corporation; 

President, Women in Broadcasting, Ghana 

Sandra Aliaga, editor, Equidad, Bolivia 

Barbara Bitangaro, senior health reporter and editor, “Women’s Vision,” The New Vision, Uganda 

Esperanza Brito de Martí, editor-in-chief, Fem, Mexico 

Josefina (Pennie Azarcon) dela Cruz, associate editor, “Sunday Inquirer Magazine,” Philippine Daily Inquirer 

Judith Hadonou-Yovo, Chargee de Mission, La Chaine 2 (LC2), Benin 

Nguyen Thi Hahn, host, “The Insiders,” Vietnam Television 

Zuhra Karim, publisher and Editor, She, Pakistan 

Seraphine Lainjo Tata, assistant chief of service for programs (radio), Cameroon Radio and Television Broadcasting 

Corporation; Secretary-General, National Professional Media Women 

Ciça Lessa, editor, Capricho, Brazil 

Nguyen Thi Loc, manager, English Service, Voice of Vietnam 

Alice Louis El Mallakh, editor, Nisf El-Dunia, Egypt 

Eunice Mathu, publisher and editor, Parents, Kenya 

Magda Rashad Mehanna, assistant editor-in-chief and editor of the women’s section, Al Ahram, Egypt 

Noesreini R.S. Meliala, managing editor, Femina, Indonesia 

Nawal Sayed Mostafa, vice chief editor, Al Akhbar, Egypt 

Galina Rotayenko, editor-in-chief, Marianna; deputy editor, Panorama; producer, Kharkiv region TV; director, 

Femin-Inform news agency, Ukraine 

Sathya Saran, editor, Femina, India 

Sylvia Vollenhoven, producer (TV), South Africa Broadcasting Corporation, South Africa. 

Lemlem Bekele Woldemichael, senior reporter, Radio Ethiopia 

Nabusayi Lindah Wamboka, assistant editor and senior features writer, The Monitor, Uganda


39 

Attachment 5. 

Conferences to Which PRB Sponsored Journalists 

CONFERENCE 

JOURNALISTS 

ICPD +5, New York, 1999 20 

Beijing +5, New York, 2000 6 

13th International AIDS Conference Durban, 2000 21 

SO2-IAG conference on saving mother’s lives, Tunis, 2000 7 

International Conference on AIDS and STDs in Africa, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 2001 10 

Conference on Population and Health in the 21st Century, Basel, Switzerland, 2001 3 

UNGASS on HIV/AIDS, New York, 2001 6 

UNICEF conference on maternal health, Bamako, Mali, 2001 12 

Contraceptive Security conference, Istanbul, 2001 6 

Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive Health, Manila, 2001 3 

Asian Youth at Risk Conference, Taiwan, 2001 5 

14th International AIDS Conference, Barcelona, 2002 9 

World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 2002 15 

Post-Abortion Care conference, Dakar, Senegal, in 2002 4 

Environmental ministers meeting, Finland, 2002 1 

TOTAL 128


Attachment 6. 

Policy Communication Workshops 

“COMMUNICATING POPULATION AND HEALTH RESEARCH TO POLICYMAKERS” 

WORKSHOP 

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS 

1998 East-West Center, Hawaii 14 


1999 IPSR, Mahidol University, Kampala, Uganda 16 


2000 IPH, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda 14 

2000 IPSR, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand 16 

2000 INISA-PCP,University of Costa Rica, San Jose 13 

2001 MOH, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 12 


2001 International Institute for Population Studies, Mumbai, India 9 


2001 INISA-PCP, University of Costa Rica, San Jose 16 




2003 FGC Workshop, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 13 




TOTAL 277 

“COMMUNICATING ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH TO POLICYMAKERS: 

EXPLORING POPULATION, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT LINKAGES” 

WORKSHOP 

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS 

2000 World Conservation Union (IUCN), Costa Rica 14 

2000 Antananarivo, Madagascar 14 

2001 IUCN, Costa Rica 14 



2002 University of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam 17 


2003 Univeristy of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam 21 

TOTAL 127 

PRB POPULATION POLICY COMMUNICATION FELLOWS BY YEAR 

NAME HOME COUNTRY ORGANIZATION (NOW) COUNTRY 

1998-1999 

Bronte-Tinkew, Jacinta Trinidad&Tobago Child Trends - Washington DC USA 

Do, Mai Vietnam Johns Hopkins University – Bloomberg USA 

School of Public Health


41 


Gajurel, Kishor Nepal University of Michigan - Population USA 

Studies Center; Director of the Human 

and Natural Resources Studies 

Center at Kathmandu University, 

Kabani, Ghazala Pakistan Marshfield Clinic USA 

Kimuna, PhD., Sitawa Kenya East Carolina University, USA 

Department of Sociology 

Mahmood, Muhammad Pakistan Ministry of Population Welfare PAKISTAN 

Islamabad, Pakistan 

Oladosu, Muyiwa Nigeria The Alan Guttmacher Institute USA 

Otieno, Dr. Mary Kenya International Medical Corps USA 

Ratovondrahona, Madagascar Université Michel de Montaigne FRANCE 

Bordeaux III 

Satyavada, Dr. Aravinda India INDIA 

Sun, Rongjun China Cleveland State University USA 

Viswanathan, Meera India University of North Carolina - Chapel USA 

1999-2000 

Adazu, Dr. Kubaje Ghana Centers for Disease Control and KENYA 

Prevention (CDC), Kenya 

Bawah, Ayaga Ghana University of Pennsylvania, USA 

Population Studies Center 

Diop-Sidibe, Ph.D., Mali Johns Hopkins University, USA 

Nafissatou 

Bloomberg School of Public Health, 

Center for Communication programs 

Domingo, Sister Mary Nigeria Boston College, Graduate School of USA 

Social Work 

Garcia-Calderon, Rosario Mexico UNESCO Institute for Statistics CANADA 

Gordillo, Amparo Ecuador Tulane University USA 

Kiiti, Ndunge Kenya MAP International in Atlanta USA 

Opondo, Dr. Johnmark Kenya Family Care International USA 

Pande, Gitanjali India Council of Chief State School Officers USA 

Rani, Manju 

India 

Razafindratsima, Nicolas Madagascar Insitut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris FRANCE 

Rutaremwa, Gideon Uganda Makerere University, Dept. UGANDA 

of Population Studies 

Sinha, Nistha India Economic Growth Center; Yale USA 

Vargas, Ph.D., Silvana Peru International Program on the COSTA RICA 

Elimination of Child Labor - 

ILO 

2000-2001 

Aung, Yin Yin Myanmar UNICEF - Yangon, Myanmar MYANMAR 

Feng, Ph.D., Zhanlian China Center for Gerontology and Health USA 

Care Research, Brown University 

Gyimah, Stephen Ghana University of Western Ontario CANADA 

Haque, Nasim Pakistan Johns Hopkins University USA 

Kodamanchaly, Joseph India USA 

Nyangara, Florence Kenya PHNI USA 

Sari, Nazmi Turkey Florida International University USA 

Sari, Özlem Turkey Florida International University USA 

Ssengonzi, Robert Uganda Research Triangle Institute USA 

Sunil, Thankam S. India University of Texas at San Antonio USA



Vu, M.D., Ph.D., Vietnam Population Research Center at the USA 

Thanh-Huyen 

University of Chicago 

2001-2002 

Barsoum Botros, Ghada Egypt EGYPT 

Gebreselassie, Tesfayi Ethiopia Pennsylvania State University USA 

Ilhamto, Gatot Indonesia University of Guelph, Canada CANADA 

Li, Guanghui “Jodie” China University of Washington USA 

Matenge, Miss Mavis Botswana Romero House CANADA 

Nankhuni, Flora Malawi Pennsylvania State University, USA 

Dept. of Agricultural Economics 

and Rural Sociology and 

The Population Research Institute 

Omariba, D. Walter Kenya University of Western Ontario CANADA 

Paz Soldan, Valerie Peru Carolina Population Center – USA 

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 

Portela, Rosimeiry Brasil University of Maryland USA 

Institute for Ecological Economics 

Potdar, Rukmini India Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of USA 

Public Health 

Subaiya, Lekha India University of Maryland USA 

Urdinola, Beatriz Piedad Colombia University of California, Berkeley USA 

Woubalem, Zewdu Ethiopia Brown University USA 

2002-2003 

Chhetri, Nalini Nepal Penn State University USA 

Cruz-Caraballo, Darwin Dominican Republic Pennsylvania State University USA 

Doctor, Henry Malawi Population Council-Ghana GHANA 

Navrongo Health Research Centre 

Jampaklay, Aree Thailand University of North Carolina at Chapel THAILAND 

John-Langba, Johannes Sierra Leone University of Pittsburgh USA 

Kulkarni, Veena India University of Maryland USA 

Magarati, Ratna Maya Nepal University of Washington USA 

Muhammad, Ali Pakistan University of Western Ontario, Canada CANADA 

Muñoz-Franco, Elisa Mexico Brown University USA 

Stepanyan, Ara Armenia Rice University USA 

Sundaram, Aparna India University of Maryland, College Park USA 

Thiam, Macoumba Senegal University of Montreal, Canada CANADA 

You, Danzhen China University of California at Berkeley USA 

2003-2004 

Aysa-Lastra, Maria Mexico Princeton University USA 

Bhandari, Prem Nepal Pennsylvania State University USA 

Biratu, Belay Ethiopia Brown University USA 

Bradatan, Cristina Romania Pennsylvania State University USA 

Chattopadhyay, India Brown University USA 

Farhat, Tilda Lebanon University of North Carolina at Chapel USA 

Fotso, Jean-Christophe Cameroon University of Montreal, Canada CANADA 

Marquez Barrientos, Guatemala Indiana University, Bloomington USA 

Mills, Samuel Ghana Johns Hopkins University USA 

Molla, Azizur Bangladesh Pennsylvania State University USA 

Parashar, Sangeeta India University of Maryland USA 

Sorgho, Dr. Gaston Burkina Faso Harvard University USA 

Thomas, Kevin Sierra Leone University of Pennsylvania USA 

Vasquez Luque, Tania Peru University of Texas at Austin USA


43 

Attachment 7. 

IGWG Publications Under MEASURE Communication 

Research Gaps Related to Gender Issues and 

Population, Health, and Nutrition Programs: 

An Analysis 

—Prepared by the IGWG Subcommittee on Research and 

Indicators, this paper outlines what constitutes “gendersensitive” 

research for reproductive health. It also compiles 

a list of research gaps related to the reproductive 

health and rights aspects of the 1994 International 

Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and 

the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW). 

(A 20-page Summary of the Analysis is also available.) 

Published in April 2000. 

(Disseminated 1,900 copies) 

The Guide for Incorporating Gender Considerations in 

USAID Family Planning and Reproductive Health RFAs 

and RFPs 

—The IGWG Program Implementation Subcommittee created 

this guide to assist USAID technical staff in fulfilling 

the USAID requirement for gender integration in the 

ADS 200 and 300 series. It provides strategies to design 

Requests for Applications (RFAs) and Requests for 

Proposals (RFPs) concerning reproductive health in a 

way that integrates gender. 

Published in October 2000. 

(Disseminated 600 copies) 

Involving Men in Sexual & Reproductive Health: 

An Orientation Guide CD-ROM 

—The IGWG Men and Reproductive Health Subcommittee 

produced this Orientation Guide CD-ROM, which has two 

overarching goals: promoting gender equity for its own 

sake, and using gender-equitable approaches to improve 

sexual and reproductive health outcomes. Intended as a 

resource for planners, program managers and policymakers, 

as well as NGOs and community groups, the Guide 

can facilitate information sharing, planning, and advocacy. 

The Guide covers five areas: involving men in family 

planning, HIV/AIDS, safe motherhood, gender-based 

violence, and working with young men. 

Published in May 2002. 

(Disseminated 1,300 in English and Spanish) 

Exploring Gender Perspectives in Population and 

Health Programs: Workshop Findings and 

Recommendations 

—In 1999, the IGWG Gender, Advocacy, and Policy 

(GAP) Subcommittee held a series of interviews and 

workshops, Exploring Gender Perspectives in Population 

and Health Programs, to learn how project managers 

regarded gender at that time. This paper is the result of 

those efforts and includes the workshop methodology, 

findings (such as the five diverse perspectives managers 

had on integrating gender into PHN programs) and recommendations 

for integrating gender considerations into 

the design of PHN projects and programs. It reflects the 

views of project managers who were attempting to 

understand the role that gender might play in their projects. 

The paper presents these perspectives without 

assigning value or preference to any of them. 

Published in July 2002. 


A Framework to Identify Gender Indicators for 

Reproductive Health and Nutrition Programming 

—The IGWG Subcommittee on Research and Indicators, 

drawing on their own extensive experience, produced 

this 40-page publication. It presents a framework for 

incorporating gender into the design and evaluation of 

PHN programs and provides process indicators to help 

PHN program planners address gender-related barriers 

and constraints to improved reproductive outcomes in 

the areas of family planning, safe motherhood, postabortion 

care, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS. 

Published in October 2002. 


Gender-Based Violence and Reproductive Health & 

HIV/AIDS: Summary of a Technical Update 

—Based on a day-long technical update for program 

managers, policymakers, service providers, and trainees 

in May 2002, this 40-page summary explores if and 

how gender-based violence (GBV) and RH/HIV intersect 

and how best to integrate GBV concerns into RH/HIV 

programs. 

Published in November 2002. 


Involving Men to Address Gender Inequities in 

Reproductive Health: Three Case Studies 

—The IGWG Men and Reproductive Health Subcommittee 

has identified three innovative programs that have 

engaged men and youth in efforts to improve reproductive 

health outcomes for men, women, and families 

around the world. This 70-page publication is a model 

for other programs that share the goal of improving 

women’s reproductive health and gender equity by 

involving men in a conscious, considered, and constructive 

way. 

Published in July 2003. 

(Disseminated 1,800 copies)


A Manual for Integrating Gender into Reproductive 

Health and HIV Programs: From Commitment to Action 

—This reference manual, prepared by IGWG’s Gender 

Manual Task Force, focuses on the “how” of gender integration. 

Program managers and designers of new programs 

will find it to be an invaluable tool for 

integrating gender concerns into program design, implementation, 

and evaluation, thereby improving reproductive 

health through equitable gender relations. 

Published in November 2003. 

(Disseminated 850 copies) 

The ‘So What?’ Report: A Look at Whether Integrating 

a Gender Focus into Reproductive Health Programs 

Makes a Difference to Outcomes 

—Does taking a gender-based approach to policy and 

programming have an effect on reproductive health outcomes? 

This question, posed to the IGWG Evidence-Based 

Task Force, formed the basis for a review of the evidence 

that integrating gender into reproductive health programs 

does make a difference to outcomes—both reproductive 

health outcomes and gender outcomes. This 

publication, the result of the Task Force review of 400 

interventions, highlights 25 examples of RH interventions 

that integrated gender by working to transform rigid 

gender relations and that achieved improved reproductive 

health outcomes. 

Published in March 2004. 

(Disseminated 750 copies)


45 

Attachment 8. 

Project Staff (FY98–FY04) 

POPULATION REFERENCE BUREAU 

NAME TITLE YEARS WITH PROJECT 

PROJECT MANAGEMENT 

Nancy Yinger Director of International Programs and MEASURE Communication 2000-2004 

John Haaga Director 1998-1999 

Rhonda Smith Deputy Director of Capacity Building and Technical Assistance 1998-2004 

Mark Sherman Deputy Director of Global Communications/Senior Policy Analyst 1998-2002 

TECHNICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 

Sara Adkins-Blanch Production Coordinator/ Administrator 1998-2004 

Lori Ashford Senior Policy Analyst/Technical Director 1998-2004 

Buffy Baumann Fellow 2002-2003 

Julia Beamish Senior Communications Specialist 1998-2000 

Margaret Blabey Program Assistant 2002-2003 

Eric Bourland Web Development Specialist 2000-2003 

Jennifer Bowman International Fellow 1999-2000 

Anne Boyd International Fellow 1999-2000 

Ellen Carnevale Director of Publishing 1998-2001 

Dara Carr Senior Policy Analyst 1999-2001 

Donna Clifton Distribution Coordinator 1998-2004 

Emily Collings International Fellow (at USAID) 1998-2000 

Yvette Collymore Writer, Population Topics 1999-2001 

Lisa Colson Program Assistant 2002-2004 

Diana Cornelius Data Analyst 1998-2001 

Elizabeth Creel Population Specialist 2001-2003 

Colette Curran International Fellow (at PRB) 1998-1999 

Ketayoun Darvich-Kodjouri International Programs Coordinator 1998-1999 

Patricia David Senior Health Policy Analyst 1998 

Roger-Mark DeSouza Coordinator, Population and Environment Programs 1999-2004 

Peter Donaldson President, PRB 1998-2003 

Alene Gelbard Director of International Programs 1998-1999 

Tara Hall Graphic Designer 2003 

Carl Haub Senior Demographer 1998-2003 

Sharon Hershey-Fay Production Designer 1998 

Britt Herstad Research Analyst/Policy Communications Associate 1998-2003 

Lisa Hisel Managing Editor 2000-2001 

Haruna Ito (Kashiwase) Population Information Assistant 2001-2004 

Mary Kent Editor, Population Bulletin 2003 

Theresa Kilcourse Graphic Designer 2000, 2003



Heather Lilley Graphic Designer 1999-2004 

Aun Ling Lim Information Services Specialist 1999 

Kathleen Maguire Translations Coordinator 2002-2003 

Margaret Maier Project Assistant 1999-2001 

Zuali Malsawma Librarian 2000-2004 

Monica Matts Distribution Clerk 2003 

Lindsay Mayka International Fellow (at USAID) 2003 

Deborah Mesce Senior Media Coordinator 2001-2004 

Helena Mickle Managing Editor 2003 

Jonathan Nash PHE Policy Analyst 2000-2003 

Nina Pagadala International Fellow (at USAID) 2001-2002 

Rebecca Perry International Fellow (at PRB) 2003 

Diana Prieto Gender Fellow (at USAID) 2002-2003 

Elizabeth Ransom Research Analyst/Policy Analyst 2000-2003 

Vijay Rao Senior Policy Analyst 2001-2004 

Nicole Ricard Project Assistant/Training Associate 1999-2001 

Schuyler Roach International Fellow (at USAID) 1998 

Nazy (Farnazeh) Roudi Policy & Evaluation Specialist 1998-2002 

Justine Sass International Fellow (at PRB)/Policy Analyst 2000-2002 

Audrey Seger International Fellow (at USAID)/Research Associate 2000-2001 

Karen Semkow Project Administrator 1998-1999 

Erin Sines Program Assistant/Research Associate 1998, 2003 

Cheryl Stauffer Web Design/Research 1998 

Allison Tarmann Editor 1999-2003 

Joanne Weinman Senior Policy Analyst 2000-2002 

John Williams Evaluation Specialist 2003 

ACADEMY FOR EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (AED) 


Victor Aguayo Data Analyst 1998-2000 

Ellyn Beiler Webmaster 1998-2001 

Maya Bruck Program Associate 1999-2000 

Bart Burkhalter Senior Technical Officer 1999-2000 

Mercedes Cabrera Deputy Financial Manager 1999-2000 

Alisa Cameron Program Associate 1999-2000 

Lynda Nygren Graphic Designer 1998-2000 

Robert Porter Senior Communication Specialist 1998-2003 

Bill Rau Senior Program Officer 1998-2000 

Eddie Reed Internet Specialist 1998 

Will Shaw Vice President and Director, International Public Health 1998-2000 

Glenn Strachan Information Technology Director 1998


47 

End-notes 

1 The others were MEASURE DHS+ implemented by ORC Macro, MEASURE Evaluation implemented 

by the University of North Carolina, and PASAs with CDC and BUCEN. 

2 AED staff contributed to this effort. 

3 Response rates on questionnaires ranged from 1 percent to 5 percent of audiences who received 

the initial mailing, with an average of 2.2 percent for English publications, 1.5 percent for French 

publications, and 2.5 percent for Spanish publications. The highest response rates (and subsequent 

orders) were on PRB data sheets—the World Population Data Sheet and specialized data sheets on 

breastfeeding, women, and youth. 

4 This activity was funded by field support from the E&E Bureau; AED staff supported this effort 

in Russia. 

5 The extensive set of activities in Russia, funded by field-support from the Mission in Moscow, 

were conducted by AED staff. 

6 AED staff contributed to this activity. 

7 AED staff contributed to this activity. 

8 All together MEASURE Communication spent $475,000 on activities in Cambodia with field 

support from the ANE Bureau and the Mission. A special evaluation effort was core funded. 

9 A detailed evaluation report is available on request. 

10 MEASURE Communication received $682,000 in field support from the Mission to support 

this work. 

11 MEASURE Communication received $350,000 in field support funds for these activities. 

12 MEASURE Gateway was a simply a portal to all the partners’ websites; its use was not monitored. 

PopPlanet is described in the Population, Health, and Environment section of this report. Until 

FY2001, AED was responsible for the MEASURE Communication and MEASURE Gateway sites; 

their IT department designed and maintained these sites at the beginning of the project. 

13 MEASURE Communication’s media work in Africa was supported with field support from the 

Africa Bureau. 

14 Two of the MEASURE partners—Evaluation and Communication—worked with the same three 

regional universities to build a cadre of trained faculty capable of providing the skills across the data 

collection, monitoring and evaluation, dissemination, and data use continuum. Today, these institutions 

are becoming well known as regional centers of excellence for training in these focus areas. 

15 On occasion the Policy Fellows seminar included videotaping each Fellow’s final presentations as 

part of the final critique. 

16 Course outline and reading resources are available on request. 

17 The PHE program was able to leverage significant foundation funding over the life of the project. 

18 This was co-funded by the UN Foundation. 

19 For eight of these publications, the initial distribution was paid for by non-MEASURE funds, so 

the actual distribution of these publications was considerably greater: 105,000 copies.

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