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The making of a “yin-yang” project logo

November 12, 2008 · 8 Comments

Rice planthopper project logo-draft

Rice planthopper project logo-final

The project logo

Dr. K.L. Heong, principal investigator of this ADB project, explains the meaning of the logo:

Yin and Yang means achieving balance. I used it to mean balance ecologically and balance structurally. At the moment there too much yin (negative) overpowering yang. The latter might be too difficult to explain. The ecological balance as a means to achieve sustainable management of the planthoppers is perhaps the best meaning for the yin and yang.

What is yin-yang?

The symbol (Yin-Yang) represents the ancient Chinese understanding of how things work. The outer circle represents “everything”, while the black and white shapes within the circle represent the interaction of two energies, called “yin” (black) and “yang” (white), which cause everything to happen. They are not completely black or white, just as things in life are not completely black or white, and they cannot exist without each other.

In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin yang is used to describe how seemingly opposing forces are bound together, intertwined, and interdependent in the natural world, giving rise to each other in turn. Yin and yang represent all the opposite principles found in the universe, says Richard Hooker. Under yang are the principles of maleness, the sun, creation, heat, light, Heaven, dominance, and so on, and under yin are the principles of femaleness, the moon, completion, cold, darkness, material forms, submission, and so on.

The research project

In a previous post, I wrote about the ADB project inception and planning workshop we conducted in Ho Chi Minh City on Nov. 3-6. 2008. The Asian Development Bank (ADB), in response to the rice crisis, invited IRRI in April 2008 to submit a proposal that will help reduce losses, both pre and post harvests under the 13th RETA program (Regional Technical Assistance). The proposal, approved in October 2008, is entitled “Bringing about a Sustainable Agronomic Revolution in Rice Production in Asia by Reducing Preventable Pre- and Postharvest Losses”.

The project will focus on the following outputs:

A.1 New field resistance screening method and germplasm with durable field resistance to planthoppers and virus diseases identified for incorporation into new elite breeding lines and mega‐varieties.

A.2. Strategies to manage virus spread in rice fields developed and implemented in pilot sites.

A.3. Ecologically based management of outbreak pests, such as planthoppers,developed and key sustainability indicators of pest breakouts monitored.

A.4. Management practices integrating durable resistance and ecological methods evaluated by farmers, communicated through policy dialogues, and upscaled using communication media in pilot sites.

A.5. NARES partners’ research and extension capacities in plant resistance, ecological management of outbreak pests, insecticide resistance research and communication enhanced.

Your feedback

We would like Devcompage readers to give their feedback on the logos above. Which logo do you think best communicates the goal of the reserach project — Bringing about a sustainable agronomic revolution in rice production in Asia by reducing preventable pre-harvest losses? The topmost black and white or the green one at the bottom? Please post your comments.

Categories: Development communication
Tagged: Asian influence in a development project logo, the making of a logo, yin-yang in a planthopper project, yin-yang project logo

ADB supports research to reduce pest outbreaks in rice

November 12, 2008 · No Comments

Project logo

In the last few years rice production in several countries has been severely reduced by insect pests called planthoppers. Besides causing crops to wilt in a condition called “hopperburn”, they also transmit virus diseases. Vietnam has lost about a million tons of rice to this menace since 2006. And in China as much as 4 million tons of rice have been lost in the same period.

Workshop participants

Thirty scientists from Australia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) held a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City to develop sustainable strategies to manage this problem. They will develop methods that are broad based that not only build defense in the rice crop, but also defense in the surrounding areas using a new approach called “ecological engineering” pioneered by Professor Geoff Gurr of Australia. “Pests are often kept under control by many predators that live in areas surrounding rice fields. We can engineer the landscape such that these areas become homes to these predator friends”.

In opening the workshop, His Excellency, the Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, Dr Bui Ba Bong, expressed his special thanks to the the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and IRRI for responding to this urgent need to find sustainable solutions to the pest outbreaks. “With this project we will be able to develop management strategies that are environmentally friendly and will focus on reducing farmers’ risk of losing their crops to outbreaks”. “Very often when pest outbreaks occur, farmers use too much pesticides and we must strive to avoid this” said the Vice Minister.

The initiative was developed by IRRI and funded by the ADB. “Losses due to pest outbreaks are preventable and this project will enable scientists to use their ecological and virology knowledge, plant breeding skills and communication techniques to develop more sustainable approaches” said Dr K.L. Heong, the leader of the project. “We need to motivate thousands of farmers to conserve the predators and effective communication is essential” said Dr. M.M. Escalada, a communication scientist from the Philippines.

The pests also carry virus diseases and infected plants become discolored and stunted with no grains. “Our strategy is to develop methods to limit the spread of the viruses” said Dr I.R. Choi, a scientist at IRRI.

“One way to limit the pest population is to develop rice varieties that have resistance and we are developing new ways to incorporate these genes by plant breeding” said Dr P. Virk, a senior plant breeder at the IRRI.

Categories: Development communication
Tagged: ADB RETA planthopper project, ADB-IRRI planthopper project, communication and food security, rice pest outbreaks

How cell phones can help improve livelihoods

October 6, 2008 · 6 Comments

The above Millennium Development Goals (MDG) logos were originally created by McCann Erickson for the Brazil MDG campaign, Nos Podemos. As an illustration of a best practice for campaigns, Nos Podemos deserves a special feature in Devcompage. Since this post is about a topic related to MDGs, it is fitting to show the logos here.

To help achieve the MDGs to end poverty, extreme hunger and disease, information and communication technologies (ICTs) play a central role. Innovative applications of ICTs for development (ICT4D) have been reported in the literature — linking ICT4D with community radio in Sri Lanka, the AgriBazaar project in Malaysia, and a telemedicine system for primary community health care in Indonesia are recent examples.

A vivid illustration of how ICT4D can be used to improve livelihoods is tackled in the 2006 bachelor’s thesis of Jonas Myrh and Lars Nordstrom from Uppsala University. They noted that prior research has shown that mobile phones have great value for social networking and reducing vulnerability to risk. Their research question was:

But how does mobile phone use affect the way fishermen live their lives, how they pursue economic activities and how they protect themselves from vulnerability to risk?

Using qualitative research, they conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 fishing boat captains in Tanzania. Results revealed that increased access to information through mobile phones brought positive effects to livelihood indicators, empowerment, opportunity and vulnerability to risk. Mobile phone use, according to Myrh and Nordstrom (2006) empowers, both through increased bargaining power and increased control over external events. Mobile phones give increased knowledge about market opportunities and a possibility to work more efficiently. Furthermore, mobile phones give fishermen a possibility to take measures to decrease the risks they are exposed to, such as emergencies out at sea. The negative effects of mobile phone use were found negligible. These effects are most likely not isolated to Tanzanian fishermen.

How credible are celebrity endorsements of OTC drugs

September 16, 2008 · 11 Comments

Of late, there has been a flurry of celebrity endorsements of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs such as pain relievers, cough expectorants, vitamins and dietary supplements. In the Philippines, celebrity endorsers are mostly movie actors and actresses. You see a popular young movie actor sashay into your TV screen in an airport scene swearing by the power of a pain reliever that he said he had with him all the time and could not leave home without.

Based on news reports and entertainment industry buzz on the millions of dollars paid to sports celebrities like Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps, celebrity endorsement is expensive. Yet firms are willing to pay for the powerful endorsement from celebrities whose name, face and voice recognition can attract millions of consumers.

Here are the current celebrity endorses of OTC products:

Product Category	Product	Celebrity Endorser	Occupation
Pain reliever	Biogesic	John Lloyd Cruz	TV and movie actor
	Advil	Edu Manzano	TV host and movie actor
	Alaxan	Manny Pacquiao	World boxing champion
Cough expectorant	Solmux	Aga Muhlach	TV and movie actor
	Loviscol	Maricel Soriano	TV and movie actress
itamins	Centrum	Piolo Pascual	TV and movie actor
	Enervon	KC Concepcion	TV and movie actress
	Myra-E	Dawn Zulueta	TV and movie actress
	Haveitall	Sharon Cunera	TV and movie actress
Dietary supplements
	Circulan	Anabelle Rama	Movie actress
	Fitrum	Judy Ann Santos	TV and movie actress
	Liveraide	Edu Manzano	TV host and movie actor
	Heartvit	Kris Aquino	TV host and movie actress
	Marvel Taheebo	Charlene Muhlach	TV host and movie actress

Source credibility is the most important characteristic in selecting a celebrity endorser. Source credibility, developed by Hovland, Janis, and Kelley (1953), involves three dimensions: expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness.

Expertise is the perceived validity of the assertions made by the celebrity. This connection is often made by a previous association of the person to the nature or aspect of the product. While famous athletes endorse athletic products (e.g., Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps for Speedo, LeBron James for Nike), Observers might say that showbiz stars could very well endorse beauty products but for over-the-counter drugs, it might be a long shot. However, if the growing number of endorsements is any indication, the ads might be bringing in the sales.

Trustworthiness is the confidence that the consumer has in the celebrity regarding honesty and objectivity. In general, people are skeptical when an unknown person, is trying to sell them something. Experts say that the more trust consumers have invested in a public figure, the less suspicious they will be about the attributes of the product being endorsed.

Attractiveness is also important in an effective celebrity endorsement. As it is a subjective dimension, perceptions of beauty depend on the market. For instance, many Asians seem to place a value on skin color which explains the popularity of skin whitening products. Social psychologists have studied the effects of a communicator’s effectiveness on attitude change. Likewise, consumer psychologists have examined the effects of a model’s attractiveness on advertising effectiveness. Findings in both areas show that attractive models are more successful in persuading others than are less-attractive communicators and models (Chaiken, 1979, Baker & Churchill, 1977).

Are you influenced by celebrity endorsements in your purchase intentions of over-the-counter drugs? Would you go out and buy a popular pain reliever because you trust the endorser? Post your comments.

Categories: Development communication · Evaluation of communication materials
Tagged: how credible are celebrity endorsers, Philippine celebrity endorsers 2008, source credibility of celeb

A rural radio forum experiment - Philippines

September 2, 2008 · No Comments

In the summer of 1969, before my senior year at the University of the Philippines, I took part in a rural radio forum experiment, dubbed Radyo Kaunlaran (radio for progress) in four villages in Pandi, Bulacan. I volunteered to be a non-participant observer and documented the discussions that capped each group radio listening session. The project itself had all the bells and whistles of a social science experiment as it used a pre-test post-test control group design. This means that it had a control group (villages not exposed to group listening and discussion), baseline survey, and a post-test after airing 10 drama broadcasts over DZRP, a government radio station with nationwide reach.

Spearheaded by Alex T. Quarmyne, a UNESCO visiting professor, and Fil-Ame V. Caces of the then UP Institute of Mass Communication, Radyo Kaunlaran was launched in 1969-1970 to test the applicability of the rural radio forum approach in the Philippine setting. Rural radio forums had earlier been successfully applied in the Canada, India and Africa.

The educational broadcasting project aimed to arouse the rural residents’ consciousness of their role in development. It was assumed that increased awareness of community problems would inspire rural residents to participate in self-help development programs. Radyo Kaunlaran’s community development broadcasts covered nutrition, environmental sanitation, maternal and child care, health education, and agriculture. The content of the radio dramas was based on extensive research results on those five development topics.

True to the nature of radio forums, Radyo Kaunlaran organized listening groups in four villages. Community leaders delivered short talks to inform the village residents that the broadcasts were especially intended for them. The broadcasts, which followed these talks, reflected traditional, deep-rooted values, at the same time they also introduced new ideas about health, sanitation and disease control. Every Sunday afternoon (1600 hrs), four groups of about 20 to 40 residents got together in a school house or village center to listen to the dramas. A flipchart, which summarized the key points presented in the broadcast, aided the discussion led by a community leader. In my village, it was the school teacher who served as our discussion leader.

Toward the later phases of the project, the coordinators concluded that the group listening technique could be made to work, and that radio broadcasts, lectures and films could be used in a single integrated program for development support.

Source: Alex T. Quarmyne and Fil-Ame Caces. 1970. Radyo Kaunlaran: A Case Study. University of the Philippines Community Development Research Council, UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Categories: Development communication · Entertainment-education
Tagged: educational broadcasts, Philippines rural radio forum, radio dramas for rural development, Radyo Kaunlaran, rural radio forum

Is radio on the road to extinction?

August 28, 2008 · 4 Comments

The proliferation of new ICTs must have pushed a colleague to declare that radio is soon going to be extinct and students need not bother with it. A cursory look at how radio can be used to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) reveals a wide range of best practices being done globally.

Will radio for development soon be eliminated from the face of the earth and everyone else can shift to television or video? Will it be more cost-effective to abandon radio and shift to TV for development goals? Should we advise extension units or departments to exclude radio from the range of ICT choices? Please post your comments.

Categories: Development communication · Scaling up
Tagged: Radio and MDGs, radio will soon be extinct

What health websites to trust

August 8, 2008 · 4 Comments

I was down with flu this week that I felt miserable with lack of appetite, headache, malaise, slight fever and dry hacking cough. I felt so glum that I could only read light subjects like a nice book about food (Tikim by Doreen G. Fernandez) and visit my favorite food, life and leisure blogs. Apart from these light topics, I spent the longest time seeking information on the flu (influenza). My first visit went to MayoClinic.com. This has always been my favorite because I know I can trust this website of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The clinic itself was established more than 100 years ago by William Worral Mayo, M.D., and his physician sons, William and Charles. There was already a Mayo clinic even before the Internet was up and running. The writing in MayoClinic.com is also popular, easy to read. For instance, a home remedy for flu that it recommends is chicken soup “which is not just good for your soul but for your flu…” That phrase made me smile.

If I had more energy, my next stop would have been to the MerckManual.com. Although Merck is a pharmaceutical company, their Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy is the world’s best-selling medical textbook and it is a physician’s handy reference. I know this because my two sisters are medical doctors in the U.S. Many years ago, I was thrilled no end when a sister gifted me with the 14th edition of the Merck Manual. It became my lifeline. I would refer to it for all types of illness symptoms in my family so I would have some basic understanding before consulting a medical doctor. The Merck Manual does not push any drug in its print or online editions.

In terms of popularity, the ebizMBA came up with the top 20 health websites ranked by US traffic data. Here’s the top 10:

1 WebMD.com
2 NIH.gov
3 MayoClinic.com
4 MedicineNet.com
5 everydayHealth.com
6 Healthline.com
7 RevolutionHealth.com
8 Drugs.com
9 MedHelp.org
10 RxList.com

Given the array of health websites, how do you decide which one to trust? Briggs et al have developed a framework to understand trust factors in web-based health advice. According to the framework, early intentions to trust are influenced by visual design factors, while subsequent decisions to act are contingent upon careful judgments of the quality of information and advice on offer. Furthermore it has been suggested that genuine consumers viewing information and advice over longer periods of time are less likely to be influenced by the visual appeal of a site, and more likely to be influenced by relationship issues such as the degree of personalisation of a site, and the extent to which the site reflects their personal identity.

Would Briggs et al’s trust framework apply to you? Please post your comments.

Categories: Development communication
Tagged: Add new tag, health websites to trust

How to mine the invisible web

June 16, 2008 · 8 Comments

With students back for first semester classes in our part of the world, Internet cafes are abuzz with students doing their literature search for assignments, term papers, or thesis review of literature. At the moment, the most popular search engine appears to be Google. As of June 14, 2008, the estimated size of Google’s index is about 20 billion web pages, making it the largest crawler-based search engine, based on reported numbers.

So you think that with an Internet search engine like Google or Google Scholar, you’ve done a comprehensive review of all available information, besides those articles which are pay-per-view or for paid subscribers only. Think again. Studies have shown that the hidden web has as much as 500 billion web pages.

Search engines crawl only a small portion or the shallow part of the web. “Invisible web” or deep web refers to information available on the world wide web but is not accessible to general all-purpose search engines. Some materials hidden from the usual search engines include dynamic content, unlinked content, private web, and limited access content.

How to find the invisible web

To search the invisible web, here’s a list of some notable databases that we should check out (see Robert Lackie’s “Those Dark Hiding Places: Invisible Web Revealed, Wendy Boswell):

Librarians’ Internet Index - websites you can trust
FindLaw - “The highest-trafficked legal Web site”
About.com
Direct Search site put together by Gary Price
Invisible Web Directory -put together by Gary Price and search guru Chris Sherman. This site is a directory of searchable databases, organized by subject
Resource Discovery Network - has resources mostly from the United Kingdom, and is extremely well-organized and very searchable
InfoMine - an incredible resource that at last count included over 100,000 links and access to hundreds, if not thousands, of databases
Virtual Library
Intute - a free online service providing access to the very best Web resources for education and research.
Internet archive - a digital library of internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.
Beaucoup! - a search spot to help search the invisible web.
Digital Librarian - a librarian’s choice of the best of the web.
ScienceResearch.com - A portal allowing searchable access to numerous scientific journals and databases.
Agricola Database - provides citations to agriculture literature.
Energy Citations Database - provides free access to science research to over 2.3 million science research citations.
Envirofacts - EPA’s one-stop source for environmental information.
Plants Database provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories.
PlantFacts - an international knowledge bank and multimedia learning center on plants.
Window to My Environment database - provides a wide range of federal, state, and local information about environmental conditions and features in an area of your choice.

Categories: Development communication · General
Tagged: invisible web, hidden web, how to mine the invisible web, how to search the invisible web

How to be participatory in a scaling up project

June 10, 2008 · No Comments

The rhetoric on the value of participation isn’t just lip service. In our work in Asia, the most participatory projects tended to have more impact. Consider this– in the “Three Reductions, Three Gains” or “Ba Giam, Ba Tang” media campaign, the local governments of the Mekong provinces provided about US$345,000 additional resources to launch similar campaigns. Initial budgets of the pilot campaigns in Can Tho and Tien Giang provinces totaled only US$40,000. A specific line item budget for “Ba Giam, Ba Tang” was also written into the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to support its implementation in all provinces.

Developing prototype materials for "Three Reductions, Three Gains"

Plant protection partners discuss campaign strategy, Can Tho, Vietnam

To enhance multiplier effects we actively involved partners from the central and local government, university, research, extension and media, in planning, development, implementation, and evaluation activities. This was done through a series of participatory workshops with emphasis on establishing quality partnerships and local ownerships.

The workshops developed the strategies, the campaign slogan, “Ba Giam Ba Tang”, selected the media to be used and pilot sites, prepared and pretested the campaign materials. Implementation plans were also finalized by partners in the workshops. The process had encouraged transparency, friendship and cooperation and had served as an important vehicle towards facilitating scaling up extension. It has helped in multiplying the campaign pilot by leveraging local resources to increase spread thus increasing returns to modest project investments.

With the limited resources Asian governments are allocating to extension, media campaigns, especially when implemented through multi-stakeholder partnerships, can be an effective option for reaching farmers.

“Three Reductions, Three Gains” key partners in Vietnam: Nguyen Huu Huan (vice director for plant protection, MARD), Ho Van Chien (director, southern regional plant protection center), Pham Van Quynh (vice director for agriculture, Can Tho province), Pham Sy Tan (agronomist, Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute or CLRRI), Pham Van Du (plant pathologist, CLRRI)

Categories: Development communication · Scaling up
Tagged: Ba Giam Ba Tang, how to be participatory in a scaling up project, "Three Reductions Three Gains"

How to “hang out” and learn more from farmers

June 6, 2008 · 2 Comments

In an earlier post, I promised to write about Jeff Bentley ’s guidelines for “hanging out” to get the most from farmers’ local knowledge. In 1999, Jeff presented these in a training course on ethnoscience techniques that we organized in Suphan Buri, Thailand. Here’s Bentley’s list for eliciting folk knowledge:

There is knowledge associated with each concept.
Do not ask leading questions; questions that suggest the answers.
Do not preach. Preaching is the number one cause of silence.
Share some information with local people, especially if they ask a direct question, of it is natural to slip in a comment.
Use interviews, group interviews preferred.
Listen to people without interrupting, just listen.
Do not make fun of people.
Hang out.
Have rapport and patience.
Use short questionnaires.

Sharing a meal with farmers in Central Java

To Bentley’s list, let me add these few tips to remember:

Keep an open mind and listen more. Do not push your own agenda (e.g. a special “tool” or concept you have developed which you think will solve farmers’ problems).
Make the farmers feel that you are truly interested in learning about what they think and do with regard to the topic at hand.
Be conversational. The field interview is some sort of directed story telling where you probe and pursue issues that come during the conversation.
Empathize - try to be on equal footing with farmers in order to establish rapport and build trust.
Although you may have more expertise, never engage the farmers in a debate nor pass judgment on their views or practices.
Always remember your objective in talking to the farmers – to learn what they are doing, find out their problems, identify the root cause, and perhaps explore how your “tool” could find a way into their crop management and decision-making.
Avoid questions that yield yes/no answers.