Be Specific when Talking about Global Health

In a recent blog post, New York Times columnist Nick Kristof wrote, “I generally have the view that humanitarians are really bad at framing issues and marketing causes, because they believe so deeply in them.”

The comment was part of a dialogue he had with readers who were taking him to task for over-focusing on Westerners and Americans development workers when reporting on global health and development issues.  Kristof argued that stories that had a relatable character, often a Westerner or American working in the region, resonated better with an American audience.

I wonder if the stories work not just because the ethnicity or nationality of the protagonist, but also the specificity in which the global issue was framed.  A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll on the U.S. role in global health found that while American generally don’t support foreign aid, they are more supportive of increased spending abroad for specific global health purposes.  It matters if you ask are we “spending too much on foreign aid” or are we spending too much on “efforts to improve the health for people in developing countries.” People responded even more positively to U.S. spending for specific health outcomes, like preventing malaria, treating HIV or improving access to clean water.

Another recent poll found that 9 out of 10 American aren’t familiar with the Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight time-bound development goals, that if achieved together will end extreme poverty by 2015.  But after hearing more specific information about each goal, 87% believe the U.S. should be involved in accomplishing the MDGs.

Specificity matters.  We can be better at marketing causes if we are mindful that people may not know a lot about an issue, particularly global issues that they haven’t experienced firsthand.  But that doesn’t mean they won’t care.  It’s our job as storytellers to explain the issue and make it relevant for all of our audiences.

Relationships that Matter to America’s Teens

Only 19 percent of 15-year-olds in the United States say they have positive, sustained and meaningful relationships with adults, according to a new study released by our client, Best Buy, and the Minneapolis-based Search Institute.

The findings of the Teen Voice 2010 report indicate there is significant room for improvement when it comes to building relationships that put teens on a path to success.

It’s our job as caring adults to develop positive relationships with teens. But teens often feel that they’re not being listened to or taken seriously. The part of the study I found most resonant was the advice teens had for adults when trying to build relationships:

 
10 Tips from Teens to Adults:

1.    Look at us. Make eye contact.
2.    Spend time talking with us. Ask open-ended questions. Build the conversation
3.    Listen. Pay attention. Don’t multi-task or get distracted when you’re with us. Respond to our messages and texts.
4.    Be dependable. Do what you say you’re going to do.
5.    Show appreciation for what we do. Give compliments. Show that you’re glad to see us or hear from us. Send us personalized cards.
6.    Relax. Don’t feel like you have to be on guard.
7.    Show that you’re interested. Attend our concerts, games and other events. Ask us to show you what we can do.
8.    Laugh with us (and at yourself). Laugh at our jokes. Show us your humor.
9.    Ask us to help you. Ask us for our ideas. Share your own, too.
10. Challenge us. Teach us what you know. Push us to do our best.

These are such simple points of advice, but somehow adults have difficulty following them. We get so wrapped up in our own worlds, sometimes we forget to be present in theirs.

To further hit this point home, we helped Best Buy develop a video to summarize the Teen Voice 2010 report and serve as a call to action for adults to build meaningful and sustained relationships with teens. Take a look:

 Also, we’ve posted a presentation with key findings on SlideShare:

Teen Voice 2010 Report - Best Buy @15 and Search Institute

Cash on Delivery: Seeking Social Impact in AIDS Prevention

A group of global health partisans gathered in a dark Seattle auditorium in eary July to consider a radical idea: “Cash on Delivery” of results in preventing HIV transmission.  
 
The speaker, Dr. Tim Hallett of the Imperial College of London’s Institute for Global Health, made his case based on the finding that while a handful of countries in sub-Saharan Africa have stemmed their HIV/AIDS epidemics through behavior change, there is little evidence that specific prevention programs can take credit.
 
What, then, is working?  In Zimbabwe, it’s fear, according to Hallett.  More people going to funerals of friends and loved ones. More people talking about the virus, and more men cutting back on multiple partners and stepping up condom use.
 
HIV prevalence fell in Zimbabwe from 29.3 percent in 1997 to 15.6 percent in 2007.  But the study found no “smoking gun” that pointed to a particular prevention program bringing about this change.  And the grim fact remains that as of 2007, one in every seven adults in Zimbabwe was still infected with the virus.  Globally, 2.7 million were infected in 2008.  The epidemic keeps growing.
 
The $4 billion question (the annual cost prevention programs) remains: how can we flip the switch on HIV/AIDS?  How can prevention trump death?  
 
Hallett, along with others such as Mead Over at the Center for Global Development, suggest that Cash on Delivery could turn things around.  The approach would reward a country’s success at HIV prevention, regardless of how that success is achieved or who gets the credit.  There would be no mandates of what methods to use – circumcision or condoms or ARVs – just the knowledge that documented success in prevention would bring the country and its people resources. 
 
Could Cash on Delivery be designed in a way that builds on other prevention efforts, keeps people honest through accurate measurement, encourages local ownership and initiative, and motivates individuals to change? 
 
The discussion, sponsored by the Washington Global Health Alliance and the University of Washington’s Department of Global Health, enabled participants to delve into such issues.  It’s part of a broader conversation that could lead to new real-world efforts--and new hope--for preventing HIV/AIDS.
 

Thinking About Social Media

Last week I spoke on a panel in front of several nonprofit Asian American organizations in the U.S.

Among the organizations in attendance were the Asia Heritage Foundation, Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program, DC Mayor’s Office of Asian & Pacific Islander Affairs,  National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) and National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP). The focus of the panel was on the use of social media in the nonprofit sector to help build a strong community that will attract potential funders.

To start the conversation, I discussed three of the most frequently asked questions I encounter in our team’s work with nonprofits:

 1.    Why should my organization focus on social media given all of our other priorities? In a world that is increasingly digitally connected, social media is a powerful way to open up your organization to potential supporters and advocates.  Social media creates opportunities to build awareness and engagement—around how you’re approaching your work and what you’re learning, for instance—and to communicate your impact. 

2.    What does it take to get it right?  For most nonprofits, and particularly those with limited resources, a good rule of thumb is to start small. Experiment. Learn along the way. Join in current conversations on online channels and try to spark new discussions. Let your personality show. An organization that brings a real personality to its social media, shows that it’s interested in listening and learning, and offers compelling content, is going to be met with success.

3.    What are the pitfalls to avoid? It’s best not to view social media as a stand-alone program rather than integrating it into an overall communications strategy. Being afraid to try new things on social media for fear of failure, or because there isn’t a guarantee of success is another. (When is that a guarantee, incidentally?) Finally, not building the infrastructure or creating a plan to sustain a social media program is often a challenge – one best avoided by tackling questions about staff capacity up front. 

The session offered a lively question and answer period, and a great discussion afterwards.  Are there additional questions or recommendations you would have raised with the group?

Non-profit Stories with Impact!

I had the honor and privilege of attending the Engaged Philanthropy Conference in Minneapolis today.  As part of the program, four organizations – all finalists for the Social Entrepreneur’s Cup – presented to compete for grant dollars.  Prospective grantees had eight minutes to introduce their organization.  All four organizations are doing incredible, impressive work, and their passion was infectious and motivating! 

After all four presentations, audience members were asked to talk amongst their tablemates and vote for the organization that was the most innovative and demonstrated the most promise in terms of scalability and impact.  Something really interesting happened -- both during the discussion at our table and during the winning organization’s presentation.  The woman who gave the winning presentation on behalf of her organization, Springboard for the Arts, was very clearly the one who had most effectively told her organization’s story.  She did this through the time-tested method of:

1) Clearly defining the problem – artists are twice as likely as the average American to lack insurance

2) Painting a powerful picture of the organization’s unique solution – Springboard for the Arts strives to connect artists to accessible and affordable healthcare in some pretty simple ways: a $40 healthcare voucher, a physician willing to work using a different model of healthcare and an online guide to help artists navigate the healthcare system

3) And demonstrating the results the organization has achieved – 200 vouchers, three health fairs, 1,000 downloads of the guide.  And the program is being replicated in four other markets around the country.

Not only is her organization doing amazing work, but she turned that work into an engaging story about how seven unlikely artists tackled a seemingly insurmountable problem – fixing healthcare.  She told it with more pictures than words, specific examples and proof that the concept worked.  And for that she won a $20,000 grant.  Now that’s a story with impact!  Is your organization telling a powerful, impactful story?