Social sector

The communication practices of three US anti-poverty groups in the San Francisco Bay Area – Coalition on Homelessness, Poor News Network, and Media Alliance – are discussed whose communication strategies work for the recognition and rights of low-income and homeless people, and for policies to better redistribute economic and communications resources.

The synergies created through the careful application of both organic and symbolic communication demonstrably reach those most vulnerable to the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS. The Clown Project uses labour-intensive face-to-face street theatre and dialogue, participatory workshops, and symbolic communication such as print-based materials. Some lessons learned in selected communities in Guatemala and other countries in Central America are shared.

Mobile cellular phones have already been used widely around the world for activism, social and economic development, and new cultural and communicative forms. Despite this widespread use of mobile phones, they remain a relatively un-theorised and un-discussed phenomenon in community and citizen’s media. This paper considers how mobile phones have been taken up by citizens to create new forms of expression and power.

In spite of its long history on different countries, ‘citizens communication for social change’ is little known in Spanish academic and social institutions, so few communication professionals know how to address and undertake in-depth planning of communication for development. Since the 1990s, there is still a growing need to build truly participative communication in Spanish society.

This paper surveys street publications that are members of the International Network of Street Papers. Street publications can empower the homeless though numerous endeavours that can lead to social change. Empowerment can be achieved by being employed, such as magazine vendors and/or as workers in socially oriented companies. It can also occur by recovering self-esteem and acquiring knowledge and abilities though training courses, rehabilitation therapy, and other endeavours such as the university of the homeless.

This article describes the legal frameworks governing trade unions and NGOs in Ukraine, with the latter defined very much as organisations working for the benefit of their members and other citizens sharing the same interests rather than as philanthropic organisations whose mission is to assist others.

With the passage of the 1999 Asylum and Immigration Act in the UK, a system of vouchers for all new asylum seekers was to be introduced from April 2000. These vouchers were widely regarded as iniquitous in that they discriminated against an already vulnerable sector of society. A unique coalition between two NGOs (Oxfam GB and the Refugee Council) and a trade union (the Trade and General Workers' Union - TGWU) led to a concerted campaign against the voucher scheme that included a range of media work, political lobbying, and public awareness raising. The voucher scheme was eventually scrapped.

12 September 2003 was the twenty-fifth anniversary of WHOs Alma Ata Health for All (HfA) by the Year 2000 Strategy. The strategy reflected an optimism that health could improve for poor and disadvantaged peoples around the world through the provision of comprehensive primary health care (PHC). In practice, PHC has been only selectively applied and generally under-resourced.