Disclaimer: The information provided on this web site is not official U.S. Government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government.
Lucy Harber announced that Family Health International will continue with their plan to take over maintenance of the glossary. As discussed at the last meeting, the glossary will be put into a database software called Multiterm to make the glossary both more manageable and more useful. Brenda Rudder will be in charge of the glossary and expects to have the new version complete by the end of July. Additional languages could be added in the future (e.g., Russian) although the software is unable to handle Arabic. If you would like terms to be added, send your suggestion along with your agency's translations to Brenda and she will coordinate obtaining the translations from other members. Finally, each organization has one contact person for the glossary. That person may order copies of the glossary in multiple formats for others within their organization.
Stephanie Muravchick presented IRH's new materials on these topics. They have been developed as a means of promoting self awareness, communication and self advocacy as well as a holistic sense of one's own reproductive health. There are five modules included:
Maria Busquets-Moura gave a brief overview of the history and description of the AID Communications Guidelines. They were created in response to criticism from Congress that funds were being spent on high cost publications. Since then, a clause has been added to all Cooperative Agreements regarding the guidelines. In general, all communication products (videos, hard copies, slides, etc) produced with AID funding must be approved by the Legislative and Public Affairs Bureau (LPA) of AID if the product will: be given to Congress, cost more than $25,000 to produce (costs included are research, consultant fees, writing, layout, design, printing, etc), over 51% of copies will be distributed in the US or it does not follow the specifications outlined in the Guidelines. In addition to the work of CAs, all mission and bilateral project also have to be approved.
The procedure for obtaining approval is to send an E-mail to the CTO responding to the following questions:
She said that it is not necessary to adapt materials to fit the guidelines, instead organizations should produce the materials they feel are necessary and needed. If a proposed publication doesn't meet the guidelines, the organization will need to justify why it differs from the guidelines.
The people to contact at LPA if there are any questions are: Suzanne Chase or Joe Fredericks.
In addition to LPA, the Office of Procurement also has to approve all communications products though they have delegated their authority to the CTOs.
Peggy D'Adamo presented the proposed RHMWG web pages to the group. The group approved the general design of the pages with the following discussion and comments.
Everyone who currently has materials in the Database received (or will be mailed) a packet containing a letter, the survey results and a copy of their materials currently in the Database, as well as a copy of the new input form. The Database entries should be reviewed for accuracy, contributors should make any changes and submit directly to POPLINE.
In addition, INTRAH will send a letter to all current holders of Database binders telling them of the switch to POPLINE. If the organization does not have access to POPLINE, they will be directed to the nearest CDROM site. INTRAH will also contact other CAs and invite them to contribute materials or have existing items flagged.
At the suggestion of Elizabeth Ralston, it was decided that a survey will be developed to determine if the RHMWG is meeting the needs of its members. The survey will be addressed to all members (both those who do and do not attend meetings regularly). It was decided to develop an evaluation form which could be sent out to members and groups invited via e-mail. The form could evaluate meetings in terms of content and structure, the impact of the group on individual organizations, whether it has actually helped avoid duplication or encourage collaboration. Peggy D#Adamo and Elizabeth Oliveras will work with Elizabeth Ralston to develop and disseminate the survey. We hope to have the results available in time for the next meeting.
We discussed ways to encourage the participation of members who do not generally attend meetings. One possibility is to have those members who do attend act as buddies to organizations that does not attend, encouraging them to attend or at least offer input, the buddy might also offer to present their materials list for them at meetings.
We also proposed having more detailed presentations on new materials or works in progress (like Stephanie's presentation).
The next meeting will be held at 9:30 am on Wednesday November 6 1996. The tentative location is AIDSCAP. We also discussed the possibility of holding the May 1997 meeting in North Carolina. We would like feedback from group members on this.
Disclaimer: The information provided on this web site is not official U.S. Government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government.