Blogging for Good in the World - Successfully
by cooper and emily

Here's a question, "Why do some global health initiatives get LOTS of attention while others get so little?" Put another way, why does so much of the world's resources go to HIV/AIDS and immunizations, and so little go to maternal health, malnutrition or pneumonia?

Jeremy Schiffman answered the question in an article he wrote for The Lancet and in his presentation at the Women Deliver conference that caused a buzz when he determined why the safe motherhood initiative, at work since 1987, has gotten so little traction.

Why am I writing about Professor Schiffman's work? Not just because it's about maternal health, the focus of BlogHers Act, but also because anyone who's promoting a cause or wanting to make a difference in the world through their blogs or otherwise might want to know about his findings.

And, for sure, some of his points got me thinking about how BlogHers could make a really big difference on maternal health.

To cut to the chase, here's what he found. Successful global health initiatives depend on these four traits -


1. The strength of the actors (the individuals and organizations) concerned with the issue

2. The ideas they use to position the issue

3. The environments in which everyone operates

4. The characteristics of the issue itself


So, the people, the ideas, the context and the features of the problem. Leave one of those out and you're not going to make the headway you want (and nor is maternal health).

Jeremy has an excellent table in his paper, summarizing the key points, but I've chosen one point for each trait that relates specifically to blogging (at least in my mind) --


1. Actors - Civil society mobilization - The extent to which grassroots organizations (that would be us!) have mobilized to press international and national political authorities to address the issue at the global level

2. Ideas - External frame - Public portrayals of the issue (us again!) in ways that resonate with external resources

3. Contexts - Policy windows: Political moments when global conditions align favorably for an issue (now!), presenting opportunities for advocates to influence decision-makers

4. Issue characteristics - Credible indicators - Clear measures that demonstrate the problem and that can be used to monitor progress


We're a grassroots group that is committed to being heard; as bloggers we're portraying the issue in ways we all can understand and appreciate; the Clinton Global Initiative, the Women Deliver Conference, and others large-scale initiatives are putting a spotlight on the issue and are getting people's attention, and the message is about the importance of mothers not only to their communities but to the health of nations (when 1 in 6 women are dying in pregnancy or childbirth, a community is destined for failure).

Bottom line: Bloghers can do great things according to Professor Schiffman's research. And we've seen it time and time again when bloggers have taken up causes. Some of the standouts are: Beth Kanter, Britt Bravo, 24 Hours for Darfur, Menu for Hope - Chez Pim, Mobile Phones for Action, Take a Stand, and Nothing But Nets.

There are lots more, of course. Please use the comments below to give a shout-out to other bloggers who are making great things happen in the world through their blogs.

Emily McKhann

Website: The Motherhood

Blog: Been There

BlogHer Contributing Editor: BlogHers Act

Submitted by cooper and emily (view blog) on Wed, 10/31/2007 - 15:58

Comments

 

Thanks for sharing this article

I'm surprised that the author didn't mention Act Up! by name. They were the ones who forced the FDA to fast track HIV/AIDS drugs and drug trials and pushed for research money. The model that Act Up! created provided inspiration for breast cancer activists, although I don't think that I've seen any breast cancer protests like the ones that Act Up! put on in the late '80's, early 90's.

I think maternal health doesn't get much attention in the US because it is viewed as something that happens to someone else, in another country. Perhaps the new stats, which show a rise in maternal morbidity, will help to change that. I think the comment of the journalist you encountered at the Clinton conference points to another reason maternal health is not a huge issue- underlying misogyny.

I'm definitely interested to see where the BlogHers Act goes and what it (we!) accomplish.
Jennifer

Submitted by nyjlm on Wed, 10/31/2007 - 21:00
 

oops!

: )

Submitted by nyjlm on Wed, 10/31/2007 - 21:02
 

Blgging for Change

Hi there,

I wanted to introduce myself after your post. I am the founder of a social enterprise, a online business that helps to tackle wage inequality in the blue collar workforce by helping providers go direct to able employers. I built the model to help advocate for the fair and living wage both here and internationally. It's working really well in the Bay Area and Northern California and a real resource for time-starved women looking to hire quality, reliable people directly--kind of a boutique craigslist experience. I blog regularly on using business to create social change and just opened a profile on blogher. Keep up the good work. You all are inspiring.

Jenna Raby
http://www.laborfair.com
Laborfair.com: good help is easy to find!
Blog: http://blog.laborfair.com

Submitted by Jenna Raby on Thu, 11/01/2007 - 10:08
 

Leveraging Facebook/Social Media Apps

To add to your initial query on female health initiatives, sometimes these issues are inextricably entwined...

e.g. This bold documentary producer of The Tapestries of Hope/Silent Bravery-The Women of Africa project was arrested/jailed/deported for filming the horror stories of baby girls and young children being raped by those with HIV/AIDS that believe a virgin will help them cure/eradicate the disease, 'the younger the virgin, the higher the belief of a cure)

So where does maternal health/female health leave off and HIV/AIDS global risk kick in? whew. Tough subject...

In addition to blogging for a better world, social media groups on Facebook and such are making huge inroads as well...(in fact, that's where Michaelene (above) is uniting her film team from freshwaterspigot for outreach. (Apple just donated some gear to let them finish up their film, too, yay!)

Point is, we ALL need to use the new media tools in multi-layered saturation to create sustainable change...not just for advocacy and voter lobbying for maternal health, but for fundraising to make it happen...

...Much like we did when we raised $10,000 for Variety, the Children's Charity in less than a month by producing The Age of Conversation as a global experiment...

We simply kept linking/blogging among the co-authors and networks to pay it forward. Here's our 'how to' post on Shaping Youth, in case we get a wild hair and decide to use a similar format for BlogHer's Act: http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/?p=626 I think

BlogHer is ripe for a multi-chapter book on women's health, with all of us taking a chapter, we could produce it in a snap! We'd have a deliverable to make it 'real' for the press and bring attention to the cause beyond the digerati and blogosphere media mavens...

Just a thought...

Amy Jussel
Shaping Youth

Submitted by Shaping Youth on Thu, 11/01/2007 - 18:22
 

Here's one more ...

Cooper and Emily,

What a great piece!! Thanks for surfacing it.

I'd like to add Sarah Bunting of the Tomatoe Nation Blog who has done extraordinary work raising money for schools in urban areas. She recently raised $75,000 in less than a week.

I wrote about her on BlogHer a few weeks back
http://www.blogher.com/make-sarah-bunting-wear-tomato-outfit-parade-arou...

Even though he's not technically a blogher - I'd like to point over to Steve Dembo.

He heard about my recent campaign and donated - and then he thought why not raise money for my favorite charity., Habitat for Humanity.
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/11/thank-you-steve.html

I'd also like to add our own Grace Davis who work around disaster blogging has been extradorinary

I could go on and on .. over the next few weeks, I'm going to be profiling bloggers, social networkers, and others who are making a difference - one person - using social media.

Submitted by Beth Kanter on Tue, 11/06/2007 - 20:04
 

Mini www.minivan-diaries.blog

Mini
www.minivan-diaries.blogspot.com

I have a question. I am new to blogging and have been reading lots and lots of blogs. I would like to add some social causes to my blog -- ways that people can learn about opportunities to help as well as educate readers about issues. I don't want to do it as postings but rather to have them along the side of my blog. Any suggestions of where to do? For instance, I list savedarfur. org as one of the websites that I like, but I want to know if there is a way to make it more active. Any thoughts?

Thanks --

Submitted by Mini on Tue, 11/06/2007 - 21:09