PERSONALIZING POPULATION A project supported by the United Nations Foundation. In the past 70 years, global population has tripled, from two to six billion. There are now more people on the planet than ever before. Population is not a matter of numbers, it is a matter of people. UNFPA’s advocacy activities are based on the concept that population issues should be fully integrated into development strategies, planning, decision-making and resource allocation. UNFPA’s information and communication strategy has proved effective in addressing many of the challenges facing the Fund: helping to ensure stable funding, increasing awareness and understanding the role and relevance of population in the development process, building support for the Fund’s field activities, strengthening the organization’s capacity for international policy advocacy, and working towards the goals of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo in 1994. But, more efforts are needed, especially with the media. As part of its advocacy work, Personalizing Population was conceived as a way to focus popular media attention on population issues in general and the work of UNFPA in particular. The project had three main objectives: 1) to raise public awareness at all levels, through key media outlets, of UNFPA’s vital work in population and development; 2) to build a network of influential journalists in the Fund’s donor and programme country partners capable of covering population issues and activities in a more comprehensive and consistent fashion; and 3) to draw media attention to and increase understanding of the importance of fostering productive partnerships between the United Nations system and civil society, including NGOs, women’s groups, communities and the private sector. Partnerships equal progress.  Consistent interest in these issues generates better quality media coverage. And this in turn can influence political leaders and alert the public of the need to support population initiatives, led by UNFPA. Awareness and commitment translate into more resources for population activities. This project was made possible by a $300,000 grant from the United Nations Foundation. The United States Committee for UNFPA was instrumental in organizing several of these trips. Over the course of the project – from December 1998 to April 2001 – UNFPA/U.S. Committee organized a total of 12 media trips to selected countries where the Fund has an active field programme. These media trips were organized so that journalists from UNFPA’s main donor countries and from selected programme countries could see the Fund’s field programmes up close and personal. Each trip involved extensive, in-depth visits to project sites, often in remote areas. They generated a wealth of feature material for magazines, newspapers, radio and television. A total of 71 journalists participated in this project – 37 from developed countries, along with 34 from the developing world. Thirty of the journalists from developing countries attended the Hague Media Forum, held in The Hague in February 1999; another four participated in the field trips (two in Ghana, one in the Philippines and one in Mongolia). Of the developed country media, 24 of the 37 participants were women – making the percentage of women journalists on these trips an impressive 65% (two-thirds). A number of the journalists who covered women’s and health issues were able to broaden their perspectives on these subjects by viewing them in a much wider context. Moreover, some of the participating journalists who had not traveled extensively in the developing world came away with a renewed commitment to bring population and development issues to the attention of their readers or listeners on a more regular basis. As an extra bonus, these trips generated three outstanding Op Ed pieces – in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and the St. Louis Post Dispatch – urging the United States Congress to refund UNFPA for year 2000 and beyond. In summary, Personalizing Population CD-ROM generated: Four TV  feature productions: from Mongolia, Nicaragua, the United Republic of Tanzania and Botswana. Mongolian TV featured an hour-long documentary on UNFPA’s country programme, emphasizing its activities with young people. Oxygen TV in New York produced a 15-minute programme on UNFPA’s campaign in Nicaragua to combat violence against women. The Reuters film crew who went to Tanzania produced a 30-minute programme on the needs of refugees that was sent out to 100 TV stations around the world. CNN International produced a special programme for Inside Africa, on AIDS in Botswana. Ten UNFPA special video productions. These highlighted UNFPA success stories in the field. Over 100 hours of video footage shot in the field.  A selection has been used by international broadcasters -- such as CNN, United Nations Television and Oxygen TV -- for the production of programmes featuring population and development themes. A collection of over 200 professional photographs. Selected video footage/still photographs were used to make power point presentations to donors to illustrate UNFPA activities in the field and were featured in UNFPA publications. Fourteen major magazine articles and 21 newspaper reports, along with 15 radio programmes (including United Nations radio). These  were produced by journalists from  UNFPA’s donor countries. A large number of articles were written by participating journalists from developing countries. Cumulative List of  Participating Journalists in Personalizing Population Project Ecuador, December 1998 Don Hinrichsen, UNFPA coordinator, also representing People & Planet Magazine, London Tamas Revesz, Hungarian Photojournalist Anna Varkonyi, Hungarian freelance journalist  Katrien Gottlieb, Netherlands Press Association Laura Kwiatkowski, UN Radio (Latin America Division) Ghana, April 1999 Renee Loth, Boston Globe Peter Philippe, Deutsche Welle Radio Nana Anto-Awuakye, UN Radio, Africa Division Two local journalists Jordan, April 1999 Pia Fris, Information, Denmark Susan Hegger, St. Louis Post Dispatch Peter Philippe, Deutsche Welle Radio Philippines, May, 1999 Fred Pearce, New Scientist, London Dee Palmer, BBC World Service Gail Bensinger, San Francisco Examiner Barbara Supp, Der Spiegel, Germany One local journalist  Cambodia, May 1999 Lynne Malcolm, Australian Broadcasting Corp. Anne Laure Marier, Radio France International Joanne Omang, freelance writer, USA Helen Caux, UN Radio (Asia) Bodil Sjostrom, Swedish freelancer for Dagens Nyheter (largest daily), plus magazines Tanzania, July 1999 Stephanie Nolan, Toronto Globe and Mail and The Independent (London) Mark Davenport, BBC  Television and Radio, New York Robert Waweru, Reuters TV camerman Wambui Chege, Reuters print reporter George Mulala, Reuters photojournalist Kosovo, September 1999 Mark Edwards, Still Pictures, Moving Words, (major photo-feature agency based in  London and servicing over 200 magazines and newspapers globally). Mongolia, October 1999 Robin Wright, Los Angeles Times Steve Hendrix, Washington Post, Readers Digest and A&E cable network Steve Percy, Deutsche Welle Radio, (Asia desk) and  Frankfurter Rundschau (largest daily in Germany) Max Paumen, Volkskrant and De Tijd (Netherlands) Don Hinrichsen UNFPA coordinator  One local TV journalist Nicaragua, October 2000 Ginger Otis, freelancer for Ms Magazine, WBAI Radio (NY), Womenswire.net and Sojourner (monthly women’s magazine published in Boston). Cathy Becker, Oxygen TV and Oxygen on-line news service, New York Miss Mieko Takenobu, Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s largest daily Gigi Guerra, Jane Magazine, New York. India, January 2001 UNFPA Videography team: Alvaro Serrano and Don Hinrichsen Botswana, April 2001 Mark Edwards, Still Pictures, Moving Words, London Kristyn Kusek, freelancer contributing to New York Times, Redbook, Marie Claire, Glamour, New York Sandra Barron, Kyoto News Service, Japan Tamara Jeffries, Essence Magazine, New York UNFPA Videography team (Alvaro Serrano and Don Hinrichsen) Also, under this project, 30 journalists from developing countries participated in The Hague Media Seminar in February 1999. In total, 37 journalists from UNFPA’s major donor countries participated in this project, along with 34 journalists from developing countries. It should be noted that 24 of the 37 journalists from donor countries were women – making the percentage of women journalists on these trips an impressive 65% (two-thirds).   BACK HOME