| A four-member delegation from Jordan
visited Bangladesh from August 24 to 28, 2006 to learn about
the setup and management of Bangladesh Center for Communication
Programs (BCCP) and to know how it sustains health communication
in Bangladesh. The team was led by Mr. David L. Piet, Team Leader
of the Population & Family Health Office of USAID/Jordan
and the other three members were from the Jordan Health Communication
Partnership (JHCP). The objective of the visit was, however,
to learn from the experience of BCCP in Bangladesh and to replicate
the model of BCCP in Jordan.
BCCP chalked out an intensive/elaborated program for the
four-day visit from August 24th to 28th, 2006 to maximize
interaction of the Jordanian delegation with all levels of
BCCP staff, BCCP Executive Board, USAID Mission in Bangladesh
and key stakeholders.
The first day was spent by the Jordanian team on getting
overview of BCCP activities in Bangladesh; its mission, vision;
organizational setup and management and to meet BCCP staff.
The second day, on August 26th, the Jordanian team made a
presentation on how JHCP works in Jordan. Later, BCCP updated
the Jordan team on its current two major communication projects
– NGO Service Delivery Partnership (NSDP) and Adolescent
Reproductive Health (ARH) Program. A detail discussion on
BCCP’s sustainability plan, financial and administration
systems was held on August 27th.
A meeting was held with key stakeholders on the August 28th
attended by, among others, Mr. Syed Shamim Ahsan, President
of BCCP Executive Board; Ms. Lynn Gorton, Director of the
PHN Team of USAID/Dhaka; Mr. Rob Timmons, Chief of Party of
NSDP; Ms. Terry Padget, Deputy Chief of Party of NSDP; Dr.
A. J. Faisel, Country Representative of EngenderHealth/Bangladesh;
Mr. Moslehuddin Ahmed and Mr. Belayet Hossain of PHN Team/USAID,
Dhaka; and Professor Dr. Barkat-e-Khuda of Dhaka University.
Dr. Timmons remarked, “BCCP has contributed significantly
to increase the utilization of health services in the NSDP
urban and rural clinics through the enter-educate TV drama
serial and local level BCC campaign.” Replying to a
question from Dr. Soliman Farah, Chief of Party of JHCP, regarding
BCCP’s ‘One-stop’ services, Dr. Timmons
added that BCCP is capable of providing comprehensive communication
services, barring few activities such as film production that
are not the usual prerogatives of a communication agency”.
Mr. Moslehuddin said that BCCP contributed substantially to
the National Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health programs
especially to the program of Permanent and Long Term Family
Planning Method. Dr. Faisel commented that BCCP played an
instrumental role to the development of the National Communication
Strategy for Permanent and Long-term Methods and designing
TV commercials, IPC Training Video and communication materials
that EngenderHealth is using for the national program. Mr.
Ahsan assured the delegate of all feasible support from BCCP
in replicating the model in Jordan.
“This visit enriched our understanding of BCCP’s
internal and external work. The delegation was highly impressed
with the only ‘workable model’ that CCP has left
behind in any country. BCCP is a success story, and provided
us with a great deal to think about, to adapt and utilize,
and the establishment of a real south-south partnership.”
Mr. Piet said.
|
