Media Studies and Journalism (MSJ) Department students will help the international non-government organization Save the Children Australia formulate its communication campaign plan on child rights. 

The 14 students enrolled in the course “Development Communication and Advocacy” – facilitated by ULAB Faculty Marium Akther – are required to generate a public awareness plan (to include communication objectives, evaluation measurements, sender, message, channel and environmental strategies) together with prototypes of communication materials (such as posters, brochures, pamphlets, etc.).  Save the Children will use the student works as inputs for their communication campaign plan aimed at increasing awareness among children in the country’s six divisions regarding the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child.  The campaign will start in early 2010.

To initiate the activity, Save the Children Team Leader G. Nayeem Wahra will deliver a talk on child rights in general and on the UN charter in particular on October 28, 1:10 to 2:30 at the Seminar Room, Campus B.  In mid-November, the students will have an exposure trip to witness firsthand the activities of the NGO around Dhaka City.  On December 17, students will present their communication campaign plan to NGO representatives and to MSJ Head Jude Genilo.  The said campaign plan and the prototypes of communication materials will be included in the department’s curriculum integration exhibit entitled “Dialogues Amidst Contradictions: Dialectics of Family Relations in Contemporary Bangladesh” on December 21.  To show their appreciation, the NGO will give a certificate to students who have demonstrated outstanding work.

            Save the Children is committed to child protection.  Its vision is of a world which respects and values each child, listens to children and learns, and where all children have hope and opportunity.  Its mission is to fight for children’s rights and to deliver immediate and lasting improvements to children’s lives worldwide.  ULAB’s MSJ course Development Communication “introduces students to the definition, theories and approaches of development communication.  It also looks at the types and techniques of development support communication, diffusion of innovation, and the role of communication in agriculture, health, environment and community development.  It places emphasis on public awareness campaign planning, which will be the final requirement of the course.”