Project SANCHAR – Building Public Agenda and Policy Support for Public Health

Project SANCHAR – Building Public Agenda and Policy Support for Public Health

October 2022

A workshop on “Strategic Communications: Building Public Agenda and Policy Support for Public Health” was organized in association with Bihar Institute of Public Administration & Rural Development (BIPARD) on October 13-14, 2022. The workshop was led by Dr. K Vish Viswanath, Faculty Director, Harvard Chan India Research Center and Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication at Harvard Chan. The workshop organized in Gaya, Bihar, was attended by 25 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Bihar Education Service (BES) officers.

The workshop focused on the science of communication, message design, platforms for dissemination and on advocacy. Given the policy-agenda in the state of Bihar, the workshop focused specifically on alcohol and prohibition.

The workshop is a part of Project SANCHAR (Science and News: Communicating Health And Research) that is aimed at building the capacity of journalists and decision-makers to draw on the latest science and data for shaping public knowledge, attitudes and policy on health. The project has thus far trained over 200 journalists and over 200 decision-makers.

July 2022

Dr. K Vish Viswanath, Faculty Director, Harvard Chan India Research Center and Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication at Harvard Chan led a workshop on “Strategic Communications: Building Public Agenda and Policy Support for Public Health” at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), the apex training institute for the Civil Services.

The workshop was organized at LBSNAA in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand on July 28, 2022, as part of trainings of Phase-IV level Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers. 94 IAS officers, from the central and state cadres of India, with 15-17 years of experience participated in the workshop. The workshop focused on strategic communication, social determinants of health, communication inequalities, message preferences and framing, and leveraging social media, with examples from national and state campaigns and NFHS-5 data. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

June 2022

As part of Project SANCHAR’s engagement with the Bihar Institute of Public Administration & Rural Development (BIPARD), Dr. K Vish Viswanath conducted another workshop in BIPARD, Patna. The first workshop was conducted in March 2022.

This two-day workshop (June 20-21, 2022) was attended by 40 BAS (Bihar Administrative Service) officers and 20 sub-registrars. The participants included officers from the field who are at the frontline of public communications, from the departments of Health, Prohibition and Information and Public Relations. The participants had an engaging discussion on strategic communications in public health with a special focus on Prohibition in Bihar.

The workshops are a part of Project SANCHAR (Science and News: Communicating Health And Research) that is aimed at building the capacity of journalists and decision-makers to draw on the latest science and data for shaping public knowledge, attitudes and policy on health. The project has thus far trained over 200 journalists from 9 states and 70 districts in India and is now working with decision-makers.

March 2022

One-day workshop on “Strategic Communications: Building Public Agenda and Policy Support for Public Health” at the Bihar Institute of Public Administration & Rural Development (BIPARD) led by Dr. K Vish Viswanath, Faculty Director, Harvard Chan India Research Center and Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication at Harvard Chan.
The workshop was organized at Hotel Maurya, Patna on March 28, 2022. It was attended by administrative service officers (IAS-Bihar cadre and BAS officers) from the field who are at the frontline of public communications, from the departments of Health, Prohibition and Information and Public Relations. The participants had an enriched discussion on strategic communications in public health with a special focus on Prohibition in Bihar