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Leveraging mass media for social good

Season 5, Ep. 2

Roy Head is an innovator and leader in the field when it comes to leveraging communications and mass media for good. Roy started his career as a documentary film director for the BBC, before joining UNPeacekeeping. There, he set up the UN's first radio station (in Cambodia) and its largest TV operation (during the Bosnian war). Roy founded the Health Division of the BBC World Service Trust in 1997, bringing together the BBC and the World Health Organisation.


In 2005, Roy founded Development Media International (DMI) which aims to create evidence-based behaviour change campaigns to improve health and save lives. With a focus on delivering campaigns at scale to maximise impact and cost-effectiveness, DMI uses storytelling to motivate change and use scientific methods to test the impact of their interventions.


Join Philanthropod’s host, Anubha Rawat, in conversation with Roy to learn how mass media, when employed strategically - with local knowledge and engaging storytelling practice - can be used as a key tool to strengthen public health outcomes and reach millions of people at one time.


This episode also comes recommended for those interested in complex monitoring and evaluation and campaign design. Roy discusses the inherent issues in measuring huge public health prevention campaigns through mass media - which strive to measure complex, long-term or intangible outcomes: including changing ‘social norms’ or shifting attitudes towards health practices.


To learn more about Development Media International follow the link: https://www.developmentmedia.net

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