Tag: TVE Asia Pacific

Belling the ‘Policy Cats’: How Can Communication Help? Talk to PEER Science Conference 2013

Nalaka Gunawardene speaks at PEER Science Conference 2013 in Bangkok, 3 Oct 2013
Nalaka Gunawardene speaks at PEER Science Conference 2013 in Bangkok, 3 Oct 2013

How to ‘Bell’ the policy ‘cats’?

This question is often asked by researchers and activists who would like to influence various public policies. Everyone is looking for strategies and engagement methods.

The truth is, there is no one sure-fire way — it’s highly situation specific. Policy makers come in many forms and types, and gaining their attention depends on many variables such as a country’s political system, governance processes, level of bureaucracy and also timing.

Perfecting the finest ‘bells’ and coming across the most amiable and receptive ‘cats’ is an ideal rarely achieved. The rest of the time we have to improvise — and hope for the best.

Good research, credible analysis and their sound communication certainly increase chances of policy engagement and eventual influence.

How Can Communications Help in this process? This was the aspect I explored briefly in a presentation to the PEER Science Participants’ Conference 2013 held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 1 to 4 Oct 2013.

It brought together over 40 principal investigators and other senior researchers from over a dozen Asian countries who are participating in Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) Science program. PEER Science is a grant program implemented by the (US) National Academies of Science on behalf of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and in cooperation with the National Science Foundation (NSF).

I spoke from my professional experience and long involvement in public communication of research, especially through the media. I referred to key conclusions of the International workshop on Improving the impact of development research through better communication and uptake, held in London, UK, in November 2010 where I was a panelist.

I flagged some key findings of a global study by SciDev.Net (where I am an honorary trustee) which looked at the different contextual settings within which policymakers, the private sector, NGOs, media organisations and the research community operate to better understand how to mainstream more science and technology evidence for development and poverty reduction purposes.

I like show and tell. To illustrate many formats and approaches available, I shared some of my work with LIRNEasia and IWMI, two internationally active research organisations for which I have produced several short videos (through TVE Asia Pacific) communicating their research findings and policy recommendations.

PowerPoint (with video links embedded):

Serendib Quiz: Dawn of a new era of quizzing on the island of Serendib

Quizmaster Nalaka Gunawardene smiles — is it because he knows ALL the answers? Photo by Dhara Gunawardene

I just finished hosting the first edition of Serendib Quiz, a new live quizzing event in Sri Lanka.

Here’s a short promo text we produced just after the event:

A team of private individuals, called the ‘Invictus Team’, emerged overall winners at the inaugural Serendib Quiz held at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo, on 29 July 2012.

Invictus beat 40 other teams from all over Sri Lanka to win the top prize of Rs. 100,000 and the specially designed Serendib Quiz glass trophy.

Two other individual teams – Chamara Sumanapala’s Team and Imran Furkan’s Team – secured second and third places respectively.

A total of 205 players, in 41 teams, took part in this live quizzing event compiled and hosted by Nalaka Gunawardene, a leading quizzing professional. Participants’ ages ranged from 13 to 65 years. Many teams came from schools, banks and private companies while a number of quiz enthusiasts competed as private teams.

The team representing Dharmaraja College, Kandy, was the winner in the educational category, followed by Ananda College and the Royal College A Team. All members of these teams received British Council Library gold memberships, in addition to book vouchers and books.

Srilankan Airlines came first in the corporate category, while Seylan Bank was the winner in among banks and financial institutions.

Serendib Quiz was organised by Quiz World (Pvt) Limited and sponsored by Commercial Credit PLC in partnership with Sarasavi Bookshop (Pvt) Limited, Fast Ads (Pvt) Limited, the British Council, BT Options, TVE Asia Pacific and Kent Holdings.

Serendib Quiz involved 50 questions from all areas of knowledge, local and global, presented in five rounds. Contestants worked simultaneously in teams to write out answers that were immediately marked by a three-member judging panel.

Full press release and lots of images at: http://quizworldlanka.com/2012/07/30/invictus-team-wins-the-first-serendib-quiz-with-nalaka-gunawardene/

Victorious Invictus Team flanked by Vindana Ariyawansa (extreme left) and Nalaka Gunawardene (extreme right) – Photo by Dhara Gunawardene

Don’t Be a Fossil Fool: A case for valuing Biotic Carbon in climate talks

Cartoon courtesy Down to Earth magazine, CSE India

• To tackle enhanced global warming that leads to climate change, we need to better understand the global carbon cycle.

• Critical to this understanding is distinguishing between fossil carbon (coal and petroleum) and biotic carbon (photosynthetic biomass – living matter capable of absorbing atmospheric carbon).

• Biotic Carbon offers a ‘lifeboat’ to a world in search of solutions. Valuing biotic carbon can transform the role of farmers and rural communities currently sidelined in global climate change negotiations.

• Current methodologies of carbon trading have seriously warped both economics and ecology. What takes place today is more like carbon laundering.

These outspoken views are expressed in a new web video by Dr Ranil Senanayake, a globally experienced systems ecologist with four decades of experience across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Titled “Rethinking Carbon and Climate Change”, the 16 minute video is released on TVE Asia Pacific’s YouTube channel in time for World Environment Day 2012 and ahead of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20 in Brazil.

This is edited from a long interview I filmed with the maverick scientist in mid March 2012.

Watch the full film online:

This film is released under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license.

Read Q&A style interview on Groundviews (covers much else):
Sri Lanka’s Fast-track to Post-war Development: Remember the Mahaweli’s Costly Lessons!

Do You HEAR Me? New film looks at voice-based emergency communications

Phoning each other during personal or shared emergencies is one of the commonest human impulses. Until recently, technology and costs stood in the way. No longer.

We now have practically all grown-ups (and some young people too) in many Asian countries carrying around phones or having easy, regular access to them. For example, Sri Lanka’s tele-density now stands at 106.1 phones 100 people (2011 figures).

What does this mean in times of crisis caused by disasters or other calamities? This is explored in a short video I just made for LIRNEasia:

Synopsis:

With the spread of affordable telecom services, most Asians now use their own phones to stay connected. Can talking on the phone help those responding to emergencies to be better organised? How can voice be used more efficiently in alerting and reporting about disasters? Where can computer technology make a difference in crisis management?

These questions were investigated in an action research project by LIRNEasia in partnership with Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka’s largest development organisation. Experimenting with Sahana disaster management software and Freedom Fone interactive voice response system, it probed how voice-based reporting can fit into globally accepted standards for sharing emergency data. It found that while the technology isn’t perfect yet, there is much potential.

Produced by TVE Asia Pacific for LIRNEasia with funding support from Humanitarian Innovation Fund in the UK.

Ray Wijewardene website launched: Paying it forward…

We launched the Ray Wijewardene website at the British Council Colombo on September 28 evening to a packed house of friends and well-wishers. My colleague Nadeeja Abeyasekera and I introduced the site – product of months of work. Here are my opening remarks:

Nalaka Gunawardene introduces Ray Wijewardene website at British Council Colombo, 28 Sep 2011 - photo by Dhanushka Fernando

Introduction to the Ray Wijewardene website:
by Nalaka Gunawardene, Director, TVE Asia Pacific

It’s a privilege for me and my colleagues at TVE Asia Pacific to have built the Ray Wijewardene website as an entirely voluntary effort.

This is our DIGITAL TRIBUTE to Ray Wijewardene, an outstanding scientist and thinker, not just of Sri Lanka, but of the entire developing world. On top of that, Ray was also a good friend and supporter of our own development communication work for many years. This is our way of PAYING IT FORWARD!

Looking back, I can say that this website was conceived in a moment of frustration and outrage. Let me explain!

When Ray passed away in August last year, there was very little SPECIFIC information about him anywhere on the World Wide Web. And there were ONLY a couple of good photographs online, which most newspapers and websites used when reporting on his death. They really had no choice!

In the days and weeks that followed, many warm tributes appeared in our newspapers. These shared precious memories and anecdotes about Ray. But I couldn’t help noticing that many lacked specifics, and some even had inaccuracies…probably inadvertent? Some didn’t even spell his name correctly!

We all know how Ray led a very productive and creative life — but it was not easy to find specific and accurate information about his thinking and many accomplishments. The reality these days is that if Google can’t find you, millions will never get to know about you!

I wanted to bridge this info gap as fast as possible!

So when I joined the Ray Wijewardene Charitable Trust as a Trustee, I offered to build a website as our first activity. We had no dedicated funds, but we just went ahead on a VOLUNTARY BASIS — relying on GOODWILL and IN-KIND contributions from many, e.g.
• We pooled information from Ray’s family members and friends;
• We sourced images from family and professional contacts; and
• We asked a few to write about different facets of Ray’s work/play.

This is what we call a NO-BUDGET ACTIVITY! We’ve harnessed the collaborative spirit very common on the Web. And we thank to all who joined this collaborative effort! They’re too many to mention by name – they know who they are…

Part of audience at the launch of Ray Wijewardene website, 28 Sep 2011 - Photo by Ruveen Mandawala

My colleagues at TVE Asia Pacific worked long and hard to weave all this material into the website that we launch today. As with all our products, we aim this at the interested non-specialist. We’ve tried to keep it simple, concise and engaging – we know that web visitors have very short the attention spans!

Let me ask my colleague Nadeeja Abeyasekera, who built this website, to take you on a quick tour…to entice you to browse more at your leisure!

In my view, a website is never really finished…so we will continue to add new content and links to this as and when necessary to keep it current and relevant. We also solicit more information and images from all of you, some of which can be published on this website and the rest can support the research effort for the proposed biography.

Nadeeja Abeyasekera (in yellow) & Nalaka Gunawardene take questions fron the audience

More images at http://www.facebook.com/RayWijewardene

Ray Wijewardene: Saluting a thinker who also tinkered

Working with a Genial Giant: Ray Wijewardene

As a communicator, I look for ways to say more with less. The ‘gold standard’ for brevity was set two centuries ago by the French poet, playwright, novelist and essayist Victor Hugo.

The story goes like this. Victor Hugo was travelling out of town and wanted to know how his latest book was selling. He messaged (telegraphed?) his agent: ?

The agent, not to be outdone, replied: !

Enough said. How I wish I could beat that economy of words…

I have a fondness for both question marks and exclamation marks — I used a good deal of both in my own speaking and writing. I use these as a metaphor in a tribute I just wrote about one of my mentors: Ray Wijewardene.

Ray Wijewardene: An Extraordinary Thinker and Tinkerer has just been published by Groundviews.org. It also appears on the official website about Ray Wijewardene, being formally launched today.

Here are the opening paras of my essay:

“If I had to condense the multi-faceted and fascinating life of Ray Wijewardene, I would reduce it to a whole lot of question marks and exclamation marks. In his 86 years, Ray generated more than his fair share of both.

“He was unpigeonholeable: engineer, farmer, inventor, aviator and sportsman all rolled into one. Whether at work or play, he was an innovative thinker who rose above his culture and training to grasp the bigger picture.”

Full essay: Ray Wijewardene: An Extraordinary Thinker and Tinkerer

The website was built by my team at TVE Asia Pacific (TEVAP) as a public education resource. read TVEAP News story:
TVEAP unveils new website on outstanding Sri Lankan scientist and visionary

Ray Wijewardene website: Celebrating a Man for All Elements!

Ray Wijewardene (1924 - 2010): A man for all elements

One year has passed since Ray Wijewardene’s death aged 86. In that year, I’ve been privileged to play a part in celebrating his life and preserving his legacy.

My main contribution todate is building the official Ray Wijewardene website, which was launched in time for Ray’s 87th birth anniversary. It can now be accessed at: http://www.raywijewardene.net

Here’s the promotional blurb I sent out to a few dozen people this weekend:

Philip Revatha (Ray) Wijewardene (1924 – 2010) was an extraordinary Sri Lankan who was rightly called a Renaissance Man. Educated at two of the most prestigious universities in the world (Cambridge and Harvard), he excelled in many different areas of human endeavour: agriculture, aviation, engineering design, inventions, renewable energy technologies and water sports. He also painted and played the violin.

The Ray Wijewardene official website went ‘live’ just in time for Ray’s 87th birth anniversary on 20 August 2011.

This informative website captures highlights of Ray’s rich and colourful life that covered different areas of human endeavour: agriculture, aviation, engineering design, renewable energy, transport and water sports. It promotes his vision for self-reliance, innovation and sustainable development in Sri Lanka and in other countries in the humid tropics.

Weaving the four elements: Ray's logo
The website introduces Ray as ‘a man for all elements’, and showcases his personal logo that symbolised the integration of the four elements in eastern philosophy: water, fire, air and matter/Earth.

It carries first person narratives written by five individuals who knew Ray in different capacities: aviator Capt Elmo Jayawardena, renewable energy specialist P G Joseph, science writer Nalaka Gunawardene, conservationist Dr Ranjith Mahindapala and biologist Rohan Pethiyagoda. It also collates links to tributes and appreciations that were published in the media following Ray’s death in August 2010.

In another section, the website has a photo gallery that includes many hitherto-unseen images drawn from the Wijewardene family albums and from various other institutional and media sources. These offer glimpses of Ray Wijewardene’s education, training, career and leisure activities that took him to the universities of Cambridge and Harvard, international service with the United Nations, the Olympic and Asian games and the grassroots in Sri Lanka.

The website was conceived and built by the Colombo-based non-profit media foundation TVE Asia Pacific. It is an entirely voluntary effort that involved the collaboration of many individuals from different backgrounds and geographical locations. Information and images were sourced from Ray’s family members, friends and associates.

More information, photographs and videos are to be added as new material becomes available. The website actively seeks memories, anecdotes and images for the Ray biography compilation project that is now underway.

The Ray Wijewardene Charitable Trust (RWCT) was established in early 2011 to promote Ray’s vision and ideas in Sri Lanka. The Trust will support innovation in areas that were close to Ray’s heart. This website is the Trust’s first public activity to preserve Ray’s legacy.

Wildlife and Natural History Film making: Are Darwinian Rules at play?

Wildscreen 2011 Colombo Panel: From L to R - Taya Diaz, Amanda Theunissen, Delon Weerasinghe, Anoma Rajakaruna, Dominic Weston and Nalaka Gunawardene

Is there an elite or ‘charmed’ circle of wildlife and natural history film makers in the world? If so, how does a new film maker break into this circle?

This is the question I posed to a group of visiting British film makers and their Sri Lankan counterparts during a panel discussion I moderated at the British Council Colombo on February 17 evening.

The panel, organised around the topic ‘Differences and mutual challenges in Asian, American and European productions/film making’, was part of the Wildscreen traveling film festival held hosted in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 17 to 19 February 2011.

Amanda Theunissen, who has worked with the BBC Natural History Unit and National Geographic Television, gave a straight answer: yes, there is such a charmed circle.

And although she didn’t say it in so many words, it was clear from our overall discussions that the circle is jealously guarded, and it’s not easy for any newcomer to break into it. And the entry barrier becomes harder if the film maker is from the global South.

I opened the panel recalling the opening sentence of Our Common Future, the 1987 Report by the World Commission on Environment and Development: “The Earth is one but the world is not”. I said: “A similar disparity exists in wildlife and natural history film making. We are all covering the same planet Earth in all its splendour and diversity. But on this planet there are many different worlds of film making.”

I asked my five panelists — Amanda Theunissen and Dominic Weston from the UK, and Delon Weerasinghe, Anoma Rajakaruna, and Taya Diaz from Sri Lanka — to address three key challenges faced by all wildlife and natural history film makers everywhere: the art of effective story telling; fund raising to make films; and ensuring wide distribution of the films made.

The panel discussion was lively, wide-ranging and engaged the audience which comprised mostly aspiring film makers or film students. I didn’t want our discussion to scare any of them away from a career in environment and wildlife film making. But at the same time, we wanted to acknowledge the practical realities — and disparities — that exist within and across countries in this respect.

I’ve now written up a summary of the panel discussion for TVE Asia Pacific news. Its heading comes from a provocative question I asked during the panel: does wildlife film making operate on almost Darwinian rules?

Read the full story: Wildlife and Natural History Film making: Survival of the Fittest?

Wildscreen Colombo Panel: From L to R - Taya Diaz, Amanda Theunissen, Delon Weerasinghe, Anoma Rajakaruna, Dominic Weston, Nalaka Gunawardene

New column in Ravaya newspaper: Little Boy asking Big Questions…

Graphics identity for my new Ravaya column As a journalist, I was trained to look for what’s New, True and Interesting (‘NTI Test’). Early on, I went beyond just reporting events, and probed the underlying causes and processes. With experience, I can now offer my audiences something more: perspective and seasoned opinion. These are needed today more than ever as we wade through massive volumes of information, trying to make sense of it all.

I’ve been privileged to chronicle and comment on the closing decade of the 20th Century and the opening one of the 21st – years of unprecedented change, and considerable turmoil, in my country (Sri Lanka), region (Asia) and the world. In my chosen areas of science, technology and sustainable development, changes have happened at a dazzling and often bewildering speed.

As a science writer and development film maker, I work with researchers, activists and officials across Asia who struggle to balance ecological concerns with economic development imperatives. I call myself a ‘critical cheer-leader’ of their efforts. Through TVE Asia Pacific, SciDev.Net and my other affiliations, I seek to enhance the public understanding of complex issues and choices required in pursuing sustainable development.

I sometimes feel a strange kinship with the ancient Greeks, who first asked some fundamental questions about the universe. They didn’t always get the answers right, and neither do I. But it is very important that we question and critique progress – I do so with an open mind, enthusiasm and optimism. On some occasions, this involves asking uncomfortable questions that irk those in positions of power and authority. In that sense, I sometimes play the role of that little boy who told the Emperor had no clothes on. (Does anyone know what happened to the boy after that?).

This is the basic premise for a new weekly newspaper column I am writing from this month in the Sinhala weekend newspaper Ravaya. A few weeks ago, the executive editor of Ravaya invited me to write a regular column, which I accepted after some hesitation. My hesitation was not about them; it was about my own ability to express myself in Sinhala, a language I studied more than a quarter century ago, but have not worked in for over 20 years. But I’ve decided to take it on as a challenge, and see how far I can go and how well I can write on topics and issues that are close to my heart: science, technology, environment and development. The first column has just appeared in the Ravaya issue for 6 Feb 2011.

Ravaya: Always Open for Debate

I have been a regular reader of Ravaya in all its 25 years of publication. As I wrote in a book review last year: “It is an extraordinary publication that has, for nearly a quarter of a century, provided a platform for vibrant public discussion and debate on social and political issues. It does so while staying aloof of political party loyalties and tribal divisions. While it cannot compete directly (for circulation) with newspapers published by the state or press barons, this sober and serious broadsheet commands sufficient influence among a loyal and discerning readership.”

Published by a company owned by journalists themselves, Ravaya is almost unique among Lankan newspapers for another reason: its columnists and other contributors are allowed to take positions that are radically different from those of its formidable editor, Victor Ivan. I’m not sure how soon I will get to test this, but such pluralism is very rare in today’s mainstream media in Sri Lanka.

Nature, Inc. TV series: Exploring the planet’s largest ‘enterprise’!

Nature is priceless -- or is i? The answer might save us all!
Nature is priceless — or is it?

If we put a cash price on the economic services that, say, watersheds or insects or coastal mangroves provide, would we value Nature more? Would we be prepared to change our ways of measuring wealth and economic growth? And if we did, would that slow down the extinctions and collapse of ecosystems?

These are some of the issues that are explored in Nature, Inc., a path-breaking TV documentary series that puts a price-tag on environmental services such as forests, wildlife and coral reefs.

First broadcast in 2008 and 2009 on BBC World News, Nature Inc. broke new ground for environmental programming by seeking out a new breed of investor – those who believe they can make money out of saving the planet.

Watch Nature, Inc. series trailer:

Nature Inc. offers new insights into valuing the benefits of natural systems and biodiversity. It takes its lead from economists who have worked out that ecosystem services are worth more than the total of all the world’s national economies.

The first and second series are now available from TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP). Each series comprises six half-hour episodes, compacting stories filmed in different parts of the world. Broadcast, civil society and educational users across the Asia Pacific may order copies at the cost of duplication and dispatch, and without having to pay a license fee.

The series was produced by One Planet Pictures of the UK, in association with dev.tv of Switzerland.

“There is new green thinking out there and some of it is grappling with pricing renewable assets. As such we felt it was a legitimate new area to take as an organising theme for the new series,” says Robert Lamb, series producer of Nature, Inc. “Perhaps the global recession has made viewers more aware of the ‘eco’ in economics”.

Robert Lamb
The series is based on new research and analysis being done on the subject. Among these new studies is the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), a major international initiative to draw attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity, to highlight the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to draw together expertise from the fields of science, economics and policy to enable practical actions moving forward.

But adding a price tag to Nature is not something that pleases all scientists or activists. Robert says the producers received “an overwhelmingly positive reaction” to the first series, but there was also a small minority who wrote in to say they hated the premise of the whole series.

He adds: “That’s good, we want to foster discussion in Nature Inc. which is why we are encouraging viewers to contribute ideas for the next series.”

Read Robert Lamb’s reflections on the Making of Nature, Inc. TV series

Here’s a sample episode from the series, titled Coral Cashpoint. In this, Nature Inc investigates a claim that our coral reefs are worth $30 billion a year. In this fourth episode, we go diving on the Great Barrier Reef, the Maldives and to the bottom of the North Sea to find out how coral reefs supply 500 million of us with food and work. But we are destroying the reefs so quickly, they could vanish entirely in less than a hundred years.

Nature, Inc: Coral Cashpoint – Part 1 of 2

Nature, Inc: Coral Cashpoint – Part 2 of 2