A tool box for building health communication capacity

The Tool Box was developed as a collection of practical, field-tested tools that can be used as needed by the many practitioners of modern health and social communication throughout the developing world. The materials include a wealth of ideas, models, concepts and strategies, crafted in the field under the pressures of real-life and real-time logistical barriers, cultural contexts, personalities differences, and funding problems. The methodology outlined in Section I of the Tool Box and presented in detail in Section II is the result of 17 years of experimentation and refinement by a series of three health communication projects in more than 40 countries. This collection of materials is designed to help managers of health communication programs meet the dual challenges of improving their unit's organization and credibility; and strengthening their personnel's communication skills and confidence in their ability to apply the communication methodology described in the Tool Box. The Tool Box can be used for occasional support, choosing a tool that is needed at a given moment, or as a continuing staff training program for health communication personnel that need stronger skills, greater confidence, or examples and prototypes of successful programs.