JHU∙CCP staff from around the world are gathering from June 27 – July 1 in Baltimore to share project experiences, best practices and a few laughs. With over 600 dedicated employees based in our headquarters and field offices, JHU•CCP’s field teams work with a wide array of partners in their respective professional communities and countries. Our Worldwide Meeting offers an opportunity to profile a few of these staff who have served as a driving force for some of our projects. Please join us as we thank them – and our entire team of CCP colleagues – for all they do to make our work stronger and the people we serve healthier and happier.
Uttara Bharath Kumar
Senior Program Officer, Communication Advisor (India)
Almost two decades ago, Uttara Bharath Kumar stumbled upon JHU∙CCP as a student-intern. Prior to this internship, she was convinced that the care-seeking and preventative aspects of health were being ignored because so much focus was being placed on the medical side. At JHU∙CCP, Uttara found like-minded peers, “an office full of people who were working to find newer, more creative and measurable ways to affect change.” Since that fateful internship, Uttara has worked in JHU∙CCP’s Baltimore and Zambia offices, where she has participated in many of JHU∙CCP’s successful projects and campaigns, including the “wonderful burst of creativity” that came in 2009 when she served as the Deputy Chief of Party for the Health Communication Partnership in Zambia, which saw the creation of the 'One Love Kwasila!' campaign, Rhythm of Life music and arts festival for health, national campaigns for malaria and family planning and the re-launch of the new and improved HEART campaign for young people. Dr. Reuben Mbewe, Deputy Director of Public Health & Research in the Zambian Ministry of Health describes Uttara as “passionate, focused and a team player who works hard to see a task to its logical or successful completion.” Brian Chengala Shakarongo, a musician with whom Uttara worked in Zambia concurs, stating that “after working with Uttara, one feels that their mind has been stretched beyond the limits of its elasticity." Uttara believes that quality and passion best define JHU∙CCP’s role in the world of health communication. Clearly the same words can be used to describe Uttara.
Rula Dajani
Deputy Chief of Party, Jordan Health Communication Partnership (Jordan)
A relative newcomer to JHU∙CCP, Rula Dajani has served as the Deputy Chief of Party for the Jordan Health Communication Partnership (JHCP) since February 2009. But Rula’s contribution to JHCP and JHU∙CCP belies her two-and-a-half-year tenure. During this short time, Rula has built critical partnerships in the private and public sectors, introducing non-traditional partners such as the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology that have enabled JHCP to implement its different program interventions across the 12 Governorates in Jordan. She has also contributed to the creative side of the project’s work, developing a musical signature “jingle” to accompany all mass media communication interventions to improve recognition of the “Hayati Ahla” National Family Planning Campaign. Rula believes that as an American and Arab, living in Jordan but representing the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, she has a unique opportunity to influence communication around health issues in Jordan.
Ron Hess
Chief of Party, Communication for Health Living (Egypt)
The reason for Ron Hess’ success as the Chief of Party of the Communication for Healthy Living Project (CHL) in Egypt, where he served from 2003 until this past year? Past experience? He has plenty, as he has worked for CCP since 1990 in an evolving range of positions – from Program Officer, to Regional Director. Dedication to JHU∙CCP’s mission and methods? There is no doubt that Ron believes in the value of health communication and its ability to empower people to act without coercing behavior. All true but, according to Doug Storey, Associate Director at JHU∙CCP, another contributor to Ron’s success at CHL, a crosscutting health communication project that addressed family planning, maternal and child health, infectious disease and healthy lifestyles, is quite simple: his past as an amateur ornithologist when he was a child growing up in India. His early years as an ornithologist gave him a special interest in tracking the emergence of avian influenza, helping CCP to “recognize the threat that Egypt faced before it appeared and mobilize local partners to prepare ahead of time for the inevitable outbreak.” As a result, the CHL Campaigns for Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and H1N1 Influenza were launched on the day that the first case of avian flu was confirmed in February 2006. These campaigns offered an early response to the outbreaks and applied risk communication strategies that contributed directly to the lowest HPAI case fatality rate in Egypt, the lowest in the world. Just one of the important health issues that Ron has partnered in addressing during his over two-decade tenure with JHU∙CCP.
Fayyaz Ahmad Khan
Country Director, CCP-Pakistan (Pakistan)
Not only does Fayyaz Ahmad Khan agree with JHU∙CCP’s vision – strategic communication improves lives – he argues that he is living proof. An innocent attendee of the Advances in Health Communication and Advocacy Workshop in 2000 (now the redesigned and renamed Leadership in Strategic Health Communication Workshop), Fayyaz has worked for JHU∙CCP ever since, as a consultant (2001-2004), BCC Team Leader for the PAIMAN Project (2004-2008) and JHU∙CCP’s Country Representative in Pakistan (2008-2010). He currently serves as Country Director for CCP-Pakistan, an independent Pakistani NGO that works on the same issues as JHU∙CCP. Why such dedication to JHU∙CCP? Fayyaz explains, “Communication is an exciting field as you get immediate feedback and response to your efforts. But working for CCP is even more exciting because here innovations are encouraged, challenges accepted and in the process new knowledge is created.” Fayyaz points to JHU∙CCP’s work in Pakistan as an example: the work with religious scholars was innovative, the production of a commercial feature film practically unprecedented and the PAIMAN final evaluation results demonstrated that the JHU∙CCP communication strategy was among the most effective components of the project.
Cheryl Lettenmaier
Chief of Party, Health Communication Partnership in Uganda; Regional Representative (Uganda)
Perhaps no one has worn more hats at JHU•CCP than Cheryl Lettenmaier who has not only served in a multitude of positions, but sometimes in multiple positions simultaneously. Currently Cheryl is JHU∙CCP’s Chief of Party for the Health Communication Partnership in Uganda and the Regional Representative in Uganda where she supports the Afford Project, Stop Malaria Project, Health Initiatives for the Private Sector, ROADS II Project, Advance Family Planning, the Longterm Methods Project and the Behavior Change and Social Marketing Project in Rwanda. How can one person provide leadership, strategic direction and technical assistance to so many health communication initiatives in Eastern Africa and manage the regional office based in Uganda at the same time? Anne Gamurorwa, Executive Director for Communication for Development Foundation Uganda, suggests that this is simply in character for Cheryl. She explains, “What struck me about her is this bundle of energy that is Cheryl [...] I did not know what multi-tasking meant until I saw her at work. She has the capacity to do several things at the same time and can see things from several dimensions at the same time.” Cheryl has worked for JHU∙CCP since its inception. She believes that the only way to improve health is by helping people live healthy lifestyles and adopt healthy practices, and that this can be best achieved through well-designed communication programs. As a resource for health programs worldwide, Cheryl suggests that JHU∙CCP has critical experience which must be shared so that new programs build on our strong foundation and professionals are encouraged to enter the field of health communication. Sage advice from a seasoned professional.
Deo Ng’wanansabi
Chief of Party, Strategic Radio Communication for Development (STRADCOM) (Tanzania)
For Deo Ng’wanansabi, a five-year veteran of JHU∙CCP and current Chief of Party of the Strategic Radio Communication for Development (STRADCOM) project in Tanzania, the challenge and excitement of his work comes from managing the diverse partnerships that are necessary to achieve his project’s goals. Whether he is handling relations with donors, government officials and partner organizations, or engaging a variety of players in the design of BCC messages, Deo brings quiet, respectful leadership to his work. He firmly believes that JHU∙CCP has contributed to saving lives through its innovative communication campaigns, whether it be an HIV/AIDS Communication Campaign for Youth or the “Fataki” Cross-generational Sex Campaign. It is the process of creating these campaigns, of managing expectations and negotiating skills, creating buzz and thus transforming behavior that gets Deo excited about his work, an excitement that spills beyond the borders of the work day. As described by Bennett Fimbo, Health Education and Health Promotion Specialist in Tanzania, “Deo can easily sacrifice his lunch and dinner for his CCP work. He will tell you, you know I was still in office when telephoned me at 10pm last week end putting things together.”
Elizabeth Serlemitsos
Senior Technical Advisor-Capacity Building, Tanzania Capacity and Communication Project (Tanzania)
During her 15 years at JHU∙CCP, Elizabeth Thompson Serlemitsos has worked on a diverse and fascinating range of projects, but there is a consistent theme throughout her work: she is helping create a new generation of African health communication professionals. She built the capacity of individuals through the "by the youth for the youth" HEART campaign which launched more than 10 years ago in Zambia but remains a part of the vocabulary of Zambian youth today, and she mentored Zambian youth through the entire run of Trendsetters, the initiation of the Youth Activists Organisation football camps and the launching of the Bauze Youth Centre, by African Directions- which now operates 3 youth centers in the country. Elizabeth reflects that many of the young people she worked with and nurtured on those early campaigns and supported in their NGO initiatives are now respected professionals operating at an international level. Currently, as Senior Technical Advisor- Capacity Building for the Tanzania Capacity and Communication Project (TCCP), Elizabeth is taking capacity building to a new level. In only six months, TCCP has managed to launch a mentoring program, begun working with Muhimbili University to create a Master’s degree in health communication, is designing a radio distance learning program for community volunteers and is rolling out a Tanzanian adaptation of the Leadership in Strategic Health Communication course to regional and district health managers across the country. All in 6 months, under Elizabeth’s watch. Colleagues describe Elizabeth as determined, creative and committed – they are united in their belief that the field of health communications and the many beneficiaries of JHU∙CCP’s work are better off because of Elizabeth’s dedication.
Claudia Vondrasek
Director, Voices for a Malaria-free Future (Mali)
“Come hell or high water,” states Bremen Leak, Program Officer for the Voices for a Malaria-free Future project, “that woman gets things done--and always with a great sense of humor.” The woman in question is Claudia Vondrasek-Cherif, a JHU∙CCP veteran since 1993. Over the almost twenty years that Claudia has worked for JHU∙CCP most of her time has been spent overseas in a range of roles, from Program Officer to Chief of Party to her current role as Director for the Voices for a Malaria-free Future project. What’s kept the work interesting for Claudia has been the opportunities she has had to design exciting programs where there is a constant need for creative solutions. Whether it be the Gold Circle Quality Services Promotion and Recognition Campaign in West African countries Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Cote d’Ivoire; the Malaria Safe Playbook for private sector companies in Africa or the Super Go (Girl) Campaign in Cote d’Ivoire, Claudia firmly believes that communication can affect change and no one does it better than JHU∙CCP.
