Overview

Technical assistance to the Center for Community Health Research and Development (CCRD) is a three-year capacity building project funded under a grant from the Atlantic Philanthropies. Established in 2002, CCRD is one of the first non-governmental and non-profit Vietnamese organizations to specialize in research and interventions for community health promotion and development. CCP leads the capacity building initiative in behavior change communication (BCC). CCP’s technical assistance is enabling CCRD to develop into one of the leading organizations in BCC in Vietnam. CCRD has expanded its capacity by hiring qualified professionals in health communication planning and strategy development and is broadening its partnership with government agencies, international organizations, universities, research groups and communication specialists. CCRD’s partners include the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Ford Foundation, the Vietnam Ministry of Health, Voice of Vietnam Radio, Columbia University, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and local organizations.

You can learn more about this project by visiting CCRD's website.

Accomplishments

• With technical support from CCP, CCRD designed and organized a number of training workshops in behavior change communication, communication research and evaluation and entertainment-education script development for more than 100 members of the media, public health, nongovernmental and government organizations, universities and the private sector, including international participants.

• CCRD implements health communication projects in Vietnam, providing additional revenue to support the organization’s growth and creating on-the-job training opportunities for CCRD staff. Staff practice skills in designing and evaluating BCC programs and help strengthen CCRD’s credentials in the field.

• In partnership with CCP, CCRD developed and launched a 26-episode television serial drama to motivate the adoption of healthy behaviors and practices around injury prevention, alcoholism, HIV/AIDS and maternal and child health. A second 20 episode TV drama on other health topics will begin production in April 2010.