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More on Nutrition: UNICEF and Positive Deviance in West Bengal, India

UNICEF in West Bengal in partnership with the Department of Women and Child Development, and the Department of Social Welfare launched the Positive Deviance Programme in this state in the eastern part of India, aptly labelled ‘Keano parbo na’ ("Why can’t we do it?"). Starting with a pilot project in 2001, this programme now reaches over a thousand villages, covering more than 1,22,000 children. Read More

Corporate Application of PD in Mexico

Over the past year, 2005, the Latin America Division of MERCK Pharmaceutical has been utilizing the PD approach to enhance sales. In addition to improved sales results, the approach has had a profound impact on the lives and work of its sales force and their managers. Read More

Update on Anti- Girl Trafficking efforts in Indonesia

Update from Indonesia: Save the Children has been partnering with a local NGO to develop community based advocacy against trafficking in East Java. Read the original story and the update

. Positive Deviance and Girls education in Ethiopia

PD has been used to enhance access to education for girls in Ethiopia. The following report documents the design used by Save the Children (SC) to increase the number of girls attending school in the Afar region of Ethiopia. SC staff report a marked increase in girl's enrollment since the inception of the program. Read More

Positive Deviance makes its Debut in Healthcare at Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut

The use of the positive deviance process in Waterbury hospital represents a landmark event in newer applications of PD. In a short time period of six months, the positive deviance process fostered a behavior and cultural change in a cohort of professionals who were long considered immune to change - healthcare professionals. Read More

PD/MRSA Prevention Partnership

Positive Deviance Initiative (PDI) at Tufts University is collaborating with the Plexus Institute in New Jersey under a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for a new initiative ("PD/MRSA Prevention Partnership") to use the positive deviance approach to reducing Methicillin-Resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in hospitals in six states. Monique and Jerry Sternin from the Positive Deviance Initiative will be involved as technical advisors to the Partnership in the implementation of this initiative. Other partners include Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut; Deaconess Billings Clinic, Billings, Montana; 20 hospitals of the Southwestern Pennsylvania MRSA Prevention Collaborative, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and interested hospitals in Maryland and the District of Columbia served by the Delmarva Foundation and the Maryland Patient Safety Center.

PD in Organization Management

Positive Deviance is a behavior change strategy that can find applications in new areas like conflict mitigation to traditional uses in assessing food insecurity . Now an online newsletter from a software company has discovered applications of positive deviance in Organization Management.

Addressing Poverty

The Science and Spirit magazine "explores the relationship between science and religion in the context of our everyday lives." Jerry Sternin talks to them about the role of Positive Deviance in alleviating poverty. While talking about usefulness of PD, he also notes that "...there are identifiable economic and structural causes underlying poverty—and they must be addressed...". This is the article.

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