News
09.04.10
Health Communication
In this short essay, an alternative conceptualization of diffusing health innovations is broached whose premise is that innovative ideas are often lurking within the system, where the change agents' primary role is to facilitate a process whereby which the community can self-discover these ideas, and where dialogue and "social proof" result in an organic spread of the innovation, in contrast to passive adopters buying into a change agency's prescription.
08.30.10
Read Peter Block's review of The Power of Positive Deviance from AbundantCommunity.com
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08.30.10
New Book - Inviting Everyone: Healing Healthcare through Positive Deviance, tells the remarkable story of how a people - centered approach to organizational and social change, accompanied by sound scientific and technical expertise, yielded positive quality outcomes for ordinary citizens, health care institutions and their patients, and society in general. To learn more about and purchase the book, click here.
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08.17.10
The Independent
Richard Pascale, co-author of The Power of Positive Deviance, recently wrote an article by the same title for The Independent. The article provides a great overview of concepts and stories that are expanded upon in the book - including how the concept was implemented successfully in Vietnam in 1990 to address malnutrition, and how the process has since been used to address diverse issues such as lack of sales in corporate applications, gang violence, and school drop-out rates. To read the full article from The Independent, click here.
08.10.10
If you provide care for pregnant women this is your opportunity to have your voice heard! Global Voices for Maternal Health - University of Oxford. In an international effort to reduce maternal deaths, Global Voices for Maternal Health launched a major project from the University of Oxford. The project will give over 10,000 midwives, nurses and doctors around the world a direct voice about their perspectives, the problems they face, and identify solutions to barriers in the delivery of lifesaving maternal health care.
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07.26.10
The PDI's most recent workshop "Positive Deviance: The What. The How." was held from July 26-27 at Tufts University in Boston. 64 brilliant participants traveled from across the U.S. (and beyond!) and came from a very diverse array of sectors including education, nutrition, healthcare, environmental conservation, business, and organizational development. Participants attended the workshop to gain a basic understanding of the Positive Deviance concept and approach. Small group work focused on how to begin applying the approach in their own communities to diverse topics such as the childhood obesity epidemic, high school drop-out rates, prevention of healthcare associated infections, conflict resolution, and economic and political challenges in East Africa, just to name a few.
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06.09.10
On June 7-9 the Women Deliver Conference was held in Washington DC. The conference, held by the Women Deliver Initiative focuses on fulfilling the 5th Millennium Development Goal, to achieve universal access to reproductive health and reduce maternal mortality. Members of the PDI joined the nearly 3,500 participants from over 140 countries that came together to learn, network, and advance strategies to address reproductive health, human rights, and economic opportunities for the worlds women and girls. The conference was an excellent opportunity for the PDI to reach out to hundreds of community groups working all over the world. Over 300 people stopped by the booth to speak with staff and learn more about PD. The team also received updates from partners on the PD projects aimed at reducing FGC/M in Egypt and improving maternal and newborn health outcomes in Pakistan.
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05.15.10
On May 14-15, 2010 a Practice Research Workshop on Positive Deviance, entitled, "Exploring Positive Deviance: New Frontiers in Change and the Technology of Collaboration," took place at the Said Business School Executive Education Centre in Oxford, UK. The workshop was presented in honor of the late Jerry Sternin, Associate Fellow of the Said Business school , who pioneered its application in a wide range of countries and contexts along with his wife, Monique and a growing community of practitioners.
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05.08.10
Over 60 people from over 25 organizations spent two weeks in St. Lucia (April 26 to May 8, 2010) designing a comprehensive communication and behavior change strategy for climate change for the Caribbean. The 9 OECS (Organization of Eastern Caribbean States) countries, Tobago and Jamaica aim to design the first soap opera for climate change! One of the topics for discussion was how to integrate on-the-ground Positive Deviance inquiries with on-air mass-mediated entertainment-education strategies. New York-based Media Impact is joined in supporting this work by the OECS Secretariat, TNC, GLISPA, GEF SGP, Birdlife, Panos Caribbean and 8 other organizations committed to support local action on climate change.
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04.28.10
Rockefeller Foundation
On April 28, 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the global Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls, supported by a $3 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. Judith Rodin, the Foundation's president, spoke about the Foundation's focus on investing in innovative ideas and programs for social change. Rodin highlighted Positive Deviance in her speech. To read a full PDF of Rodin's speech, or to view the video footage of the speech, please click here.
