International Agenda Setting

Asher did a nice job of outlining social marketing and agenda setting during his presentation. I was particularly interested in the discussion on Global Health settings because this week I worked at conference which focused on International Health (which, I will not mention by name to protect the innocent, lol). Much of this conference was spent on strategic planning, program development and agenda setting. It was exciting to see participants learn about communication strategies including presentation skills, creating their "personal stories" and practicing their English skills by participating in in-depth interviews. It was also interesting to hear about the real challenges that plague these international organizations and prevent them from getting the word out about their specific issues. Unfortunately, like Asher's slide mentioned, the system for agenda setting doesn't always exist. Participants mentioned difficulties with technology, lack of support and lack of funds which we all know can prevent important issues from getting the attention they deserve. One participant shared her experiences about how she shared her story with a newspaper in her country and the positive feedback and buy-in she received because of it. I'm really hopeful that the others in the conference will have similar experiences (including me~).