CCP to Honor Heath Brothers with Gold Medallion Award

Chip Heath and Dan Heath, winners of CCP's 2010 Gold Medallion award

Chip Heath and Dan Heath, bestselling authors and consultants to CCP’s successful Fataki campaign in Tanzania, are the 2010 recipients of the Center for Communication Programs’ Gold Medallion. CCP will be honoring the Heath brothers for their outstanding contribution to CCP’s mission of saving lives and improving health through strategic communication. Dan Heath will accept the award at a ceremony on December 7, 2010 from 4-7 pm at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The ceremony will include a special Dean’s Lecture given by Dan Heath entitled Making a Switch: How to Lead a Change.

Chip Heath, a Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, and Dan Heath, a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, are authors of the critically acclaimed books Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists, and Made to Stick.

Under CCP’s USAID-funded Strategic Radio Communication (STRADCOM) project in Tanzania, the Heath brothers assisted with the development of the very successful and groundbreaking Fataki concept to address issues around cross-generational sex and HIV prevention. The Fataki campaign was featured in Switch.

Through the innovative campaign, Fataki, the Swahili word for “explosion” or “firecracker”, became a catchword to ridicule “sugar daddies” – older men who seek sexual relations with younger girls. The fictitious Fataki cartoon character, featured in radio spots broadcast on 15 stations across Tanzania and on posters and banners, was an instant hit in Tanzania. Research conducted by STRADCOM demonstrated that not only did people exposed to the campaign believe that sex between a young woman and much older man who is not her husband is wrong, but that the campaign actually empowered people to act against transgenerational sex.

The Gold Medallion is given out annually to an individual or group that has shown exceptional leadership in the field of health communication. Asahi Kasei Corporation of Japan sponsors the award. Past recipients include Ms. Catherine Phiri, Social Responsibility Director for MTV Networks International; Dr. Gregory Allgood and Ms. Marwa El Shahawy of Procter & Gamble; and Mr. Hiroshi Taniguchi, Policy Advisor for the Government of Japan. This year’s ceremony will be attended by Robert Karam, CCP’s Tanzania Country Representative, and Deo Ng’wanansabi, STRADCOM Chief of Party.

Learn more about the Fataki campaign.

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