Blog Archive

Meet Percy the Pirate Seagull: Boosting School Attendance in Hastings

March 01, 2020 by John Landels

The NSMC has been working with the Hastings Opportunity Area to improve school attendance levels in the town.

When we spoke with parents in Hastings, many of them told us that they were unclear about the guidelines around when children should come to school with minor illnesses such coughs and colds. This uncertaintly results in a significant number of pupils needlessly missing school.

Jordan renewable energy project powers on!

February 27, 2020 by John Bromley

The NSMC has been working with the King Hussain Foundation in Jordan to increase the number of people using renewable energy and energy efficient products.  Over the last year we have carried out marketing workshops with local euntrepreneurs in locations across Jordan to help them market their renewable energy products more effectively.  We have also held a number of energy days where local people have been able to see and try out new energy products for their homes and businesses.

Innovative water saving campaign in Jordan

February 26, 2020 by John Bromley

We are pleased to see that our partner organisation in Jordan, the JSMC has recently completed a water saving campaign that reached over 57 million people across the Middle East and has increased knowledge of the water crisis in Jordan by 20%.

Hastings Kids Say ‘We want to go to school!’

January 24, 2020 by John Bromley

Over the last 12 months, the NSMC has been working with the Hastings Opportunity Area (HOA) carrying out research with young people, parents and schools to tackle Hastings long standing issues around attendance.

NSMC carries out research in A&E

October 10, 2019 by John Bromley

The NSMC has just completed a primary research project to identify the reasons why people go to A&E rather than other urgent care services that may be more appropriate to their needs.  The research is very revealing with many people stating that they judge the waiting time of often over three hours at A&E more favourable than other healthcare alternatives, especially when they believed they would need some form of diagnostic test that would take place in a hospital.

Hastings Safe Space: what have we been doing?

June 07, 2019 by John Landels

The NSMC has been operating the Hastings Safe Space service since late 2017 and we thought it would be useful if we told you something about what the service has achieved.  This service is designed to support young people using the night-time economy in the town on a Saturday night.

NSMC trains Miyahuma Water Company in Jordan

May 07, 2019 by John Bromley

The NSMC has just finished training the Communications Department of Miyahuna Water company to deliver new household social marketing campaigns over the summer period in Amman, Jordan.  One of the campaigns is aimed at reducing the shower times of young people from 10 minutes to 5 minutes - a particularly hard challenge!  The other two campaigns are aimed at getting households to report faults and conserve water in the kitchen.  The campaigns will be further developed over the next weeks and we will let you know of how they develop.

Hastings campaign to improve school attendance

January 25, 2019 by John Bromley

We will be working with Hastings Opportunity Area (HOA) over the next few months to develop and implement a local social marketing campaign to improve school and college attendance in this vibrant south coast town.  The NSMC have already carried out an evidence review of what types of campaigns works well and why.  We have found that positive campaigns that promote the all the benefits of school are the most effective.

NSMC begins renewable energy projects in Jordan

January 25, 2019 by John Bromley

The NSMC will be working with the King Hussein Foundation in Jordan over the next 12 months to develop three community renewable energy programmes.  Currently Jordan has to import 97% of its energy so there is a real effort going on by all actors in the sector to increase the size of the renewable energy sector. The communities in Beni Kanana, Tafilaha and Amman will receive social marketing and advocacy training which will enable them to develop their own community projects. Funding is being provided by the European Union to implement these new initiatives. 

Hastings Safe Space: nearly one year old!

November 26, 2018 by John Landels

Well, we didn't win at last week's HSJ awards but we are delighted to have been selected as a finalist - from a total of over 1,400 entries, ony 240 reached this stage. This is a fantastic achievement and a tribute to all our volunteers, first aiders and security staff.