Development Communication in a Global Perspective

Palabra Clave - Revista de Comunicación, 2010

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of development communication. To do so, the first section focuses on the theoretical perspective and evolution of development communication. The second section deals with selected examples from the Third World, and the final section is a summary.

Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, 2021

Development projects as we know them date back to the fairy tale triumph against evil in WWII and the heroic and idealistic Zeitgeist of the ensuing decades. Projects have been executed en masse to modernise and develop nations struck by poverty, illness and lacking education but the heroes and ideals of post-WWII have not saved the world any further. The Western quest for fairy tale social change (where everybody lives happily ever after) has fostered two paradigmatic forms of communication for development; modernisation and participation – and proven to be complicated. This paper will outline the conceptual frameworks of both paradigms, before describing the methodological repertoire of each. Despite the contrasting list of characteristics for each conceptual framework, there remain some convergences which go beyond theory. Conceptual Frameworks of the Modernisation Paradigm and the Participation Paradigm Modernisation as a communication paradigm within the field of development employs communication as a product, with unchallenged executive decisions being delegated down a bureaucracy with the objective to persuade and change the behaviour of beneficiaries of development projects. The communication dynamic is lineal, vertical, monologic and top-to-bottom. Modernisation projects are planned and designed in exclusively economic terms and prescribe funds to remedy all problems. There is no consideration of historical, cultural, political or geographic contexts and such projects are subject to political interests on the modernisers' side. Modernisation projects are confined to cooperation with the governments of developing countries. The objectives are large scale and typically staffed by foreigners – who are seldom specialists in the local context. Ineffective legislation ensures neither accountability nor transparency. Modernisation has no interest in existing power relations and presumes that those in power will act benevolently for their national populations. Under the paradigm of modernisation, the " change " in the much sought social change is transitive; passed from the donor to the beneficiary. Participation as a communication paradigm within the development industry sees communication as a process to investigate matters and seek consensus over them from the bottom of the development hierarchy upwards. Participation interprets problems beyond a purely economic perspective and ascribes human rights the potential to improve many problematic situations. It emphasises dialogue and listening to the beneficiaries of development, creating a horizontal and circular dynamic for communication. It fosters small-scale, individually contextualised projects and nurtures politics on a

E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

Communication is critical in any development process. Beyond its role as an empowerment tool, communication is used to promote people’s participation in development activities. Communication also helps to ensure that people have access to the information and knowledge needed to improve their lives. Particularly, citizens rely on knowledge and information in order to successfully respond to the opportunities and challenges of social, economic, cultural, political and technological changes. However, for knowledge and information to be useful in the development process, they must be effectively communicated to people. This brings to the fore the compelling relevance of development communication in development discourse. Though development communication is indispensable in sustainable development drive, many people still struggle to appreciate its underlying philosophical underpinnings, conceptual intentions, core principles and methodologies, hence their failure to make the concept pra...

Our research choose an “orchestral” perspective on communication not only as a tool, but as the way in which the social communicator relies both on multistrategical approaches and dynamics of social actors involved in a process of pluralistic mutual endorsement. Participatory approach for communication has been highlighted as the new key strategy and as the contemporary way to manage conflicts related with natural resources management. It has been shown the need to empower democracy throw an integrated perspective between local and central perspective. The “multiway” or “orchestral” visions of communication propose that the flow of messages is not the mainly focus of the social communicator, emphasising on additional functions of communication (i.e. sharing production of knowledge processes). So we need methods to understand the interconnected and distinctive mechanisms of the social and local arenas where different forms of communication and power relationships contribute to negotiate, produce and share knowledge. We try to consider different social arenas and points of view, by the means of one case analysis, looking for integrated methods in “orchestral communication”. The case study on “Indian women role in water management” will show that lack in communication may affect participation in local community democracy issues. We will consider two different communication methods on the grass-root and international arenas. As we can assume by the experience of two NGOs working on Indian women’s issues, locally oriented and internationally oriented perspectives lead to different perceptions on the local level as on the international level. This scenario tells us about the way in which institutional and non institutional bodies can work in order to improve communication between local movements and international mediatic arenas giving the idea of a new role for local community subjects on the international stage.

This century is undergoing a revolution brought about by globalization resulting to a new international global discourse. This radical shift has prompted static policies to become fast-moving, much wider, and more diffuse and it is constantly shifting (Braman, 2009). Yet despite the so-called development on the industry level, still the marginalized sector continues to plummet in numbers in an unprecedented scale. Development communication and policy sciences are both designed to alleviate this condition. Development communication’s process is akin to policy science as both recognizes the context or the environment where humans socially interact. Both are using social science procedures in solving large scale problems(Flor, 1991) and further acknowledges communication as an integral part of the process. Hence one can surmise that policy decision-making is dependent on communication. Allen (1978) supported this stance that in Development communication, a person’s behavior is essential for policy scientists to understand well before arriving at a policy framework. Communication therefore holds the scaffolding for efficient policy planning. This essay attempts to trace the link for its mutuality as catalysts of change in this fluid environment- a testimony how these two sciences can be robustly beneficial in one developmental framework.

2008

In essence, development is about the development of people and the transformation of society. Unfortunately, it is argued, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) primarily look at development as an 'engineering problem' to be solved from a topdown perspective. While references to 'top-down' approaches have fallen out of * JUDE WILLIAM R. GENILO

2002

All those involved in the analysis and application of communication for development-or what can broadly be termed “development communication”-would probably agree that in essence development communication is the sharing of knowledge aimed at reaching a consensus for action that takes into account the interests, needs and capacities of all concerned. It is thus a social process. Communication media are important tools in achieving this process but their use is not an aim in itself—interpersonal communication too must play a fundamental role.

The way and manner development is conceived, to a great extent determines the path to modernisation and how communication are designed. Hence, communication in the development process has always give well deserved pride of place. This article attempts a theoretical exploration of development communication, the dominant paradigms of development, and the shifts in development communication.