Abstract

Communication for development has grown after World War II both as a discipline and a field practice. The comprehensive use of communication in development programmes developed in different directions in various geographic, cultural, social and economic contexts. Several development communication models have been around since the 1950's, some based on academic exercises and some proceeding from field experience. Models have developed often with marked and irreconcilable differences, though in recent years there is a trend leading towards convergence. Two main trends have dominated five decades of development communication: firstly, communication models inspired by modernisation theories and techniques derived from the information strategies used by the US Government during World War II and by the industrial sector struggling to position its post-war products; secondly, communication approaches that emerged in the heat of the social and political struggle against colonial and dictatorial powers imposed on Third World countries, which have their conceptual reference point in the dependency theories. Models related to modernisation theories support the expansion of markets and the assimilation of large masses of marginalized population, through mechanisms of persuasion and strategies of information transfer and dissemination of innovations and technologies. The main premise of these models is that information and knowledge, per se, generate development, whereas local culture and traditions stand as barriers for Third World countries to reach levels of development similar to those of industrialised countries. Because of their straightforward link with US official foreign policy, these models have been dominant in international cooperation for several decades. The models that emerged from the independence experiences of Africa, Asia and Latin America, are conversely intimately linked to political and social events, and in a larger sense to values and expressions of cultural identity. Their main premise is that the underlying causes of underdevelopment are structural and have to do with land tenure, lack of collective civil liberties, oppression of indigenous cultures, and social inequity, among other political and social issues. These communication models promote social change rather than individual behavioural change, and suggest actions that emerge from the communities and not just for the communities. They consider that communication and participation are two sides of the same coin. The involvement of local stakeholders is essential in the entire spectrum of alternative, horizontal and participatory communication models. Both major currents -modernisation and participation -evolved for several decades, often in open confrontation on the theoretical level as well as in social applications. During the 90's, however, some elements of convergence appeared in models that combine the use of mass media with educational and participatory approaches. The United Nations System has a long history of supporting the conceptualisation and implementation of communication for development programmes and projects. Agencies such as UNESCO, FAO and UNICEF have been among the main international referents for this area, because they have traditionally supported communication for development as a programmatic central tool for sustainable development through civil society participation. Communication for Development: meeting today's agriculture and rural development challenges Background Paper 3 I. COMMUNICATION FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT TODAY At the beginning of this century, communication for development and social change appears as the paradigm that recovers and deepens the path that participatory, alternative and development communication had cleared, while also integrating progressive features from current modernisation models. It questions at all levels the concept of development that does not include the population that is directly affected, and promotes a communication process that supports effective community participation, particularly of the most impoverished and marginalized sectors of society. Key communication concepts in development Communication for Development (ComDev) Communication for Development (ComDev) is a social process based on dialogue using a broad range of tools and methods. ComDev is about seeking change at different levels including listening, establishing trust, sharing knowledge and skills, building policies, debating and learning for sustained and meaningful change. It is not public relations or corporate communication. (WCCD, The Rome Consensus). The ComDev process goes beyond information dissemination to facilitate active participation and stakeholder dialogue. It highlights the importance of raising awareness, the cultural dimensions of development, local knowledge, experiential learning, information sharing and the active participation of rural people and other stakeholders in decision making. (FAO) Communication for Empowerment (C4E) Communication for Empowerment is an approach that puts the information and communication needs and interests of disempowered and marginalized groups at the centre of media support. The aim of Communication for Empowerment is to ensure that the media has the capacity and capability to generate and provide the information that marginalized groups want and need and to provide a channel for marginalized groups to discuss and voice their perspectives on the issues that most concern them. (UNDP Oslo) A combination of factors, particularly the accumulation of practitioner knowledge and experience, as well as changes in the media environment, provides greater impetus to prioritizing Communication for Empowerment interventions. There is also a growing realization by key development actors that Communication for Empowerment is a fundamental underpinning for participation and ownership in achieving the MDGs. Communication for Social Change (CFSC) Communication for Social Change is a process of public and private dialogue through which people themselves define who they are, what they need and how to get what they need in order to improve their own lives. It utilizes dialogue that leads to collective problem identification, decision-making and community-based implementation of solutions to development issues. A recent history of Communication for Development During the past five decades, at least two main visions on development compete: on the one hand, the hegemonic perspective blaming world poverty on cultural barriers, lack of information and education, and local political structures; on the other hand, those who asserted that underdevelopment and poverty were not merely the product of ancestral cultural defects, but of a system of exploitation of poor countries by rich countries, and of enormous social inequalities between the rich and poor in each country. In other words, there were structural reasons -political, economic, social, cultural, legal-that explained the real causes of underdevelopment and dependency. These ideas were expressed in the dependency theories. Both social and political action as the framework for theoretical analysis had an influence on the emergence of countless experiences of alternative and participatory communication in community contexts, urban as well as rural, and their main objective was to conquer spaces for expression which had been inexistent until then. These experiences developed without being a previously designed and tested communicational model. Furthermore, communicational theory in relation to these experiences began to be prepared much later. So for many years, and even today, different names were used to refer to these communication experiences: popular, horizontal, dialogical, alternative, participatory, endogenous, etc. Somehow all involved the same elements and formed part of the broader concept of communication for social change. UNESCO McBride report revealed alarming data about the situation of information and communication in the world. Two or three news agencies in the United States controlled two thirds of the information flow, and there were no national or regional agencies in Africa, Asia or Latin America, which could offer a different perspective. Large information conglomerates -today they are even larger-controlled networks of newspaper publications, radio and television. The vast majorities in each country were excluded and had no possibility of expressing themselves through the existing means. As a consequence of this report and the actions taken on behalf of the New Order of Information and Communication, the United States withdrew from UNESCO (MacBride, 1980). From the beginning of the early 1970s communication for development has been mainly promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), emphasizing appropriate technology, which could be adopted by the poor communities, and suggesting the need to establish knowledge sharing between rural people and institutional experts, instead of assuming that the solution is a unidirectional -transfer‖ of knowledge or, really, information dissemination. Communication for development, as well as valuing local knowledge, understood the need to respect traditional forms of social organization and strengthen them in order to have a valid and representative interlocutor. Alternative media -another strong trend-is the least institutional model; in fact, it is not a model. It emerged first as a large variety of experiences, throughout the length and breadth of the planet, and it was not until later that an effort was made to prepare a theory around it. Experiences of alternative media emerged in the heat of the social struggles. This dealt with non-conformist efforts, with conquering communication spaces in neo-colonial, repressive societies. Peasants, workers, students, miners, women, youth, indigenous people and other sectors excluded from political Communication for social change and communication for development are both concerned with culture and tradition, respect for local knowledge, and dialogue between development specialists and communities. Communication for social change does not attempt to anticipate which media, messages or techniques are better, because it relies on the process itself, rooted in the community from which the proposed action must emerge. In recent years a new wave of new communication and information technologies (ICTs), including the so-called -social networks‖ has entered the field of development with mixed results. On the one hand, the new technologies available seem to democratize the access to information and horizontal communication between individuals and communities with like interests, but on the other hand the fascination for the tools overshadows local content creation and the adequate management of these new tools for the benefit of development. In some sense, this new wave repeats the errors of the -diffusion of innovations‖ of the 1970s, which claimed that poverty and underdevelopment was only a matter of lack of information and not of social justice. The ICTs set-ups around the world, including in very poor countries have multiplied and donors have heavily invested in hardware and software, but not with a strategic vision. Communication for development practice is often absent in these projects, communities do not participate in the decision-making process, and contents adapted to real local needs are no developed. Several recent independent studies point to more failures than successes in the use of ICTs for development and the real impact in development of -social networks‖ in the poorest and most in-need communities in developing countries in the world. Communication for Development: meeting today's agriculture and rural development challenges Background Paper 6 The United Nations System and Communication for Development The United Nations System has a long history of supporting the conceptualisation and implementation of communication for development programmes and projects. Similarly, UNESCO, through its Communication for Development division, its regional advisors and country offices' specialists, has been very active during the past three decades promoting participatory projects of independent media, including television, community radio, the use of satellites for education, and more recently the Community Multimedia Centres (CMC). Besides, it has supported numerous studies and meetings of experts in the field of ComDev, which often resulted in key concept developments and publications that have enriched the field. The MacBride Commission and report, was a key contribution in 1980, and more recently the World Report Towards Knowledge Societies (UNESCO, 2005). With James Grant as Executive Director (1980Director ( -1995 UNICEF was committed, at the highest level, to -programme communication‖, a similar concept to communication for development, involving participatory approaches. UNICEF has been the only UN agency to have international communication staff at the country level, as well as regional advisors. However, the Programme Communication area was gradually downgraded during the 1990s and instead, the Information Division, dealing more with visibility and fundraising, was enhanced. In the field, many communication officials have been very active supporting ComDev and projects that are community based and participatory, in line with the ComDev, C4E and CCS principles. This is a key resolution because the UN General Assembly acknowledges -the need for the improvement of the development of communication capacities within the United Nations system to ensure effective inter-agency coordination and cooperation‖ and recognises -the pivotal role of communication in the successful implementation of development programmes within the United Nations system and in the improvement of the interaction among actors in development, namely, the agencies, organizations, funds and programmes of the United Nations system, Governments and nongovernmental organizations‖. It signals the need to improve -the effectiveness of programme delivery as regards development programmes of the United Nations system as a development partner in the development of the developing countries‖ and -recognizes the important role of communication for development programmes in the United Nations system in enhancing the transparency of system-wide coordination within the United Nations system, inter alia, for the development of the developing countries‖. It also clearly highlights the collaboration with civil society organisations: Interagency Communication for Development Round Tables For more than three decades UN agencies and organisations have been meeting at the highest level among themselves and with key partners to discuss communication for development, providing important analysis and guidance to the development world on the use of communication as a tool for sustainability and participation. The UN Inter-Agency Round During the course of these meetings there has been a perceptible shift from information dissemination to a focus on Communication for Development (ComDev) as a crucial enabler of effective community participation. The round tables have succeeded in bringing recognition to grassroots needs, justifying the need for resource mobilization, emphasizing the importance of human rights and achieving recognition of the purpose of the round tables, i.e. mobilizing the participation of the international community at large; supporting increased human capacity in communication; and securing resources that contribute towards the growth of communication for development. The UN Inter-Agency Round . These first Round tables shared similar objectives, which were to exchange information and experiences, agree on the concept of communication for development, and consider ways to achieve a greater profile for this theme with high-level decision-makers within the agencies. In 1994 the UN General Assembly recognized the round table as -an important mechanism of inter-agency cooperation and coordination for promoting and advancing communication for development'' and requested the UN Secretary-General, in consultation with the UNESCO Director-General, to submit biennial reports on the round The meeting's objectives were to increase joint inter-agency collaboration at Headquarters and UN Country Team levels; strengthen awareness among UN system organizations on ways in which the impact and effectiveness of communication for development can be measured; and introduce mechanisms to harmonize communication for development programming approaches within the UN system. The round table provided an important forum to take stock of the extensive range and scope of communication for development-related initiatives and activities being implemented by the UN system. It also sought to advance the agenda by focusing on practical and achievable interventions, around which UN system organizations could develop a common approach, strategy and basis for an action plan that would harness communication for development. The focus on the Millennium Development Goals reflected the Millennium Declaration's centrality in UN development efforts and its potential as a strong unifying basis for Inter-agency collaboration. th UN Round The objectives of the meeting were -to review the evidence across sectors and agencies about how to assess the impact of communication for development (ComDev) and present results clearly and concretely; discuss how to position communication for development as a self-standing area of work in development, including the optimal institutional arrangements; review the use of communicationbased research approaches to enhance project design and assess communication as a sector in client countries; and discuss ComDev training and learning programmes designed to strengthen skills and ensure rigorous quality standards.‖ Participants at the round table agreed on the following recommendations: The WCCD -sought to provide the evidence and make the arguments for placing Communication for Development much closer to the centre of development policy and practice. The Congress did so by creating a space for practitioners, academicians, and decision makers to come together formally and informally to review impact data, share experiences on processes and approaches, listen to stories, learn from new research, and strengthen the networks that will carry the work of the Congress beyond Rome. The presentations and discussions underlined the importance of Communication for Development and distinguished it from communication per se for an influential audience not steeped in the lessons and experiences of the field‖ 5 . A short declaration, labelled -The Rome Consensus‖ was issued at the end of the congress. Under the subtitle -Communication for development, a major pillar for development and change‖, the document pointed in its introduction to the experience acquired in different programmes and countries and the challenges ahead. (see e.g. Anand and Sen, 1996). FAO elaborated the concept of Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development (SARD), that implies -the management and conservation of the natural resource base, and the orientation of technological and institutional challenges in such a manner as to ensure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs, for present and future generations. Such sustainable development (in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors) conserves land, water, plant and animal genetic resources, is environmentally non degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable‖ After the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the concept of sustainable development was widely accepted as a steering paradigm integrating economic growth, social development and environmental protection as interdependent and mutually supportive elements of long-term development. In September 2000, The United Nations declared Environmental Sustainability as one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and established to integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and to reverse the loss of environmental resources as one of the three targets to be achieved. Communication for Development: meeting today's agriculture and rural development challenges Background Paper 16 Different perspectives have influenced over the years the holistic and integrated vision of sustainable development, nevertheless, one of the central ideas is that there is no universal development model which leads to sustainability at all levels of society and the world. Development is an integral, multidimensional, and dialectic process that can differ from society to society, community to community, context to context. Sustainable Development implies a participatory, multi-stakeholder approach to policy making and implementation, mobilizing public and private resources for development and making use of the knowledge, skills and energy of all social groups concerned with the future of the planet and its people. Within this framework, communication plays a strategic and fundamental role contributing to the interplay of the different development factors, improving the sharing of knowledge and information as well as the active participation of all concerned. Communication is a process that is not confined to the media or to messages, but to their interaction in a network of social relationships. Communication for development approaches and methods are appropriate to: improve development opportunities ensuring equitable access to knowledge and information especially to vulnerable and marginalized groups; foster effective management and coordination of development initiatives through bottom-up planning; promote equity issues through networking and social platforms influencing policy-making; encourage changes in behaviour and lifestyles promoting sustainable consumption patterns through sensitization and Role of ComDev for agriculture and rural development