Transcript Mainstreaming communications in development.

Mainstreaming
communications in
development
Guy Berger, Rhodes Univ
Presentation to Oxfam, 9 October 2008
•Typically, development
planners and agencies
all but ignore the role
of media and
communication.
Development paradigms
• Old thinking: “inform passive
developees enlighten them, change
their cultures, individual attitudes”.
• Dependendista thinking: Upwardflows are vital. “Gimme national
shelter”
Development paradigms
• Participatory thinking:To have
upflow, you need horizontal comms
amongst developees (eg.
Community radio)
• And to have all-round comms, you
need to think all vehicles and esp
mass-media.
To make impact…
• Bounce energy into the public arena.
• That means strategies to engage with
journalists.
• This is a media-centric position, but:
Africa does not lack rich experience of
development and replicable practical
projects.
• What we’re short of is something else.
Missing link
• Public comms are what can fuse Oxfam
development efforts with national,
continental and international policies.
• To make a really powerful intervention,
we need to mainstream the media into
our thinking.
Don’t dodge politics
• Change of policy and actions do not just
flow out of good development projects.
Instead, they are profoundly political.
• Not to say we should all pack up and
become politicians!
• But it is to shout out: we really need to
punch in the public sphere if we want to
make really significant difference.
Hence we need:
• Communications that are vertical and
comms that are horizontal
• A buzz of information & communication.
• And: entertainment, education,
information AND journalism.
• Mass media platforms serve to magnify
and multiply it all.
• ICTs can help output content for mass
dissemination (and input as research)
Appreciating media
The role that journalism plays is to:
•
•
•
•
Put our issues on the public agenda;
Prime the policy pump;
Frame the treatment of the topic;
Highlight projects that should be taken
into account; and
• Network stakeholders.
THE ACTORS:
•the public
public opinion
•the media
•policy people
1. Propaganda picture
MEDIA
COVERAGE
1
2
GOVT
INITIATES
i.e. Government is the originator, circuit incomplete
eg. media coverage pleases govt, ignores public
2. Media centric model
CIVIL
SOCIETY
1
2
MEDIA
COVERAGE
GOVT
RESPONDS
3
i.e. Media coverage is active source of public opinion
eg. Exposure of child abuse
2. Media centric model
1
MEDIA
COVERAGE
GOVT
RESPONDS
3
i.e. Media coverage is active source of public opinion
eg. Exposure of child abuse
3. Democratic model
MEDIA 2
COVERAGE
1
CIVIL SOCIETY
GOVT
RESPONDS
3
i.e. The public is the active source of public opinion
eg. Aids activists win coverage, affect govt
Thank you:
May the “oxygen” of
development invigorate your
work
Some ICT examples