"This collection of eighteen essays of uneven richness underserved by an overly thin two-page introduction brings together some of the best known names in Development Communication in an attempt to understand African aspirations, experiences, challenges and the place of communication in development.
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Coming at this stage in a debate that has generated much conventional and critical scholarship, one would have expected the editors to aim at much more than simply providing space for contributors to offer "a fillip and not necessarily a panacea for development" (Page x). The "desirable and useful" (Page x) approaches the book explores would certainly have served their purpose better, within a framework of the need to critically rethink conventional scholarly assumptions about communication and development, especially in relation to Africa [...] Nonetheless, a good number of the contributions competently discuss competing perspectives on development communication (e.g. Pye, Servaes, Jacobson), drawing attention to how practices on and in Africa have tended to impair or enhance the participatory and emancipatory potential of development communication. Some focus closely on communication technologies and their applications (e.g., de Beer, Melkote and Steeves, Eribo), advocating strategies and approaches informed by varying degrees of faith in the capacity of modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) to transform individuals and societies in the name of development. Most of the book makes a strong, even if not always substantiated or negotiated, case for the importance of "indigenous African cultures," if media and communication practices are to adequately serve and service African thirsts for development (Asante, Mazrui and Okigbo, Okigbo, Hachten, Stevenson, Amienyi, Akhahenda, Moemeka, Singhal et al., Okumu, Nganje and Blake). A conscious effort to engage similar debates in anthropology and cultural studies for example, could have yielded further insights." (https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10843)
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"This guide was elaborated from the practice for practitioners. In the face of the enormous challenges in rural development, we hope that it contributes to professional media work in order to improve the access of the rural population to the knowledge and information necessary for sustainable develo
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pment in rural areas." (Preface)
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"The Rural ICT Toolkit concentrates on the “how to” of implementing rural ICT programs and projects. It is aimed at providing state of the art knowledge and best practice on rural ICT development, basic recommended standards and tools for rural ICT initiatives. Among other things, it summarises
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best practice on rural ICT policy, funding principles & processes, monitoring and evaluation. It provides a basic understanding for technology options available. It offers a framework to select appropriate rural ICT projects, and it explains essentials of demand studies, business plans and socio-economic impact analysis." (Introduction, page 1)
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"The specific objectives of the study were to: find out the source, means and condition of information; obtain some information on the condition of education; find out condition and practices related to caste and ethnicity; obtain some information on people's belief in tradition and superstition; ob
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tain information on economic aspects of household; find out pattern of use of technology in everyday life; obtain information on community activities and affair; find out the existing situation, attitude and practice in relation to gender; obtain information on situation of health; and find out the mode of people's participation in politics. [...] All data on the basis of which analyses have been made are primary which have been obtained from the field. The people inhabiting the areas that are covered by Radio Palung constituted the sole source of data required to meet the research objectives laid above. The villages covered were Palung, Daman, Chitlang and Bajrabarahi from Makawanpur district. In this research, population of active age and households in the above mentioned four villages constitutes the universe. Five hundred households, which is approximately 20% of the total households, were taken as samples. From each household, one person was chosen as respondents and interviewed. It is to be noted that only the owner of households were chosen as samples, and domestic servants, hired laborers, married daughters and people living in rent were excluded." (Introduction, page 2-3, method of study, page 6)
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"It is widely acknowledged that a livelihoods approach provides a useful, logically consistent framework for thinking through the complex issues influencing the lives of the poor. In particular it draws attention to ways in which policies, institutions and decision-making processes influence resourc
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e access and ownership, and determine strategic livelihood options available to poor households. Information and communication systems are crucial in this regard, both in generating information required by the rural poor to make decisions on livelihood strategies, and in generating information required by institutions responsible for making decisions about policies and processes that affect those strategies. In each case, it is only through improved information that individuals and institutions can make informed choices about the opportunities and constraints associated with agriculture-based strategies. However, improved information alone is not sufficient for improved decision-making. Decision-making is a political process and promoting multi-stakeholder participation in decision-making processes is a key concern. Furthermore, different stakeholder groups each have specific information needs and delivery preferences. Highly differentiated information needs assessment is essential in order to effectively support decision-making at different levels. It is evident that effective promotion of poverty reduction and food security requires changes in institutions and attitudes, knowledge and information levels, processes and skills. Improved understanding of the capacity of decision-makers at different levels to make use of the information provided is key for the identification of appropriate systems and institutions for the delivery of relevant information. Enhancing the quality and quantity of information also relies on attention to the flow of information, such as the means of communication, format and content. Information can potentially have a catalytic role but much depends on its reliability and relevance to the needs of particular user groups. There is a necessary trade-off between the level of technical detail involved in information collection and analysis, and the practical usefulness of that information. Standardisation of techniques of information collection, storage and presentation is important, both to improve efficiency in information handling within agencies and also to ensure that information can be used externally by other agencies, thereby facilitating greater cross-sectoral communication and coordination. Equally important is developing effective means of prioritising information needs at different levels. Improved information can enable people to better defend their interests and articulate their needs; it increases their bargaining power and ability to influence decision-making processes which affect them. Transparency is equally important if information is to empower people to make better decisions. Improved communication systems can enable individuals to organise as groups and use information to hold institutions and authorities accountable." (Executive summary, page vi)
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"In 1994 the government established a Telecommunications Development Fund, financed by the national budget, to catalyze additional private investment in payphone service in rural and urban areas with low income and low telephone density. The Fund has been very successful. Between 1995 and 2000 it su
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pported the provision of payphone service to more than 6,000 rural localities with about 2.2 million inhabitants, thereby reducing the proportion of Chile's population living in places without access to basic voice communication from 15 percent in 1994 to 1 percent in 2002. In addition, some 25,000 individual rural telephone lines are being provided. The subsidies awarded cost the government less than 0.3 percent of total telecommunications sector revenue during the funding period, and Fund administration cost about 3 percent of the monies granted. The Fund's success was due largely to extensive reliance on market forces to determine and allocate subsidies, minimal regulatory intervention, simple and relatively expeditious processing, and effective government leadership. Competition among existing and new operators for the rural market and subsidies led to substantial reductions in cost to the government compared to earlier public sector investments in similar facilities. Commercial success has hinged on operators using the subsidized payphone infrastructures to also provide individual business and residential telephone lines and, subsequently, add value through new services (including voice mail and internet access in some areas) over this network. Interconnection was the single most important regulatory factor of commercial viability, with access charges in some cases surpassing 40 percent of rural operating revenues. The design of the Fund proved robust, and remains the leading example of a costeffective slution to reduce access gaps in basic communication in emerging economies. Some questions remain, however, about whether the services can be sustained in the long term, what to do with the small residual rural population still excluded, and whether anything needs to be done in urban areas. These questions-in addition to limited design improvements suggested by the Fund's experience, as well as work still in progress on quality standards and monitoring-are relevant to the Fund's proposed extension into more advanced modes of communication and access to information, as well as to other countries learning from the Chilean experience." (Executive summary)
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"One in a series of guidebooks and training manuals for journal editors in developing countries that are active in the field of agriculture and rural development. They aim to assist editors to improve their publishing operations, and provide more effective communication of the scholarship and the re
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search results published in their journals. The book is organized under nine chapters “that cover what we consider to be the essential basic elements in successful journal publishing.” Interspersed with the text there are a variety of model forms, reproductions of title pages, covers of journals, and other documentation that provide illustrative examples of good practice, together with checklists and listings of address sources." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 2487)
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"This exploratory study analyses the functions and implications of participatory video projects in rural development settings. The term ‘participatory video’ refers to a bundle of innovative usages of video technology which enjoy growing popularity in many corners of the world. After the first t
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rials in the late 1960s participatory video has developed into several different directions and there is no consensus of what the term actually stands for. In the current literature participatory video is closely associated to the burgeoning field of participatory approaches such as Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), even though its application goes beyond the idea of participatory research and learning in many instances. There is by no means a consistent, established way of using the tool; experience and knowledge about what good practice is differ from person to person and in the literature. This study therefore categorises the varying approaches into a typology based on a review of the relatively scarce literature on the subject. Through a conceptual distinction of different project goals, three basic kinds of participatory video are identified, i. e. therapy-, activism- and empowerment-type video. The central part of the study consists of three case studies, from Mexico, Tanzania, and Vietnam respectively. In each of these the functions and implications of participatory video use are identified. A particular focus is put on the second case study, the ‘Fisherfolks’ Project’, as the relatively biggest amount of background information has been available. A number of theories and concepts are tested on this case in order to deepen the understanding of the potentials and limitations of participatory video." (Abstract)
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