"This programme and meeting document contains details and reflections on the Communication and Information Programme that developed activities s
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uch as the promotion of access to credible and reliable information on the pandemic, journalists' safety, media development, media and information literacy to counter misinformation, etc." (commbox)
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"Moving beyond the U.S.-Eurocentric paradigm of communication theory, this handbook broadens the intellectual horizons of the discipline by highlighting underrepresented, especially non-Western, theorists and theories,
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and identifies key issues and challenges for future scholarship. Showcasing diverse perspectives, the handbook facilitates active engagement in different cultural traditions and theoretical orientations that are global in scope but local in effect. It begins by exploring past efforts to diversify the field, continuing on to examine theoretical concepts, models, and principles rooted in local cumulative wisdom. It does not limit itself to the mass-interpersonal communication divide, but rather seeks to frame theory as global and inclusive in scope. The book is intended for communication researchers and advanced students, with relevance to scholars with an interest in theory within information science, library science, social and cross-cultural psychology, multicultural education, social justice and social ethics, international relations, development studies, and political science." (Publisher description)
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"The Palgrave Handbook of International Communication and Sustainable Development is a major resource for stakeholders interested in understanding the role of communication in achieving the UN'S S
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ustainable Development Goals. Bringing together theoretical and applied contributions from scholars in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and North America, the handbook argues that communication is a key factor in achieving the global goals and suggests a review of the SDGs to consider its importance. Reflecting on the impact of COVID-19, it highlights the need for effective communication infrastructure and critically assesses the 2030 agenda and timeline. Including individual SDG and country case studies as well as integrated analysis, the chapters seek to enrich understanding of communication for development and propose crucial policy interventions." (Publisher description)
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"This incisive Handbook critically examines the role and place of media and communication in development
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and social change, reflecting a vision for change anchored in values of social justice. Outlining the genealogy and history of the field, it then investigates the possible new directions and objectives in the area. Key conclusions include an enhanced role for development communication in participatory development, active agency of stakeholders of development programs, and the operationalization of social justice in development." (Publisher description)
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"Journalists alone cannot save journalism, and civil society activists and human rights defenders alone cannot defend civil space. This is why multi-stakeholder coalitions, as well as regional
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and international networks, constitute an essential pathway to identify and deliver solutions to the complex challenges confronting both media systems and civil society. Coalitions can provide opportunities for media and civil society to work in a more strategic and coordinated manner on relevant issues, and to build the political will needed to sustain progress." (Page 3)
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"The publication is focused on the ways fake news, disinformation, misinformation and hateful statements are spread across society, predominantly within the online environment. Its main ambition is to offer an interdisciplinary body of scholarly kn
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owledge on fake news, disinformation and propaganda in relation to today's journalism, social development, political situation and cultural affairs happening all around the world." (Publisher description)
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"mNutrition is a global initiative supported by FCDO, managed by GSMA, and implemented by in-country MNOs and third party providers to use mobile technology, that sought to improve the
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health and nutritional status of children and adults in the developing world. The potential to utilise mobile technology to change attitudes, knowledge, behaviours, and practices around health and agriculture for improved nutritional status has been recognised for some time, but to date there have been no rigorous evaluations of m-services at scale. A consortium of researchers from Gamos, IDS, and IFPRI were contracted to conduct a rigorous mixed-methods evaluation to estimate the impact of mNutrition on children and adults, and to understand how the context and the components of the mNutrition intervention shape its impact. In Tanzania, the service, Wazazi Nipendeni, focused on the provision of nutrition and health information and services to vulnerable pregnant women and caregivers of children under the age of five on their mobile phones, with the goal of improving nutrition outcomes and behaviours for mothers and young children." (https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk)
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"The book contains 85 chapters written by persons who have been on those frontlines of communication and development [...] A variety of case studies appear in the book. For example, Kriss Barker
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and Fatou Jah – in a chapter titled “Entertainment-Education in Radio: Three Case Studies from Africa” – explore in detail projects in Nigeria, Burundi and Burkina Faso that used a communication intervention approach advanced by the Population Media Center. Other chapters in the Handbook take the reader to Spain, Kenya, South Africa, Kazakhstan, and beyond. Song Shi examines “ICTs and Modernization in China,” revealing that assumptions and theories of the modernization paradigm have significantly influenced the policies and projects on ICT4D in contemporary China. And, Song Shi writes, discussion on the potential of other approaches in ICT4D in China has also emerged among scholars. Hina Ayaz discusses the “Multiplicity Approach in Participatory Communication” in Pakistan – wherein the country adopted the Global Polio Eradication Initiative – only to run into negative perceptions and banning of polio vaccinations. However, a shift to a more successful approach, grounded in UNICEF’s social mobilization and communityinvolvement communication strategy, brought significant success. While many of the Handbook case studies incorporate participation as a significant development factor, they also address a wide range of social and political issues including, for example, civic engagement, sexual harassment, empowerment, and community voices. In addition to an abundance of case studies from around the world, the Handbook delves into various research methods that are being used to understand and design communication for development and social change interventions [...] Handbook editor Jan Servaes' own chapter (with Rico Lie), “Key Concepts, Disciplines, and Fields in Communication for Development and Social Change ” identifies five clusters of concepts and practices that are evident in the field today and which determine the activities and approaches in communication for sustainable development and social change interventions: The clusters are (1) a normative cluster of concepts; (2) a cluster of concepts that sets an important context for communication activities for development; (3) a cluster of strategic and methodological concepts; (4) a cluster of concepts that relate to methods, techniques, and tools; and (5) a cluster of concepts that addresses the practices of advocacy, (participatory) monitoring and evaluation, and impact assessment. The authors extend their discussion into three subdivisions: (1) health communication, (2) agricultural extension and rural communication, and (3) environmental communication (including climate change communication). This leads the reader into issues related to (1) right to communicate; (2) education and learning; (3) innovation, science, and technology; (4) natural resource management; (5) food security; (6) poverty reduction; (7) peace and conflict; (8) children and youth, women, and senior citizens; and (9) tourism. Some of the forerunners of development communication have not been forgotten. In “Daniel Lerner and the Origins of Development Communication”, Hemant Shah links Lerner’s 1958 book Passing of Traditional Society to today’s modernization and faith in technology to solve social problems. Also contributing to the foundation of this field is Paulo Freire who contributed much to idea that participation should be a vital part of the development dialogue. Ana Fernández-Aballí Altamirano’s chapter on "The Importance of Paulo Freire to Communication for Development and Social Change" highlights his main work Pedagogy of the Oppressed as a "before-and-after" in the fields of education, research, and communication, initially in Latin America and later in both North and South. Particularly in the case of development communication and communication for social change, the author stresses, Freire’s work had a definitive impact ..." (Review by Royal Donald Colle, Journal of Development Communication, vol. 30 (2), page 92-94)
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"Human behavior plays a central role in reducing the spread of coronavirus. Communication by government entities and other trusted sources about desirable or mandated behaviors during the pandemic is critical. As policymakers, funders,
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and program staff, it is our responsibility to ensure that communications are clear, concise, and accurate. We can go one step further with messaging that is behaviorally informed, contextually relevant, and communicated through novel delivery channels. Effective communication will ensure that everyone hears, understands, and follows guidance necessary for COVID-19 mitigation." (Page 1)
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"The concept of digital literacy has been defined in numerous ways over the last two decades to incorporate rapid technological changes, its versatility, and to bridge the global digital divide. Most approaches have been technology-centric with an
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inherent assumption of cultural and political neutrality of new media technologies. There are multiple hurdles in every stage of digital literacy implementation. The lack of solutions such as local language digital interfaces, locally relevant content, digital literacy training, the use of icons and audio excludes a large fraction of illiterate people. In this article, we analyse case studies targeted at under-connected people in sub-Saharan Africa and India that use digital literacy programmes to build knowledge and health literacy, solve societal problems and foster development. In India, we focus on notable initiatives undertaken in the domain of digital literacy for rural populations. In Sub-Saharan Africa, we draw from an original project in Kenya aiming at developing digital literacy for youth from low-income backgrounds. We further focus on Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Tanzania, where field studies have been conducted on the use of digital technologies by low-literacy people and on how audio and icon-based interfaces and Internet lite standard could help them overcome their limitations. The main objective of this article is to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) in the context of digital literacy skills as one of the pillars for digital inclusion. We will learn how digital literacy programmes can be used to build digital literacy and how KPIs for sustainable development can be established. In the final discussion, we offer lessons learned from the case studies and further recommendation for stakeholders and decision-makers in the field of digital health literacy." (Abstract)
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"Making Open Development Inclusive: Lessons from IDRC Research focuses on the connection between openness and inclusion in global development. I
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t brings together the latest research that cuts across a wide variety of political, economic, and social arenas - from governance to education to entrepreneurship and more. The chapters draw on empirical evidence from a wide and diverse range of applications of openness, uncovering the many critical and underlying elements that shape and structure how particular openness initiatives and/or activities play out - and critically - who gets to participate, and who benefits [or not] from openness, while exploring the frontiers where openness intersects with deeper challenges of development, technology, and innovation." (Publisher description)
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"This collection charts the emergence of modern science communication across the world. This is the first volume to map investment around the globe in science centres, university courses and research, publications
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and conferences as well as tell the national stories of science communication. How did it all begin? How has development varied from one country to another? What motivated governments, institutions and people to see science communication as an answer to questions of the social place of science? Communicating Science describes the pathways followed by 39 different countries. All continents and many cultures are represented. For some countries, this is the first time that their science communication story has been told." (Publisher description)
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"This book analyses the partnership between applied theatre and sexual health communication in a theatre-making project in Nyanga, a township in South
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Africa. By examining the bridges and schisms between the two fields as they come together in the project, an alternative way of approaching sexual health communication is advocated. This alternative considers what it is that applied theatre does, and could become, in this context. Moments of value which lie around the margins of the practice emerge as opportunities that can be overlooked. These somewhat ephemeral, intangible moments, which appear on the edges, are described as 'apertures of possibility' and occur when one takes a step back and realises something unnoticed in the moment. This book offers an invitation to pause and notice the seemingly insignificant moments that often occurs tangentially to the practice. The book also calls for more outcry about sexual health and sexual violence, arguing for theatre-making as a route to multitudes of voices, nuanced understandings, and diverse spaces in which discussions of sexuality and sexual health are shared, felt, and experienced." (Publisher description)
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"This report briefly examines the phenomenon of fake news in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Anglophone West Africa. It specifically addresses the following areas: fake news trends; how the phenomenon has impacted the work of the media
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and the fight against the pandemic; measures taken so far (by government, media, development partners, others) to address the spread of the phenomenon; and recommendations on the way forward." (Page 1)
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"Deriving from innovative new work by six researchers, this book questions what the new media's role is in contemporary Africa. The chapters are diverse - covering different areas of sociality in different countries - but they unite in their method
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ological and analytical foundation. The focus is on media-related practices, which require engagement with different perspectives and concerns while situating these in a wider analytical context. The contributions to this collection provide fresh ethnographic descriptions of how new media practices can affect socialities in significant but unpredictable ways." (Publisher description)
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"An authoritative and indispensable guide to disability and media, this thoughtfully curated collection features varied and provocative contribu
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tions from distinguished scholars globally, alongside next-generation research leaders. Disability and media has emerged as a dynamic and exciting area of contemporary culture and social life. Media-- especially digital technology--play a vital role in disability transformations, with widespread implications for global societies and how we understand communications. This book addresses this development, from representation and audience through technologies, innovations and challenges of the field. Through the varied and global perspectives of leading researchers, writers, and practitioners, including many authors with lived experience of disability, it covers a wide range of traditional, emergent and future media forms and formats." (Publisher description)
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"This paper evaluates readers’ perceptions of Idikelethu newspaper as a tool for community development, particularly in Alice, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Data was collected fr
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om two focus group discussions that were held in the areas where Idikelethu newspaper has high readership rates. The findings revealed that development-related issues such as health awareness, education and community safety, among others, are regularly addressed by this community newspaper. Based on the findings and analysis of data, this study concludes that Idikelethu newspaper contributes in many ways to the development of its readers and Alice community in general. It is anticipated that the findings of this paper will play an important role in assisting Idikelethu and other community newspapers to function better as agents of community development." (Abstract)
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"This paper examined listeners’ perceptions of Forte FM’s role in facilitating community development in Alice, which is a small rural town under Raymond Mhlaba Municipality, South Africa. Fort
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e FM is a community radio station located at University of Fort Hare, Alice campus, established to facilitate development in communities within the Amathole District Municipality. The paper adopted a qualitative design in which qualitative questionnaires with open-ended questions were used to collect primary data. The findings revealed that listeners view Forte FM as a community station that facilitates development in Alice in various ways, including providing the community with agricultural information, promoting local culture and local artists as well as creating health awareness among others. The paper further revealed that listeners feel a sense of community ownership towards the radio station and this means that the community is involved in their own development." (Abstract)
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