Development Communication
Akinfeleye (2003:65) citing Fraser and
Restrempo-Estrade (1998) observed that a prime factor in fostering change for
development is the planned and systematic use of communication to help
individuals, communities and societies to introduce and accept changes. This is what development communication is
about.
Development communication is the art and
science of human communication applied to the speedy transformation of a
country and the mass of its people from a state of poverty to a more dynamic
state of economic growth which make possible greater social equality and the
large fulfillment of the human potentials (Quebral, 1975).
Moemeka (1991) defines development
communication as the application of the process of communication to the
development process. In other words,
development communication is the use of the principles and practice of exchange
of ideas to fulfill development objectives.
Boafo (2006) on his own part refers to
development communication as the planned and systematic application of
communication resources, channels, approaches and strategies to support the
goals of socio-economic, political and cultural development.
Coldevin (1987) in Oliveria (1993)
defined development communication as ‘the systematic utilization of appropriate
communication channels and techniques to increase people’s participation in
development and to inform, motivate, and train rural populations, mainly at the
grassroots level”.
According
to Jamias (1975) the major ideas that underpin development communication are:
Purposive
Communication: Development communication is a conscious
effort to effect change(s) in a social system.
The development communicator sets out with a specific purpose for
communicating. Its purpose is to advance
development which usually is in terms of raising the standard of living,
reducing poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and social inequality. The job of the development communicator is to
inform and motivate people in the process of development.
Value-laden:
Development communication is concerned with adding value to the life of
people by helping them on the path of positive change. It introduces ideas and practices that seek
to improve the conditions of the people.
Pragmatic:
Development communication is pragmatic.
It is concerned with practical results.
The results are determined by the specific behaviorual objectives of the
communicator. What does the communicator
want to happen as a result of the programme or writing? For instance, if one’s purpose is to get the
youths to be self-employed through vocational training, the evaluation of the
communication programe will not rest on the number of communication activities
performed, but on how many youths are now self-employed.
The development communicator takes a pragmatic
view to the programme by examining if the communication gained the attention of
the receivers. He will find out if the
receivers understand the message. And
finally, if this resulted in acceptance and action by the target group. Indeed, the societal condition after the
development communication programme becomes a feedback as to the effectiveness
or otherwise of the programme.
The Essence of Development Communication
Development communication as an
instrument in the development process is concerned with the use of
communication tools and methodologies to spread knowledge and information to
contribute to behaviour change and ultimately development.
It is primarily communication for
planned change which is intended to promote human development consciously. In the context of the developing nations, the
term means planned communication to eradicate or substantially reduce poverty,
social inequality, unemployment; and others.
The purpose of development
communication, according to Quebral (1975) is to advance development which is
higher quality of life for all people.
Development communication is concerned
with the dissemination of relevant information that increases people’s stock of
knowledge and change their attitudes and values to enable them undertake and
participate in the development process.
It is communication that helps one
understand the needs and social realities of the people and mobilize them
towards development goals. It seeks to
mobilize them towards development goals.
It seeks to mobilize the rural people for development actions by
ensuring information flow among all those involved in the development
programme.
Elements of Development Communication
Approach
Development communication thrives on the
following elements:
i.
Responsiveness: Development communicators work with
communities to solve their expressed problems and needs rather than on what the
expert thinks is best for them. It is
based on the thinking that people understand their own needs better. Development communication approach is thus a
tool to help community members in planning and executing programmes for their
own development process.
ii.
Common
Ground: The development communication
approach considers and seeks to work with the rural communities as partners in
the development process. Practitioners
of development communication world closely with community members to find
common solutions to their needs and problems.
iii.
Participation: Development communication is premised on
dialogue and participation from the people involved in a development
programme. The people interact with
development facilitators and give opinions and suggestions in the development
process.
iv.
Education: One of the concerns of development
communication is the provision of information to improve the knowledge base of
people so that they can take rational decisions and engage in development
programme.
v.
Simple
and Relevant Language: Using the
development communication approach, materials for development communication
programmes are packaged using contexts, experiences and the language of the
people.
Jamais (1975:140)
states that development communication is receiver-oriented. It develops its objectives from the point of
view and needs of the receivers reconciling those needs with the efforts of
institutional generators of information, knowledge and practices such as NGOs,
government agencies, research institutes; and others.
Development
communication involves intersectoral collaboration. This is based on the fact that communication
(knowledge and information) in itself does not result in development. Rather it is a combination of communication
and non-communication inputs that brings about development and
non-communication inputs that brings ablaut development. As such, apart from disseminating
developmental messages to the people, development communication establishes and
facilitates horizontal linkages with government agencies, NGOs; and others to
provide the enabling environment for development to be actualized.
The Development
Communicator
The development communicator
is someone who understands the process of development and the process of
communication. Quebral (1975), Anaeto, M
(2010) says that the development communicator is not only knowledgeable in
communication techniques, but also proficient in the subject matter that he has
to communicate. He knows his audiences
first-hand. He understands the
communication media and he is skilled in making the media work for him.
Quebral also says that
‘more than communication skills, the crucial requisite of a development
communicator is a ‘sense of commitment’.
This means acceptance of individual responsibility for development. His goal and focus is how to improve
conditions for humanity.;
Development
communicators use their talents in personal, group and mediated communication
for developmental purposes. They include journalists, researchers, field
workers at both government and non-government agencies.
The development
communicator transmits developmental messages in four forms, namely,
information, education, persuasion and motivation.
According to Jamias
(1975:139), information consists of ideas, products or procedures. Information seeks to elicit change(s) in the
knowledge or what the receiver knows.
Motivation seeks to make the receivrs to want the new ideas, products or
services being advocated by the development communicator. Education refers to long-range and
principle-type changes in knowledge, attitude and skills. Persuasion seeks to gain acceptance, i.e
favourable feelings or attitude towards the ideas, products or services
communicated.
Higher quality of life
which is the end product of development communication manifests itself in more
productivity, income, employment and social equality.
Specifically, the
development communicator performs the following tasks and more:
Disseminating
and Interpreting Information: The development communicator disseminates
useful and relevant information to the people that they can utilize for
developmental purposes. He also explains
and teaches community people new ideas and better ways of doing things.
Facilitating:
The development communication practitioner seeks to help
communities in their quest for
development. He carries the needs,
problems and aspirations of the people to the government and other stakeholders
as well as explains the plans and programmes of the government to the people.
Educating:
Educating is important for development.
The development communicator provides the people with knowledge and
skills that they can use for their own development. He imparts knowledge and information that are
essential for the people to successfully respond to the opportunities and
challenges in their social and economic environment. He educates them on new and better ways of
doing things. He also plays the educator
role by inviting experts and facilitators to teach the people.
TECHNO-MEDIARY:
He helps to familiarize community members with new and modern
technologies that can improve their production of goods and services. He also facilitates their adoption by community
members.
Mobilizing:
The development communicator helps in putting the people in a state of
readiness and making them more willing to participate in the development
process. He helps to direct the people’s
thoughts into actions geared towards development.
Networking:
The development communicator develops ties and links with people,
organisations, agencies; and others that can help in different programmes.
Researching:
For any effective development communication programme, research is
necessary. The actions of the
development communicator are borne out of continued researches. He carries out careful and diligent research
into problems and issues concerning the communities. He analyses and identifies possible barriers
to development and researches into the communication channels that can be used
to pass developmental messages to the people.
Through research, the development communicator finds out needs and
aspirations of the people. He also
highlights resources at their disposal and how the people can be mobilized
towards achieving the set goals of development.
Constraints to the
Practice of Development Communication
The
following are some constraints to the practice of development communication:
Weak and inadequate
communication Infrastructure: Development
communication thrives on information sharing and dissemination. But at times, communication infrastructures
are not available to facilitate the process.
This hampers the work, as development messages are not able to reach all
members of a target group, especially the rural people.
Funding:
Insufficient fund is usually a problem in carrying out development
communication programmes. Funds are
needed for planning and executing development communication programmes. And so, non-availability of fund may reduce
the scope of the programme, the audiences to be reached and the media to be
used.
Measuring
Programme Success: There is difficulty in actually measuring the
success or otherwise of development communication programmes. This is because it is concerned with attitude
and behaviour change and behaviour change is gradual and not a one-time
thing. The results of development
communication programme take time to materialize. At times, funding agencies do not understand
this point.
Diverse
and Multi-Cultural Societies: The multi-cultural nature of nations and
communities in Africa constitute a problem to the practice of development
communication. One communication programme
cannot be used the same way in two communities, they would either have to be
modified or totally repackaged for each community.
Limited Number of
Professionally Qualified Development communicators: The practice of development communication is,
at times, restricted by the insufficiency of professionally qualified
development communicators.
Poor
Programme Conceptualization: At times, development programmes are not
conceptualized and planned very well.
The result is unachieved goals and objectives.
Disparities
in Communication flows: Generally in developing countries, there is
imbalance between the urban and rural areas.
The urban areas have more facilities and amenities than the rural
areas. Media houses are located in urban
areas and the result is disparity in communication flow. Messages get to the urban audience than the
rural people. This is a problem because
most of the time, the targets of development communication programmes are the
rural peoples.
Low priority accorded
communication in development programmes:
At times, communication is accorded low priority in development
programmes. Careful considerations and
planning are not often given to the communication element in the
programme. The results of such
programmes are haphazard. This
low-priority often translates into the absence of policies and structures to
guide, manage, coordinate and harmonize development communication activities.
Concerns of Development
Communication
Development
communication seeks to bring about improved quality of living for people. It is concerned with finding solutions to the
development problems of poverty, illiteracy, ignorance; and others.
Poverty: Poverty is a major problem in the development
countries. A major part of the
population lives in the rural areas and in poverty. They do not have money to take care of their
physical and social needs. And in the
face of this, there seems to be no way for them to come out of the acute
poverty. Development communication
addresses the problem of poverty by designing and implementing communication
programmes to teach people sills and provide them with knowledge that they can
utilize to improve their economic situation.
Ignorance:
Information is a necessary precursor to development. Where information is not available there
cannot be meaningful development. The
rural people only have access to limited information. They lack the knowledge of new techniques and
methods that can better their situation.
Thus, they continue to lag behind in development. As such, development communication seeks to
provide the people with relevant information that can help them make rational
decisions and engage in activities to foster development.
Illiteracy:
Illiteracy is another problem that development communication seeks to
address. This is a problem because even
when relevant information are presented to them, they are not able to read them
and utilize them. Development
communication addresses this problem by imitating literacy programmes and
motivating rural people to participate in such programmes.
Social
Inequality: Development communication is also concerned
with addressing social inequality. It
seeks to reduce the wide gap between the rich and the poor, between those
living in the rural and urban areas. It seeks ways to improve the socio-economic
conditions of the rural people to make them attain acceptable standards of
living.
Akinfeleye R.A
(2001). Population and Development Reporting. A paper
presented
at the NAN/UNFPA National Workshop on Population and Development Reporting Held
at Edo Hotel, Benin City March 19-22-2001.
Anaeto et. al.
(2010). Development Communication.
Principles and Practice.
Ibadan:
Stirling-Horden Publishers Ltd.
Fapohunda
(1980). The Population Problem in Nigeria. Nigeria: Department of
Mass
Communication, University of Lagos.
Pate U.A
(2003). Development, population and the
media: Relationship, issues
and concerns. Lagos: Untied Nation Population Fund.
Development Communication
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