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The Core Values, Roles, and Domains of Development Communication

Just like the other disciplines, development communication has fundamental values and guiding principles that
help it to continuously strive and achieve its mission and vision as a vital element of and a tool for development.
Development communication evolved to be an interdisciplinary field of study. Its influence of knowledge and its
area of practice also expanded. Thus, it also widens the scope and roles of development communication which
in turn helped to mold its well-defined and refined characteristics applicable to the 21st century.

THE ROLES OF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

In 1989, the Food and Agriculture Organization of UNICEF developed some useful suggestions that helped define
development communication. These suggestions elaborated on the roles of development communication
specifically drawing from the experiences on rural development.
Below is the discussion as cited in Colle, 2008, pp. 126-127:
(Lifted and modified from Communication for Development and Social Change edited by Jan Servaes)

What is the Idea behind Development Communication and What is it?

Development communication rests on the premise that successful rural development calls for the conscious
and active participation of the intended beneficiaries at every stage of the development process, for in the final
analysis, rural development cannot take place without changes in attitudes and behaviour among the people
concerned.

To this end, development communication is the planned and systematic use of communication
through interpersonal channels, and audio-visual and mass media:

• To collect and exchange information among all those concerned in planning a development
the initiative, with the aim of reaching a consensus on the development problems being faced
and the options for their solution;

• To mobilize people for development action, and to assist in solving problems and
misunderstandings that may arise during project implementation;

• To enhance the pedagogical and communication skills of development agents (at all levels)
so that they may dialogue more effectively with their audiences; and

• Last but, by no means least, to apply communication technology to training and extension
programs, particularly at the grassroots level, in order to improve their quality and impact.

What are the Problems that Development Communication can Help to Overcome?

1. Problems of designing projects that take properly into account the perceptions and capacities of
the intended beneficiaries
Development communication can help to ensure that the design and action plan of a development project
takes into account the attitudes, perceived needs and capacities of the people which the project is trying to
help. Many projects have failed in the past because assumptions were made about the willingness and
capacity of rural people to absorb new technology and development infrastructures into their way of living
and working. Abandoned irrigation schemes and settlement programs, broken down equipment, and the slow
adoption of improved crop varieties are examples that bear witness to this failure to bring about attitudinal
and behavioral change. As an adjunct and complement to the usual situation analysis that is done for project
formulation, development communication helps to identify attitudes, felt needs, capacities, and constraints to
the adoption of change. Through the dialogue and consultation process it employs, it naturally elicits the
participation of the intended beneficiaries of development action.

2.Problems of mobilizing rural people for development action and ensuring an information flow among
all concerned with a development initiative
If a rural development project has been planned with its beneficiaries, their participation and mobilization are
almost certain to follow quite naturally. However, in any event, communication support during project
implementation keeps people informed, helps to mobilize them and to stimulate the more conservative to

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action. This is especially so when communication (in the form of audio-visual presentations, for example) is
used to spread knowledge of successful development action taken by some communities and individuals to
other communities and individuals that have not yet mobilized. Furthermore, even the best project—designed
with its beneficiaries—cannot be rigid. As it progresses, there will be a need to review and refine its activities
and introduce changes in emphasis. A good communication system can keep a dialogue open among those
involved in a development project, thereby addressing problems as they arise. Such an ongoing information
flow can also help to ensure coordination and proper orchestration of inputs and services to a development
initiative.

3. Problems of improving the reach and impact of rural training programs

Training at the grassroots level has become a major priority in recent years. At the same time,
communication technology has been improving and becoming ever cheaper and easier to use in rural areas.
Audio-visual media make it possible to:

• Help overcome the barriers of illiteracy and incomprehension (by conveying ideas and
practices in an audio and visual form);

• Illustrate new ideas and techniques more effectively than by word-of-mouth alone, and
thus improve the impact of extension and training;

• Compress time (a whole crop cycle can be shown in a short presentation);

• Compress space (events and practices in distant locations can be transferred to other
places where they can be useful testimonials); and

• Standardize technical information (by creating audio-visual materials that illustrate the
best available advice to farmers and having these materials used throughout the
extension and farmer training chain, thereby ensuring that the technical information will
not become distorted during its passage from its source to the smallest and most
remote farmer).

Aside from the discussion above, Colle (2008) also further described the characteristics that helped define
development communication in the 21st century:

1. Focus on Beneficiaries
Instead of starting with innovation or a behavior or organization’s priorities, increasingly communication
interventions are emphasizing the individual or family or community as the center of the development process.
Erskine Childers referred to this as ‘people-centered’ as compared to agency or ministry-centered approaches;

2. Consideration of Various Stakeholders

Aside from the primary targets for change-inducing communication, others are also considered as targets
because of their influence and their control over essential resources. These range from political and opinion
leaders to clinic staff and those in outreach systems such as the mass media and extension. Even those initiating
a program/ project may also be considered as stakeholders;

3. Participation
The ideas of ‘targeting’ and ‘receivers’ are modified (but not eliminated) so that interactivity and sharing of
power within and among stakeholders’ groups is an operational model guiding communication planning;

4. Emphasis on Outcomes
What and how many messages are sent out is less important than what is perceived by stakeholders and what
changes take place in stakeholders’ behavior relative to development objectives;

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5. Data Gathering and Analysis

While intuition and creativity continue to be valued, these are driven and inspired by systematic data collection
and analysis. For example, an early step in a communication plan is to do a situational analysis that includes
research on a variety of subjects related to behavioral change and communication resources. In the incubation
of telecentres, we have already found that doing research on a community’s information needs is vital to a
telecentre’s sustainability. Evaluation is another process that permeates the communication program, with
information being collected for pre-testing materials, monitoring progress, and measuring impact;

6. Systematic Models
The communication process involves specific and explicit sequential steps, including situational analysis
(research), planning, pre-testing, implementation and evaluation. The sequence is iterative and dynamic: results
of the evaluation are fed back into the situational analysis to register changes in conditions upon which the
original planning was based so that adjustments can be made in the steps that follow;

7. Strategy
Most development programs deal with the voluntary behavior of stakeholders: farmers choose to adopt different
varieties of seeds; families choose to change diets or visit health clinics; couples choose to accept or reject
family planning. These kinds of situations challenge communication people to design strategies for providing
appropriate information, through appropriate channels, at appropriate times, for the appropriate people. Thus, a
quality professionally driven development communication program is characterized by having a rational means
for selecting communication objectives, content, channels and target groups that fit the voluntary nature of the
behavior change being proposed; and

8. Multi-Channel Versatility
Development communication is equipped with a broad range of information and communication techniques and
technologies with which to attack poverty and underdevelopment. (pp. 149-150)

THE CORE VALUES OF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

1. Empowerment
As discussed by Cadiz (2005), communication for empowerment is the practice of participatory
communication in development. Thus, development communication involves participation as an agent
for empowerment. Development work must first and foremost capitalize on empowered partners who
must start at the community or local level. Cadiz (2005) further discussed that there are elements in
communication for empowerment.
• Provision of access to information
• Putting users/beneficiaries in control
• Building local people’s capabilities in communication
• Emphasis on small and appropriate media
• Learning with partners
• Working as a collective
• Capitalizing and building on felt needs
• Making it enjoyable
• Giving people hands-on experience
• Sharing resources
Valuing empowerment is also knowing that communication for empowerment is a systematic process
rather than a technique. It is accepting that indeed there is no single best strategy for development or
empowering people. It is a constant process of learning. The components of communication for
empowerment must also include communication training, planning and strategizing, media design and
production, technology, utilization centers, archiving/data banking, and communication evaluation.

Cadiz (2005) also added that communication for empowerment must include the following dimensions:
participants can fulfill their basic needs; participants have high self-esteem; participants are enabled to

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exercise their power to choose; participants exercise their choice to fulfill human potential, and
participants have a community or collective mindset.

2. Equity
With the rising inequity and inequality, especially in developing countries, equity must be opted to be a
strategic goal for development. Jones (2009) discussed the problems and solutions concerning equity
for the development. According to Jones, to achieve national development, there must be equal life
chances, equal concern for people’s needs and meritocracy. Unfortunately, people’s access to
opportunities is shaped by power balances in economic, social, and political spheres. Inequality is also
reinforced by intergenerational transmission and various formal and informal institutions. Therefore,
putting equity at the heart of development programming has further benefits and can be central to
development. Thus, development communication must continue to prioritize the equitable distribution of
opportunities across all sectors of development. Communication plays a crucial role in carrying out
strategy and design for development.Then, communication for development must aim to develop an
effective communication system and services that will be available for everybody especially for far-
reaching communities, to truly impact change in the economic structure and transform the society.

3. Environmentalism
Development communication values the environment and natural resources. It supports sustainable and
equitable natural resource-based development. However, it becomes challenging due to global
development centered on economic growth, modernization, industrialization, and urbanization that
brought exploitation and aggravating effects on the environment. With the increasing threat of global
warming and climate change, development communication becomes more important in addressing the
gaps in environmental issues. It can continue to provide platforms for information exchange, to raise
awareness, to motivate behavior change, and for effective communication that will call for collective
action and participation of the public

4. Entrepreneurship
As a core value, entrepreneurship is an important component of development communication. DevCom
promotes an entrepreneurial spirit and the practice of entrepreneurship through the production of
communication materials and the use of media and interpersonal communication, research, and the
application of an entrepreneurial mind. DevCom also aims for financial inclusion for the sustainable
development of entrepreneurs.

5. Ethics
Devcon adheres to the standards of research, development studies, and journalism towards a holistic
and systematic social and behavioral change. It promotes professional excellence and ethical
approaches as development studies and communication are conducted to its intended beneficiaries.
With the ethical challenges and considerations present in development communication especially in
community-based participatory communication, development communicators must maintain ethical
practices such as transparency of the objectives and the research results of the study, respect to
diversity and the people, honor people’s rights in data collection and management, equity and inclusion,
and cultural sensitivity.

THE DOMAINS OF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

• Community Communication
It employs interpersonal communication and community media to facilitate community decision-making,
problem-solving, conflict resolution, interest articulation, advocacy, and social mobilization. It is
characterized as highly participatory, involving the community in planning, producing, and evaluating
messages. Community communication is grassroot communication of the people, by the people, and for
the people. Examples of community media, on the other hand, are community newspapers, community
radio, balagtasan, folk drama, and songs. The community can participate either as planners, producers,
or performers. The concerns of this area include facilitative and interpersonal communication, social

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mobilization, and advocacy, indigenous communication, extension communication, and gender in

communication. Berrigan (1979) cited the following characteristics of community media:

- Owned and controlled by the people in the community

- Usually smaller media and low-cost
- Provides interactive and two-way communication
- Non-profit and autonomous, however, some are commercialized
- Limited coverage or reach
- Utilizes appropriate, indigenous materials as resources
- Reflects community needs and interests
- One-third of its programs or content support community development

• Educational Communication
A complex, integrated process involving people, procedures, ideas, devices, and organization for
analyzing problems and devising, implementing, evaluating, and managing solutions to those problems
involved in all aspects of human learning. Educational communication is concerned with the entire
process of learning. The educational communication practitioner applies communication principles and
approaches to effectively solve learning problems or to facilitate the learning process. They should
respond to a learning problem and facilitate the learning process through the learning system design. A
learning system design is an organized combination of people, materials, facilities, equipment, and
procedures that interact to achieve a learning goal.

Roles Examples
Analysis of the learning Conduct survey on waste management practices and TV viewing
problem habits of grade schoolers
Use multimedia approach to teach kids simple procedures in waste
segregation

Include a segment on waste management in kids’ favourite TV

Formulating solutions programs

Conduct a puppetry shows in schools about waste management

Organize a waste management seminar for parents of targeted grade

schoolers (with the use a visual aids)
Write scripts; then, produce, and show the TV segment

Implementing solutions Design and produce seminar visual aids

Write scripts and make a puppet for puppetry shows

Conduct a post-survey and monitor waste management practices of
Evaluation grade school students after the implementation of various
communication approaches
Prepare and secure budget for the survey

Build up linkages with the schools for the consistent implementation

Management of the program

Identify the key players who will be involved in the various activities
Table 1. Sample of Learning System Design

In educational communication, the following practices are exercised:

o Adheres to the view that learning and communication are processes and systems. For instance,
based on the given example, parents and the institution are considered to form part of the child’s
communication learning system environment;

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o Uses well-planned and systematic communication procedures and approaches as shown by the
procedural, step-by-step, and organized way by which the learning system design is employed;

o Uses the most effective combination of human and non-human resources, such as in the example
given where parents are tapped to educate their children; and

o Applies theories and principles of human learning, such as using puppetry shows as a medium to
instruct children.

• Science Communication
Its function is to bring about innovation. Scientific discoveries applied in production technology have
increased the standard of living in developed countries in the past 150 years. In contrast, the
underdeveloped countries have remained at about the same level of living or even lower because they
lacked such application of science and technology. To improve this situation, the public must gain an
understanding of science so that the results of the research are used and appreciated. The general public
is just part of the clientele of science communication. It caters to specific types of information users of
research results, such as extension worker, scientist, businessman, policymaker, etc. A science
communication practitioner assists these different users in determining where to get primary information.
S/he organizes, processes, packages, and distributes knowledge in forms most usable and suitable for
them. Science communication, as an area of study, facilitates communication on four levels:
o Communication among scientists
o Communication of science to the general public
o Communication of research results to specific users
o Communication facilitated by new technology

• Strategic Communication
This type of communication can be integrated into development policies and programs and could come
at any stage of development process. It focuses on planning, managing, implementing, monitoring, and
evaluating of communication programs for development. It can be an instrument for effective
policymaking and public participation, facilitating information exchange and decision making, developing
of plans, monitoring of impact, establishing concensus, and organizing of communication components.
Two-way communication cannot be taken away from any strategy because it serves as the key factor to
make collaboration and cooperation among stakeholders possible. Also, according to UNICEF, designing
a communication strategy for development has three (3) components: advocacy, social mobilization, and
behavioral and social change. These components must be organized so that it can be appropriately
integrated to the communication objectives.
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References:
Cadiz, M. (2005). Communication for empowerment: The practice of participatory communication in
development.In CLASCO and Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (Eds.). In Media and
Glocal Change: Rethinking Communication for Development. Retrieved from January 10, 2020 from,
http://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/clacso/coediciones/20100824070217/13Chapter8.pdf

Colle, R. D. (2008). Threads of development communication. In Servaes, J. (Ed.), Communication for

development and social change (pp. 126-127, pp. 149-150). New Delhi, India: Sage Publications and
UNESCO

Communication for development (C4D). (2013). In UNICEF. Retrieved January 10, 2020 from,
https://www.unicef.org/cbsc/index_65177.html

Jones, H. (2009). Equity in development: Why it is important and how to achieve it. In ODI. Retrieved January 10,
2020 from, https://www.odi.org/publications/3480-equity-development-why-it-important-and-how-
achieve-it

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