Communication for
Development and
Social Change
Thomas Tufte, Prof.
Roskilde University
Presentation given at: Ørecomm Seminar, Malmø
University
January 21, 2012
Todays presentation…
 Defining the field of ComDev…
 A brief look back at a couple of founding
fathers…
 Some of the main schools of thought in
ComDev
 Current challenges
I have a Dream…
Martin Luther King
Capitol Hill, 1963
The Rome Consensus
(2006)
 Communication is essential to human, social and
economic development. Communication for
development is a social process based on dialogue
that uses a broad range of tools and methods. It seeks
change at different levels including listening, building
trust, sharing knowledge and skills, building policies,
debating and learning for sustained and meaningful
change. At the heart of Communication for
Development is participation and ownership by those
most affected by poverty and other development
issues.
Communication for Social Change
Definition
CFSC is a process of public and private
dialogue through which people themselves
define who they are, what they need and how
to get what they need in order to improve
their own lives. It utilizes dialogue that leads
to collective problem identification, decision
making and community-based
implementation of solutions to development
issues
(Ref: www.communicationforsocialchange)
Development Issues (1)
where media and comm play a role
 Health Issues (HIV/AIDS prevention, life
style changes, diabetes, nutrition)
 Good Governance (transparency in
decision-making and in internal and
external communication)
 Sustainable development and Climate
Change
 Popular Education (social movements in
Latin America, ie indegenous groups)
Development Issues (2)
where media and comm play a role
 Human Rights Violations (campaigns, ie
Amnesty International)
 Conflict Resolution (theatre and sport in
Burundi)
 Trade (EU Sugar Policy: Oxfam
Campaign)
 Cultural Heritage (reclaiming urban sites)
Key players…
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Governments
UN/International governmental agencies
INGOs/NGOs
Social Movements/TANs
 North/South
 Local/National/Intern’l/Transnational
Communicating for what?
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Development Support Communication (UN/FAO)
Development Communication (Los Banos/Quebral)
Behaviour Change Communication (Health)
Information, Education and Communication
Participatory Communication
Alternative Comm (Latin American Scholars)
Communication for Development
Communication for Empowerment (UNDP)
Communication for Social Change (RF)
Comm for Social and Structurl Change (Servaes)
Comm for Social and Sustainable Change
Social and Behaviour Change Comm (Wits)
C4D (UNICEF)
Communication for Development
…founding fathers
 Everett Rogers – Diffusion of Innovations
(1962)
 Paulo Freire – Pedagogy of the
Oppressed (1967)
Everett Rogers…
 Rural sociologist…mid-west in the
1950ies
 Technology focus…how to spread new
technologies, innovations, fast…
 Agricultural development…later health
 The importance of understanding social
systems
Everett Rogers…
 Categorizing people is 5 groups, from
early adopters to laggards…
 Developed a model which became
instrumental for A LOT of development
work (1960ies hype…500 family planning
diffusion studies in India alone!)
 1970ies critique of top-down, linearity,
non-participatory…
Rogers self-critique (1976)
 Self-development…(’implies a
completely different role for
communication than in the usual topdown development approach)
 Popular participation in self-development
 Integration of traditional with modern
systems
 Video on Rogers…….
Paulo Freire…
 Philosophy of Education and Social
Change
 Dialogue and Liberating Education
 Long-term Power Struggle
 Conscientizacao
Key concepts…
 Action-Reflection-Action
 Activism
 Verbalism
 Naming the world: ’Human existence cannot
be silent, not can it be nourished by false world
but only by true words with which men and
women transform the world. To exist, humanly,
is the name the world, to change it’
 a strategy of alfabetization, and a political project
Freire’s pedagogy…
 Principles of dialogue
 - a profound love for the world and for
people
 Humility
 Faith in mankind
 Hope
 True dialogue cannot existe unless the
dialoguers engage in critical thinking
Banking and liberating
pedagogy…
 Without dialogue there is no
communication, and without
communication there is no education
 Video on Freire………
Summaries of diffusion and participatory
approaches
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Diffusion model
Definition of communication: information transfer - vertical
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Definition of development communication: information dissemination via
mass media
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Problem:
lack of information
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Solution:
information transfer: Knowledge  Attitudes  Practice
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Goal:
outcome oriented: behavior change
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Frameworks:
Modernization
Diffusion of innovations
Types of interventions
Social marketing
Entertainment-education
Summaries of diffusion and participatory
approaches
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Participatory model
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Definition of communication: information exchange/dialogue - horizontal
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Definition of development communication: grassroots participation via
group interaction
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Problem:
structural inequalities/local knowledge ignored
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Solution:
information exchange/ participation
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Goal:
process-oriented: empowerment, equity, community
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Frameworks:
Types of interventions
Social change/praxis (Freire)
Empowerment education
Social mobilization/activism
Participatory Action Research (PAR)
Rapid Participatory Appraisal (RPA)
Community Involvement in Health
Key concepts emerging in
ComDev…
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Dialogue
Voice…. (citizen media)
Representation
Mobilization
 Public sphere (s)
 Active audience reception.
Conceptual challenges…
 Vertical and horizontal communication
(Beltrán)
 Questions of scale – large or small scale
 Mass media & community media, folk
media and oramedia
 Intervention or facilitation
 Outcome-based or process-oriented
3 Current Challenges
 Media development: Social media
 Activism outside of established
organisations
 Globalization, mediatization and
interdependent world development
 Back to Martin Luther King…