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Book Details
Abstract
This lively book argues that in the development process, communication is everything. The authors, world experts in this field as teachers, practitioners and theorists, argue that Communication for Development is a creative and innovative way of thinking that can permeate the overall approach to any development initiative. They illustrate their argument with vivid case studies and tools for the reader, drawing on the stories of individual project leaders who have championed development for communication, and using a range of situations to show the different possibilities in various contexts.
Free from jargon, and keeping a close look at how development is actually being implemented at ground level, this book is an important contribution to development studies not just for students but also for development practitioners and policy makers.
'Personal funny and entertaining, this book provides a better insight into the value, potential - and ultimately hugely frustrating practice - of using communication to listen rather than tell than any I’ve come across for a very long time. Anyone interested in development will learn much from this book. Those working or interested in using communication in development could usefully place it on their required reading list.'
James Deane, BBC World Service Trust
'Quarry and Ramirez have written a highly readable, information-packed, lucid book on the challenges and successes of communication for international social change. Drawing from their extensive expertise, they patiently dissect the lessons from numerous programs showing how grassroots communication contributes to sustainable change.'
Silvio Waisbord
'This should become required reading for communication for development practitioners. This highly personal reflection by two experienced advocates of participatory communication lays bare the reasons why we are so often frustrated with the outcomes of our work, while showing clearly the opportunities for creative support of empowering development from good deployment of communication processes. The stories from their own and others’ professional experience demonstrate the power of narrative in bringing us face to face with our preconceptions and misunderstanding.'
Chris Garforth, Reading University
Wendy Quarry and Ricardo Ramirez are both independent consultant practitioners in Communication for Development, they have worked together on field projects, evaluations and publications over the last years, and they have been involved in relevant academia and development circles.
Ricardo Ramírez was born and raised in Mexico and is now based in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. His consulting and research work includes communication planning, participatory evaluation and capacity development. Ricardo began his career in agricultural sciences that he followed with demonstration farm projects in South America. His graphic design and illustration skills led to a focus on participatory learning and media. He then switched to the field of adult education and community development. His doctoral work focused on how rural and remote communities harness information and communication technology. He has worked with the Communication for Development group at FAO, Rome, with non-governmental organizations, and with consulting firms. For two years he was professor in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph where remains as adjunct. The writing of this book has helped him reflect on the rare conditions under which international development achieves its goals, in contrast with the many achievements that people demonstrate in the absence of aid.
Wendy Quarry began her work as a communication specialist with an apprenticeship to the radio school movement in Latin America. Before that she had been a broadcaster in radio and television in Montreal. In 1981 she accepted a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to learn to adapt her Canadian communication experience to a development context. She joined the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in 1982 as a communication specialist on the Bangladesh program. Later she and her family moved with CIDA to Ghana, West Africa and from there took a secondment to the World Bank in New Delhi. This was followed by a return to CIDA in Pakistan where she stayed for four years. After leaving CIDA in 1994 she became an independent consultant in communication, evaluation and capacity building working for governments, NGOs, the private sector and a variety of donors. In 2004 she and her husband moved to Kabul for two years where she worked with Afghan NGOs funded by Novib. Now back in Canada she lives in Ottawa and continues to consult in communication. She has a great deal of experience working in the grey zone.
Table of Contents
Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
---|---|---|---|
Acknowledgements | vii | ||
Introduction | 1 | ||
About this book | 2 | ||
1 | Communication for Development: setting the scene | 4 | ||
A field known by many names | 6 | ||
A bit of history | 8 | ||
Entering the field: which door to choose? | 9 | ||
So much communication and so little understanding | 11 | ||
Context matters: no one-size-fits-all | 15 | ||
Enough messages, more listening | 17 | ||
Unpacking the debate | 18 | ||
Turning decades of advocacy work on its head | 20 | ||
PART ONE | What we know | 23 | ||
2 | The meaning of ‘another’ development | 25 | ||
Paul’s briefcase | 26 | ||
Speaking ‘another’ | 27 | ||
What does Another Development look like? | 30 | ||
Listeners lost ground to the tellers | 33 | ||
3 | Planners and searchers: two ways of doing development | 35 | ||
Communication is not the same as telling | 35 | ||
Planners and searchers | 37 | ||
Searchers listen; planners tell | 40 | ||
Left-side, right-side thinking | 42 | ||
Did we forget the media? | 43 | ||
4 | Why communicators can’t communicate | 46 | ||
I work in communication, but not the kind you think | 46 | ||
I fix cars, I make posters, I produce videos | 48 | ||
Right-brainers in a left-brain world | 51 | ||
PART TWO | What we learned | 55 | ||
5 | Working in the grey zone | 57 | ||
All that was left was a two-way car radio | 58 | ||
Orchid collections | 61 | ||
Three coordinates for navigation | 62 | ||
A primer on communication functions | 65 | ||
Working in the grey zone in Mozambique: an illustration of the coordinates | 66 | ||
6 | Early champions: uncovering principles | 70 | ||
The Fogo Process: a prize orchid | 71 | ||
Don Snowden: champion | 76 | ||
Gaston Roberge: champion | 78 | ||
Alex Sim: champion | 82 | ||
Manuel Calvelo-Rios: champion | 84 | ||
7 | New activists: principles that travel | 88 | ||
Drishti: activist video champions | 89 | ||
Alex and Wilna Quarmyne: activist community radio champions | 93 | ||
Minou Fuglesang: an activist champion who does not mince words | 96 | ||
Brian Beaton: activist Internet champion | 99 | ||
A common focus | 101 | ||
8 | The forgotten context | 103 | ||
Organizations are half the methodology | 104 | ||
Remote Aboriginal communities responding to history | 105 | ||
Rat Park: the context leads to addiction | 106 | ||
HIV/AIDS communication recognizes context | 108 | ||
Media policy shapes context | 110 | ||
Context drives functions | 112 | ||
Listening to the context | 113 | ||
PART THREE | What we can do differently | 115 | ||
9 | Training and negotiating in the grey zone | 117 | ||
Training and negotiating | 118 | ||
Negotiating the zone of the possible | 124 | ||
Listening to the context: a promising example from Central America | 129 | ||
10 | Searching and listening: good communication, good development | 134 | ||
In and out of the grey zone | 135 | ||
Non-kinetic activity | 136 | ||
Social media, a sense of hope | 137 | ||
A global paradox | 139 | ||
Implications for relocating our field | 140 | ||
Postscript: Cultivating common sense on the farm | 142 | ||
References | 144 | ||
Index | 151 |