The Drum Beat 410 - At the Heart of Change: The Role of Communication in Sustainable Development

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This Drum Beat is one of a series of commentary and analysis pieces. In this issue, Kitty Warnock shares Panos London's perspectives on the role of communication in sustainable development, based on their recent publication, "At the heart of change". She outlines the key challenge - to get communication included as an integral element in development programmes - and she presents two arguments from Panos London for why communication is central to development and why it needs support from development agencies. She concludes by asking members of The Drum Beat network to reflect on and discuss these issues and arguments as they relate to their own work.

The Drum Beat continues to feature a range of critical analysis commentaries of the communication for change field. These appear regularly on the first Monday of most months and are meant to inspire dialogue throughout the month. Though we cannot guarantee to feature your commentary, as we have a limited number of issues to be published each year, if you wish to contribute please contact Deborah Heimann dheimann@comminit.com Many thanks!

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At the heart of change: the role of communication in sustainable development

Panos London's At the heart of change: the role of communication in sustainable development [1] is a call to development thinkers and planners to put communication at the centre of all development thinking - with more resources, planning, and expertise.

Panos London believes that flows of communication, or lack of them, can make the difference between success and failure in achieving development goals. Readers of The Drum Beat probably agree - but top-level political and development leaders continue to neglect communication. In this piece, I ask you: What can we as the communication for development community do to put communication where it belongs, at the centre of development thinking? What are the obstacles, and what are the opportunities, as you see them in your own work?

What is the Challenge?

Communication is central to all aspects of development, and development initiatives do not succeed unless they include and are supported by communication - yet communication is often neglected or undervalued in development policy, planning, and budgets. It is introduced into programmes too little, too late, and in a fragmentary way. Panos London argues that communication needs to be included from the very start in all analysis of development problems, in the establishment of development goals and policy, in planning, and at all levels of programme implementation. Senior decision-makers in governments and development agencies should take the lead in understanding the essential role of communication and integrating it into all development initiatives.

But at present, how many international and national development pledges and plans mention communication? National Poverty Reduction Strategies, for example, rarely highlight it. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) only touch on it in passing. Top-level donor agreements such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness do not mention it, although without communication none of the declaration’s aims could be achieved. In general, development plans and goals do not specify the role of communication.

Why is this? Perhaps the importance of communication is taken for granted - but that is not the way for communication to get the attention and resources it needs. Development leaders must realise that effective communication does not happen naturally. It needs to be planned and supported.

Many initiatives recently have tried to put communication in its proper place on the development map - the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the Africa Commission, the African Media Development Initiative (AMDI) and Stream, the World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD), and efforts within individual agencies - emphasising different elements from the menu of 'Communication for Development'. But we are still waiting for a clear commitment to communication from top-level development actors, global and national. Panos London has drawn together the arguments made in these previous initiatives into a single framing vision of how all types of communication are essential for addressing all of today's development concerns - and to identify clearly what different development actors can do to strengthen communication. This is the purpose of Panos London's two publications: At the heart of change [1], and its companion The case for communication [2], which lays out the arguments more fully.

The Argument (I): Why Communication is at the Centre of Development

Communication is a defining human characteristic and a central element in the functioning of all societies; it is a goal in itself, as well as an enabler of development. Panos London's definition of 'communication for development' includes all channels - broadcast and print, telephones and digital, face-to-face - and all types of communication from planned information campaigns to informal interpersonal dialogue, from knowledge management to entertainment. Effective communication processes are two-way - they involve both listening and speaking.

Many current analyses and strategic approaches to development require communication as an integral element. Good governance, direct budget support, aid coherence, human rights, gender equity, equitable economic growth, livelihoods, the MDGs - all of these approaches involve building people's capacities to participate in development, make their voices heard and hold governments accountable. In other words, they depend on communication - though this is rarely spelled out.

For example, good governance - itself a goal as well as an enabler of other aspects of development - depends on many different types of communication. It enables peace, democracy, social and political inclusion, participation, accountability, effective and efficient delivery of services, and economic activities. Some of the many areas of communication needed to sustain good governance are:

• Independent and quality media to foster political processes, host public debate and hold governments and other institutions accountable;
• Laws, systems and capacity for transparency, monitoring and accountability of government by parliament and citizens;
• Dialogue and information sharing within government, to ensure coherence between departments;
• Communication systems to facilitate administrative relations between government and citizens, and citizens’ access to these;
• Information management for effective and responsive delivery of public services; and
• Dialogue and networking among civil society, to enable solution of problems, formulation of needs, and participation in political and development processes.

For another illustration of how all types of communication should be considered together in planning for development, take one of the MDGs, improving maternal health. Addressing this challenge needs actions at many levels, all of which entail particular types of communication. The following is just a sample:

• Changing social/cultural attitudes to women and to reproductive health - with mass media including entertainment as partners
• Changing the status and power of women within families - through community discussions, mass media, and education
• National policy and strategy choices - involving debate of different options between government, parliament, experts, civil society organisations (CSOs) and the public, through media and other channels as well as political processes
• Provision of services - using information and communication technology (ICT) for managing resources and linking the field-level to the centre, developing transparency processes for reducing corruption, and drawing on many different media for training of personnel
• Ensuring take-up of services - getting information to potential users through mass media and other channels.

Neglecting any one of these areas of communication could jeopardise the success of government or non-governmental organisation (NGO) initiatives to reduce maternal mortality.

The Argument (II) - Why Communication Needs Support from Development Organisations

At the heart of change highlights why communication cannot be left to look after itself but, rather, needs support from development organisations. One broad area to consider is that governments and traditional media need support as they struggle to keep up with the rapidly evolving challenges of new communication technologies. For governments, these ICTs are revolutionising their relations with their citizens; for media, the challenge is to redefine the role of professional journalism within the plethora of unmediated individual voices in the blogosphere.

Another broad area for development intervention is the need to ensure that the poor are included in flows of communication and enabled to participate in development processes. The huge surge in the amount and accessibility of communication and media in recent years has been mostly market-driven, and the market is not the best means of meeting the needs of poor and marginalised people. Panos London argues that communication and media should be seen as public goods: everybody gains from their healthy presence, but the investments needed to provide them universally may not be profitable enough to attract private investors.

Development support may be direct financial support, or policy direction and regulation - for instance, a frequency allocation policy that ensures bandwidth is available for community radio stations - or indirect support such as providing electricity to rural areas.

Technology is certainly spreading rapidly - the boom in mobile phones in Africa and India is evidence that technologies can spread through unaided market mechanisms - but the market alone may not reach the poorest, and may contribute to widening gaps between poor and rich. For development goals, governments may need to intervene in markets - for instance to ensure telephony reaches remote areas, or to ensure the smallest businesses can benefit from the internet. International ICT infrastructure may need support, as the costs and difficulties of bringing together large numbers of stakeholders to negotiate complex agreements are beyond the scope of individual investors.

Mass media have also blossomed since democratisation in the 1990s, but they face huge challenges, in rich as well as poor countries. Independent, critical, credible, pluralistic media are essential for good governance, accountability and public debate. But this kind of high quality public service journalism is expensive, and threatened by the pressures of survival in a competitive market. Regarding media as a public good opens the way for governments and development agencies to provide support. Non-profitable media such as community radio stations may also need support, and small media outlets may need protection against the consolidating tendencies of the market.

What Panos London is Calling For

Our agenda for action calls for governments, national and international civil society organisations, development organisations and donors to work together to:

• Build more open, transparent information and communication systems and political cultures;
• Treat information, communication and the media as 'public goods' and invest accordingly;
• Take a holistic view of communication processes and integrate communications into development planning and implementation; and
• Invest in media development.

Question for Readers of The Drum Beat

What are the obstacles and what are the opportunities for putting communication at the centre of development thinking and planning, as you see them in your own work?

Kitty Warnock Panos London kitty.warnock@panos.org.uk August 22 2007

[1] At the heart of change: the role of communication in sustainable development [PDF], Panos London, 2007. [top] 

[2] The case for communication [PDF], Panos London, 2007. [top] 

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This issue of The Drum Beat is meant to inspire dialogue and conversation among the Drum Beat network.

Please engage in dialogue, beginning September 4th, through the DrumBeatChat forum.

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Please participate in a Pulse Poll related to the above commentary.

Do you agree or disagree?

No development programme is likely to succeed unless communication is at the heart of its conception and implementation.

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RESULTS of past Pulse Poll

HIV/AIDS advocacy campaigns and education programmes for pregnant women in Latin America should include an HIV testing component in order to reduce stigma and discrimination.

[For context, please see The Drum Beat #406.]

Agree: 91.30%
Disagree: 8.70%
Unsure: 0.00%
Total number of participants = 46

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This issue of The Drum Beat is an opinion piece and has been written and signed by the individual writer. The views expressed herein are the perspective of the writer and are not necessarily reflective of the views or opinions of The Communication Initiative or any of The Communication Initiative Partners.

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The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

Please send material for The Drum Beat to the Editor - Deborah Heimann dheimann@comminit.com 

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