The Drum Beat 411 - Democracy and Governance

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This issue of The Drum Beat focuses on aspects of democracy and governance and how they are being addressed through communication around the world. Beginning with some documents that address this topic from an overview perspective, the issue also highlights the influence of the media, and communication with respect to both political participation and conflict transformation. It features some of the recent programmes, articles, reports, and publications summarised on The Communication Initiative website.

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DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE: OVERVIEW

1. Background Note on Communication in Governance
This background note was prepared in the context of the October 2006 World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD) in Rome, Italy, and written by officials from the Information and Communication for Development team of the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Development Communication Division of the World Bank. It provides an overview of the rationale for including governance as a WCCD theme. The authors "make the case that information and communication processes - and the media of communication - are a fundamental part of how governance systems operate in any political community. What is more, they are fundamental to the agenda of pro-poor social and political change."

2. Deepening Voice and Accountability to Fight Poverty: A Dialogue of Communication Implementers
This summary note is from a conference in France of 80 representatives from government, civil society, think tanks, and media organisations in developing countries, as well as representatives from multilateral and bilateral donor agencies, academic institutions, and international civil society organisations. These representatives participated in a dialogue about deepening voice and accountability to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of national poverty reduction strategies. The conference panel titles included: Democracy and Poverty Reduction, Accountability, A Strong Civil Society, and The Media and Poverty Reduction. As stated in the document, "[p]articipants agreed that deepening voice and accountability in developing countries is about people, including those living in [economic] poverty, making the decisions that affect their lives."

3. Contentious Citizens: Civil Society's Role in Campaigning for Social Change
by Paul Hilder with Julie Caulier-Grice and Kate Lalor
This report provides a detailed analysis and historical overview of the social change campaigning landscape with particular reference to campaigning in a network age. It explores how campaigning can be better supported and makes a series of recommendations intended to support campaigning organisations in raising awareness and responding to pressing and unmet needs. The document then gives a history of social campaigning and discusses the 4 principle challenges of campaigning in the twenty-first century: "How can progressive or sustained campaigns be built in an environment of media moments, celebrity dependence, and tabloid petitions? Who writes the script of the campaign, choosing and framing actions and deciding what counts as success? How can you counter the risks associated with corporate co-option and collaboration with government? How can you target decision makers most effectively in the era of network governance and where campaigns can take place at the level of the local, national and global?"

4. Democratizing Global Communication? Global Civil Society and the Campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society
by Milton L. Mueller, Brenden N. Kuerbis, and Christiane Pagé
This paper opens with the question of what democracy means at the international level. It states that benchmarks might include: communicating preferences to leadership, ensuring equal voice with leadership, and removing leaders who fail to act on behalf of those they represent. It seeks an answer through a case study of the role of transnational advocacy networks and multi-stakeholder governance processes in the formation of international communication-information policy, claiming that these represent default solutions to democratisation of international institutions. The paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of multi-stakeholder governance as revealed by a Campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) attempt to institutionalise civil society at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). As stated in the article: "The CRIS Campaign’s struggle to shape global norms by mobilizing civil society actors... reflects a long-term attempt to formulate and apply an overarching ideology... to guide policy advocacy, an ideology that originated with communication scholars and which attempted to put exalted concepts of the social role of communication at the center of policy development." It documents the role of the CRIS campaign in determining the norms and modalities of civil society participation in WSIS, and provides a critical assessment of the ideology of "communication rights."

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Online Discussion: Women, Political Participation and Decision-making in Africa
September 4 - October 14 2007

Organised by the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women/Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Economic Commission for Africa in cooperation with the E-Network of National Gender Equality Machineries in Africa, this online discussion aims to contribute to a better understanding of women’s political participation in Africa.
Click here to learn more.

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MEDIA INFLUENCE

5. Media and Politics: Briefing Note #20
by John D.Whyte, Lynn Wells, Rick Salutin, Joyce Green, and Gennadiy Chernov This publication explores the relationship between media and politics, including the influence of politics on the news media and the influence of the media on Canada's political life. The articles in this publication were originally presented as part of a public forum on March 9 2007, in a series which explores the influences on political culture of law, religion, and journalism. The introduction explains that: "The particular inquiry of this collection is on the political influences on media, specifically news media, and media’s role in shaping political outcomes."

6. A Sense of Belonging: Community Radio and Civil Society
by John van Zyl
This book examines the role that community radio plays in building an effective civil society. It explores the value of community radio and highlights the importance of the community radio sector for the consolidation of local government, the growth of democracy, and the rebuilding of civil society. The book is based on case studies and learning from some of community radio projects of ABC Ulwazi, a radio training and production house with the aim of strengthening the community radio sector in South Africa and promoting the development of radio as a tool for development and education.

7. Panoscope - South Asia
An independent production of Panos Radio South Asia (PRSA), Panoscope is a 15-minute-long fortnightly radio magazine programme. It is divided into 3 5-minute segments, and includes the following: a brief news round-up on Panos South Asia's 5 thematic areas, a 5-minute feature, and commentaries, oral testimonies, or interviews on key South Asian development issues. Panoscope is committed to providing media space for raising the voices of the economically poor and marginalised. Programmes feature the perspectives of people actually living through, and working to address, various development challenges.
Contact Kishor Pradhan kishor@panossouthasia.org

8. Listening Beyond the Echoes: Media, Ethics, and Agency in an Uncertain World
by Nick Couldry
This book calls for a 'decentered' media research that rejects easy assumptions about media's role in holding societies together and instead looks more critically at the difference media make on the ground to the material conditions of our lives. In what detailed ways do media transform knowledge and agency in daily life? How do media contribute to the culture of democratic politics? And how can we live, ethically, with and through media? Couldry draws on media sociology, media theory, and cultural theory, as well as on political theory and ethics.

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

9. CIDA Devolution Support Project (CDSP) - Pakistan
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has been working in 2 Districts of Punjab Province, Pakistan, to develop a gender-sensitive communication campaign meant to strengthen local government (LG) systems and to support devolution. The purpose of the effort is to enable people - especially women - to get better services, and to play an effective and active role in local governance. Between September 2004 and March 2005, awareness forums were conducted at the union council level. The main objectives were to enhance awareness on the part of women and men about roles and responsibilities of LGs, to educate people about the role of Citizen Community Boards (CCBs) in devolution at the grassroots level, and to mobilise groups of women and men to form CCBs for the development of their respective areas. Later in this project, a collaborative "LG Information Mela" was held. This was a day-long edutainment-type (fair) activity at the village level, focusing on LGs and communities and their respective roles in the local area development. The format design for the village mela was carried out through discussions with local groups, and emphasised using communication to provide just a few messages in a simple way.
Contact Kishwar Sultana kishwar@pakdevolution.com

10. Village Level Awareness Campaign on Devolution and Local Government System: June 2006-January 2007
This report details and assesses the CIDA Devolution Support Project (CDSP) [summarised above], analysing the motivation behind, process of, and lessons learned from the undertaking. The report begins by providing a detailed account of the process of developing village-level awareness "melas" - daylong edutainment-type (fair) activities at the village level focusing on LGs and communities and their respective roles in the local area development. Following a description of the organisation and implementation of the melas, basic access details are shared. Lessons learned from this process include: organising awareness and other developmental activities at the village level enhances women's participation by increasing their access and mobility; involving local partners, especially civil society organisations, in the design and implementation of awareness campaigns ensures continuity and long-term sustainability of these activities in the district; involving active groups within the community - particularly, the union council - enhances participation; and melas can be made more attractive by integrating cultural activities.

11. Managing Mobilisation? Participatory Processes and Dam Building in South Africa, the Berg River Project: IDS Working Paper 254
by Lisa Thompson
This research paper on water resource management focuses on the attempt by some countries to neutralise criticism of their water management policies by creating formal spaces for public consultation and participation. This study looks at how local people were consulted and involved in the building of the Berg River Dam, Berg Water Project (BWP), in South Africa’s Western Cape province. The author analyses the consultations that led to the approval of the dam and concludes that the creation of formal participatory spaces both subverted and neutralised resistance, on the part of the environmental movement, as well as civil society, to the building of the dam. The research in this document concluded, among other points, that: "Formal, government-driven processes served to undermine potential activism around opposition....People [need] means to question the official line on water ‘scarcity’ and to meaningfully process or question [information]. Global environmental debates have...influence on policies and processes,...but government commitment to international protocols and guidelines needs to be followed through and demonstrated in local policies and practice. There is a tension between the science of managing scarce natural resources and the language of people’s rights and empowerment. So-called ‘democratic spaces’ created by government can weaken the impetus of voluntary forms of social mobilisation and resistance..."

12. Hau Bele (I Can) Campaign - Timor-Leste
In advance of, and coinciding with, Timor-Leste's 2007 Election Day (June 30), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) implemented a campaign called "Hau Bele" (or "I Can") to celebrate women's political potential in Timor-Leste. Designed to foster women's participation in all spheres of public life, the campaign featured posters, a theme song, and a televised public service announcement (PSA). Launched under the rubric of UNIFEM's Integrated Programme for Women in Politics and Decision Making (WIP), Hau Bele sought to achieve popular support for the message of gender equality and women's rights throughout Timor-Leste - not only during the parliamentary election period, but long-term.
Contact Vicenta Maria-Correia Vicenta.maria-correia@unifem.org

13. Mobile Phones and Social Activism: Why Cell Phones May Be the Most Important Technical Innovation of the Decade
by Ethan Zuckerman
This article suggests that "[t]he only technology that compares to the mobile phone in terms of pervasiveness and accessibility in the developing world is the radio. Indeed, considered together, radios and mobile phones can serve as a broad-distribution, participatory media network with some of the same citizen-media dynamics of the Internet, but accessible to a much wider, and non-literate audience." Zuckerman claims that activists drawn together to demonstrations by short message service (SMS), or text, messages transmitted by cell phone have spurred political change. The examples he cites indicate a role for the use of this technology to protect citizens' rights and to foster democracy and governance through local participation and action. For instance, in 2001, "SMS messages about political corruption helped turn the tide against Joseph Estrada, and led to SMS-organized street protests and Estrada's eventual ouster. (Filipino activists have organized subsequent text-based protests, many focused on lobbying for mobile phone user's rights...) SMS messages in Ukraine helped mobilize tens of thousands of young demonstrators in the streets of Kiev in late 2004 to protest election fraud and demand a revote. In both cases, calls to take to the streets spread organically - virally - with recipients forwarding the messages to multiple friends." Zuckerman also explores some of the attempts that governments have made to stop virally spreading messages by ordering SMS networks to be shut down. The examples he cites are drawn from recent episodes in Albania, Belarus, Ethiopia, Iran, and Cambodia (where, according to the author, the government - concerned about political text messages - shut off SMS messaging for 2 days prior to governing council elections, prompting accusations that the blockage was an unconstitutional limitation of speech). Reportedly, police have explored a different technique for controlling SMS-spread demonstrations. In Shanghai, for example, police have used SMS messages to warn potential protesters to stay away from anti-Japan street protests.

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CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION

14. Mid-Term Evaluation of Search for Common Ground (Centre Lokolé) "Supporting Congo's Transition Towards Sustainable Peace" Programme in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Final Report
by Mary Myers and Judy El-Bushra
This report documents a mid-term output-to-purpose review that was carried out to assess Search for Common Ground (SFCG)'s "Supporting Congo's Transition towards Sustainable Peace" programme, funded by the Department for International Development (DFID). The key thrust of the programme being evaluated here is on using communication and the media to lay the foundations for sustainable peace by enhancing informative and participative dialogue around the post-civil-war transition process and by contributing to the reduction of tensions in the Eastern Congo. Project activities focus on conflict transformation, media training and, to a lesser extent, community reconciliation. "[Centre Lokolé] is the only organisation in DRC that is advocating conflict transformation to a mass-audience. It combines practical peace-building with the power of the mass-media (i.e. radio), to inform and encourage Congolese participation in the ongoing peace process, as well as influencing knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of the audience in ways that can facilitate peace... The key achievement of CL's radio output is that it produces informative, relevant and stimulating material which is disseminated to mass audiences in parts of the country where few other sources of information or discussion reach. Programmes have contributed to transition processes by enabling people to become better informed about the transition and better able to assess and act on information, and by providing outlets for popular opinions and commentary..."

15. Network for Integrity in Reconstruction (NIR) - Global
Since May 2005, the international non-governmental organisation (NGO) Tiri has worked with NGO partners to produce a body of research that aims to lay the groundwork for a systematic civil society effort to improve transparency and accountability in aid delivery and policymaking in post-war reconstruction. Formally launched in January 2007 with the release of a policy paper and country studies based on this research, the Network for Integrity in Reconstruction (NIR) is a growing network of civil society leaders from post-war countries committed to integrity in the reconstruction process. This network of local research and development organisations in 8 conflict/post-war countries - Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Palestine, Lebanon, Bosnia Herzegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan and East Timor - is sharing experiences, undertaking research, and exchanging information on what Tiri describes as a previously under-researched yet critical issue: corruption and integrity in post-war reconstruction.
Contact Martin Tisné martin.tisne@tiri.org

16. Radio Maendeleo and the Regional Peace Process in Eastern Congo: A Political Analysis Prepared for International Media Support Based on an Assessment Mission to South Kivu
by Bjørn Willum
This report examines a local community radio station called Radio Maendeleo (RM), described here as "one of the few independent media outlets in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo." Based in the town of Bukavu, the provincial capital of the South Kivu province, RM has been broadcasting content related to political and developmental issues since 1994. The radio broadcasts mainly in French and Swahili; however, 8 times per week, a 15-minute period is set aside for local ethnic groups to broadcast cultural or other affairs in their own language. Author/researcher Willum here analyses the role played by RM in the regional peace process in South Kivu. He first briefly outlines time and place for the interviews he conducted as part of the evaluation process, then provides an overview of RM's activities and financial situation. Following this, Willum discusses RM’s role in terms of informing the population about political events and its role in the regional peace process. Finally, conclusions are drawn and recommendations outlined.

17. Against the Tide of History Video Advocacy Project - Senegal
Produced in 2004, "Against the Tide of History: Landmines in the Casamance" is a 27-minute video documentary produced and screened as part of an advocacy campaign to urge the Senegalese government and the international community to provide assistance to landmine survivors. Directed toward Senegalese policymakers, international organisations, and civil society, the video aimed to: ensure commitment from the Senegalese government and the international community to provide comprehensive and systematic assistance to landmine victims in Senegal; contribute to the realisation of a world without mines, through the promotion of the Ottawa Convention, signed and ratified by Senegal on December 4 1998; contribute to the prohibition and the elimination of the circulation, transfer, and trading of landmines at national and regional levels; and participate meaningfully in the building of peace in Casamance, the area of Senegal south of The Gambia including the Casamance River. WITNESS reports that the screening of "Against the Tide of History" had the following advocacy result: at the Forum on Peace Truth and Reconciliation, the Minister of Women and Family Affairs pledged a grant for the assistance of women landmine survivors; in January 2005, a grant of 5 million CFA (approximately US$10,000) was provided to women landmine survivors through the Association of Landmine Victims in Senegal to be used to create an income-generating development project. WITNESS indicates that this is the first time that a government entity in Senegal has provided assistance to landmine survivors.
Contact Alioune Tine raddho@telecomplus.sn OR Hakima Abbas hakima@witness.org

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