title: Development communication

text: Following the Decade for Women, attention to WID gradually shifted toward a concern with gender and development (GAD). This shift from "women" to "gender" resonates with an understanding of gender as a socially constructed category, rather than essentializing sex as a biological condition (Dagenais & Piché, 1994). GAD attempted to position women as active agents of social change situated within social and structural systems of patriarchy and power (Dagenais & Piché, 1994). Steeves (1993) drew attention to critical scholarship about the political economy of communication and participatory approaches to development (Freire, 1983) to propose the creation of a global, imagined feminist community that challenges power relations. A "global feminist" approach to development would critique what appears to be defining gender according to reproductive capacity in a way that promotes motherhood as a universal role for women, rather than celebrating diversity in women's intentions, experiences, backgrounds, and capabilities.


title: Development communication

text: Hooda and Singh (2012) note that the most significant and longest social movement continuing is the movement for the emancipation of women. However, the primary goal for women empowerment is to improve the quality of life of women, but also has deep ramifications in social, economic and political scenario of body polity. It is such contentions that stressing the need to recognize power dimensions within women's domestic, professional, and social contexts, GAD proponents would advocate interventions designed to change structures or norms.


title: Development communication

text: Development communication activity embodies models of social change that are implemented across political and cultural boundaries wherein, issues of gender, communication, and development are grounded in global structures and processes of power, which condition access to and acquisition of economic and social resources. Watkins (1999) notes that in as much as critical scholars have described the global domination of media systems by Western and corporate agencies, gender also factors into this equation, as the extensive documentation of the tendency of media industries to trivialize women's roles and concerns has been historically demonstrated (van Zoonen, 1994). Early scholars of development communication did not explicitly address the role of gender in their discussions of media and modernity (Watkins, 1999, p. 48). However, an examination of their work illustrates implicit assumptions made about men's and women's roles in the development process. There is thus a need to understand the dynamics contributing to the institutional construction of gender within development communication strategies designed to alleviate social problems. Watkins (1999) cites Steeves (1993) whose summary of feminist scholarship concluded that, among other areas, research is needed "on women's roles and representations in Third World development communication activities, including funding agency projects" (p. 120). Along with integrating regional, national, and/or organizational perspectives, one specific tool for policymakers is ensuring that gender perspective is incorporated into policies. Regardless whether gender plays a central role in a development communication policy, the policy-making process has to be taken in a deliberate way to address concerns of both women and men. When views of different groups of women and men in policy formation and delivery are taken accordingly, misjudging of the different effects on each group, and the systems and organizations that support them can be avoided.


title: Development communication

text: In a quest to ensure that the overall legal and policy framework is promoting gender equality, more than just adopting laws that explicitly provide for gender equality can be done. Thus it is essential that all laws and policies reflect gender equality considerations, through a process called gender mainstreaming. Gender mainstreaming is the mechanism to ensure a gender-sensitive approach to policy making.


title: Development communication

text: Gender mainstreaming, according to the United Nations, is a globally accepted strategy for promoting gender equality. Mainstreaming is not an end in itself but a strategy, an approach, a means to achieve the goal of gender equality. Mainstreaming involves ensuring that gender perspectives and attention to the goal of gender equality are central to all activities—policy development, research, advocacy/ dialogue, legislation, resource allocation, and planning, implementation and monitoring of programmes and projects. A strong, continued commitment to gender mainstreaming is one of the most effective means for the United Nations to support promotion of gender equality at all levels—in research, legislation, policy development and in activities on the ground, and to ensure that women as well as men can influence, participate in and benefit from development efforts.


title: Development communication

text: United Nations Children's Fund or UNICEF also promotes gender sensitivity in its policies. UNICEF gender review ensures that gender is mainstreamed in all UNICEF's projects and programs as well as in its work with partners. UNICEF also ensures that the monitoring and evaluation tools are gender sensitive and that every staff is aware of the UN Code of conduct. UNICEF also uses the Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines (HGAD) as a tool to promote gender equality and women's empowerment in the development and implementation of projects.


title: Development communication

text: The communication approach embedded within empowerment models combines the use of appropriate media. This means using a variety of channels ranging from indigenous media, local and international media systems. (Einsiedel 1996).


title: Development communication

text: Defined as the statistical study of populations, Demography is seen as more of a general science that can analyze populations that show change over a period of time. However, in combination with the more specific aspect of communication that has to do with social sciences, demographics can be a significant factor and consequently influencer of Development Communication policy design. Population changes are brought about by birth, migration and mortality. These demographic processes affect the use of resources, nation-building and society formation, and cultural development calling for development communication policies.


title: Development communication

text: Researcher for the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research Sebastian Klüsener "investigated how the exchange of ideas and information between people could affect the development of spatial, temporal, and social differences in demographic change. The results highlight that communication plays a much larger role in shaping demographic processes..." In her discussion of the relationship between communicators and their audiences, Natalie T. J. Tindall, an associate professor in the department of communication at Georgia State University, US, shares "Demographic categories can still tell us a lot about our social structure, and continue to be useful for macro-level understandings of people and societies." It is with this understanding that policies can be designed more tailor-fit to those it is designed for.


title: Development communication

text: Furthermore, the criterion by which a demography is performed are relevant factors that may act as a roadmap that can guide development communication policy making. This includes but is not limited to age, level of education, gender distribution profile, individual and household income, etc. With the anticipatory objective of policy sciences in relation to crisis or problem solving, the better policy makers get a grasp of how a population is demographically—not just socially—the more sensitive and pro-active policy making as a process can be. When perspectives of an accurate cross-sectional sampling of a population, group, or culture are taken into consideration, the ensuing policies are better geared towards the pre-set objectives. Scalone, Dribe, and Klusener have further found that "Communication can significantly increase the impact of population-relevant policies and other processes of social change..." which reinforces the idea that as a science in itself, development communication policy design, becomes more accurate and purposeful when the correct information and variables are holistically integrated.


title: Development communication

text: UNESCO or the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization is one of the multilateral organizations that uses communication planning for policy development. In one of its publications back in 1980 "Approaches to Communication Planning," where it presents some of the most common approaches that scholars, planners and professionals to use. Below are common approaches to communication planning.


title: Development communication

text: The process approach deals directly with the communication planning process which deals to the theories within the planning process that asserts that planning is the application of theory on how and why they are used. (UNESCO, 1980) The second is it deals with the planning process itself that provide alternative ways of organizing the planning function and process, given different purposes and planning contexts. (UNESCO, 1980) The thrust of the argument is that there are alternatives to the widely known rational/comprehensive planning approach (UNESCO, 1980).


title: Development communication

text: Communication policy makers are not acting in isolation; they had the full support of scientist and theorists. Communication for Development aims at upholding change in people's attitudes and behavior so as to increase their participation in the development process. Rogers' diffusion of innovations theory is perhaps the most influential theory in the modernization paradigm. The diffusion model gained wide currency in most developing nations and still looms large with the agenda to support 'development' by "informing the populations about the development projects, illustrating their advantages and recommending that they be supported"(Servaes, 1996). Communication within the modernization approach is synonymous to information and ignores the importance of feedback in the communication process. Melkote and Steeves (2001) contributed three key qualities of modernization theory and practice: blaming the victim, Social Darwinism, and sustaining class structure of inequality. (1) Blaming the victim is an ideological process, an almost painless circumvention among policy-makers and intellectual all over the world. It is a process of justifying inequality in society by finding defects in the victims of inequality. The policymakers simply blame the despondent lives led by the poor in Third World countries and it is being attributed to the lack of motivation and access to information relating to the various social and economic aspects that they need in order to redeem themselves. (2) Social Darwinists believed that government interventions on behalf of the poor would have disastrous results since they would interfere with the laws of natural selection. The theorist believed that outside interventions to address matters concerning the poor would have dreadful results since these would be interfering with a natural course of events and individual choices and rights. (3) Sustaining class structure of inequality, this is a capitalist interest and quite difficult to overcome. The effect of a focus on individual level cultural deficiencies has been to sustain the status quo within and between unequal societies and thus delay change.


title: Development communication

text: The systems approach in communication planning deals on how to establish new systems within organizations (UNESCO, 1980). This approach is valuable to planners faced with the task of setting up organizational systems to carry out communication functions (UNESCO, 1980). This approach can also be best applied to problems in the environment, providing planners with an analytical perspective on problem analysis and a range of techniques to use in implementing this perspective (UNESCO, 1980).


title: Development communication

text: Network approach (Padovani & Pavan, 2014) is a heuristic framework for theorizing and empirically investigating global communication governance (GCG) environments or networks in supranational settings characterized by plurality and multiplicity of agents, actors and stakeholders, plurality and diversity of cultures, complexity of interactions, plurality of political systems, and multiplicity of policy processes. GCG is a term coined by Padovani & Pavan (2014) to "indicate the multiplicity of networks of interdependent but operationally autonomous actors that are involved with different degrees of autonomy and power, in processes of formal or informal character, through which they pursue different goals, produce relevant knowledge and cultural practices, and engage in political negotiation while trying to influence the outcome of decision-making in the domain of media and communication in transnational context" (p. 544). Network approach specifically focuses on the transnational dynamics that govern communication systems.


title: Development communication

text: Government officials and policy makers in both developed and developing countries are often confronted with problems for which they have no design solutions. Every problem, country and culture requires a specific approach and seems to go through policy life cycle. Winsemius proposed four phases of policy cycle;


title: Development communication

text: Phase 1: Recognizing the problem; groups in the society such as government official, lobbyists and countries' leaders recognize the problem, e.g. terrorism, poverty, global warming, and other. The problem is made known to all stakeholders, during this stage the members realized that problem should be tackled through policy.


title: Development communication

text: Phase 2: Gaining Control over the Problem; at this point, the government start to advance in their mechanisms through the formulation of policies. Policy oriented research is often appointed to scientific institutions, opinion surveys are piloted, and options for improving and solving the problem are accounted.


title: Development communication

text: Phase 3: Solving the Problem; at this stage, policies, programs and projects are implemented. In most cases, the government will manage all the details of a program by itself but the best scenario is when NGOs and other involved groups participate in the initiatives.


title: Development communication

text: Phase 4: Monitoring the Problem: At this point the focus is to ensure that the problem is under control and must remain so. This is also the time to think about future policies and to develop public and private partnerships in implementing policies.


title: Development communication

text: Policy analysis has traditionally followed a linear model – problem identification, policy formulation, legislation, implementation, evaluation, and iteration. However, in solving complex socio-economic problems, a more interdisciplinary approach to societal problems may be more effective particularly for research topics of interdisciplinary nature (e.g., women's studies, environment) or those relevant to policy or strategic issues – drawing from different disciplines to enhance understanding of particular issues or for concept development. The main interest of interdisciplinary research for policy and practice is description, prediction, and ultimately social action. In interdisciplinary research, different disciplines interact and work together at each and every stage of the research process – from conceptualisation, research design and methodology, data analysis and interpretation into policy development.


title: Development communication

text: Ongkiko and Flor (2006) argue that a development communication specialist (DCS), at one time or another, also assumes the role of a communication policy analyst in Communication Policy Analysis 'because of his proactive posture and his preoccupation with purpose' (Flor, 1991). Remember that policy sciences anticipates, and looks forward, thus, substantiates the proactive nature of a DCS. In order to fully act out this role, there is a need for a rudimentary knowledge of methods in policy analysis, particularly those related to development communication. Among these methods are discussed below:


title: Development communication

text: Communication plays a vital role in project coordination, management, knowledge collection and transfer among different project shareholders (Malone & Crowston, 1994; Espinosa & Carmel, 2003, as cited by Gill, Bunker, & Seltsikas, 2012). CTA is a qualitative method that seeks to determine the higher and lower order impacts of specific forms of communication technology on the individual and society (Flor, 1991) prior to the adoption of new technology (Ongkiko & Flor, 2006). The decision to adopt or not depends on the findings of the assessment. CTA is forward-looking and adopts certain value premises on what is socially beneficial or detrimental to society. Being anticipatory in nature, CTA forecasts, at least on a probabilistic basis, the full spectrum of possible consequences of technological advance, leaving to the political process the actual choice among the alternative policies in the light of the best available knowledge of their likely consequences (Brooks, 1976, as cited by Ely, Zwanenberg, & Stirling, 2010). In this case, it should provide an unbiased analysis and information concerning the physical, biological, economic, social, and political effects of [communication] technologies.


title: Development communication

text: Introduced by Jules Dupuit in the 1840s, French engineer and economist, the cost benefit analysis is a methodology used in policy analysis as a way of weighing up projects costs and benefits, to determine whether to go ahead with a project


title: Development communication

text: Beyea (1999), identifies the types of cost analysis used in policy making to aid decision process. These are: Cost-Benefit analysis, Cost-effectiveness, cost-utilization and cost utility.


title: Development communication

text: Pathak (n.d.) explains that Social Cost Benefit Analysis (SCBA) is also referred to as Economic Analysis (EA). SCBA or EA is a feasibility study of a project from the viewpoint of a society to evaluate whether a proposed project will add benefit or cost to the society (Ibid.). Ongkiko and Flor (2006) further elaborate that SCBA is a quantitative method which attaches monetary values on social conditions brought by certain communication policies. Flor (1991) explains the monetary value of the social costs is subtracted from the social benefits of a particular program or policy. A positive difference is required for a program or policy to be adjudged as socially beneficial. The purpose of SCBA is to assist public decision-making, not in terms of producing the ideal project but simply by proposing the optimum solution for the community out of the spectrum of possibilities (Dupuis, 1985). Hence, the objective is to determine optimum quantities as a contribution to decision-making or to evaluate the effectiveness of decisions already taken.


title: Development communication

text: The problematique analysis procedure is a naturalistic approach that seeks to discover the influential factors and describe the structure of problems that exist in communication systems (Librero, 1993; Flor, 1991). The basic purpose of this approach, according to Librero (1993), is to identify the problem rather than the solution. In the process, therefore, the evaluator employing problematique analysis identifies the factors that influence the system, shows the hierarchical relationships of these factors and traces the root causes of the problems of the system. Flor (1991) classified these influential factors as either "subordinate" or "superordinate", with the former being merely the symptoms of the latter. The identification of the superordinate influential factors or the root causes, then, prevents the recurrence of the problem situation.


title: Development communication

text: "Problematique" situation occurs when certain recurring problems come about due to the fact that symptoms are treated but not the root cause of such problems. When 'superordinate influential factors', root causes of problems, are identified and given focus, real solutions come about. This is done through a 'problematic map' (Librero, 1998), perceived as basic tool for problem analysis that basically identifies the root causes which can be the bases for forming solutions.


title: Development communication

text: As a policy analysis tool, scenario construction (SC) describes a possible set of future conditions (Moniz, 2006) or hypothetical events that may occur in the future of a particular system (Allen, 1978, as cited by Flor, 1991). It has also been defined as a description of the conditions and events under which some system being studied is assumed to be operating (Kraemer, 1973, as cited by Flor, 1991). Scenarios provide an educated description of one of many possible futures of a system, usually presented at the most optimistic or "best-case" state and the most pessimistic or "worst-case" state. According to Moniz (2006), the most useful scenarios are those that display the conditions of important variables over time. In this approach, the quantitative underpinning enriches the narrative evolution of conditions or evolution of variables; narratives describe the important events and developments that shape the variables. In terms of innovative methods for policy analysis, the foresight and scenario construction methods can be an interesting reference for social sciences (Moniz, 2006). Citing Allen (1978), Flor (1991) enumerates six steps in scenario construction, namely: (1) defining the system; (2) establishing a time period for the system to operate; (3) defining the external constraints on the environment of the system; (4) defining the elements or events within the system that are likely to increase or decrease the chances of the system's meeting its goals and objectives; (5) stating in probabilistic terms the likelihood of the occurrence of the elements or events; and (6) conducting a sensitive analysis of the results.


title: Development communication

text: The Policy Delphi, according to Flor (1991), is a variation of the Delphi technique. It is a tool for the analysis of policy issues seeking the involvement and participation of anonymous respondents (usually representatives of the different stakeholders of the policy). Herein, the desirability and feasibility of certain policies are assessed from the points of view of the different stakeholders. Meanwhile, according to Turoff (1975), the policy Delphi aims to create the best possible contrasting insights to resolve a major policy problem. Herein, the decision maker is interested on having a group that will give him options and supporting evidences where he can choose from for him to make a solution, rather than having a group that will produce the decision for him. ""The Policy Delphi is, then, a tool for the analysis of policy issues and not a mechanism for making a decision"" (Turoff, 1975). Turoff (1975) notes the challenging nature of policy Delphi as a means for policy analysis, "both for the design team and for the respondents" (Turoff, 1975). As a process, the policy Delphi undergoes the following six phases: (1) Formulating the issue; (2) Citing options; (3) Deciding preliminary stance about the issue; (4) Searching and getting reasons for disputes; (5) Assessing the underlying reasons; (6) Reassessing the options.


title: Development communication

text: As a methodology, Delphi is used for structuring a group communication process so that the process is effective in allowing a group of individuals, as a whole, to deal with a complex problem. As mentioned, one of the advantages of this technique is the involvement of stakeholders in the analysis which is imperatively instrumental in building a consensus among people who will be/are affected by the policy/project. In the Philippines, this has also been well applied in a study conducted by Dr. Alexander Flor and Dr. Felix Librero in the Southeast Asian Needs Assessment for a Global Open Agriculture and Food University. Recently, Haynes, Palermo and Reidlinger(2016) adopted a Delphi modified technique(James Lind Alliance Approach) in their study in exploring obesity prevention in Australia.


title: Development communication

text: Flor (1991) emphasizes the incorporation of divergent stakeholders in communication policy making. That the State is not a lone actor in the creation of public policies as noted by the various stakeholders identified by Flor (1991), attesting to the fact that State actions do not occur in an empty space. Consumer involvement to policy making can therefore of paramount importance in helping create relevant policies vis-à-vis Gatung's (1979) postulation of policies promoting ""horizontalization" where exchanges occur between the centers and peripheries "on more equal terms"." In this regard, employing appropriate methods in policy research such would be necessary in 'light of the diversity of stakeholders involved, there is a possibility to broaden the scope of 'expertise' to share opinion across diverse perspectives including local communities' (Haynes, et al., 2016). Employing the Modified Policy-Delphi technique to crafting an all-inclusive communication policy include the following jusutification:


title: Development communication

text: The methodology outlined in Haynes et al. (2016) paper align with Servaes (1986) reference to the application of Participatory Communication (Research) from a Freirean Perspective by positing that for dialectical and emancipatory process of action and reflection that constitutes the "process of "conscientization," where an agenda instead of defined by an academic elite and programs enacted by a bureaucratic elite for the benefit of an economic or political elite, participatory research involves people gaining an understanding of their situation, confidence and an ability to change that situation" (Servaes, 1986). Therefore, the notion of Participatory Communication stresses the importance of cultural identity of local communities, and of democratisation and participation at all levels – international, national, local and individual. It points to a strategy, not merely inclusive of, but largely emanating from, the traditional 'receivers'. However one needs not to romanticize the use of such 'equity' methods. Sarveas(1986) had outlined the following caution:


title: Development communication

text: Simulations and modelling recently become a useful tool policy analysis involving computers and software in creating a virtual representation of the scenario. Because it offers a systems view of the situation, the analyst or researcher can monitor how the players or variables interacts in the simulated environment. The purposes of simulations may vary to include education, research, design improvement and/or the exploration of the probable effect of different policy decisions.


title: Development communication

text: Guyonne Kalbe(2004) identifies and distinguishes two types of simulation models: macro and micro levels. According to Kalbe, the macro-level is applied mostly for huge sectors of the industries. This macro simulation is usually applied by developed countries in order to assess and understand policy changes. On the other hand, the micro-level is used for a specific company using a sample of population when a need for more precised and focused information is its goal. In contrast to large-scale industries that use the macro-level approach, the micro-level is individualized.


title: Development communication

text: Since problems in policy decisions are not linear by nature, computer simulations provides a concrete view of the situation and how the variables changes pace. These changes in behaviors are integral in developing policies. Steven Bankes(1992) explicates the use of computer simulation in policy decisions wherein models used in policy analysis provide arguments to illuminate options for policy decisions based on the result of computer simulated analysis.


title: Development communication

text: The methodology has been successfully used in development projects. Thorngate & Tavakoli(2009) mention fields where computer simulations has aided decision makers in assessing the context and solutions to specific problems. Among these include: the climate changes, effects of fiscal changes in economic policies, traffic regulations, health allocation resources, air regulations and crisis management to name a few.


title: Development communication

text: It is noted that simulations and modelling could be based on artificial data generating process (DGP) or real live data from the environment for analysis. The real data derived from the environment is often called "big data" due to the significantly larger size. This is especially critical in the development communication discussion when there is prevalent use of digital communication technology in low and middle income countries (Taylor & Schroeder, 2015). The technologies in these countries include mobile phones and notebooks. These technologies emit data as a byproduct and have great potential to fill some of the problematic gaps encountered by country policy makers and international development organizations. There is research indicating that the use of big data represents an important complement to country level statistics (Taylor & Schroeder, 2015)., better water quality modelling (Korfmacher, 1998) and improved agricultural development (WESTERVELT, 2001).


title: Development communication

text: The use of big data can ensure a more accurate measurement of macro-economic data such as price track. The Billion Prices Project (BPP) initiated by MIT's Sloan School of Management challenges the Argentina government on the misleading inflation index report. It reported by very high inflation rate by the government's statistical institute which led to the fire of all government officials in the department a few years later. The actual inflation rate after the lay-off eventually stabilizes. The group in MIT decided to investigate what is going on by programming a web scraper to find prices for everyday goods posted on the web by the country's supermarkets. It scrapes many data on the web and is a financially affordable experiment. The outcome of the result led to an increased suspicion that Argentina's statistical agency was under pressure to level off inflation rate by higher order authority. The BPP proves to be influential because it produced an inflation index that was more intuitively reflective of perceptions and in real society than the government. It also provides an alternative set of perspective on economic trends which policymakers can use to make prudent finance policy decisions. There is an increasing need for major governments in the world to rethink how development statistics should be collated in order to craft better and finer public policy.


title: Development communication

text: The simulation approach in policy science is beneficial to policy coherence on the sustainable development goals commonly called SDGs. The SGDs developed by United Nations has integrative nature which is suitable for integrative modelling techniques (Collste et al., 2017). Collste and the researchers have shown in a Tanzania experiment that modelling approach towards SGDs can bring interlinks to the forefront and facilitate a shift to a discussion on development grounded in systems thinking. It brings the multitudes of possible feedback loops that shape a country's development especially those in developing country. The modelling approach in SDGs maps interlinkages and provide analysis about the resulting behaviour of different policy decisions. It also provide new casual pathways on investments in public projects.


title: Development communication

text: The policy sciences are highly relevant in environmental impact assessments (EIA) and large-scale environmental change modeling. One example is the use of scenario-making in the study by Garb, Pulver, and VanDeveer (2008). Using storyline driven modeling, they sought to understand the impacts of human activities on natural systems. The said study departs from the increasingly technical approach to scenario analysis. Instead, they drew concept and methodologies from science and technology studies, sociology, and political science. Policy-making is multi-method, and in this case, multi-disciplinary. In this study's framework, scenario is said to be able to "co-produce knowledge and social order by facilitating collaboration between scientific and technical experts of various types and policy-makers and other non-scientists, as together they 'make sense' of aspects of the natural world and aspects of social interaction (their own and that of societies at large)." The intertwined relationship between development communication and policy sciences is affirmed because the study recommends including more representatives of social science professionals in global environmental scenario teams, and creating fora with their active involvement, as well.


title: Development communication

text: In recent years, international-funding agencies such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank has recognised the potential of EIA as an opportunity for dialogue between and among project stakeholders (Flor, 2004).


title: Development communication

text: Flor posits that though the EIA is generally regarded as a regularly and management tool, it should also be regarded as a communication process that seeks to achieve mutual understanding—the overall purpose of development communication and for that matter, environmental communication programs. This mutual understanding would translate to societal environmental consciousness.


title: Development communication

text: Development communication as a discipline grew as a response to some of the most pressing problems of underdevelopment including environment and resources degradation. Environmental communication programs are logically subsumed under development communication.


title: Development communication

text: Citing five case studies of the use of communication and social mobilisation in environmental protection and natural resources management programs, Flor laid out the following lessons learned from the five programs:


title: Development communication

text: Development communication policies on environment take on approaches expected to create good environment practices. A particular approach that aims for the conversion of the heart and mind is Transformational Communication. This communication model is the answer to failed environment programs, especially the top-down strategy and those that target only behavior change (Flor and Smith, 1997).


title: Development communication

text: Mooney (2017) views Transformational Communication superior to other communication types which simply passes information (transactional) and purpose (transformative) on a rational level. He defines Transformational as transfer of meanings to achieve emotional connection. The International Environmental Communication Association explains that meanings and values influence how people relate to nature and environment. It also asserts that sustainable ecology entails changes in human culture. Thus, ethical and effective communication helps usher in necessary cultural adjustments to solve ecological crisis (Meisner, 2015).


title: Development communication

text: For Flor & Smith (1997), this value-laden or normative approach of Transformational Communication paradigm makes it more effective than other modes in addressing the highly unstable or chaotic biogeopysical components of the environment system. The Butterfly Effect for example shows that just a little stimuli (flapping of a butterfly wings) can suddenly make a fine weather turbulent.


title: Development communication

text: In the area of communication, this chaotic field is populated with numerous friendly and unfriendly behaviors toward the environment. Interventions for each behavior may not be feasible, and solutions for only a few might also be fragmented. Flor & Smith(1997) advise that focusing on norms that direct environment-friendly behaviors is the key intervention in complex ecology.


title: Development communication

text: Flor & Smith (1997) offers three substantive areas of the normative approach: Environmental Literacy, Environmental Ethics, and Environmental Advocacy geared for massive social transformation. According to Flor & Smith (1997), these three areas in Transformational Communication operate as institutional or network level, process-driven social learning which initiates values formation, and strategic by working with specific leaders and policy makers key to the mobilization of the critical mass in environment revolution.


title: Development communication

text: According to Kennan and Hazleton (2006) in their theory of internal public relations, they said that effective communication is based on social capital. Social capital is the ability of the organization to achieve desirable organizational goals, which could be through employee satisfaction, commitment, productivity and customer satisfaction. Shockley-Zalabak et al. (2000) argued that trust is a social capital. Sockley-Zalabak's found that trust is linked to lower incidents of litigation and legislation. It also directly affects an organization's ability to deal with change and crisis. They also found that trust influences job satisfaction, productivity and team building.


title: Development communication

text: Corporate communication policies are essential in sustaining an organization. It can make or break your business and thus have to be explicitly communicated especially when dealing with complex issues and rapid changes in a turbulent market.


title: Development communication

text: Source: Employee/Organizational Communications by Bruce Berger (2008). Employee / Organizational Communications


title: Development communication

text: Policy science is the bedrock in developing environmental and social movement to address immense issue and predicament regarding environmental depletion and societal development. However, there are three components to be considered when addressing about the issue and talking about development (economy, environment, and society). The most prevalent phenomenon bound to become increasingly imperative through the ongoing dual process of economic-cum-ecological globalization wherein the process of constructing policies for sustainable development is essential. The concept of "policy science" plays a central role in the development; therefore, the incorporation and synchronization of communication and policy science in tackling the challenges encountered is valuable. The communicators are critical contributors to societal development and environmental sustainability wherein the basis could be aided as the framework for policy analysis and policy construction. At these science-policy interfaces, policymakers, communicators and other key stakeholders are supposed to interact on a constant basis.


title: Development communication

text: Development with emphasis on environmental communication instrument guided by the policy science is a trending topic. Indeed, the consideration of environmental communication in developing policy to handle the enduring distresses act as catalyst for policy makers to unravel protuberant concern. Numerous countries that have developed or are developing when surfacing about the environment is essentially crucial as the development that is being misguided by the policy science will lead to a plethora of environmental crisis. Therefore, policy creation in fostering environmental communication is vital as it has significantly contributed to the totality growth of economy and serve as a platform to raise key questions that positively helpful in decision making. Environmental communication, defined as "... the medium that we use in constructing environmental problems and negotiating communities different responses to them. The development of environmental policy instruments at the national level has a positive influence on environmental management at other levels and all sectors. However, the requirement in developing "environmental communication instrument" is essential to lay the foundation for the framework to understand the environmental communication policy science in stimulating for development into top-down stream from national level. Communication in the environmental sector that is primarily formally regulated by access to information and participation legal acts, has great potential, if an immense variety of well-developed and continuously emerging new environmental communication forms represented by different sectors and target groups, are utilized for the common goal of sustainable development. However, these will become successful when communicators, policy makers, and key stakeholders can effectively convey their messages to each other and build mutual trust based on a set of co-constructed knowledge. Setting policy to promote environmental communication for development is essential. However, understanding environmental communication instruments especially the broad spectrum of technical content and social consideration to lever the consequences should not be deserted.


title: Development communication

text: In a study by Hilbert, Miles, and Othmer (2009), a five-round Delphi exercise was conducted to show how "international foresight exercises, through online and offline tools, can make policy-making in developing countries more participatory, fostering transparency and accountability of public decision-making". Policy science was used to identify future priorities with regard to the 2005–2007 Latin American and Caribbean Action Plan for the Information Society (eLAC2007). The paper presented specific policy guidance, and explained how Policy [null Delphi] methods can be applied to make public decision-making more transparent and accountable, particularly in developing countries. Practical implications drawn include 1) "the governments' acknowledgement of the value of collective intelligence from civil society, academic and private sector participants of the Delphi and the ensuing appreciation of participative policy-making" and 2) "the role that can be played by the United Nations (and potentially by other inter-governmental agencies) in international participatory policy-making in the digital age, especially if they modernize the way they assist member countries in developing public policy agendas".


title: Development communication

text: Although the field of development communication has been present as early as the 1950s, Waisbord (2005) mentioned that it faces two sets of challenges. The first set of challenges has something to do with the critical aspects of development projects: scale and sustainability. The first challenge asks how a small-scale project and its effects in a locally based community be replicated to the national level. On the other hand, sustainability refers to community projects that have a long-lasting impact. It asks the questions about how long will the impact of the project take effect?. The second set of challenges focuses on the specific issues of communication. This concentrates on bridging the divide between 'small' and 'big' media and looking at their contribution towards development communication.


title: Development communication

text: Servaes and Lie (2014) also outlined the main challenges for the field of communication for development:


title: Development communication

text: In the book "Beyond Access and Equity: Distance Learning Models in Asia", Flor (2002) details the case of SMP Terbuka, a junior secondary education in Indonesia delivered in distance learning mode. This is in consonance with the country's pursuit of the Universalization of Basic Education. In assessing the socio-cultural environment of SMP Terbuka and in determining the policy environment for distance learning, environmental scanning was done. The study also used the problematique method to analyze structural-organizational problems in a distance learning system, along with their causes. Overall, a systems analysis approach was employed where the environment, the stakeholders, the organization cum network, and problem structure were analyzed. Flor proceeds with a proposed communication and advocacy plan for SMP Terbuka aimed at eliciting public support to this alternative education mode. In designing the social marketing and advocacy blueprint, situation analysis was used. This employed four methods, namely, "environmental scanning, communication resources assessment; review of existing communication strategies; and strategic impact analysis directed at sector stakeholders".


title: Development communication

text: Walt and Gilson (1994) emphasized the central role of policy analysis in health reforms in developing countries. In their study, they argue that health policy narrowly focuses on the content of reform, and neglects other crucial considerations such as the context that calls for such reform, the processes involved, and the social actors or the stakeholders associated with the reform.


title: Development communication

text: Bernardo (2017) has considered that care policies are not the same globally. It has been recommended to create four complementary offices to standardize what is right or wrong to all patients as well as contribute to establishing the key strategies and priorities of the national policy. This includes the managerial office in evidence-based medicine, evidence-generation offices, evidence-implementation offices, and conflict-arbitration offices.


title: Development communication

text: The underlying principles of development communication have had significant impact on various levels of policy planning. A UNICEF commissioned report by Galway, for example, cited that there was a large communication initiative in Bangladesh where a national information campaign was launched to raise awareness of villagers on arsenic in drinking water. In his report, "top-down health education models are being replaced with more participatory approaches;" an approach which development communication features as a more effective methodology than linear models of communication. Schiavo also noted that participatory processes provide a platform for health messages and interventions which communicate directly to local communities.


title: Development communication

text: Fred Fedler (1989), mentioned in the book, Dilemmas in the Study of Information: Exploring the Boundaries of Information Science, describes the impact of the Information age by referring to media's "vulnerability to hoaxes". Fedler contends "journalists are vulnerable to information and will always be. Journalists cannot determine the truth to the stories they publish, nor check every details. They receive too many stories, and a single story may contain hundreds of details". In the same vein, this is what majority of the specialists posits as the information explosion.


title: Development communication

text: Now more than ever, information has exceeded in millions of gigabytes. Technology has brought people around the world to be confronted with so much information that utilization of this information has now become an issue. Dr Paul Marsden of the Digital Intelligence Today defines information overload as "when the volume of potentially useful and relevant information available exceeds processing capacity and becomes a hindrance rather than a help" (Marsden, 2013).


title: Development communication

text: Dr. Alexander Flor, in his article on the information wastage ratio, argues that although information can be consumed anytime and seldom has expiration date;


title: Development communication

text: "Research information is generated for a particular purpose, a specific user and a definite problem in mind. If such information is unavailable to the right person, at the right time and at the right place, then we conclude that the effort exerted to generate this amount of information has been wasted".


title: Development communication

text: One approach that Flor has postulated to establish the underutilization is his information wastage ratio. The ratio takes into consideration the concepts of information generation (IG) and information utilization (IU) expressed as "wastage ratio that is equivalent to one minus the amount of information utilized divided by the quantity of information generated", thus:


title: Development communication

text: Flor's formula accounts for the information deficit especially, among the Third World countries, where information utilization is constrained by factors such as "low literacy, limited media access and availability, low computer literacy, low levels of education and unsound communication policy".


title: Development communication

text: The framework that Flor presented is best described as "the communication revolution contributes to the quantity of information generated thus, information explosion happens". Since the relationship of the two phenomena is reciprocal, "the quantity of information, the quality of information and the information overload determine the information wastage in an information society".


title: Development communication

text: The outcome of this wastage ratio provides support for the initiation of communication policies to ensure full utilization of information in varied fields.


title: Development communication

text: It is a complex task to achieve effectiveness in development policy especially in rural areas. It involves a range of stakeholders who need to demonstrate coordinated action. Sunitiyoso et al. (2012) claim that holistic thinking is needed to solve public policy problems which requires collaborative efforts across different organizational boundaries. The government through its administration must show vigor and integrity to implement these programs. Development policy makers must consider providing education and sustained training in order to materialize the programs provided to the beneficiaries. Sustained training does not only rely to ICT, it also needs emotional quotient to motivate beneficiaries to get involved and develop a sense of ownership. President Julius K. Nyerere once stated that the people must participate in considering, planning, and implementing their development (in Tanganyika African National Union, 1971 ). Therefore, development can only be achieved when people develop themselves. This has been realized by not only socialist and communist nations, but also by capitalist nations such as Singapore and South Korea. Self- development is usually accompanied by social mobilization by political parties, non- government organizations and workers from the academe.


title: Development communication

text: Scholars have proposed categories for the analysis of changes present in the research and policy sectors. What generates lack of accord between the effectiveness of development communication policy is the unrealized link between the importance of research and development to policy making. As compared to Europe, the United States and Latin America, the challenges of knowledge and technology transfer have been solved in the forefront of attention in economic, social and industrial policy.


title: Development communication

text: The "praxis" or the marriage of research and practice, according to Flor (1991) is needed to address the pressing social issues that are pestering the society. However, there are factors that delay its realization. According to UNCTAD Virtual Institute (2006), there are still a huge communication gap between researchers and policy makers. On the side of the policy makers, the information on ongoing researchers barely reaches to them. The researchers, on the other hand, lack the awareness and the knowledge on the most important policy that could contribute so much in the research. Here are some common reasons for the wide gap between the two:


title: Development communication

text: Policy makers turn primarily to international organizations, international research institutes or their own technical experts or diplomatic missions to obtain information and analysis as policy inputs. Local universities and research institutes may have the capacity but are often not able to engage in cooperation with policy makers.


title: Development communication

text: Policy-makers consider the credibility of researchers and research outputs a key requirement for cooperation.


title: Development communication

text: Governments lack systematic procedures regarding which research institutions to turn to, and when and how to establish contact with researchers.


title: Development communication

text: Hence, the joint UNCTAD-WTO-ITC workshop on trade policy analysis workshop has forwarded these recommendations for both the research institutions and policy making bodies:


title: Development communication

text: Invite concerned government officials to conferences or presentations of research, or organize specific events bringing together policy makers and researchers


title: Development communication

text: Distribute research to government agencies but also to NGOs, which might also be among its users. Be ready to discuss work in progress with policy-makers after initial contacts have been established.


title: Development communication

text: Try to get in direct contact, for example with negotiators, by providing them with short notes/abstracts of relevant research findings.


title: Development communication

text: Establish contact and build a long-term cooperation with relevant ministries. The start can be facilitated by having a "champion" in the ministry. However, the researcher/research institution may need to avoid being too closely identified with a "champion", and hence, depending too much on the evolution of the "champion's" status.


title: Development communication

text: Access to high-ranked officials at ministries can be facilitated by involving higher-level representatives at universities (deans, vice-chancellors...) in the establishment and maintenance of contacts. However, more decentralized cooperation can also be productive if he procedures within the university tend to be very hierarchical and bureaucratic.


title: Development communication

text: Involve policy-makers in research. Policy-makers who are consulted at the initial stages of a research project tend to be more open since they can actively participate and hence have a stake in shaping the research questions, and thereby take "ownership" of the research as well. Regular interaction during the research project can help adjusting the questions researched and the tools used to the needs of policy makers.


title: Development communication

text: Make sure that your research addresses issues of policy relevance to your country by approaching permanent missions in Geneva which can act as facilitators by providing information regarding current policy-relevant research questions.


title: Development communication

text: There has been shift of policy-making from academic sources of development relations between government, academia and industry, and scholars often refer this as "triple helix model". Henry Etzkowitz defines it as "a spiral model of innovation that captures multiple reciprocal relationships at different points in the process of knowledge capitalization." Etzkowitz and Melo (2004) stated that recognizing that university is the source of new knowledge, industry is where the practice ground for technology and development and the supporting role of government as policy makers. The importance of collaboration is a successful model in any project management. More so when a holistic approach is applied in policy development, it may be a solution to address the complexity of policy implementation as all stakeholders are required to participate beginning from the conceptualization, planning, policy formulation and implementation.


title: Development communication

text: Nora Quebral (1971) defines development communication as "the art and science of human communication applied to the speedy transformation of a country and the mass of its people from poverty to a dynamic state of economic growth that makes possible greater social equality and larger fulfilment of the human potential".


title: Development communication

text: The fundamental characteristic that distinguishes development communication from traditional views of mass communication is its purposive nature. According to Flor, policies, being guidelines, imply that certain directions are already assumed. Development communication and the policies sciences stem from the same rationale, which is the need for actively applying knowledge form and principles of the social sciences in order to solve large-scale societal problems under the premise of social change.


title: Development communication

text: Melafopulos (2008) presented two modes or approaches to development communication: the monologic mode and the dialogic mode. The monologic mode is linked to the standpoint of 'diffusion' following the one-way model of communication. The purpose of this mode is to disseminate information and messages to persuade its recipients about the intended change. In short, communication is positioned to (1) inform and (2) persuade. In this model, the feedback is enhanced and canned allowing the sender to refine its persuasive message. On the other hand, dialogic mode is related with the participatory paradigm which follows a two-way communication model. It seeks to create a conducive environment where stakeholders are involved in all stages of the project from the definitions down to the implementation of solutions. This model seeks to make use of communication (1) to assess and (2) to empower. The use of dialogic communication paves the way for building of trust and understanding which is the key to participation and eventually for the empowerment of the people in the grassroots.


title: Development communication

text: Achieving development in the community is collaboration between different stakeholders. Development communication believes that in order to have genuine development, that desire to improve and uplift their lives must come from the grassroots level; it must come from the people. Development communication empowers the people to believe in themselves that they can do something in order to alleviate their standard of living. In their book, Introduction to Development Communication, Ongkiko and Flor (2006) claimed that Development communication entails motivating individuals and groups of people such as farmers, fisherfolks, workers, housewives, and the youth to change their habits, their lifestyles, their way of thinking and their way of doing things. This further proves that development communication is not just merely providing facts and information instead its goal is to persuade the people to become an active participant in the achievement of their goals.


title: Development communication

text: Policy sciences refer to the scientific study of policies and policy making. Policy refers to a cluster of decisions with a particular purpose and audience in mind. The word "science" is used to suggest the use of empirical data gathered from systematic observation. The plural form (sciences) is used to underscore the interdisciplinary nature of this field (Allen, 1978). Policy science was conceived in order to cope-up with the fast changing landscape of our society. Because of these changes they called, "turbulent field", the traditional social science methodology was already considered inadequate in solving today's societal problems (Allen, 1978). The goal of policy sciences is to develop and provide concrete solution to the rising problems brought by technological progress.


title: Development communication

text: Policy sciences are concerned with knowledge of and in the decision processes of the public and civic order. Knowledge of the decision process implies systematic, empirical studies of how policies are made and put into effect. When knowledge is systematic, it goes beyond the aphoristic remarks that are strewn through the "wisdom" literature of the past.


title: Development communication

text: Development communication and policy sciences are two essential elements in resolving recurring dilemma especially in the third world societies.


title: Development communication

text: In Flor's "Developing Societies in the Information Age: A Critical Perspective", he mentioned the 2000 Okinawa Summit of G7/G8 nations that described information and communications technology or ICT as "one of the most potent forces in shaping the Twenty-first Century...fast becoming a vital engine of growth for the world economy". The summit also decried the existence of a digital divide between rich and poor nations and that the major challenge posed today is to bridge this widening chasm. The Information Age, the so-called third era of human civilization is a pervasive social phenomenon, a global environment. In the Information Age, capital becomes less important than information. In fact, information becomes the "primary resource". There is an observed global shift in resources of power from land, labor and capital to information. The change is more on the nature of resources that are being controlled.


title: Development communication

text: As Flor stated, "informatization comes with the Information Age. All aspects of society – politics, culture, business and economy – have become increasingly information-oriented. Information gives rise to economies and societies wherein information, naturally, becomes the dominant commodity or resource. Concomitant to informatization is the globalization of the economy. The communications or information revolution has tended to shrink the size of the world, figuratively. Instant communication between two persons situated at opposite sides of the globe is a common occurrence. Distance no longer serves as a minor factor in communication."


title: Development communication

text: An "information society" should be differentiated from "Information Age". An information society refers to a social system, meanwhile, the Information Age refers to an era in human civilization, a worldwide phenomenon. It is possible for people to live in an information age but not in an information society. Observations have also pointed that the trend towards information societies can be found in the Third World. For example, in Asia, certain trends that are indifferent to political developments show that Asia is moving towards that direction. These trends include: the growing demand for mobile devices and software, broadband, Wi-Fi, wi-max services, and even online educational programs.


title: Development communication

text: "Control is achieved through communication. Norbert Wiener, the father of cybernetics, equated communication with control and observed that it is negatively related to entropy, the tendency for all systems towards breakdown. This function or relationship is magnified in the Information Age." Therefore, in the Information Age, there seems to be a positive correlation between information and power, between communication and power. The logical consequence of this is the gravitation of special interest groups to the communication/information industry and the mad scramble for communication resources. Those who will gain access to more resources would understandably hold more political and economic power. They may, in turn, perpetuate this condition by determining enabling societal structures. According to Flor, information, traditionally defined, is that which contributes to the reduction of uncertainty. Although technically accurate, the definition neglects the social dimension of information. "It is the social function which adds value to information and which gives those who possess it advantage over those who do not. Thus, information should be regarded first and foremost as a resource. As in the case of other resources, there is a tendency for other exploitative groups to hoard information and to use it to further their interests. Information nowadays is associated with influence and power. It is now treated as a dominant commodity under the control and manipulation of the elite." He also noted that "Information resources should contribute more towards equality than exploitation, towards harmony than conflict, towards complementarities than dominance, towards integration than segregation, towards participation than elitism, towards indigenous development than dependency, and towards convergence than divergence."


title: Development communication

text: The availability of information may be a function of the availability of mass media, new media and other channels of information. Availability of communication media is obviously a prerequisite for access. For communities wherein media are relatively unavailable, access to communication media is hampered to a considerable degree.


title: Development communication

text: In contrast, development communication can also be key towards more democratic societies. Democracy has been a prevailing philosophy in many countries for the recent years. However, until today, how democratic institutions affect human well-being, particularly people's health is still argued. Existing evidences are not robust or strong in providing critical insights into the significance of democratic institutions on achieving better life expectancies and reducing mortalities (Besley and Kudamatsu, 2006). Life expectancies have increased dramatically and mortalities have significant reduced over the years. Such progress has been mostly attributed to increasing income per capita (Li and Zhu, 2006), improved medical technologies and interventions (Papageorgiou et al., 2007) and strengthened global collaborations (Elobu et al., 2014, Chu et al., 2014), among others. Previous literature has also favoured more democratic governments in maximizing health systems performance; and thereafter, improving health outcomes. In this view, health outcomes are better achieved because governments are controlled by the majority, leaders are more accountable for the benefit of all rather than minor groups of society, and mechanisms for selecting competent leaders to implement policies are deemed stronger. Despite evidence on its significance, some have still argued that democracy can only be successful in effecting positive impacts only if proper conditions are met. For example, the 1983 Polish health system has moved from a communist model without general practitioners to where clinicians in polyclinics provided free healthcare. The former system was then perceived to be better because the latter created more opportunities for bribery; hence, increasing inequitable access to healthcare (Scully, 2007). Recently, most health systems have transitioned along a continuum of private or market health systems similar to the United States and a public or state health systems similar to the United Kingdom (Chernichovsky, 1995). Such transitions may also be highly attributable to transitions in political states. In a market/private-based health system similar to the United States health system, medical care is provided by private physicians and by private and public hospitals and patients have free choice of physicians. In addition, most people receive health insurance coverage through their workplace and health insurance is provided by multiple third-party insurers (Chernichovsky, 1995). On the other hand, planned/public-based health systems such as in the United Kingdom expects that healthcare is a right (Chernichovsky, 1995). As such, health demands are provided directly through budgeting and management of providers. Low and middle income countries (LMICs) are placed in between these continuum. In most LMICs, various health system reforms and transitions have already been done. Despite such transitions, they are still faced with poorer health outcomes and health statuses that are far beyond health targets. Hence, is it really democracy that matters or does it simply serve as proxy for societal and political progress? Some argued that proper conditions must first be met for such gains of democracy to be achieved. Development communication can serve as a tool to ensure the country's visions are aligned, a step towards creating such proper conditions.


title: Development communication

text: In the Information Age, technological growth is a crucial driving force behind economic progress, citizen engagement and job creation. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are shaping many aspects of the world's economies, governments and societies. Developing countries, too, recognize the importance of engaging various stakeholders to harness the transformative power of ICTs to provide more efficient services, catalyze economic development and strengthen social networks. When done properly and implemented effectively, ICT infrastructure investment and policy reform can empower poverty reduction and shared prosperity.


title: Development communication

text: The World Bank Group's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector strategy, which was adopted in 2012, intends to help developing countries make use of the potential of ICTs to improve the delivery of public services; drive innovations and productivity gains; and improve competitiveness. Under the strategy, the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) focus on three priorities: (1) "Transformation", by making developments more open and accountable and improving service delivery; (2) "Connectivity", by scaling up affordable access to broadband including for women, disabled citizens, disadvantaged communities and people living in remote and rural areas; and (3) "Innovation", by developing competitive IT-based industries and fostering ICT innovation with a focus on job creation.


title: Development communication

text: Nascent technologies, such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence, are also set to reshape the development landscape. The United Nations, through its Virtual Reality Series Project, has tapped virtual reality to build platforms for advocacy, awareness, and fundraising. Its VR production titled Clouds over Sidra earned accolades for shedding light on the conditions of some 84,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan's Za'atari camp. HTC, developer of the Vive VR system, also supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals through its "VR for Impact" program, which seeks to "create a pathway to global peace and prosperity together". In terms of policy implication, the immersive experience brought about by VR is expected "to elevate the voices of those who often do not have a say, bringing peoples' voices directly into the decision making process".


title: Development communication

text: The rapid transformation of technology has revolutionized the way we communicate. As a result, more and more people are getting "wired", which means connected to the Internet. The explosion of information creates an interconnected global village where everyone can easily connect and transact business in a flick of a second. This explosion of information however has widen the gap between the information rich and the information poor creating Digital Divide. Groups or communities that can afford technologies and has full access to the internet are the information rich while the underprivileged are the information poor.


title: Development communication

text: In his book "Developing Societies in the Information Age",Alexander Flor elucidated that digital divide emerges from an information dependent social environment. He further emphasized that "the divide is further aggravated by domineering system between the haves and the have-nots". In a study conducted by Dr. Alexander Flor from 1983 to 1986 on the widening gap and its implications on the agricultural sector, he found out that "the information rich gets richer while the information poor gets poorer."


title: Development communication

text: Although the discourse of development communication may recognize the importance of considering gender in the process of social change, organizational structures and norms may inhibit the successful implementation of projects. Despite the considerable attention directed toward women in health, nutrition, and population projects, women's conditions have not improved. This failure should not, however, be attributed as a direct consequence of development communication. Rather, the problematic conditions of women, along with the interventions designed to resolve them, need to be situated within a broader context of discourse and practice that privileges individual consumption and structural privatization in strategies for social change (Watkins, 1999, 63).


title: Development communication

text: Hooda and Singh (2012) note that many feminist scholars recognize that everyday women's participation in the process of communication is essential. Involvement by the women to state their opinions in the institutions and systems that govern their lives is not only for recognition that participation is a basic human right, but also for a redistribution of political power in favor of disadvantaged groups. Involvement in decision-making is primarily about confronting the hegemonic structures of power—locally, nationally and globally (Sheth, 1997). It is a political action, a political struggle, a struggle that is not only among states, but also among people. Indeed, Wong (2012) shows why a discourse on gender matters in ICT for Development. Wong (2012) cites Resurreccion (2011) who stresses that the access to, and the use of, ICTs is gender-shaped in that gender influences how the benefits, costs and risks of ICTs are distributed between, and within, women and men. As noted by Kothari (1985), communications is not taken as informatics (alone), but as politics on issues of empowerment.


title: Development communication

text: Information and communication, food security and nutrition, and gender equality are closely linked dimensions of rural development, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)-Dimity Project, 2011. The vital contribution of women to the agricultural sphere in developing societies cannot be overemphasized. It's critical to give rural women access to the same resources and opportunities as men in order to be more productive. To achieve enhanced productivity and better performance, women have to be provided access to information, knowledge and decision-making. Hooda and Singh (2011) however opine that with regard to the impact of technologies on women, there has been a tendency on the part of governments and development agencies to treat technologies as neutral, value-free, without taking into account the social, environmental and economic effects of the technology being introduced. A common assumption with respect to technology is that the simple existence of technology itself will advance competence and will thus fetch empowerment and reimbursement to the women. Wong (2012) illustrates that restricted access to assets, gender-biased institutional arrangements, and unfavourable social structures have reduced women's capability to draw on ICTs in tackling climate change. According to Hooda and Singh (2011), focus on ICT competence and capability compromises concerns related to equity. In any case, social equity requires assurance to women's equal opportunity. Therefore, women's equality needs to be integrated as a cornerstone of any development and communication strategy. In addressing these limitations, Wong (2012) outlines four digital empowerment proposals that may make 'ICT climate change' interventions more gender-sensitive:


title: Development communication

text: (1) Contextualise gender mainstreaming: gender mainstreaming helps integrate gender analysis into ICT policies. It acknowledges that men and women perceive and receive information differently, and that this requires diverse approaches to adaptation. However, the attempt to reposition women and girls as 'ecocarers' is problematic because this fails to capture their protective, as well as their destructive, role in relation to natural resources. Without addressing the unequal power relations between women


title: Development communication

text: (2) Strengthen governance: crafting new and reforming old, institutional arrangements is essential to improve gender inclusion. Women only interventions are sometimes necessary to empower previously excluded women to engage in ICT related decisions. However, poor and powerless men should also have their say in climate change policies.


title: Development communication

text: (3) Develop gender-sensitive funding mechanisms: securing adequate funding to support ICT interventions is crucial to gender empowerment. Yet, targeting women by microcredit projects risk putting an additional financial burden on them, and that needs serious reconsideration.


title: Development communication

text: (4) Recognise agency-structure dynamics: women are active agents, but they are socially constrained from engaging in ICT related decisions. Women's preferences, institutional arrangements and politics need to be taken into account in order to tackle digital exclusion.


title: Development communication

text: Wong (2012) believes that taking the outlined four proposals are useful for development agencies, governments and NGOs to improve the gendered outcomes from use of ICTs in response to an issue as climate change. Thus, communicating from a gender perspective is important for fighting poverty and for supporting the economic empowerment of women. Women who are frequently the most disadvantaged gender in society are central to development, yet they have very little voice in the process of development planning. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment reports that ""while women make up more than 40 percent of the agriculture labor force, only 3 to 20 percent are landholders. In Africa, women-owned enterprises make up as little as 10 percent of all businesses. In South Asia, that number is only 3 percent. And despite representing half the global population, women comprise less than 20 percent of the world's legislators.""


title: Development communication

text: Advancing gender equality and women's empowerment is a vital key in utilizing human resources and capital on an enormous scale. According to the World Bank, ""countries with greater gender equality are more prosperous and competitive"." For communities to grow, gender equality policy and strategies have to be developed and implemented. Women must be provided access to information, technology, and education. They must have equal rights and equal opportunities as entrepreneurs, wage earners, and leaders of our society. Promoting gender equality is a profitable investment we can make to advance women development.


title: Development communication

text: Since its early inception, development communication has been widely utilized by many regions of the world owing its strategic direction of alleviating the lives of the poor by extending knowledge and information to a number of projects and programs intended to create a sustainable life. Hence, development communication practice in various areas of the world yielded a number of policy integrations reflecting its core objectives for an inclusive development. True to its definition, development communication, according to S.T. Kwame Boafo, author of the article 'Utilizing Development Communication Strategies in African Societies: A Critical Perspective', "is the application of modem and traditional communication technologies to aid and enhance the process of socio-economic, political and cultural change. It is the planned, conscious and systematized use of communication strategies and processes to bridge informational and attitudinal gaps and to establish or sustain a climate that favors the process of change and development." However, this definition itself does not lend the idea that change immediately follows. Hence, Boafo articulated further that the definition above "does not imply that communication or information per se can effect development or change without an integrated and consistently pursued national development policy." Therefore, it is vital that development communication should be an integral element in the formulation of national policies so as to utilize its full potential.


title: Development communication

text: Christ commissioned the Apostles to preach the Good News to the whole world, a mission extended to all Christians today. Communication therefore is part of following Christ. Being committed to spread the Good News, the Catholic Church has always been at the forefront of communications – from oral preaching, catechesis, personal friendships, small or big groups gatherings (openly or in secret where Christians are persecuted, even in present times), manual copying in papyrus or parchments scrolls, artwork, architecture, oral traditions, printing, theaters, tri-media and online, etc.


title: Development communication

text: For academic studies within the Catholic setting, Pontifical Universities in Rome offer Bachelor's, Licentiate and Doctoral courses on Church communications, lasting three to six years.


title: Development communication

text: The following guidelines, and communication as a whole, should, as Prof. Flor states, "be employed for the service of others" (Chapter 3, p. 7).


title: Development communication

text: The Roman Curia, or the Pope's central administrative office, has a Secretariat for Communication, which coordinates all the media realities in the Vatican:


title: Development communication

text: This setup is replicated in various degrees in countries all over the world. Communications policies are left to the regional, national or parish levels, rather than having a unified policy for the Catholic Church in the whole world.


title: Development communication

text: Many documents, in the form of reflections or guidelines, have been published on different topics related with communications. In this website, one document dates back to 1936, an Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XI, called "Vigilanti Cura", manifesting his thoughts on the "Motion Picture" as it affects the moral and religious life of Christians.


title: Development communication

text: The Consejo Episcopal LatinoAmericano (CELAM), is the umbrella organization of 22 Episcopal Conferences (groups of Latin American and Caribbean Catholic Bishops, usually by country). Its office is based in Bogotá, Colombia, and has a Department of Communications and Press.


title: Development communication

text: While no Communications Policy is posted on CELAM's website (nor is any retrievable online), there is a link to a presentation of the Department's four programs. Specific objectives contained therein could be considered as general directives indicating what the different lower levels of Church organization should undertake (my own translation from Spanish follows):


title: Development communication

text: Formation and Expression in Communication for the Development of the Culture of Encounter and the Announcing the Good News


title: Development communication

text: CELAM is situated at a very broad level, covering part of North America (Mexico), the whole of Central and South America, and the Caribbeans. It is quite typical for Church documents at a high level, to focus heavily on principles, objectives and generalized directives; meanwhile, the concrete communications policies would be left to the local levels.


title: Development communication

text: Example of Catholic Church Communications Policies at the National Level: USCCB Social Media Guidelines


title: Development communication

text: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) "is an assembly of the hierarchy of the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands who jointly exercise certain pastoral functions on behalf of the Christian faithful of the United States. As its Introduction states, "These guidelines are offered as a synthesis of best practices. They include material compiled from church entities, for-profit corporations, and non-profit organizations", presented as an aide to come up with local or organizational communications policies when it comes to the social media.


title: Development communication

text: It begins with guiding principles, quoting from Pope Francis: "Communication is a means of expressing the missionary vocation of the entire Church; today the social networks are one way to experience this call to discover the beauty of faith, the beauty of encountering Christ. In the area of communications too, we need a Church capable of bringing warmth and of stirring hearts".


title: Development communication

text: Social media is a powerful instrument, changing the way people communicate. Pope Benedict XVI says that the Church has to be involved in social media to advance its mission of spreading the Good News, at the same time encouraging respect and dialogue, true friendship. In addition, the Church encourages a responsible use of these social media, in the midst of opportunities and challenges when it comes to visibility, the community and accountability.


title: Development communication

text: The USCCB document tries to cover all the areas in social media, suggesting the following elements to be included when parishes or other Church organizations develop guidelines: define boundaries, include examples of codes of conduct, define instructions, recommendations on dealing with offenders, providing trusted sites, and reminding administrators of their broad audience. Guidelines are also provided for organizational and personal sites, and social networking with minors.


title: Development communication

text: Example of Catholic Church Communications Policies at the Local Level: St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, in Simpsonville, South Carolina, USA


title: Development communication

text: Being a parish that serves the churchgoers, St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church tries to make clear the procedures that would make the communications processes as efficient as possible. The document is quite detailed, allowing the reader (whether a parish employee, or the public) to know exactly how to proceed in each scenario.


title: Development communication

text: International communication, the intellectual field that deals with issues of mass communication at a global level, is sometimes also called development communication. This field includes the history of the telegraph, submarine communication cables, shortwave or international broadcasting, satellite television, and global flows of mass media. Today it includes issues of the Internet in a global perspective and the use of new technologies such as mobile phones.


title: Development communication

text: Risk communication originated in the United States where environmental clean-up efforts were implemented through legislation. The terms 'risk communications' and 'risk management' were first used by William Ruckelshaus, the first administrator of the U.S. 'Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was established in the 1970s. Risk communication includes management decision risks, implementation risks and risks related to existing environmental, health, political, or social circumstances. For instance, in the health sector, risk communication addresses pandemics, natural disasters, bioterrorism, resource contamination, etc. Definitions of "risk" include:


title: Development communication

text: "The identification and analysis, either qualitative or quantitative, of the likelihood of the occurrence of a hazardous event overexposure, and the severity of injury or illness that may be caused by it." —American National Standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (ANSI/AIHA Z10 – 2005 ):


title: Development communication

text: "...the probability that a substance or situation will produce harm under specified conditions. Risk is a combination of two factors: (1) the probability that an adverse event will occur and (2) the consequences of the adverse event."—The Framework for Environmental Health Risk Management (Presidential/Congressional Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management, 1997):


title: Development communication

text: "...the probability (or likelihood) that a harmful consequence will occur as a result of an action."—The Safety Professionals Handbook (Fields 2008 ):


title: Development communication

text: Planning for a crisis, which should involve the removal of risks and allow an organization, a society, or a system adequate control(Fearn-Banks, 2007) and


title: Development communication

text: Risk communications involves important information for managing risks, both from authorities to those at risk and vice versa.


title: Development communication

text: Development communication benefits from risk communications when the latter clarifies the risks of development (or lack thereof).


title: Development communication

text: Development in the community has been observed critically not only the stakeholders but also the public themselves. Being one the recipients of the community projects, the public has been eyeing the government on the implementation of the development projects they are implementing. Part of the analysis in the organization is by analyzing how the communication in an organization works. The two are related as discussed as follows:


title: Development communication

text: In the Philippines, the Medium Term Development Plan for 2004–2010 of the National Economic Development Authority states, "the successful implementation of the plan rests on the support of all sectors of society—the legislature, the judiciary, the local government units, the media and all sectors of society" (NEDA, 2004).


title: Development communication

text: In the context of Carnoy and Samoff (1990), they believed that education has great importance as part of the means of achieving social transformation. They emphasized that "appropriate ideas, values, and worldviews will be developed so that from the process of scholarship there emerges a new person—not simply with skills, but also someone with an understanding of his or her own role in the world".


title: Development communication

text: More than analyzing how the process of the implementation will run through, it is also relative to note who will deliver the message pertaining to the development project. This is where the role of communication takes place. As mentioned by NEDA, media played an important role in the process of the delivery of development projects. With the wide range of power of media to influence and to transmit information, it has the capability to reach the public connecting to the government and vice versa.


title: Development communication

text: Communication is pervasive in the process of development. Communication includes mass media, telecommunications, information and communication technologies (ICTs), organized interpersonal communication, and all resources used by a society to enable information to flow within it. It has for its aims to inform, educate, persuade, entertain, motivate people and induce behavior change that contributes toward national development.


title: Development communication

text: "Communication succeeds when it is an integral part, from the very beginning, of a development programme, playing a full role during the identification of the problems and priorities, as well as during the detailed planning, implementation, and evaluation... communication needs clear objectives, identification of different audience groups... careful message design... and monitoring and feedback."


title: Development communication

text: As mentioned, delivery of development project can be achieved should proper communication will be used. In attaining such, an organization implementing the development project should consider the system to be used.


title: Development communication

text: An organization is where a system is being implemented. Its structure varied depending on the goals of the company, the image it portrays, and the quality it aims to achieve. Being a member of an organization, one has to know how the organization works.


title: Development communication

text: This aim in knowing the technical-know-how within the organization leads to the concept of 'Organization Theory'. Later it becomes a 'social science discipline' which refers to "a body of thinking and writing that describes, explains and influences what goes on in organization". This leads to making this discipline as basis for exploring 'management and leadership theory' that enables the scholars to understand how an 'organization theory' works in the application of a certain system.


title: Development communication

text: Further, organizational theory (OT), according to Barzilai (2016), is the "study of organizations for the benefit of identifying common themes for the purpose of solving problems, maximizing efficiency and productivity, and meeting the needs of stakeholders".


title: Development communication

text: Thus, development communication interweaves with policy science and organizational theory for one reason: Development projects require an organization as deciding body in crafting policy leading to the attainment of the project and as implementor of the projects.


title: Development communication

text: To affirm the interface, I reviewed the notions of development communication and policy sciences. Development education, a related and a younger discipline is shortly discussed. I also highlight the similarities of these fields.


title: Development communication

text: Quebral (2012) redefines development communication as "the science of human communication linked to the transition of communities from poverty in all its forms to a dynamic overall growth that fosters equity and the unfolding of individual potential" (p. 9).


title: Development communication

text: Meanwhile, Guru (2016) explains that development communication "(1) provides a conceptual and practical framework in accelerating development in all spheres of life; (2) includes the integration of planned, organized, and specific communication package into planning, programming, and implementation; (3)facilitates the flow of development education among various stakeholders; and (4) empowers marginalized individuals, groups, and organizations" (p. 101).


title: Development communication

text: I thought that development education is just a function or a subset of development communication just like information, motivation, persuasion, among others. In fact, it is discipline in its own right that started in the 1990s. Bourn (2015) describes it as "an education approach that (1) responds to issues of development, human rights, justice, and world citizenship; (2) presents an international development and human rights perspective within education in various parts of the world; (3) promotes voices and viewpoints of those who are excluded from an equal share in the benefits of international human development; (4) connects and compares development issues and challenges all over the world; (5) provides opportunities for people to reflect on their international roles and responsibilities with regard to issues of equality and justice in human development; and (6) narrates a new story of human development" (p. 47).


title: Development communication

text: On the other hand, policy sciences or policy studies basically refer to the policy cycle, which involves "policy making, policy implementation, policy evaluation, and policy feedback" (Flynn and Asquer, 2017, p. 40). Originally, it is a function of governance and, therefore the domain of government officials. However, with democracy as a form of government in many nations, it has also become the domain of the governed, hence, the term public policy. Most available literature on policy studies quote the definition developed by Hence Thomas Dye as "whatever governments choose to do or not to do."


title: Development communication

text: However, Chakrabarty and Chand (2016) argue that "[t]here cannot be a universal definition of policy although one can endure a near universal definition by highlighting its technical character" (p. 3). With these, they characterize Dye's definition as "functional in character" and contend that "governments are not at all free to choose because their choice is context-dependent and governed by the ideology they adhere to" (p. 4).


title: Development communication

text: They raise the limitations Dye's definition: (1) does not reflect or represent the ideological goals of the government; (2) does not reflect the critical role of institutions; and (3) does not provide enough inputs to conceptualize public policy as an executive device and as a marker of ideology.


title: Development communication

text: After presenting the etymology of "public" and "policy", they propose a layman's definition through an acronym: POLICY. PO stands for periodically organized, which suggests that policies are "constantly reinvented and transformed in accordance with changing social, economic, and political realities". To add, LI means legally induced, which suggests it cannot dispense "constitutions and other legal instruments in shaping policy." Lastly, CY means calculated yields, which implies that policies must be beneficial and profitable (p. 6).


title: Development communication

text: With this, they propose a definition, that is, "[p]olicy being a functional design seeking to fulfill certain objectives on the basis of specific calculations of the pros and the cons, and this is naturally context-dependent" (p. 7). Hence, it has a dynamic character: (1) it considers the changing environment, and (2) it prioritizes public good.


title: Development communication

text: They also enumerate the features of a policy: (1) intentional or deliberately designed to address societal issues; (2) a course of action with specific goals and objectives; (3) devised in response to a perceived need or demand or problem; (4)creates an environment in which various actors converge to develop policy designs; (5) an authoritative decision by the government (Chakbarty and Chand, 2016, p. 8).