Document(s) 15 of 34

Participatory development communication (PDC) can be defined as "a planned activity, based on the one hand on participatory processes, and on the other hand on media and interpersonal communication, which facilitates dialogue among different stakeholders, around a common development problem or goal, with the objective of developing and implementing a set of activities to contribute to its solution, or its realization, and which supports and accompanies this initiative" (Bessette, 2004:11).

This paper introduces PDC as an essential component of the participatory research and development process and shows how it comes into play in the diagnosis, planning, intervention and assessment phases of the participatory research and development cycle.

Participatory development communication suggests shifting away from informing people in order to change their behaviors or attitudes and focussing instead on facilitating exchanges between various stakeholders. In so doing, common problems are addressed through a joint development initiative among the stakeholders. In PDC, researchers and practitioners come in as facilitators of a process, which involves local communities and other stakeholders in the resolution of a problem or the realization of a common goal.

Acting as a facilitator does not come automatically. This, of course, requires a change of attitude. To facilitate means learning to listen to people, helping them express their views, and assisting them in building consensus for action. For many natural resource management (NRM) researchers and practitioners, this is a new role for which they have not been prepared. How then should they start the process of using communication to facilitate participation and the sharing of knowledge?

An Integrated Participatory Communication, Research and Action Model

Working with participatory development communication means involving the local community in identifying a development problem (or a common goal), discovering its many dimensions, identifying potential solutions (or a set of actions) and taking a decision on a concrete set of actions to experiment or implement. It also means facilitating interaction and collaborative action with other stakeholders who should be part of the process.

This paper suggests an integrated model of participatory communication, research and action to guide researchers and practitioners. The process is represented through the following phases, which are not separated and flow into one another (Figure 1):

1) developing a research relationship with a local community

2) problem identification or goal setting

3) planning

4) intervention (implementation integrating monitoring and evaluation)

5) assessment and utilization of results

Figure 1. The Participatory Communication Research Action

Phase 1. Developing A Research Relationship with a Local Community

Building Relationships

The way by which a research relationship with the local community is established and nurtured determines the degree to which community members will or will not participate in the research or development initiatives. Within that framework, a bidirectional communication process should be employed and promoted. Building mutual trust and understanding is a major challenge at this stage and will continue to be so during the entire period of interaction between researchers or practitioners and the community.

Negotiating Mandate

One does not come to a community without a mandate or agenda. At the same time, communities also want their needs and problems addressed by resource people who come to them. Researchers and practitioners should explain and discuss the scope and limitations of their mandate with community members. In some cases, compromises can be found, like intermediating with other resource organizations that could contribute to the resolution of problems, which are outside the mandate of the researchers or practitioners.

Data Collection or Co-Producing Local Knowledge

Researchers have been trained in data collection. This emphasizes an extractive mode that does not facilitate participation. PDC, on the other hand, suggests that researchers or practitioners collaborate with community members and other stakeholders working in the area (NGOs, development projects, rural media, resource persons, representatives from government or public services, etc.) in order to assemble together and share baseline information. This effort leads a process of co-producing knowledge by drawing on the strengths of the different stakeholders.

PDC stresses the need for adapting the attitudes with the techniques. Co-producing knowledge is different from simply collecting data. It plays an essential part in facilitating participation to the decision-making processes involved in the research or development project. Understanding the local setting usually points out to the identification and analysis of the state of natural resources in the area and to management practices and problems on which it is possible to act. However, four other areas also deserve consideration: gender roles, social stratification and power relationships, culture and beliefs, and finally, communication channels and systems.

Identification of local knowledge associated with natural resource management practices is part of the process of co-producing knowledge. It should also be linked with two other issues: the validation of that knowledge and the identification of modern and scientific knowledge that could reinforce local knowledge.

Identification of Collaboration and Partnerships

In conducting a research or development initiative, other initiatives that may be attempting to engage the same community in other participatory processes should be considered. Identifying other on-going initiatives, developing a communication link with them and looking for opportunities of synergy or collaboration should be part of the methodology.

Activities with a local community also allow researchers and practitioners to identify possible partners that could be involved in the research or development process. It could be a rural radio, a theatre group or an NGO working with the same community. By establishing contacts at the outset of the project, these groups will feel they can play a useful role in the design of the research project instead of perceiving themselves as mere service providers.

Phase 2. Identification of Problems, Potential Solutions, and Implementation of Concrete Initiative

Traditionally, researchers and practitioners used to identify problems in a community and to experiment solutions with the collaboration of local people. With participatory development communication, the researcher or the development practitioner comes in as a facilitator of a process, which involves local communities and other stakeholders in the identification and resolution of a problem or the realization of a common goal.

The communication process should bring people to identify a specific problem they want to address, discuss and understand to establish its causes, possible solutions, and come up with a decision on a set of activities to experiment. But this does not happen in the course of a single meeting with community representatives. Time must be allowed for such a process to mature.

Also, in some cases, the point of departure is not a specific problem but a common goal that a community gives itself. As with the problem-oriented process, the community decides on implementing a set of actions to approach that goal. At the end of both processes, a concrete set of actions, decided by the community, should emerge.

Ideally, this is where development and research objectives should be identified to strengthen and accompany the chosen community initiative. In general, however, such objectives have already been identified in a research and development proposal, before going to such a process with the community. A way to go around this problem is to plan a revision of the initial objectives with the community at the start of the research or development project.

Phase 3. The Research Planning Phase

The next step of the PDC process consists of the development of a communication strategy to accompany and reinforce the community initiative and the research or development activities built around it. This strategy should pursue two main goals: facilitating participation and the sharing of knowledge.

Identifying Different Community Groups

The idea here is to categorize the persons mostly affected by the NRM problem identified in the process and those groups that might be able to contribute to its solution. They may be specific community groups, or other stakeholders who are or could be involved. Addressing a general audience such as "the community" or "the farmers" does not really help in involving people in communication. Every group that makes up the community has its own unique characteristics, a way of perceiving a problem and its solution, and a way of taking actions. Community people may be grouped in terms of age, gender, ethnic origin, language, occupation, social and economic conditions.

In all cases, it is important to pay particular attention to the question of gender. In every setting, the needs, social roles, and responsibilities of men and women are different. The same is true of the degree of access to resources, of participation in decision-making processes, and in the way they will perceive a common problem or potential solutions.

Communication Needs and Objectives

Development needs can be categorized broadly between material needs and communication needs. Any given development problem and attempt to resolve it will present needs relating to material resources and to the conditions to acquire and manage these. However, we will also find complementary needs which involve communication: sharing information, influencing policies, mediating conflicts, raising awareness, facilitating learning, supporting decision-making and collaborative action among others. Clearly, these two aspects should go hand in hand and be addressed in a systemic way by any research or development effort.

Generally, in the context of NRM, they are linked to one or another of these communication functions: raising awareness, sharing information, facilitating learning, supporting participation, decision-making and collaborative action, mediating conflicts and influencing the policy environment.

PDC leads participants through a planning process, which starts with the identification of the specific groups as well as their communication needs and objectives. The research or development team, together with community members and other stakeholders involved, then identifies the appropriate communication activities and communication tools that are needed to reach these objectives.

Moreover, when the use of communication tools implies the development of messages, content or materials, the process should include not only their elaboration with members of the community but also a pre-testing phase that will contribute to their effectiveness.

Phase 4. The Intervention Phase

During the intervention phase, the communication component will focus on the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the communication strategy and on documenting the participatory research process.

The production of a monitoring plan and of an evaluation framework linked to it, will help everyone involved in the activities to monitor what is being accomplished and facilitate its evaluation. The joint elaboration of such a plan by all stakeholders involved, the use of simple tools such as brainstorming, observation, use of pictures, prior training as well as the use of the local language, are all useful techniques. However, no matter how important techniques and methodologies are, the most crucial issue is the way in which researchers or practitioners will approach the evaluation process jointly with their partners, the community members, and the other development stakeholders, so that it becomes a learning experience for everyone involved in the process.

Another important issue is in ensuring proper documentation of activities. This aspect is often forgotten during the heat of activities and the written story after completion, often miss key aspects. Ideally, the account of the research or development initiative should include the difficulties encountered, solutions experimented and the evolution of the partnership between researchers, practitioners, community members and other stakeholders. One way of doing this is to use a weekly "logbook" or a record of activities where all the activities during the week, the observations from the monitoring activities, and other personal comments are taken down. Other means of documenting may also be explored: a photo album, for example, highlighting communication activities with captions and commentaries for each photograph, or a collection of video sequences on each activities, etc.

Phase 5. Assessment and Utilization of Results

At the end of the participatory research or development cycle, community members, researchers and practitioners assess together the results of their activities. Sometimes, this assessment will point out to a redefinition of the problem identified at the beginning of the cycle or of the solution to experiment. Or it will lead to revisit some of the choices made during the planning phase. When the intervention has led to the desired results the next step involves the sharing of this knowledge with different groups of stakeholders as well as scaling efforts with other communities or other groups of stakeholders.

Knowledge sharing refers to making information available in different formats to different groups of users and asking for their feedback. It goes one step ahead of a simple dissemination of information. Scaling up efforts usually point out to one of the following activities of extension, reach or advocacy: extending the process to other groups in the community or to another community; replicating the process at a larger scale, involving a larger number of communities; and using the knowledge produced at the community level to act on a policy level (influencing policymakers or networking with organizations).

Conclusion

Participatory development communication is a tool that reinforces the process of participatory research and/or participatory development. It aims to facilitate community participation to their own development, as well as the sharing of knowledge needed in such a process. It integrates communication, research and action in an integrated framework, and involves researchers, practitioners, community members and other stakeholders in the different phases of the development process.

But also, most importantly, it points out to a conception of NRM research or initiatives that is directly linked to the agenda of communities and seek to reinforce their efforts in fighting poverty and improving living conditions.

References

Bessette, G. 2004. Facilitating Community Participation, Peinang, Southbound and Ottawa, International Development Research Centre.

Servaes, J. (ed). 2003. Approaches to Development, Studies in Communication for Development. UNESCO. Paris.

White, S. (ed). 2003. Participatory Video, Images that Transform and Empower. Sage, New Delhi, Thousand Oaks, London.

Contributed by:
Guy Bessette
Email: gbessette@idrc.ca

Document(s) 15 of 34