Carmen, Raff. Autonomous Development. Zed Books Publishing: New Jersey, 1996.
Part 1: Maldevelopment
Chapter 3 "Demystifying Participation: of Beneficiaries and Benefactors"
Development, Carmen argues, is terminology that will never translate. He begins the chapter by asking the question of how the ideas of "development" can be communicated when the word itself does not exist in the language of the people we want to develop. Instead, it is simply a cover up for "acculturation" which is exemplified in the US' imperialistic spread and transfer in many of its seemingly humanitarian efforts. Aculturation is when "a culture of foreign origin profoundly influences or takes over an indigenous culture." He asks that the reader redefines development in other terms than the current mindframe of qualitative (bettering) and quantitative (goods, services, and skills). (P41-42).
Unlike many of the other literature that has been reviewed, Carmen traces participation back to the 60's with the WB's community development and green revolution and then into the 70's with the "Basic Needs Approach." These deceivingly top-down approaches of "participation" encourage development through "import substitution, technology transfer, and agricultural extension" which all, he concludes, will continue to fail as solutions. "To control a people's culture is to control their tools of self-defintion and relation to others." (P43)
Participatory development is not possible without the donor agency and thus paradoxical. Carmen points out that this methodology simply allows the third party (NGO, planner or otherwise) to avoid true development of the peasantry class by intervening and offering solutions while posing projects as 'participatory.' By leaving out the government, the organization can work directly with the people but also fails to address power structures from which poverty springs. Peasantry, which is the "obstacle to the march of modernity," could now be utilized and 'developed' in ways like technology transfer or skills aquisition while avoiding confrontation of true development like political activism and large structural projects (P45)
The technique of "Community Developmen"t was created not as a humanitarian effort but rather sprung from post-colonial relationships between the mother country and its territory and thus "suits the maintenance of colonial rule." It keeps the colony peaceful, transfers the economic burden from national to local governments, and helps in creating a stability during development. In a 1976 study that was conducted by The Cornell Development Research Group, four types of participation arose (1) Implementation (2) Benefits (3) Evaluation (4) Decision-Making. The implementation part of participation was the most common (P47).
Carmen also thinks that Rapid Rural Assessment is just terminology to cover up what is the "most cost-effective ways for outsiders to learn about rural conditions - ways that lead cloesr to optimal trade-off between the cost of collection and learning, the relevance, time and actual beneficial use of the information and understanding that is gained (P50).
Reflections:
The language is very formal, yet educated. This literature is incredibly theoretical. However, I totally disagree with what he is saying. What I dislike the most is the way that he tries to be so appealing. His definition of autonomous hinges on chance, pre-existing conditions being a certain way, and people having small amounts of power to increase their own power... somehow ... in places where the people who have power keep getting more power at everly increasing rates. The literature that he does draw on is well-pieced together and carefully selected. And although this chapter is formally backed with many documented sources, the feeling is much more like an opinion article that rants and raves without drawing from personal experience. However, his "about the author" section includes things such as 15 years as a preacher in Zambia as well as several other years in Burkina Fasa working at a manager of a UNDP research station. I expect and hope claims later will be supported with this.
Carmen's view point on participation, in my interpretation, is that participation is a result of TOTAL control, achieved at economic and social levels, by the institution in the brainwash to get culture to transfer.
If the implementation kind of participation is the most commonly found in development, then I would tend to assume that "implementation" is a euphemism for labor. This way projects employ local labor while the decisions are still made by the institutions. Drawing on my experiences from Peru, I would say that I don't necessarily know that finding labor within the community is such a bad thing. Looking at houses being built by NGOs where the labor force was the homeowner, more cost-efficient labor could have been hired from outside. So is it really about money? Or power? What do those four groups of "participation" really consist of.. ? I would like to find this research done by the Cornell students.
I doubt though that all of Carmen's criticisms in this chapter are well-deserved by many people in the field who may be accomplishing "autonomy," but mistakenly call it participation. Mix-ups in jargon may be the root of the issue at hand. Arguably, changes in linguistics of a subject are a true reflection of changes in the subject itself. His title of the chapter, "demystifying participation" is misleading as it merely provides a viewpoint on the subject.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
The Art of Technique
White, Shirley A. The Art of Facilitating Participation:. Minneapolis: Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd, 2000. Print.
Overview of the essays in Part 2: The Art of Technique.
Shirley White's book 'The Art of Facilitating Participation', is the result of White facilitating a regular discussion group that stemmed from the prodding of her graduate students. This means she is metaphysically facilitating a book of essays on facilitation by students and practitioners in the field of facilitation. Her role in this book comes out quite clearly in the way she introduces the essays written by those in the discussion group. Though she has talked to many people on this topic and heard many stories of the same (or at least similar) lessons learned by so many students, she mentions the work of each of them as unique learning experiences and is honored to help share these stories with others.
The book is divided into three sections. The first section's essays are described in the last post; in this post I will focus on the second section: The Art of Technique. The word choice is intentional, and explained on p.22. Technology is vital, but technique and the application of technical proficiency is arguably more important. The 'art of technique' is the 'thoughtful articulation and interpretation of the need for technology, and the culturally sensitive way people are involved in assessing, acquiring, and applying that technology to benefit their development'. “Technique must serve the content of development and be the art that effectively promotes learning and effective communication.”
The first essay in this section is an interview between a young Colombian interested in participatory development and a widely recognized Colombian facilitator who has dedicated his life to participatory development: Orlando Fals Borda.. This is followed by Colverson's essay on her experiences using PAR (Participatory Action Research) with campesino women in two rural Honduranean communities. The next essay witnesses how successful an agricultural program in Nepal can be at implementing a participatory model. Galper proceeds this with an essay on the topic of empowerment via teaching basic statistics for understanding the processes the NGO is using to make decisions and how information from surveys are translated and used.
Three African writers team together to emphasize the benefits of training rural development facilitators via Participatory Rural Communication Appraisal (PRCA). This process is focused on built-in field work. Next, Renuka Bery proposes the discovery principle which states that learning by discovery stimulates individual development and thus, 'contribute to the mot important issues in their societies. Finally, we move into access to media technologies. “The importance of access to communication technologies and public media cannot be overstated as an important force in a community's development. Hochneimer discusses community radio and the issues surrounding community-based journalism, themes that are 'pertinent to any media system, and important tools for community building' (p. 27). Richardson follows with his essay on the considerations inherent to establishing a 'FreeSpace' network in Canada; his example has apparently led to a rural internet access to the poor in Peru, Mexico, and the Philippines. 'Communication relationships are no longer restricted by space., but access to communication resources is another matter.' (p.28)
Reflection
This book has inspired me to consider facilitating a forum, (at least initially) informal, on international development experiences of MIT students. The important qualities of this gathering would be student-sprouted and informative. This of course requires prior interest and students who would immediately view this as a valuable use of their time. If started correctly, with a precedent on student interest and informal yet useful exchange of ideas, (as well as possibly output), this could be a worthwhile pursuit. The output of such a gathering could be one of new ideas and opportunities horizontally traveling from one student to another. I am especially interested in having a space where international development can be delved into and researched without feeling the reigns of power often associated with the grants, paperwork, and rules that tends to define and limit access to development work by students. Of course, the fact that it does not yet exist leads one to believe that there may be a low enough percentage of students with this type of experience that such a gathering only has merit on the graduate level.
Stepping back we can see clearly that White is cleverly showing us what she means by effective facilitation by the actual form in which the book is produced. The book is facilitation at its best. However, it also is facilitation between presumably similarly-minded people with similar recent international exposure in the field of development. Each of them is interested in understanding the role of communication in development, so admittedly the students are not an accurate representation of the complexities in international development caused by vast formative discrepancies. Still, she is contextualizing the facilitation role to the academic environment, and the result seems to be an interesting collection of hope-giving accounts. It is possible that sometimes White goes overboard and says things like 'Kathy had become one of them...erased any apprehension they might have had' which is simply an overexaggeration.
I like how the author writes the book so that one can quickly find what essays they are interested in reading, and leave the rest. This is accomplished by dedicating one to three paragraphs to a brief, but long-enough description of right at the beginning. Doing something similar to my work might be an interesting approach to facilitating its applicability as a useful document to someone.
Overview of the essays in Part 2: The Art of Technique.
Shirley White's book 'The Art of Facilitating Participation', is the result of White facilitating a regular discussion group that stemmed from the prodding of her graduate students. This means she is metaphysically facilitating a book of essays on facilitation by students and practitioners in the field of facilitation. Her role in this book comes out quite clearly in the way she introduces the essays written by those in the discussion group. Though she has talked to many people on this topic and heard many stories of the same (or at least similar) lessons learned by so many students, she mentions the work of each of them as unique learning experiences and is honored to help share these stories with others.
The book is divided into three sections. The first section's essays are described in the last post; in this post I will focus on the second section: The Art of Technique. The word choice is intentional, and explained on p.22. Technology is vital, but technique and the application of technical proficiency is arguably more important. The 'art of technique' is the 'thoughtful articulation and interpretation of the need for technology, and the culturally sensitive way people are involved in assessing, acquiring, and applying that technology to benefit their development'. “Technique must serve the content of development and be the art that effectively promotes learning and effective communication.”
The first essay in this section is an interview between a young Colombian interested in participatory development and a widely recognized Colombian facilitator who has dedicated his life to participatory development: Orlando Fals Borda.. This is followed by Colverson's essay on her experiences using PAR (Participatory Action Research) with campesino women in two rural Honduranean communities. The next essay witnesses how successful an agricultural program in Nepal can be at implementing a participatory model. Galper proceeds this with an essay on the topic of empowerment via teaching basic statistics for understanding the processes the NGO is using to make decisions and how information from surveys are translated and used.
Three African writers team together to emphasize the benefits of training rural development facilitators via Participatory Rural Communication Appraisal (PRCA). This process is focused on built-in field work. Next, Renuka Bery proposes the discovery principle which states that learning by discovery stimulates individual development and thus, 'contribute to the mot important issues in their societies. Finally, we move into access to media technologies. “The importance of access to communication technologies and public media cannot be overstated as an important force in a community's development. Hochneimer discusses community radio and the issues surrounding community-based journalism, themes that are 'pertinent to any media system, and important tools for community building' (p. 27). Richardson follows with his essay on the considerations inherent to establishing a 'FreeSpace' network in Canada; his example has apparently led to a rural internet access to the poor in Peru, Mexico, and the Philippines. 'Communication relationships are no longer restricted by space., but access to communication resources is another matter.' (p.28)
Reflection
This book has inspired me to consider facilitating a forum, (at least initially) informal, on international development experiences of MIT students. The important qualities of this gathering would be student-sprouted and informative. This of course requires prior interest and students who would immediately view this as a valuable use of their time. If started correctly, with a precedent on student interest and informal yet useful exchange of ideas, (as well as possibly output), this could be a worthwhile pursuit. The output of such a gathering could be one of new ideas and opportunities horizontally traveling from one student to another. I am especially interested in having a space where international development can be delved into and researched without feeling the reigns of power often associated with the grants, paperwork, and rules that tends to define and limit access to development work by students. Of course, the fact that it does not yet exist leads one to believe that there may be a low enough percentage of students with this type of experience that such a gathering only has merit on the graduate level.
Stepping back we can see clearly that White is cleverly showing us what she means by effective facilitation by the actual form in which the book is produced. The book is facilitation at its best. However, it also is facilitation between presumably similarly-minded people with similar recent international exposure in the field of development. Each of them is interested in understanding the role of communication in development, so admittedly the students are not an accurate representation of the complexities in international development caused by vast formative discrepancies. Still, she is contextualizing the facilitation role to the academic environment, and the result seems to be an interesting collection of hope-giving accounts. It is possible that sometimes White goes overboard and says things like 'Kathy had become one of them...erased any apprehension they might have had' which is simply an overexaggeration.
I like how the author writes the book so that one can quickly find what essays they are interested in reading, and leave the rest. This is accomplished by dedicating one to three paragraphs to a brief, but long-enough description of right at the beginning. Doing something similar to my work might be an interesting approach to facilitating its applicability as a useful document to someone.
The Art of Participation
White, Shirley A. The Art of Facilitating Participation:. Minneapolis: Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd, 2000. Print.
p. 7-22: Introduction and an overview of Part I: The Art of Participation.
This book aims to catalyze improved participatory approaches to development, The focus is placed on the importance of proper facilitation, and does this by combining a set of different essays by White and others on the topic of findings on participatory development. White starts off with a broad generalization that NGOs spent the 90's talking about involving the socially excluded, but have yet tlo effectively do so (p. 16). In addition, development has become a business. “We quickly forget that development starts from the heart” (p.17). “Reaching across the barriers of diversity, power, caste, and class to touch the life force of a person and lift them to a 'higher ground' becomes the objective of the challenge” (p.18)
Underlying assumption of the book: 'communication is the foundation of participation'. With this as an anchor, the story introduces the array of essays that will be presented to the reader. Each of them is written from a practitioners standpoint, but with the academic integrity of a university graduate research department. Together, the essays provide a set of lessons learned from their personal experiences working in development around the world.
The first essay is by White and Nair, and it explains how the facilitator role is one of a catalyst communicator (CC). A CC is responsible for setting up an environment for continual learning and honing communication for building partnerships for participatory development. Kiiti and Nielsen's essay validates the use of reflective thinking as well as contextualized definitions of roles and purpose. Specifically this essay distinguishes between the role of a facilitator and an advocate, and the importance of the ability to fill both roles depending on the situation. This theme of facilitator vs advocate continues into the next essay, by Ndunge and Erik. This essay discusses how facilitating starts from where the community is at, whereas advocating often has an external motivation and paints near-sighted pictures.
Simone St. Anne follows with an essay on the importance of creativity in synergy, or connection, which is the key to autonomous participation. “Synergy is the spark that triggers thinking and helps form innovative connections to allow others to see what they see – that's the essence of creative collaboration.” (p. 21). This essay is followed by an essay on the enabling conditions of development communication for giving voice to different stakeholders to negotiate their positions and common interests. Then comes on essay that appears to be written by someone recently faced with the harsh divisions associated with development, choosing to write on the personality and character requirements for someone to be a quality facilitator. These include selflessness, willingness to take risks, commitment, persistence, sensitivity, and others that are difficult to understand without extended time working in the field of development (p.21). The last essay included in the section titled the Art of Participation is by Jim Lees and Sonali Ojha who write it while in the midst of a project trying to do participation-based work in the midst of the harsh conditions of the streets of Mumbai.
Reflection
Interesting, how the book 'Autonomous Development' has affected the reading of this story. As much as Autonomous Development appears to be academic and critical in an almost witty way, White's book is much more open, personable, and lightly written. For this reason, her book is soaked with phrases that Carmen, the author of Autonomous Development, would and does tear apart in his book on the failings of participatory development. Of course, in some ways they are acknowledging the same failings, only in very different manners and with very different messages. One example of this is where White talks about 'reaching across' divisions of all kinds and 'lifting' people to a 'higher ground'. Carmen would point out that lifting implies that we are in control and thus are actually reinforcing those very stark power differences.
The essays listed included in this book are very interesting to me. It seems like an interesting opening The introduction to the essay by Ndunge and Erik is interesting because it seems to hint that facilitators are important in bridging the gap between the development goals of the outside world and the sheltered way of life of the people being developed. I certainly hope they would not agree with this assessment, but I wonder if it is not a subconscious reality in the minds of many development workers, especially those with academic training. I also am really excited to read the essay about using creativity to connect to people.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Candid thoughts on the Not-so candid Camera
White, Shirley, ed. Participatory Video: Images that Transform and Empower. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2003. 412 pp. ISBN 0761997636
Chapter 7: "Candid thoughts on the Not-so candid Camera: How Video Documentation Radically Alters Development Projects" by Barbara Seidl
In this chapter Seidl uses her own PV experiences from the past 10 years to outline some of the positive and negative impacts from the presence of a camera in development projects. Within the 3 stages of documentation (pre-production, production, and screening), there are many intentional and unintentional changes that occur due to the camera team. Seidl focuses heavily on bias.
In cases of public broadcasting, there is the bias of the audience as well as the director. Depending on the topic of the research or audience, the frame excludes a large amount of potentially interesting and educational material (p. 162). The director's bias, "operationally, ... means that while documenting someone else's story [the director] knows what is and is not important (p. 162). Many of the below positives and negatives are a result of bias.
Pre-production benefits include (1) focusing of mission, by asking for a definite mission, (2) clear identification of leadership, (3) clear identification of priorities,(4) increase in project's productivity,and (5) increase in organization's credibility.
Pre-production hazards include (1) inadvertently changing the leadership structure, (3) discovering disagreement about the mission or objectives, and (4) Diluting the power of the story.
Production benefits include (1) increased exposure and (2) creation of an opportunity to publicly recognize supporters, leaders, and participants
Production hazards include (1) creation of a very visible and public forum for dissention and (2) a radical drop in productivity because of the presence of the camera.
Chapter 4: "Participatory Video that Empowers" - Renuka Bery
Through the power of the video maker's ability to engage viewers to internalize stories, redefine issues, and take initiative to exercise their own power, "PV helps to rearticulate the locus of power within individual communities and ultimately politics." (p. 103). Empowerment is not inherent to PV, and in fact, is only a tool for achieving an empowered status. The author outlines many steps towards achieving empowerment through the use of PV. reminding the reader that "the strength of the tool is only as powerful as the person wielding it." (p. 105).
Reflection
Contrary to my style with the other books, largely due to the prodding of a friend I delved into this book by first picking out the seemingly most relevant chapters.
In chapter 4, Bery unashamedly refers to PV as though it is completely contained within the realm of successful empowerment strategy, without bothering to remind the reader that this is only under very certain conditions. For instance, she uses the example of a woman interviewing politicians with a camera as giving her an immediate shift in power as she was suddenly noticed by the politicians. This may be an extreme example but it certainly illustrates the point. In this case, she does not bother to mention why the woman was interviewing the politicians, and how much of it was her own initiative, and whether or not she had prior experience in journalism, etc.
If there is one thing that my summer fieldwork taught me, it is that although PV has the potential to disturb the power balance, I don't really think that the immediate impact of physical cameras on the power dynamics in a rural Third World community is likely to be a positive one. Logically, power structures can only be changed as quickly as new ones can be rebuilt and old ones torn down. The introduction of PV into a community, however, is much more immediate, and therefore incapable of fundamentally affecting power structures in a sustainable fashion. On the contrary, immediate effects seem intuitively more likely t0 disturb the structure just enough to agitate it into action, with the more powerful agents feeling threatened.
Chapter 7: "Candid thoughts on the Not-so candid Camera: How Video Documentation Radically Alters Development Projects" by Barbara Seidl
In this chapter Seidl uses her own PV experiences from the past 10 years to outline some of the positive and negative impacts from the presence of a camera in development projects. Within the 3 stages of documentation (pre-production, production, and screening), there are many intentional and unintentional changes that occur due to the camera team. Seidl focuses heavily on bias.
In cases of public broadcasting, there is the bias of the audience as well as the director. Depending on the topic of the research or audience, the frame excludes a large amount of potentially interesting and educational material (p. 162). The director's bias, "operationally, ... means that while documenting someone else's story [the director] knows what is and is not important (p. 162). Many of the below positives and negatives are a result of bias.
Pre-production benefits include (1) focusing of mission, by asking for a definite mission, (2) clear identification of leadership, (3) clear identification of priorities,(4) increase in project's productivity,and (5) increase in organization's credibility.
Pre-production hazards include (1) inadvertently changing the leadership structure, (3) discovering disagreement about the mission or objectives, and (4) Diluting the power of the story.
Production benefits include (1) increased exposure and (2) creation of an opportunity to publicly recognize supporters, leaders, and participants
Production hazards include (1) creation of a very visible and public forum for dissention and (2) a radical drop in productivity because of the presence of the camera.
Chapter 4: "Participatory Video that Empowers" - Renuka Bery
Through the power of the video maker's ability to engage viewers to internalize stories, redefine issues, and take initiative to exercise their own power, "PV helps to rearticulate the locus of power within individual communities and ultimately politics." (p. 103). Empowerment is not inherent to PV, and in fact, is only a tool for achieving an empowered status. The author outlines many steps towards achieving empowerment through the use of PV. reminding the reader that "the strength of the tool is only as powerful as the person wielding it." (p. 105).
Reflection
Contrary to my style with the other books, largely due to the prodding of a friend I delved into this book by first picking out the seemingly most relevant chapters.
In chapter 4, Bery unashamedly refers to PV as though it is completely contained within the realm of successful empowerment strategy, without bothering to remind the reader that this is only under very certain conditions. For instance, she uses the example of a woman interviewing politicians with a camera as giving her an immediate shift in power as she was suddenly noticed by the politicians. This may be an extreme example but it certainly illustrates the point. In this case, she does not bother to mention why the woman was interviewing the politicians, and how much of it was her own initiative, and whether or not she had prior experience in journalism, etc.
If there is one thing that my summer fieldwork taught me, it is that although PV has the potential to disturb the power balance, I don't really think that the immediate impact of physical cameras on the power dynamics in a rural Third World community is likely to be a positive one. Logically, power structures can only be changed as quickly as new ones can be rebuilt and old ones torn down. The introduction of PV into a community, however, is much more immediate, and therefore incapable of fundamentally affecting power structures in a sustainable fashion. On the contrary, immediate effects seem intuitively more likely t0 disturb the structure just enough to agitate it into action, with the more powerful agents feeling threatened.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Redeveloping communication for social change
Wilkins, Karin Gwinn, 1962- Redeveloping communication for social change : theory, practice, and power / Karin Gwinn Wilkins. Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, c2000.
Introduction, Chapters 1 & 2
Power, its construction and manifestation in development, are the focus of this book. The authors reference social change within the context of power over and over. According to their timeline, development communication has gone from the dominant paradigm (articulated by Lerner, Schramm) to dependency theory to participatory with social. Builds off the assumption that promoting social change needs to begin by understanding the differences in power across communities and institutions.
Things a communication specialist might concern themselves with include critical examination of project communications, disaggregating the structures and discourses of aid organizations, by documenting the roles played by formal and informal groups, and by studying media representations of development. (p.10)
“Economic class status and the things that come with it – Western languages, education, professional employment, travel opportunities, spare cash – together constitute a huge obstacle to real dialogue.” (p. 14). Often trained development workers see traditional religion as an obstacle or barrier to dialogue and development; religion is often seen as something that must be changed. Religion is inseparable from culture and dialogue and actually involves important forms of communication including meditation, storytelling, and prayer. (p.15)
Argues that the discussions need to address power inequities in societies in order to begin the process towards change. Prefers to use the term “development support communication” (DSC) rather than development communication. (p.40). DSC emphasizes support for self-determination of people, especially at the grassroots, rather than simply viewing communication as a tool for economic growth.
It is the power inequalities that exist that are at the root of the failed development projects. Until the social and economic structures are equilibriated, no significant progress can be made.
Power in Third World development (p. 44):
1.Power is exemplified through organized money or organized people or through connections between these.
2.Power is exercised via control of economic, political, cultural, and informational resources.
3.Wielders can reward of punish due to connections with available resources
4.Power is exercised through control of the agenda for the development project.
5.Power is exercised by influencing the shared consciousness of a people or community
Empowerment can occur at different levels: individual, organization, and community and take place in a variety of different contexts (p. 45). Empowerment is defined as the mechanism by which each of these levels gain control and mastery over social and economic conditions.
Taking a bold stand against good-intentions aid, Melkote says it is “unethical to solve minor and/or immediate problems while ignoring the systemic barriers erected by societies that permit or perpetuate inequalities among citizens.” (p. 46). The lack of economic, political and social power must be dealt with first.
3 tenets are given for a successful community organization: (1) empowerment is achieved through effective organizations, (2) effective organizations are maintained by strong inter-personal relationships, and (3) individual empowerment and action-reflection which occurs inherently when participating in a social organization. Of particular relevance to my video focus, effective inter-personal links formed by one-on-one communication, as well as use of “indigenous communication media and technology, such as the videotape cameras as used in Nepal or the Fogo community in Canada.” (p.47).
Reflections
The feel of this book is different from the others. The author uses words like “development industry”, and “unethical development”. The clear focus on power as the heart of the problem seems to simplify things at first, but after awhile you realize the problem has only been renamed and its complexities are still the same – precisely as the book tells us, it is recontextualizing the development debate around power structures and the tangible inequalities that become extremely pronounced in Third World development over almost any other activity. I say this because unlike the political arena or the corporate office setting, Third World development takes place during people's real lives at their real homes with their real kids.
And this is precisely why I believe the author is correct when he says that it is unethical to deal with minor/immediate problems only, leaving the ingrained power divides to remain undisturbed. This is because development is not being done in a lab to multiple test communities that can be reproduced on demand. Development happens in real time and has real impacts, both immediately and in the long run. This is no time to pretend that development is headed down a good path, so we let the power structures deal with themselves while we make sure and spend this grant money. No. The answer is clear. If we actually want to help people, we must first deal with the power inequalities.
Introduction, Chapters 1 & 2
Power, its construction and manifestation in development, are the focus of this book. The authors reference social change within the context of power over and over. According to their timeline, development communication has gone from the dominant paradigm (articulated by Lerner, Schramm) to dependency theory to participatory with social. Builds off the assumption that promoting social change needs to begin by understanding the differences in power across communities and institutions.
Things a communication specialist might concern themselves with include critical examination of project communications, disaggregating the structures and discourses of aid organizations, by documenting the roles played by formal and informal groups, and by studying media representations of development. (p.10)
“Economic class status and the things that come with it – Western languages, education, professional employment, travel opportunities, spare cash – together constitute a huge obstacle to real dialogue.” (p. 14). Often trained development workers see traditional religion as an obstacle or barrier to dialogue and development; religion is often seen as something that must be changed. Religion is inseparable from culture and dialogue and actually involves important forms of communication including meditation, storytelling, and prayer. (p.15)
Argues that the discussions need to address power inequities in societies in order to begin the process towards change. Prefers to use the term “development support communication” (DSC) rather than development communication. (p.40). DSC emphasizes support for self-determination of people, especially at the grassroots, rather than simply viewing communication as a tool for economic growth.
It is the power inequalities that exist that are at the root of the failed development projects. Until the social and economic structures are equilibriated, no significant progress can be made.
Power in Third World development (p. 44):
1.Power is exemplified through organized money or organized people or through connections between these.
2.Power is exercised via control of economic, political, cultural, and informational resources.
3.Wielders can reward of punish due to connections with available resources
4.Power is exercised through control of the agenda for the development project.
5.Power is exercised by influencing the shared consciousness of a people or community
Empowerment can occur at different levels: individual, organization, and community and take place in a variety of different contexts (p. 45). Empowerment is defined as the mechanism by which each of these levels gain control and mastery over social and economic conditions.
Taking a bold stand against good-intentions aid, Melkote says it is “unethical to solve minor and/or immediate problems while ignoring the systemic barriers erected by societies that permit or perpetuate inequalities among citizens.” (p. 46). The lack of economic, political and social power must be dealt with first.
3 tenets are given for a successful community organization: (1) empowerment is achieved through effective organizations, (2) effective organizations are maintained by strong inter-personal relationships, and (3) individual empowerment and action-reflection which occurs inherently when participating in a social organization. Of particular relevance to my video focus, effective inter-personal links formed by one-on-one communication, as well as use of “indigenous communication media and technology, such as the videotape cameras as used in Nepal or the Fogo community in Canada.” (p.47).
Reflections
The feel of this book is different from the others. The author uses words like “development industry”, and “unethical development”. The clear focus on power as the heart of the problem seems to simplify things at first, but after awhile you realize the problem has only been renamed and its complexities are still the same – precisely as the book tells us, it is recontextualizing the development debate around power structures and the tangible inequalities that become extremely pronounced in Third World development over almost any other activity. I say this because unlike the political arena or the corporate office setting, Third World development takes place during people's real lives at their real homes with their real kids.
And this is precisely why I believe the author is correct when he says that it is unethical to deal with minor/immediate problems only, leaving the ingrained power divides to remain undisturbed. This is because development is not being done in a lab to multiple test communities that can be reproduced on demand. Development happens in real time and has real impacts, both immediately and in the long run. This is no time to pretend that development is headed down a good path, so we let the power structures deal with themselves while we make sure and spend this grant money. No. The answer is clear. If we actually want to help people, we must first deal with the power inequalities.
Development Theory in Latin America
Kay, Cristóbal. Latin American theories of development and underdevelopment / Cristóbal Kay. London ; New York : Routledge, 1989.
Kay writes a theoretical account of development research that has been done by Latin Americans in Latin America, focusing largely on the cone of South America (Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brasil). It turns out there is a communication disconnect between development carried out by the North and that done in the South. Oftentimes local research agencies and academic institutions are funded by the World Bank or the United Nations to carry out research, but rarely is that information made known to a broader audience since the authors are not known. Kay hopes to facilitate this transfer of information.
Kay begins by laying out two development paradigms: the structuralism and dependency theory. Structuralism comes from critiques of neoclassical analysis, while dependency theory comes from critiques of modernization theory. (p. 2).
Few underdevelop countries satisfied the assumptions underlying neoclassical and Keynesian economics. For instance, in many developing countries, money is not a universal means of exchange, and financial institutions may be limited to capital cities, a large proportion of rural subsidence farmers, limited infrastructure and access to education, etc. Of course the labor and capital markets and price mechanisms work differently there.
An interesting, more specific example is given for how dependency theory came to be. In Latin America, the Dependistas rallied during the late 1960's and early 1970's. Widespread appeal of dependency theory due to national control over development process and investment of foreign capital, possibility of making an autochthonous contribution to the social sceinces and the revoloutionary and reform aspects.
There are two types of dependistas: reformist and Marxist. Marxist fundamentally saw socialist revolution as the only way to solve the problems of dependence and underdevelopment. The reformists were more of Nationalists, pushing for more national control, but maintain that by reforming the capitalist system, system.
Reflection
So in this book we find a categorically more comprehensive counterpart to the Development Communications Sourcebook, though it is limited to Latin America. It delves into the economic side of development instead of focusing on the communications aspect. The interesting part, however, is that this book is a means of communication itself! All books may be to some extent, but this book is an attempt to increase the horizontal communication between professional development organizations.
This book is helpful for reinforcing the general theories of modernization and dependency, as well as reveal the economic acompanying these changes in theory, proving that people's perspectives were changing in general about the holistic activity that development is. Moreover, a more in-depth description is described about the shift between these two theories. The reaons given for Latin America's support of dependency theory is not as simple as that, but incorporates different factions with different motivations and goals in mind.
Clearly the situation is more complex than we can give it credit, a Tower of Babble, as Kay refers to it. Where does one start? How do you go about it? That is where communication must come in!
Development Communication Sourcebook Module 2
Mefalopulos, Paolo. Development communication sourcebook broadening the boundaries of communication. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008. Print.
Module 2 (p. 39-79)
This module, the second of four in the book, delves into the history of development communication, and its current applications. The first part focuses on nebulously defining Information, Communication, Participation, Consultation, Empowerment, Dialog and Capacity building. Mefalopulos defines them relative to one another. For instance, Information is considered a subset of communication (but not vice-versa), but the difference is in theoretical models: one-way vertical flow (information) vs two-way horizontal flow as well as in scope: transmitter attempting to cause change in behavior (information) vs equal opportunity to exchange knowledge and shape the process among individuals who are transmitters and receivers at the same time. Communication refers to circular communicative flow, mutual will to hear and understand one another, a symmetrical relational scheme. Participation is very much a scale. Consultation is a subset of communication and participation in which the decision-making control remains in the hands of a few who decide if and how to take into account the information given during the consultation. Empowerment refers to an inner condition that good communication can facilitate. Dialog is the proffessional use of two-way communication to “engage stakeholders in the definition and investigation of relevant issues of a development initiative.” Capacity building aims to develop specific knowledge and skills (p.39-43).
Worsley (1984) tells us that development is as old as human history, but most say that the conception was the day Truman gave his 1949 speech: “We must embark on a a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.” Should development be run by rich foreigners? Is development simply a way of maintaining a dominant position over developing nations? (p.43-44).
Paolo now enters the meat of this module by splitting up developmental communication into three different theories, or “paradigms”: modernization paradigm, dependency theory and emerging partipatory paradigm The modernization paradigm began in 1949 with the goal of bringing underdeveloped countries out of poverty by pushing for economic growth via free trade. Essentially the goal was to diffuse the wealthy way of life. The communication was media dominated and very much focused on persuasion by SMCR (Source Method Channel Receivers). By the 1980's poverty was only increasing so it was slowly abandoned by everyone. (p.45-47)
Meanwhile, the 1970's brought with it a new theory, called dependency theory. Founded in part by A.G. Frank, this theory did not limit problems or solutions to the developing world but saw them as a part of a complex international system with historical reasons why a few countries are kept rich while the others fall behind. Colonial control has shifted from armies to economies, from soldiers and weaponry to technocrats and technology. The answer proposed by dependency theory is to become more self-reliant and less dependent on foreign imports, and forming international alliances across developing nations to enact change. Strategy failed in most places, except a few cases such as Brasil, because it failed to consider other reasons besides international capitalism. A few things missed are the role national elites and the wide variation in development across nations, making alliances difficult. To address these concerns, Wallerstein proposed the world-system theory, which looks at a more holistic view of capitalism as the sphere around all development and underdevelopment which is a function of many factors including division of labor, control of raw materials, etc. Communication is still not given more attention, and practical differences are not made (p.47-50).
The emerging participatory paradigm grew as a strategy for engaging in participation and empowerment as the keys to long-term development. This is no single theory, but currently a broad collection of proposed methodologies that focus on participation: the empowerment approach (Friedmann 1922); another development (Melkote 1991; Jacobson 1994), and autonomous development (Carmen 1996). More interested in analyzing at project and community levels rather than generalizing across international lines. Also interested in addressing the entire spectrum of issues at the community level. White, in 1982, laid out the major reasons for participation as (1) services provided at lower cost; (2) intrinsic value to participants; (3) catalyst for further development initiatives; (4) sense of project ownership; (5) use of indigenous knowledge and expertise. The experience has been less than optimal due to concerns of managers not having as much control, general complexities, and different definitions of participation (p. 50-55).
In dealing with participation, rigidly defined theoretical structures are neither feasible nor desirable (Servaes, Jacobson, and White 1996). There are 3 main strands of participation: behavior change communication (BCC); communication for social change (CSC), and advocacy communication (AC). BCC is more of the one-way persuasion. CSC emphasizes the social side and the importance of dialogic definitions of change.. AC is communication to influence specific audiences, policies, and programs on key development issues. The “Sourcebook” (this book) adopts the more simple breakdown of diffusion and participation. Major difference here is that failures in development are often to due different understandings and perceptions about the nature of a problem, rather than the problem itself.
“On the epistemological level, there is no clear distinction between the researcher and what is being studied, as the two belong to the same reality. The researcher does not need to be separated from the issue investigate; on the contrary, he or she can and shhould be part of the context in which the investigation takes place in order to better understand it. Finally, at a methodological level, the research can use a number of qualitative and quantitative methods, not following a predetermined priority order, but according to the required needs.” (p. 58)
Role of media and ICT in Development Communication
ICT is analogized to media initiatives in past development projects. These initiatives had less influence than expected, especially if done by diffusion methods. Important to select and use ICT and media only in a way that addresses specific needs within the broader social and communication environment. Must consider economic, technological, and cultural factors. High economic costs for access and internet. Technological issues include training, maintenance, technical support. Culturally, must consider how they will use the technology, and language issues.
Consider the demand for universal connectivity. “There is a long way to go for the new ICTs to even begin to approach a level of universal service or access.” (FAO 2005:17, 9th UN Round Table on Development Communication). Quantifiable and fast exchange transmission flows of information, ICTs are promising, and have been discussed by World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), and have come up with the multistakeholder approach (Servaes). (p. 63)
Coastal livelihood project in Tanzania used participatory video to send video edited by themselves sent to high-ranking officials who acknowledged it, and opened up new lines of communication (p. 64).
Better communication can also be seen as a right-based approach, meaning it is not only effective but also promotes people's participation in accord with the ethical and democratic principles of current development paradigm. (p. 66) Open-ended and process-oriented use of communication is much harder to measure accurately. How to measure trust, empowerment, level of consensus is still unresolved.
Mefalopulos brings it all together into his integrated and project-oriented model, the “communication multitrack approach”. Always begins with dialogic communication, before moving into a multitrack approach using information dissemination, social marketing, lobbying, edu-tainment, community mobilization. Its a path to add to the basics of two-way communication. (p. 68-73).
Reflection
This module was very useful to me. The author has been kind enough to do all my background research on the history of theoretical development communication and has summarized it to an amount only a matter of pages longer than I expect to do in my own thesis. Most importantly, I am able to use some of the terminology provided and definitions to begin labeling the different approaches we found in Peru.
It was also interesting to read about his discussion of capacity building as a small aspect of participation. In Peru capacity building is everything! It is certainly something on the agenda for all the large NGO projects in Peru. If an NGO was doing a housing reconstruction project, for instance, the process often involved beneficiary commitments to help with labor and master the basic steps to building their home so that they feel more ownership and are able to make sure any repairs are made right. The NGOs were for it, the people were for it, and everybody said they were into capacity building, but the actual results were very poor. Rarely did we meet someone who had been changed by their experience as a participant, and it was much more common to find people who were supposed to be involved building their homes with the NGO workers, but they either did not have time due to work or chose to for other reasons.
Also, nice table on p. 59 Table 2.1 Basic Differences in the 2 Communication Modes. This module certainly provided me with a couple nice images for the background of my thesis. Of particular interest was an example discussing the use of participatory video in Tanzania to give voice rather than a message; this is similar to what we were trying to do. Interestingly enough, neither the social issues being addressed by the project nor the outcome are mentioned and the complete information does not seem to be readily available online.
Module 2 (p. 39-79)
This module, the second of four in the book, delves into the history of development communication, and its current applications. The first part focuses on nebulously defining Information, Communication, Participation, Consultation, Empowerment, Dialog and Capacity building. Mefalopulos defines them relative to one another. For instance, Information is considered a subset of communication (but not vice-versa), but the difference is in theoretical models: one-way vertical flow (information) vs two-way horizontal flow as well as in scope: transmitter attempting to cause change in behavior (information) vs equal opportunity to exchange knowledge and shape the process among individuals who are transmitters and receivers at the same time. Communication refers to circular communicative flow, mutual will to hear and understand one another, a symmetrical relational scheme. Participation is very much a scale. Consultation is a subset of communication and participation in which the decision-making control remains in the hands of a few who decide if and how to take into account the information given during the consultation. Empowerment refers to an inner condition that good communication can facilitate. Dialog is the proffessional use of two-way communication to “engage stakeholders in the definition and investigation of relevant issues of a development initiative.” Capacity building aims to develop specific knowledge and skills (p.39-43).
Worsley (1984) tells us that development is as old as human history, but most say that the conception was the day Truman gave his 1949 speech: “We must embark on a a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.” Should development be run by rich foreigners? Is development simply a way of maintaining a dominant position over developing nations? (p.43-44).
Paolo now enters the meat of this module by splitting up developmental communication into three different theories, or “paradigms”: modernization paradigm, dependency theory and emerging partipatory paradigm The modernization paradigm began in 1949 with the goal of bringing underdeveloped countries out of poverty by pushing for economic growth via free trade. Essentially the goal was to diffuse the wealthy way of life. The communication was media dominated and very much focused on persuasion by SMCR (Source Method Channel Receivers). By the 1980's poverty was only increasing so it was slowly abandoned by everyone. (p.45-47)
Meanwhile, the 1970's brought with it a new theory, called dependency theory. Founded in part by A.G. Frank, this theory did not limit problems or solutions to the developing world but saw them as a part of a complex international system with historical reasons why a few countries are kept rich while the others fall behind. Colonial control has shifted from armies to economies, from soldiers and weaponry to technocrats and technology. The answer proposed by dependency theory is to become more self-reliant and less dependent on foreign imports, and forming international alliances across developing nations to enact change. Strategy failed in most places, except a few cases such as Brasil, because it failed to consider other reasons besides international capitalism. A few things missed are the role national elites and the wide variation in development across nations, making alliances difficult. To address these concerns, Wallerstein proposed the world-system theory, which looks at a more holistic view of capitalism as the sphere around all development and underdevelopment which is a function of many factors including division of labor, control of raw materials, etc. Communication is still not given more attention, and practical differences are not made (p.47-50).
The emerging participatory paradigm grew as a strategy for engaging in participation and empowerment as the keys to long-term development. This is no single theory, but currently a broad collection of proposed methodologies that focus on participation: the empowerment approach (Friedmann 1922); another development (Melkote 1991; Jacobson 1994), and autonomous development (Carmen 1996). More interested in analyzing at project and community levels rather than generalizing across international lines. Also interested in addressing the entire spectrum of issues at the community level. White, in 1982, laid out the major reasons for participation as (1) services provided at lower cost; (2) intrinsic value to participants; (3) catalyst for further development initiatives; (4) sense of project ownership; (5) use of indigenous knowledge and expertise. The experience has been less than optimal due to concerns of managers not having as much control, general complexities, and different definitions of participation (p. 50-55).
In dealing with participation, rigidly defined theoretical structures are neither feasible nor desirable (Servaes, Jacobson, and White 1996). There are 3 main strands of participation: behavior change communication (BCC); communication for social change (CSC), and advocacy communication (AC). BCC is more of the one-way persuasion. CSC emphasizes the social side and the importance of dialogic definitions of change.. AC is communication to influence specific audiences, policies, and programs on key development issues. The “Sourcebook” (this book) adopts the more simple breakdown of diffusion and participation. Major difference here is that failures in development are often to due different understandings and perceptions about the nature of a problem, rather than the problem itself.
“On the epistemological level, there is no clear distinction between the researcher and what is being studied, as the two belong to the same reality. The researcher does not need to be separated from the issue investigate; on the contrary, he or she can and shhould be part of the context in which the investigation takes place in order to better understand it. Finally, at a methodological level, the research can use a number of qualitative and quantitative methods, not following a predetermined priority order, but according to the required needs.” (p. 58)
Role of media and ICT in Development Communication
ICT is analogized to media initiatives in past development projects. These initiatives had less influence than expected, especially if done by diffusion methods. Important to select and use ICT and media only in a way that addresses specific needs within the broader social and communication environment. Must consider economic, technological, and cultural factors. High economic costs for access and internet. Technological issues include training, maintenance, technical support. Culturally, must consider how they will use the technology, and language issues.
Consider the demand for universal connectivity. “There is a long way to go for the new ICTs to even begin to approach a level of universal service or access.” (FAO 2005:17, 9th UN Round Table on Development Communication). Quantifiable and fast exchange transmission flows of information, ICTs are promising, and have been discussed by World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), and have come up with the multistakeholder approach (Servaes). (p. 63)
Coastal livelihood project in Tanzania used participatory video to send video edited by themselves sent to high-ranking officials who acknowledged it, and opened up new lines of communication (p. 64).
Better communication can also be seen as a right-based approach, meaning it is not only effective but also promotes people's participation in accord with the ethical and democratic principles of current development paradigm. (p. 66) Open-ended and process-oriented use of communication is much harder to measure accurately. How to measure trust, empowerment, level of consensus is still unresolved.
Mefalopulos brings it all together into his integrated and project-oriented model, the “communication multitrack approach”. Always begins with dialogic communication, before moving into a multitrack approach using information dissemination, social marketing, lobbying, edu-tainment, community mobilization. Its a path to add to the basics of two-way communication. (p. 68-73).
Reflection
This module was very useful to me. The author has been kind enough to do all my background research on the history of theoretical development communication and has summarized it to an amount only a matter of pages longer than I expect to do in my own thesis. Most importantly, I am able to use some of the terminology provided and definitions to begin labeling the different approaches we found in Peru.
It was also interesting to read about his discussion of capacity building as a small aspect of participation. In Peru capacity building is everything! It is certainly something on the agenda for all the large NGO projects in Peru. If an NGO was doing a housing reconstruction project, for instance, the process often involved beneficiary commitments to help with labor and master the basic steps to building their home so that they feel more ownership and are able to make sure any repairs are made right. The NGOs were for it, the people were for it, and everybody said they were into capacity building, but the actual results were very poor. Rarely did we meet someone who had been changed by their experience as a participant, and it was much more common to find people who were supposed to be involved building their homes with the NGO workers, but they either did not have time due to work or chose to for other reasons.
Also, nice table on p. 59 Table 2.1 Basic Differences in the 2 Communication Modes. This module certainly provided me with a couple nice images for the background of my thesis. Of particular interest was an example discussing the use of participatory video in Tanzania to give voice rather than a message; this is similar to what we were trying to do. Interestingly enough, neither the social issues being addressed by the project nor the outcome are mentioned and the complete information does not seem to be readily available online.
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