The New Development Context in Morocco and Communication for Development

If development can be compared to the weaving of a cloth by millions of human beings, the thread of communication can weave the fabric in a sustainable way. And as long as the populations concerned by community development projects do not become the true actors of their own development management, no management or technology contribution alone will be able to improve their living standards in a sustainable manner. The contribution of communication to a development project is considerable: identification and prioritization of development priorities, search for collective solutions and reinforcement of the feeling of belonging to the said projects that they have decided to undertake. However, since the launch of the national incentive for human development in 2005, by His Majesty Mohamed VI, a multiplication of community development projects has emerged, aiming at the appropriation of communication strategies for development. However, due to a lack of professionalism, most LDAs are locked into rigid management logics exacerbated by the reference frameworks of international institutions. As a result, LDAs neglect the communication dimension of the development project to focus solely on its technical aspects.

Social Change: Bringing Allies to the Field. An Interdisciplinary Model

This chapter discusses the proposition that development programmes may not place sufficient value on the use of strategic communication, and instead focus on information and awareness campaigns that offer no guarantee of effective change. The chapter seeks to emphasise the importance of strategic communication when applied to behavioural change and effective social change. To this end, certain fundamental concepts will be revisited, such as communication for development and social change and its capacity to embed strategic thinking. Furthermore, we will try to understand the essentials of participatory communication, social marketing, and behavioural sciences, as disciplines to be convened in communication strategies for social change. Assuming that any act of communication of development programmes aims to influence attitudes and behaviours that will foster better living conditions for communities or a more sustainable future, communication should be viewed less as an isolated task and more as a tool to promote effective change. It is not sufficient to launch information campaigns or create awareness about a specific topic. It is necessary to identify what kind of reaction is intended and set corresponding behavioural objectives. Setting concrete, delimited, and measurable objectives is one of the mandatory variables of strategic communication planning in many fields and must underpin social change strategies. Strategic communication is also characterised by the attention given to situation analysis, making it possible to obtain objective data and an overview of the context, in order to support strategic decisions. This is a traditional practice in activities that are pursued by private organisations and should always remain top of mind in contexts of societal development. Strategic communication must also increase interdisciplinarity, as has been pointed out by academic experts. Revisiting the associated arguments inspires us to create a strategic communication matrix for social change, based on a cross-disciplinary perspective. As an ultimate goal, this chapter defends the transposition, with the necessary adaptations, of consolidated practices in other field, to the arena of social change. On this basis, a working model will be proposed that articulates the contributions of the various aforementioned disciplines to be adopted, for instance, in the communication strategies of sustainable development goals.

Community Engagement to Tackle Infectious Threats in Bangladesh, Uganda and Ukraine - A Research in Progress on a Social Science Mapping Process

Background: Successful epidemic preparedness and response require an understanding of social behaviour: social values, priorities and practices fundamentally shape human engagements with measures to prepare for and to prevent epidemics and antimicrobial resistance. Because of its capacity to document and evaluate health-seeking behaviors, local understandings of disease and explanations of transmission, and local reactions to public health interventions, social science, in particular anthropological research is well positioned to facilitate insight into these priorities and practices.Method: The SoNAR-Global project (A Social Science Network for Infectious Threats and Antimicrobial Resistance) undertook a mapping and assessment of existing Community Engagement (CE) models that target infectious threats and/or antimicrobial resistance (AMR) Bangladesh, Uganda and Ukraine, which are integrated in the project through partner universities. We compared our findings with the UNICEF Communication for Development (C4D) Minimum Quality Standards for Community Engagement. Conclusions: On these grounds, we emphasize six critical elements for Community Engagement before and during epidemics. We argue that CE efforts must cooperate and dialogue with people in need and negotiate integrated, localized public health models that improve their lives before and during an epidemic.Results: We identified and recommend currently available social science tools for Community Engagement, which correspond to the six critical elements and can contribute to enhance preparedness and response activities to infectious threats.

Blending Local Government Authorities and Grassroots for Industrial Economy Through Participatory Development Communication in Tanzania

The chapter using participatory communication for development approach seeks to gauge the performance of LGAs in drawing the grassroots into taking a leading role in micro-manufacturing development. The study was conducted in Bahi district and it involved two wards, namely Mpamantwa and Bahi-sokoni. Focus group discussions, observation, and interviews were used as data collection methods. A total of 51 participants were used in the study. The results revealed the relationship between industrialization awareness and achievement of industrialization vision. People at the grassroots are still not aware of their role in industrialization process due to lack of education and capacity. At the same time, LGAs also still wait or depend on the central government on the process. The study recommends awareness creation through participatory communication strategies to both LGAs and the grassroots and improvement of the line of communication between the LGAs, grassroots, and other key players in the development of industrial economy.