ELABORATE WITH APPROPRIATE EXAMPLES THE

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COMMUNICATION FOR

DEVELPOMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNICATION.

Development communication is a social process based on dialogue using a broad range of

tools and methods. It is also about seeking change at different levels, including listening,
building trust, sharing knowledge and skill-building policies, debating and learning for
sustained meaningful change. It is the art and science of human communication applied to
the speedy transformation of a country from poverty to a dynamic state of economic
growth and makes possible greater economic and social equality and the larger fulfilment of
human potential.
Communication for development (C4D) A social process based on dialogue using a broad
range of tools and methods. It is also about seeking change at different levels including
listening, building trust, sharing knowledge and skills, building policies, debating and
learning for sustained and meaningful change. It stresses on the need of two-way
communication.

Comparison on Development Communication and Communication for Development (C4D)

 Information
Development Communication: It provides useful information. People understand
their own needs better through this.
Development for Communication: Is a tool for social and political transformation. It
not just provides information to people but here their needs, struggles and
approaches to overcome become information. It targets specific groups of people in
a clearly defined social and cultural environment in order to identify their concerns
and needs and foster their participation.
 Involvement & effectiveness
Development communication: It takes humans into account. Development
communication is primarily associated with rural problems, but is also concerned
with urban problems. This approach also uses participatory mechanisms involving
NGOs, CBOs, Traditional Leadership structures. Participation
processes determine significantly whose voices are heard and amplified and whose
 are muted.
Development for communication: Communication for development as a practice
seeks to provide a framework through which the most appropriate actions can be
taken to empower communities and to make policy makers more accountable. As it is
based mostly on involvement of the poor
and more marginalised people. It focusses more on rural development. D4C is more
affective approach than dev communication.
 Participation
Development Communication: Development communication supports sustainable
change in development operations by engaging key
stakeholders in the development process. Development communication tries to
establish two-way flows to share knowledge, opinions and perceptions among the
stakeholders. In this type of communication, a key stakeholder can be government
who is initiating the project it can even be an NGO.
Development for Communication: In true sense D4C simulate the participation
because it involves the ground level individuals / organization / group of individuals
to innate the steps and make them empower, rase awareness, educate, influence
and motivate them.
 Feedback
Development Communication: It is not a one-way process and often involves
feedback mechanisms about the information transferred except in case of monologic
communication. Mostly we can observe it as monologic process.
Development for communication: D4C is based on dialogue with lots of emotion
involvement, it is a two-way and multi directional no one way process.
 Tools
Development communication: As it is based on dialogue using a broad range of tools
and methods. It is also about seeking change at different levels, including listening,
building trust, sharing knowledge and skill-building policies,
debating and learning for sustained meaningful change.
Development for communication: C4D uses a wide range of methods and channels.
The communication tool and/or media best suited to a specific end will depend on
the target audience and the social and cultural environment in which we are
operating three types of tools: a) direct communication between people (Public
hearings Peer visits, e.g. farmer to farmer, Public contests, Street theatre, Photo
exhibitions
b) communication through conventional printed or electronic media (press,
radio, television, etc.
c) communication through the wide range of new media and multimedia (Facebook,
YouTube, websites, text messages, etc.)
Examples of Development Communication
Case Study 1: Role of Radio Mewat (90.4 MHz) operating in in local governance Mewat
district of Haryana
The reporting team of Radio Mewat comprised of eight reporters and two volunteers, all
belonging to the local community. The station’s programs involved local people as
presenters, performers, participants in discussions and interviews.
Role of radio station (Radio Mewat ) in local governance:
In its programme ‘Aapki Police Aapke Saath’, the SSP of the area announced from the studio
awards for those getting their FIRs submitted on the station, and told the action taken on
those FIRs in the next episode. Along with it, the SP of the area used the studio to make
important announcements regarding traffic control, crimes, khaps, etc. Listeners were
offered a chance to report any accident to the helpline number and were assured of a
reward and a police commendation certificate
OUTCOME: In this way, the station was acting as a platform for effective dialogic mode of
communication between the police and the people and ensuring good governance through
people’s participation.
CASE STUDY 2: Shubh Kal
Shubh Kal, an initiative of Development Alternatives and the Swiss Agency for Development
and Cooperation is a pilot project and supports measures that eventually lead to better
income, improved resource management, lower carbon footprint and overall reduction in
climate vulnerability of the population. This project has three target groups: farmers,
artisans and women who are trying to improve their livelihood conditions in the drought
affected Bundelkhand region. The project area has been facing constant drought for the last
few years; few livelihood options and low literacy level are major problems and, hence, the
initiative has been trying to improve the lives of these three target groups by devising micro
projects that are relevant to climate change adaptation.
Due to the context, some complexities in the content and to the need for capacity building,
here the communication strategy relies mostly on interpersonal and group methods like
focus group discussion, knowledge mapping, exposure visits to other relevant project areas,
etc. The key stakeholders have been associated with the process from the beginning so that
no misunderstanding may take root in their mind. We are hopeful that the initiative will lead
to the expected projects results within the timeframe.
OUTCOME: development projects initiated by the Government fail because from the
beginning of the development project, key stakeholders were not involved in the
preparatory and planning phases. The lack of proper communication at the initial stage
generates suspicions among stakeholders and leads to misunderstanding and negative
attitude towards the projects. The cause of these problems, and ultimately of the project
failure, is the lack of two-way communication.
CASE STUDIES of Communication for Development (C4D):
CASE STUDY 1: AFRICA: Strengthening journalism capacities
UNESCO (nodal agency) along with L’Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme de Lille (France) and
Rhodes University (South Africa) implemented the project through C4D approach as they
felt that many African journalism institutions did not have the resources to develop a
learning environment and found that Africa continent needs a core of excellent facilities and
a wider network with other schools. Accordingly, 21 of the most promising journalism
schools and university departments in Africa had been supported by UNESCO to become
either Centres of Excellence or Centres of Reference in journalism education. The project
started in 2007 and was expected to conclude in 2014.
OUTCOME: A detail digital map including 96 journalism schools was prepared and 12
institutions were identified as potential Centres of Excellence out of which eight received
UNESCO assistance to establish media resource centres, improve libraries and facilitate
networking space. This was done on “consensus basis” though active participation and
dialogues among the representatives of all the media institutes, funding and implementing
agencies. Also the Model Curricula for journalism educations were developed by UNESCO
and its partners with detail consultation with all 21 selected journalism schools
representatives held on March 2008 at Grahamstown, South Africa followed up with
meeting at Windhoek in 2009. The decision making was totally participatory and dialogue
based in nature and the flow of information was horizontal.
CASE STUDY 2: Kishori Abhijan - Empowerment of adolescents in BANGLADESH
UNICEF, UNFPA and United Nations Foundation along with their partners Bangladesh
Institute of Development Studies, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, Centre for
Mass Education in Science implemented this project during 2001 to 2005 through C4D
approach to build life skill capabilities of young people using peer-to-peer learning
approaches; promoting intergenerational dialogue on sensitive social issues through
community support groups; and involving young people in setting indicators to measure
social change.
OUTCOME: The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee and the Centre for Mass
Education in Science are currently operating close to 3,000 Life Skills-Based Education (LBSE)
centres in 28 rural districts. In addition, 128 government high schools in 64 rural districts are
involved in the LSBE process through the Bangladesh Shishu Academy. After participating in
LSBE training-of-trainer sessions, teenagers acquire the skills to carry out peer-to-peer
discussions back in their own communities. Support groups, backed by parents and
influential figures such as teachers and religious leaders, have been established at the local
level to help promote a more enabling environment for young people within their
community on a range of often sensitive and complex issues, especially for adolescent girls.