Dr Rajeev Lourembam shares his views on the career prospects of ‘Development Communication.’
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| Photo by fauxels from Pexels |
Taking the opportunity of this platform, I’m underlying some significant perspective of “Development Communication”. To comprehend with more clarity of the subject lets create a scene. For the purpose, we need to do some flashback of the Indian society. When we open the pages of New India immediately after Independence in 1947; poverty, hunger, health issue, unemployment, education and poor economy etc. were the elements of our society.
Besides, the practices of social evil system, untouchability, superstitious and social stereotyping etc. were also part of an underdeveloped Indian society. The challenges we were facing after colonial masters had freed India from their shackles of subjugation were massive. The poor economic condition, social development and poor quality of life were the challenges.
Development was the concerned of New India. Development itself is a complex, multi-dimensional and broad term. According to The United Nations Development Program, development is “to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable, to have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living and to be able to participate in the life of the community”. After post colonization and post World War II development was the priorities of Latin American countries, African nation and South Asian Nation.
The earlier thinking about development during the sixties was dominated by W.W. Rostow’s theory of economic development. It is the method of increasing the real per capita income of a country over a long period of time accompanied by changes in its structure and institutions.
The dominant thinking about development during this period was that, capital intensives technology imported from advanced countries, would lead to economic growth, industrialization and increase in per capita income, which by itself lead to improvement in the leaving standards of the population. India as well followed western economic model of development which was commonly known as “Dominant Paradigm”. For instance, the second five-year plan of India (1956-61) laid special emphasis on industrialization, increased production of iron and steel, heavy chemicals including nitrogenous fertilizers and development of heavy engineering and machine-building industry.
However, Western economic model failed to explain economic backwardness of many countries. The limitation of this model is quite a few, mentioned may be it is based on national income statistics, which does not include major portions of real income generating from un-organised sector like work done in household. And the model also failed to explain the economy of those countries which are reached in natural resources, minerals and oils. Once these resources are consumed, the development process in these countries might cease. Therefore, this kind of economic development based on natural resources is hollow and temporary.
Communication experts, sociologists, psychologists and economists agree that the proper use of communication can foster the pace and process of development. The practice of development communication began in the 1940s, but widespread application came about after World War II. The advent of communication science in the 1950s included recognition of the field as an academic discipline, led by Daniel Lerner, Wilbur Schramm and Everett Rogers.
Development communication is relatively younger field of study within the field of communication. Like the science of communication, development communication has come to stay. The term development communication was coined in 1972 by Nora Quebral, who defined the field as
“the art and science of human communication applied to the speedy transformation of a country and the mass of its people from poverty to a dynamic state of economic growth that makes possible greater social equality and larger fulfilment of human potential”.
Development communication refers to the use of different forms of communication to facilitate socio-economic development of the weaker section of the society. It seeks socio-economic development in the direction of the higher quality of life. In development communication different forms of communication like interpersonal, group or mass communication are employed to change the behaviour and practices of the people.
Under mass communication different types of mass media like radio, tv, newspaper etc are use to disseminate development information. It used favourable communication media based on the target audience to make the communication effective.
Development communication engages stakeholders and policy makers, establishes conducive environments, assesses risks and opportunities and promotes information exchanges to bring about positive social change via sustainable development. Development communication techniques include information dissemination and education, behaviour change, social marketing, social mobilization, media advocacy, communication for social change and community participation.
Communication for Development (C4D) project in India
- In 1959 TV was introduced in Delhi as an experiment for social communication by providing community TV sets.
- In 1961, ‘Educational TV’ began to support middle and higher secondary school education.
- In 1967, ‘Krishi Darshan’ was telecast for 20 minutes on Wednesday and Friday and served 80 villages around Delhi provided with community TV sets.
- In 1976 Doordarshan was separated from radio. Doordarshan has been used over the years to deliver a number of messages on family planning, immunization, nutrition of mother and child etc.
- In 1975-76, Satellite Instructional Television Experiment was launched as a one year pilot project using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s ATS-6 satellite to broadcast educational messages through satellite to 2400 villages in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Orissa, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
- In 1976, The Kheda Communication Project (KCP) was launched as an TV experiment for empowerment and participatory rural development.
- In 1984, the country wide classroom of University Grants Commission dedicated to higher education started its telecast on Doordarshan with one hour educational programmes.
- In the mid of 1990s the Jhabua Development Communication Project (JDCP) was launched. Jhabua’s residents are India’s poorest and 85% population is tribal and its literacy rate is 15%. The purpose of the project was to experiment with the utilization of an interactive satellite-based broadcasting network to support development and education.
- In 2000, Gyandarshan a satellite channel was launched which devoted exclusively to education in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Resource Development and Indira Gandhi National Open University.
Career in Development communication
There are national and international organizations where one can make a career in this field. The government of India has initiated various policy and programmes focusing on different parameters of development. Mention may be in the field of health, income generation, education, empowerment of women and gender equality, family and social welfare programmes and so on. To reach out this various development programmes to the masses appropriate channel of communication is necessary. A part from mass publicity/awareness made in radio, newspaper and TV or social media the government is hiring youth of the nation having degree in Mass communication to engage in planning of participatory communication approach for development.
International organization like UNICEF as well focus on various development programmes to achieve the goals of Sustainable Development. UNICEF works in across 190 countries including India. In India under “Communication for Development” program of UNICEF give priorities on child protection, early childhood development, education for marginalized children, gender equality, health, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, social, and water sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
In India Civil Societies Bodies and NGOs are very active. There are many such organizations working for the development of marginalized section of population. Having knowledge of development communication is an immense opportunity for those who want to start up their own organization devoted to the welfare and development of weaker section of our society.
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