Studies in Development Communication

 

Uses, benefits and challenges of using rural community telecentres as tools for development: the Case of Vikwa Community Telecentre in Kasungu, Malawi

Sellina Khumbo Kapondera,

Lecturer & Head, Department of Library and

Information Services,

Mzuzu University, Mzuzu, Malawi, Email:

skapondera@gmail.com

&

Dave Mankhokwe Namusanya, Community,

Youth Development and

Development Communication Consultant, Blantyre, Malawi.

Email: dnamusanya@gmail.com

 

Abstract

This paper examines the uses, benefits and challenges of using telecentres as

tools for development in Malawi focusing on one community telecentre: Vikwa Community Telecentre in the Kasungu district of Malawi. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered using a questionnaire administered to 46 users; interviews with the Telecentre Manager; and observation of the categories of people coming to the telecentres; what they were using and challenges sues and challenges within the telecentre. The findings indicate that the users are improving their skills and knowledge, school performance, finding new friends and saving money. The community uses the telecentre to improve work related skills, keep in touch with friends and families and look for jobs. The negative finding is that telecentre usage is uneven as users are generally poor male youths with little education. Furthermore, the users face a number of challenges when using the telecentre. For the telecentre to have more impact on development, the paper recommends that the Vikwa Telecentre should work on attracting all groups of people in the community, change the internet service provider, buy an electricity generator, acquire more books and computers and train staff in customer care.

Key words: development, telecentres, Malawi, multipurpose community

telecentres, Vikwa Community Telecentre.

Journal of Development and Communication Studies

Vol. 5. No. 1, July 2016 – June 2017

 

Click to access article%201%20jdcs%205.1_0.pdf

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Reconstructing Collective Memory through Participatory Approaches: a Study of Transparency International-Kenya’s Citizen Demand Programme

 

David Katiambo, Department of Communication Science, University of South Africa/ & Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Technical University of Kenya. Email: Katiambo@yahoo.com

&

Gloria Ooko, Department of Media Studies, The University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Email: glooko15@gmail.com

Abstract

This study evaluated a civic education programme, ‘Citizen Demand Programme’, by Transparency International–Kenya (TI-K) that was aimed at increasing accountability through citizen participation in governance following the 2010 Constitution. This article presents results of the programme in a rural community in Kenya. Specifically, the article analysed the narrative approach to dialogue used by TI-K facilitators to determine how it enabled citizens to construct memory, enabling them to demand more accountability. Paulo Freire’s concept of dialogue it was used as both a theoretical framework and a tool of analysis. The study used a mixed method approach and explanatory sequential design; structured random sampling and purposive sampling to come up with a sample of 250 for the quantitative phase and 16 for the qualitative phase. Findings show that participatory narratives provide channels for alternative stories, creating a wider collective memory different from that created by non-participatory strategies. Further, the participatory approaches helped construct an alternative collective memory different from that created by mainstream media and the political elite. The programme enabled the previously excluded non-elites to enter public debate. Thus, participation created retrospect memory based on which people had some expectations of what should happen in future.

Key words: accountability, collective memory, dialogue, Kenya, transparency international

Journal of Development and Communication Studies

Vol. 5. No. 1, July 2016 – June 2017

http://www.devcomsjournalmw.org/sites/default/files/papers/article%205%20jdcs%205.1.pdf

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The Media, Development Communication, and Governance in Nigeria: The Press for National Integration

 

By

Ephraim Okoro

Howard University

Abstract

This paper analyzes the role of communication media/news sources towards sustainable governance in an emerging democracy. It specifically examines and discusses the relationship between the press and governance, and the contributions of the press in political development and national integration in Nigeria. The methodology used was a hybrid approach consisting of analytical technique of historical/critical descriptive and content analysis of selected past and current literature on development and political issues. Agenda-setting theory guided the analysis of the relationship of news sources with governments as well as the role of the press in national unity and development. It was determined that the increasing proliferation of news sources in the country does not translate into objective and independent coverage of political issues and events. The study then concludes that development initiatives in a pluralistic and culturally – diverse country should be holistic and situation-realistic. A conceptual – theoretical framework of Press Participation – Based Integrative Model (PPBIM) for sustainable development governance in Nigeria was recommended.

Key Words: Sustainable development, Agenda-setting, Political development, National integration, Press Participation-Based Integrative Model

 

http://hrmars.com/hrmars_papers/The_Media%2C_Development_Communication%2C_and_Governance_in_Nigeria_The_Press_for_National_Integration.pdf

 

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APPLICATION OF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION IN AFRICA’S RURAL DEVELOPMENT – NEED FOR A PARADIGM SHIFT

 

By

 

Grade O. Imoh, Ph.D.

Department of Mass Communication, Faculty Of The Social Sciences, Delta State

University, P.M.B.1, Abraka,

Delta State, Nigeria.

 

ABSTRACT:

Development communication was introduced as an integral part of rural

development in Africa in the 1950s and 1960s to promote and facilitate the participation of the rural poor in the sharing of the benefits of development as well as the responsibility for development decision making. The development communication system models derived essentially from dominant economic development theories of the west which emphasised information and persuasion, increases in production and consumption, technological innovation, high level of capital investment and the trickle down of benefits. The extensionist dependent, pro-urban, pro-literate, pro-mass media, one-way flow of influence oriented messages from development workers at the top to the rural peasantry at the bottom (otherwise known as top-down) encouraged source oriented, authoritarian, manipulative and persuasive communication that created dependent rather than collaborative relationships between the source and the receivers of development messages. This paper reviews the impact of development communication in Africa rural development and observes that most programmes did not achieve the desired goals. The paper therefore, calls for a bottom-up, horizontal and participatory communication approaches that actively involve the rural people in the conceptualisation of the problems, setting of objectives and designing of strategies and messages that are capable of reaching all and producing uniform comprehension and acceptance of development messages.

KEYWORDS:

Development, Communication, Dependency Relationships, Rural Communication in Africa.

http://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/Application-of-Development-Communication-in-Africa%E2%80%99s-Rural-Development-NEED-For-a-Paradigm-Shift.pdf