Communication for Social Change Consortium
The CFSC Consortium is a nonprofit organization working globally to help people living in poor communities lift their voices, stories, ideas, and beliefs in order to influence the change they need in their societies and in their lives.
Founded in early 2003 as a nonprofit organization, the Consortium builds upon work that began in 1997 at the Rockefeller Foundation as a special grant-making exploration. Since our founding, we have worked through advocacy, research, publications, teaching and training to enhance the practice of communication for development and social change with a special emphasis on participatory approaches such and public and private dialogue leading to community-based decision-making and collective action leading to long-term social change.
We also work directly within and for a number of development and international aid organizations to influence the way communication for development and social change is done.
We have grown into a network of committed practitioners and scholars who believe that communication must be bottom-up (as opposed to top down and externally generated), empowering, and based upon principles of tolerance, equity, justice, and unleashing the voices of the previously unheard.
Among our partner organizations are many of the UN agencies, international NGOs, foundations, international aid organizations and divisions within the World Bank, IADB and universities in the North and South.
We have included on the site many of the CFSC publications, speeches and meeting proceedings generated during the past few years. Soon, the site will become more interactive, with public space for dialogue about critical issues facing communicators.
We want all our visitors to take advantage of the CFSC resources included here, so most documents are available in down-loadable format. The site that you are visiting today will continue to grow, with new entries added weekly. So please remember to come back often.
In the meantime, if you are moved by what you read, you can help us do our work by sending your ideas, suggestions and monetary contributions to:
Communication for Social Change Consortium
Suite 2F, 14 South Orange Avenue
South Orange, NJ 07079 United States
info@communicationforsocialchange.org
All contributions are tax deductible according to the United States Internal Revenue Service guidelines. We are also a registered charity in the United Kingdom and Wales, charity registration number: 1125636
Thanks for your interest and we look forward to a long-lasting relationship.
Denise Gray-Felder
President and Chief Executive Officer
Communication for Social Change Consortium
Veuillez cliquer ici pour la plaquette du Consortium CFSC en français.
Oprime aquí para el folleto del Consorcio CCS en español.
What's New
Please join the CFSC Consortium in London on March 10 for Stimulating Discourse
The Board of Directors of the Communication for Social Change Consortium Europe invites you to a public conversation on "Social Networking and the Future of International Development" on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 5:30 p.m. at the Institute for Global Health, Imperial College, London
Call for Papers: RUC Sunrise Triple C Conference Climate - Change - Communication
Roskilde University, Denmark is inviting submissions of paper abstracts to the RUC Sunrise Triple C Conference: Climate - Change - Communication from April 20-22, 2010. This is part of the university's efforts to address the various impacts of climate change on a regional, as well as global level after the United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009 (COP15).
Highlights from the CFSC Consortium in 2009
In 2009, the Consortium engaged in programs that showed the value of the efforts of our local partners and its commitment to lead initiatives that will uplift the lives of poor communities, especially children. This document highlights some of the best programs this year.
Future Connect: A Review of Social Networking Today, Tomorrow and Beyond, and Challenges for AIDS Communicators
Social networking sites and services (SNS) are radically changing the communication landscape. Development organizations and communicators must understand and use online social networking if they are to influence and effectively communicate with young people about social issues like AIDS. The report "Future Connect: A Review of Social Networking Today, Tomorrow and Beyond, and Challenges for AIDS Communicators," produced by the Communication Working Group of aids2031, discusses how youth are actively engaging with SNS and strategies on how to tap into digital technologies. The "Future Connect" report also recommends how HIV AIDS communicators can use the learning to productively engage young people based on insights gathered from SNS research, experiments, and case study observations from across the globe.
AIDS is not over: long-term, progressive leadership needed to change face of the epidemic by 2031
Since 1988, the global community working against HIV and AIDS has noted December 1 as a way of promoting constructive dialogue about AIDS, engaging in joint problem-solving and elevating public attention to the magnitude of the pandemic. The CFSC Consortium leads the communication subcommittee of the aids2031 initiative. It is our fervent hope that by the year 2031 the world will no longer need a World AIDS Day.
The next issue of Mazi, our electronic report, will focus on the long-term future of AIDS and will look at community-based dialogue about AIDS. If your organization is managing innovative initiatives designed to address public values and social norms about AIDS, we would love to hear your story. Please send a summary of your work to: Mazi Editor (info@cfsc.org) no later than 18 December 2009.
Innovative developments in the Monitoring and Evaluation of Social Change Communication
The Consortium is leading a multi-actor, multi-staged process of research and learning in the evaluation of Social Change Communication (SCC), with colleagues at Panos, UNAIDS and other civil society stakeholders (members of the SCC Working Group). In May 2009, Ailish Byrne, the Consortium's Senior Associate for Research and Evaluation, led a meeting in Brighton of leading practitioners and thinkers in the field and they crystallised key questions and challenges, examples of innovative practice, sound published materials and recommendations to strengthen M&E more widely.
Positive Reviews for the CFSC Anthology
This month, we feature two reviews of the Spanish edition of the CFSC Anthology: Historical and Contemporary Readings. Click here to read the critical evaluation of Prof. Amparo Cadavid Bringe from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia which was published in Signo y Pensamiento and that of Morelis Gonzalo which appeared in Humania del Sur. The Antologia continues to receive positive reviews in various book launches in Latin America. Visit our site regularly to read other articles featuring this book.
Communication For Social Change Anthology: Historical and Contemporary Readings
 |  |
| English Version | Spanish Version |
This groundbreaking book brings together a broad variety of views and features more than 150 key thinkers throughout the world. Edited by Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron and Thomas Tufte, the anthology reviews the evolution of communication for social change thinking from the early 20th century to the present. With more than 1,000 pages, this reference work is essential for communication and development experts as well as for anyone conducting business globally.