Jurgen Horlbeck called the Anthology “a mammothret” and did an interesting digression on the etymology of the word, indicating that in late Greek, and then in late Latin “mammothreptus” signifies “raised by the grandmother”, therefore a very well suckled and fed, and supposedly chubby and strong infant. He alluded to the monumental dimensions of the work, the effort and the fine care that was invested, as well as the time spent on it. He added that the book would have an important function in the university, exactly because it would “feed those who dare to consult it”.

According to Professor Cadavid, who intervened immediately after, the book is “a complete ’state of the art’ that covers practically all that has been produced in five continents” in the field of communication for the development, “with a level of refinement in the selection of contributions that are pertinent to enrich this field“. In her recount of authors, she mentioned that nine are Colombian: Jesus Martin Barbero and José Miguel Pereira reside in the country, though this is not the case for Clemencia Rodriguez, Arturo Escobar, Sonia Fraser-Restrepo, Carlos Cortés, Rafael Obregón and Pilar Riaño. The social scientist Orlando Fals Borda passed away before seeing published the work in Spanish.

Finally Jesus Martin Barbero, worldwide recognized Latin-American author, thanked Gumucio Dagron and Tufte “for having been capable of including so many voices and to weave them together. This book is a weaving of multiple voices, with an enormous presence and power of Latin American thinking, and this is key, really key from our countries towards the rest of the world“.

He added that “the book has two bets: the first one to think about the transformation of society and the second, to think it from the communication perspective not as a technique -which today is the obsession of the vast majority of communication faculties in Latin America, too attentive to the market who dictates brazenly how to educate communicators. For me and all those that have been fighting for this cause for almost 40 years, to find this global book, in the best sense of the word, which places in the centre social change and the weaving of the realities of which communication is made -much more than media-, is an enormous satisfaction“.

“As insinuated by Alfonso, there has been a pioneering thinking for a long time in Latin America, but the North continues looking at us from above. There is a precious expression by Appadurai: ‘They continue thinking of us as providers of raw materials for the north theoretical mills’“, he added.

“Justice is done now, I mean it with pride also because Thomas Tufte, (although being Danish, has spent much time in Brazil and other places of Latin America) identifies himself with the perspective from which we work in this region. And in this book what we find, really, is a bet for dialogue between the world and Latin America. It places Latin America in the world and allows the world -in the English version - to learn that here we don’t just produce raw materials so that the mills in the North can grind them; here we are not only native informers on the exotic forms of communication of Latin America; here we have as much thinking or more. However, it is a pity that this is not only problem of northern countries, but of the majority of communication faculties in Latin America; every time bibliographical research is done, save four or five of us that are rewarded, there is an enormous quantity of cheap bibliography of signatures with a lot of market in the north.“ 

…/// 

The first launching took place in Cali, vibrant city in the Southwest of Colombia, where Alfonso Gumucio Dagron was invited to participate in a number of activities around the presentation of the ANTOLOGIA: meetings with scholars and students, interviews, visits and exchanges with participatory communication projects. All activities were coordinated by two dynamic professors of the Universidad Javeriana de Cali, Fanny Franco and Mónica Marión, who have been instrumental in developing a communication for social change approach with their students.

On Thursday February 27th during a half day workshop for faculty of the Communication Department Alfonso Gumucio did a presentation on “Communicating for social change”, the roots and evolution of the theoretical framework of this field of research currently in construction. A discussion with communication professors followed.

In the evening a one-hour interview conducted by Father Gabriel Jaime Perez, Vice-Chancellor of the University, Fanny Franco and Mónica Marión was recorded at the university radio station, Javeriana Estereo 107.5 FM. A write-up of the interview will be published in the next issue of the indexed academic journal “Signo & Pensamiento”.

For the launching of the Antologia, another half-day workshop on Friday February 28th, gathered communication students and faculty from the main universities in Cali, including Universidad del Valle, Universidad Santiago de Cali, Universidad de Occidente and Universidad Santo Tomas. The Dean of the Communication and Language Department of Universidad Javeriana, José Vicente Arizmendi, and the Director of the Faculty of Communication, Jorge Manrique, opened the seminar with speeches followed by presentations by Professors Marión and Franco. Alfonso Gumucio spoke on why and how the Anthology was developed.

The afternoon was devoted to visiting youth groups working on social issues using the communication for social change approach of dialogue and participation. The first group, Sistema Departamental Juvenil de Comunicacion (Departmental Youth Communication System) gathers about 30 young communication activists from various cities and rural areas within the Valley Department of Colombia. They meet regularly to take forward a communication process that is inclusive and allows young men and women from different social strata to discuss and design their own strategies. They use video and radio to express their issues. Many of them mentioned that their training benefited from texts such as “The New Communicator” and “Making Waves”.

A visit to the poor neighbourhood of Agua Blanca followed where “Movimiento Latino”, the youth drama group, was rehearsing a play on violence and drug dealing, a topic particularly important in this region of Colombia. When asked about their understanding of theatre as communication, they emphasized that in only a couple of years it had transformed their lives and had the potential to transforming their community as well.

On the third day of activities two additional visits were programmed, the first in Santander de Quilichao across the border of the Cauca Department, a town located about one hour drive from Cali, where another youth group, named “Tengo Ganas” (”I want to…”) has been producing short video-clips on issues that affect their community, such as environmental care, peer pressure, self-esteem, or violence, underscoring the values of peace, understanding and solidarity. The Mayor of the city participated in the meeting and highlighted the value of supporting youth organizations.

The three communication projects described above are developed in partnership with students from Universidad Javeriana de Cali, who spend weekends providing support to the youth groups, using a communication for social change approach.

The journey continued higher into the hills to Caldono where one of the main Colombian organizations of native indians, the CRIC, has set up an audio-visual production centre and a community radio station, Uswal Nasa Yuwe. Vicente Otero, a leading figure in communication within the indigenous organisations, explained the strategy that has lead to impressive demonstrations demanding more rights for indigenous communities in Colombia. Participatory communication has played an important role.

Still a couple of hours ahead, in the historic Popayan, the capital city of the Cauca Department, another meeting was scheduled late in the afternoon with Giezzi Lasso, Director of the Communication Programme at the Universidad del Cauca, and several professors to exchange views about their curricula, which is about to be reviewed in the perspective of including a communication for development and social change approach.

In our next blog-note we will provide information about the launching of the ANTOLOGIA in Bogota.

…..—–

Centro Cultural Itchimbía

The “Antologia” in Spanish was launched in Ecuador last 28th January, thanks to the invitation of the Centro Cultural Metropolitano the main cultural institution in Quito, headed by Maria Elena Machuca. The event was organised through the initiative of Alejandra Adoum, the copy-editor of the book, and Maria Fernanda Dulbecco, the director of Centro Cultural Itchimbía, one of the institutions under Centro Cultural Metropolitano.

Located on top of one of the hills surrounding Quito the emblematic Itchimbía building is an old iron structure from 1897 totally rebuilt with glass walls and a wide view over the city.

In coordination with the Municipality of Quito, Itchimbia organised three days of activities around the presentation of the “Antologia de Comunicación para el Cambio Social”. The launching of the book was an opportunity to plan a one-day seminar on communication for social change, facilitated by Alfonso Gumucio Dagron, the Consortium Managing Director for Programmes, and to arrange various interviews with the media on subjects related to the Antologia and the media scene in Ecuador.

The one-day seminar was structured by Gonzalo Ortiz Crespo, Counsellor of Culture of the Municipality, and one of the best known intellectual figures in the country. The programme consisted in a full morning panel on communication for social change and during the afternoon a discussion on public radio and television, a hot topic in Ecuador, a country that has never had before any public media.

After the key note presentation comments were provided during the morning by the guest speakers, all of them key players in communication for development in Ecuador, namely the deans of communication of Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar (UASB), Universidad Central del Ecuador, and FLACSO (Jose Laso, Fernando López Romero and Mauro Cerbino respectively). Also invited to comment were two well-known journalists, Mayra Clavijo (Radio Publica de Ecuador) and Cesar Ricaute (FUNDAMEDIOS), as well as Consuelo Carranza, UNICEF Communication & External Relations Manager. The seminar closed with the launch the Antologia.

Xavier Lasso and Alfonso Gumucio

Three interviews on the Antología were aired on national television and radio. Television Pública de Ecuador featured a one-hour live interview at prime-time, in the evening, by Xavier Lasso, who also interviewed Alfonso Gumucio the following day, live on public radio. The third interview was with Mayra Clavijo; shorter but aired in the news.

…….

The launching of the book took place at Sophos bookstore, in Guatemala City, on January 23rd, and was presented by Ileana Alamilla Director of CERIGUA and Alfonso Gumucio Dagron, Director of the Communication for Social Change Consortium. CECODE is a specialised NGO and not an academic institution, however this publication adds to those that can be used in studies on communication for development and social change, which are part of the University Network in various regions.

Eduardo Gularte

Communication for development is not a new topic but has been covering larger spaces of debate in recent years. The culmination was the World Congress of Communication for Development (WCCD) organised by the World Bank, the Communication Initiative and FAO late in October of 2006, in Rome. The outcome of that event, “The Rome Consensus“, is in spite of it concision a very important call to all development organisations to understand this “other” communication.

Five aspects are of relevance in CECODE’s publication: 1) communication should not be only understood as institutional visibility and public relations; 2) communication is a horizontal and inclusive process; 3) alternative communication stands against the mainstream which is plagued with commercial and political interests; 4) communication that restores the real meaning of the terms we use; and 5) communication that rejects the mercantilism of mass media.

The “other” development that Gularte points to in his analysis is human development as defined by the United Nations: “a process that widens individual and collective liberties and offers a range of alternatives so people can build upon, select and reach full and creative lives, according to their capacities and values…” In other words, another development is the one that guarantees full respect of all human rights.

Cristian Ozaeta

Hence the need of communication as a human right that allows communities to have their own voice and increasingly participate in making decisions on the issues that affect their lives and development. Sustainability of development programmes and projects is directly related to community participation. And the rewards are not only for those we sometimes call “beneficiaries” but to development agencies that would like to see their programmes sustained, and impact on the long run.

Alfonso Gumucio

This book contributes in a didactic way towards a better knowledge of communication for development in the context of Guatemala; it is a useful and needed text for those studying communication, the one that is not limited to journalism or public relations. CECODE, the organisation founded two years ago by the authors of this publication, revisits the international debate on communication for development and takes it to a country that has been generally much closed on itself on these issues.

For more information on the book, contact Eduardo Gularte.

John Gaventa of the “Participation, Power and Social Change” team at IDS was the lead convener and facilitator of the workshop, held in May 2007, which brought together 44 people (24 from the UK and 20 from 14 other countries1) involved in local government work. They comprised elected officials, including mayors from the Philippines and Brazil; city councillors from New Orleans and UK authorities; local government officials and other service providers; community activists; workers from local and national NGOs; academics and representatives of central government in the UK and in India.

The aim was to look at the challenges local governments face in responding to growing demands for citizen engagement and more participatory forms of governance.  This report summarises the discussions and debates held over a five-day period which included a two-day workshop, two days of visiting sites in the UK of particular interest, and one day of policy dialogue with UK policymakers in the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) and the Department for International Development (DFID).

The experiences and innovative approaches included:

      Participatory approaches to budgeting which provide more transparent methods for allocating public resources, involving citizens, elected representatives and local government officials, such as in Porto Alegre in Brazil, Malaga in Spain and Bradford, Newcastle and Salford in the UK;

      Processes of participatory planning, which range from public involvement in the construction of small community-based projects, to larger neighbourhood action plans, to strategic area planning and the building of an entire city as in the case of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, or in human rights participatory planning in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina;

      New forms of partnerships between citizens, the government and other stakeholders, as in the UK Local Strategic Partnerships (LSP) and at neighbourhood level through local agreements, or in places like Brazil and the Philippines where citizens and officials sit as ‘co-governors’on key decision-making bodies;

      New forms of public scrutiny to hold elected representatives and government officials to account, ranging from local scrutiny groups in Shropshire, citizen-led organizations holding independent public forums with politicians in East London, and citizen monitoring of public tenders in Chile;

      New methods of consultation and inclusion, such as community study circles in Wisconsin, USA, and community radio and mobile phone feedback in Nigeria; 

      Opportunities for citizen participation in service delivery, such as housing, employment and community safety service through neighbourhood renewal and tenant management programmes in the UK; delivery of healthcare in Brazil and education in the Philippines.

———

We will refer here to an academic activity organized last September 2008 by the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, a founding member of the University Network represented through Erick Torrico, Director of the Master Degree on Strategic Communication. Karina Herrera-Miller, one of the Professors at the Master has sent us information related to the Communication for Social Change Forum, where 22 students participated and was facilitated by Alfonso Gumucio Dagron from the Communication for Social Change Consortium.

Prof. Herrera-Miller says that “the experience was highly positive because of the exchanges and discussion around this approach that helps to understand and use communication in development. The stories and points of view from Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Costa Rica -countries where participants are located- were articulated to agree on the strategic importance of establishing participatory communication processes from and with community groups, and to jointly define parameters of development and social change.”

“These virtual fora that have been implemented within each module of the Master degree cover specific themes. This was the first on communication for social change and a pioneer initiative to call in an expert who could promote challenging points of view and helped to deepen the discussion. Alfonso Gumucio contributed to the understanding of the main concepts and strategies of communication for social change, thus promoting a highly motivated and critical participation of the students”, - says Herrera-Miller.

In view of this encouraging experience, the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar and the Communication for Social Change Consortium are willing to join efforts during 2009 and continue collaborating with each other.

To start the year, we have selected the College of Development Communication (CDC) which is part of the University of The Philippines at Los Baños campus in Laguna. The reason is simple: this is the oldest academic institution in the world providing specialized studies in communication for development, and the only one that does it at Bachelor, Master and PhD levels.

Even more, the CDC was our host in September 2005 when 15 universities from all over the world decided to get together in a network of all those specialized in communication for development and social change. Maria Celeste Habito-Cadiz, then Dean of the College, has been member of the international board of the Communication for Social Change Consortium.

The College is recognized as the pioneer in development communication teaching in the world. It has trained faculty members of state universities and colleges in the Philippines and in other countries in the Asia-Pacific region for their higher degrees in development communication. In 1999, the College was named as one of two CHED national centers of excellence in communication. The Bachelor of Science in Development Communication (BSDC) degree program has set a trend and is now the model for similar degree programs implemented by other academic institutions in the Philippines and other developing countries as well.

This itinerary started in 1954 -55 years ago and counting- as the Office of Extension and Publications under the then UP College of Agriculture (UPCA). In 1962 it was upgraded into the Department of Agricultural Information and Communication (DAIC), having offered the first communication course in the country under the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture curriculum. By 1968 the department was renamed as the Department of Agricultural Communication and in 1974 it became the Department of Development Communication. It was the first to offer degree programs in development communication in the world. Its growth continued in 1987 when the department was elevated into an institute (Institute of Development Communication). Finally, on 18 December 1998 the College of Development Communication was created.

The objectives of the College of Development Communication are to (1) provide higher education for students who will pursue careers in development communication practice, teaching or research; (2) investigate the interrelationships between human development and the processes and structures of communication with emphasis on research that promotes equity, empowerment, environmental sustainability, peace and human rights; and (3) undertake training, advisory and action projects that help build up the communication capabilities and resources of people, communities, institutions and other participants in the development process. There is much more information on the academic programme in their new brand website.

From the perspective of media and communication, globalisation has introduced new challenges and complexities that alter the approaches and perceptions we had a few years back. The virtual relationships that are now built at the global level, including for those locally based media outlets, bring in new forms of participation and information dissemination, thus affecting the traditional ways of analysing the public space.

Oscar Hemer

Precisely, about globalisation, culture and communication is what this important book is about: “Media & Glocal Change” edited by Oscar Hemer and Thomass Tufte, from Malmo University in Sweden and Roskilde University in Denmark, respectively. Both are members of the University Network facilitated by the Communication for Social Change Consortium since 2005.

Separated by a long bridge that links Copenhagen and Malmo, Thomas and Oscar have been united through many years of joint work and projects such as this one that has prompted them to gather in 494 pages 38 authors from Europe, Latin America, North America, Africa and Asia.

Thomas Tufte

The book is structured in three parts: the first one covers globalisation, media and culture; the second attempts to draw the map of this field of study, and the third compiles ten case studies on concrete experiences in Bolivia, Namibia, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Bangladesh and several African countries.

The first part -perhaps the most innovative- analyses the paradigms and models of communication for development and social change under the light of globalisation. Chapters by Oscar and Thomas, and other colleagues such as Silvio Waisbord, Cel Cadiz, Jan Servaes, or Nancy Morris, are contributions complemented by the views of James Deane, Karin Wilkins among other authors that have participated in seminars organized by the Consortium.

This book has been in circulation in English for almost two years now. It was impeccably printed in Argentina under the seal of Nordicom and the Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO), and is accessible in full online.

 

Painting by Ejti Stih

The International Seminar “Local Radio in Latin America: Policies and Legislation” took place last 19-21 November 2008 in La Paz, Bolivia, at the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, one of the universities of this network. Fifteen international guests, specialists in the subject matter, attended, as well as one hundred Bolivian participants, among them communication professors and students, local radio stations journalists and managers, and representatives from development institutions.

Among the international participants, Cicilia Peruzzo (Brazil), Jose Ignacio Lopez Vigil (Cuba/Ecuador), Rosa María Alfaro (Perú), Jeanine ElGazi y Omar Rincón (Colombia), Thomas Tufte (Dinamarca), Christoph Dietz (Alemania), Aleida Calleja (México), and Gustavo Gómez (Uruguay).

Community radio in Latin America, a pioneer worldwide, has contributed in processes of peace and justice, in strengthening social movements and social organisations, and in the struggle for liberties and human development. Since they started late in the 1940s local radio stations were often born illegal, prompted by poor social sectors of society, and were socially legitimised because of their undeniable service to the public and the sectors they serve.

Video conference with Manuel Chaparro from Spain

As time went by, the need for legal recognition of these independent local initiatives became more pressing, not only because of their social function but also as a means to meet the demand for the right to communicate with cultural and social pertinence, from spaces generated through state-owned, private and public media within the framework of democratic political systems.

Battles were fought throughout the region for the creation and/or revision of communication policies with a public service content, and legal frameworks and regulations that would recognise, protect and promote the development and operation of local media. National and regional organisations such as AMARC have leaded this movement.

Luis Ramiro Beltran

In spite of it, both in Latin America and the world, very peculiar situations coexist depending on the political and social context of each nation. Some countries have taken the lead in designing policies and legislation for local radio (Uruguay, Colombia), whereas others lack of mechanisms protecting and promoting community media (Bolivia, Guatemala) or have enacted legislation that limit, instead of promoting, the exercise of communities right to communicate (Brazil, Chile).

Guimer Zambrana, Ana Limachi and Cicilia Peruzzo

The main objective of the seminar was to review the processes of political incidence favouring local media, and its degree of advancement, reflecting on the new political contexts that could strengthen, or weaken, the legitimacy of these media; as well as to draft recommendations on policies and legislation and present them to national authorities, relevant social sectors and other organizations.

During the week parallel activities were conducted: un documentary film cycle on local radio stations in various parts of the world, among which several Consortium video productions were shown, such as “Voices from the Magdalena” (Colombia) and “Women of Pastapur” (India); and the launching of the Spanish edition of “Antologia de Comunicación para el Cambio Social: Lecturas Históricas y Contemporaneas” at Plural Editores.

Congresman Antonio Peredo at the final plenary

Based on recommendations from the working groups, a commission drafted the final document of the seminar, “Carta de La Paz” (Letter from La Paz), which was presented at the final plenary with attendance of Congressman Antonio Peredo Leigue. 

——

Jose Antonio Quiroga, Director of Plural, with Thomas Tufte and Luis Ramiro Beltran

The second launching –after Mexico last October- of the “Communication for Soial Change Anthology” took place in La Paz (Bolivia) as part of the International Seminar on Local Radio in Latin America: Policies and Legislation, on November 2oth 2008, at Plural Editores bookstore.

The presenters were former President of Bolivia Carlos D. Mesa, who also wrote the foreword, and Luis Ramiro Beltrán, one of the early pioneers of communication for development in Latin America. Both Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron and Thomas Tufte, the co-editors, were in attendance, as well as several authors such as Erick Torrico (Bolivia), Rosa María Alfaro (Peru) and Cicilia Peruzzo (Brazil).

Former President of Bolivia Carlos D. Mesa during his speech

Carlos D. Mesa mentioned that the title of the book was limited, since its content covers a much wider effort: “We could say that this is a universal anthology of communication, because it contains much more than what is specific to communication for development… This is a book of global features, the most complete, exhaustive and above all the most rigorous, as it gathers and interprets the views on communication for development since the criteria itself originated in the 1950s, until today”.