Communication for Social Change Consortium
We are an international nonprofit organization working in developing and industrialized countries. Our goal is to build local capacity of people living in poor and marginalized communities to use communication in order to improve their own lives. We were chartered in June of 2003 in the United States to work globally as a registered public charity.
Our areas of focus and strategy are explained in the Mission and Vision sections of this website. Our work continues a 6-plus year history of communication for social change work begun at the Rockefeller Foundation. We have grown into a network of several hundred 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, and divisions within the World Bank, IADB and universities in the North and South.
We have included on the site at this point 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
14 South Orange Avenue
Suite 2F
South Orange, NJ 07079 United States
info@communicationforsocialchange.org
All contributions are tax deductible according to the United States Internal Revenue Service guidelines.
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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
Inaugural Oscar van Leer Fellowships
The Bernard van Leer Foundation is offering fellowships to journalists in select developing countries where the foundation works. The fellowship consists of a four-week, expenses-paid training course in The Netherlands covering journalism and children's issues. With this initiative, the Van Leer Foundation seeks to improve understanding of early childhood issues in developing countries. The fellowship is available for those journalists working in Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, the Caribbean, and the Indian region of Orissa. Applicants can work in any form of media, including print, radio, television or web. All applications must be submitted by August 18, 2009.
For more details about the fellowships, please visit www.bernardvanleer.org/ovlf
The Spanish edition of the CFSC Anthology: Historical and Contemporary Readings is receiving very positive reviews during book launches in Latin America. Click here for a sampling of those reviews including one by former Bolivian President Carlos Mesa and an interview published in Peru’s Canale, a journal of Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru.
2009 Annual Meeting
CFSC Consortium board of directors and staff gathered at our headquarters for the 2009 annual meeting on Thursday, 19 February 2009. Pictured are Patricia Light, global director of strategy and partnerships, Luis Peirano, board member, Nick Perkins, board member, and Denise Gray-Felder, president.
Now Available: Communication for Empowerment: A Practical Guidance Note
For download free. This project is done in partnership with UNDP Oslo Governance Centre in Madagascar, Mozambique and Ghana.
Launch of legal charity in Europe
August 29, 2008 – The Board of Directors of the CFSC Consortium today announced the creation of CFSC Europe, a registered charity in the United Kingdom. Nick Perkins of Institute of Development Studies in Brighton is director, a volunteer governance position. The full board of directors of CFSC will also serve as the board of CFSC-Europe.
CFSC -Europe will work with nonprofit groups, foundations, businesses, governments and NGOs based on the continent in order to increase our programming and funding support for CFSC initiatives in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
CFSC is a registered charity with registration number 1125636. Registered in England and Wales.
Our London office address is 49 Queen Victoria Street, Suite 69, London, England.
Communication For Social Change Anthology: Historical and Contemporary Readings
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| 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.
Communication for Empowerment
The CFSC Consortium, in partnership with the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre’s Elizabeth McCall (now replaced by Sarah Lister), authored the Communication for Empowerment Guidance note. This document is a handy reference for countries struggling with how to best use communication processes in order to engage its citizens in planning for more accountable and transparent governments. The guidance note is being followed by a operation manual produced by CFSC practitioner network member Birgitte Jallov who is also leading the work of piloting these approaches in up to 5 pilot countries. Work has already begun in Mozambique, Madagascar and Laos with two more countries coming onboard early in 2008. Look for more information on Communication for Empowerment in upcoming issues of Mazi.
Communication for Social Change
Annual Report - 2006
The Consortium's 2006 annual report is available now. Read about our successes and progress in the last fiscal year, including ground-breaking work in polio, serving on the Stop TB advisory committee and participatory monitoring and evaluation work in Ethiopia and Zambia.