– extracted and adapted from RAKAN Sarawak January – March 2020 –
In a changing world communication about development challenges and advocacy for change have become increasingly complex.
For many years, governments and development agencies tried to do communications themselves.
Communications was often an afterthought, tacked on to a policy implementation process.
The most common approach was just talking about the benefits of a behaviour without creating an enabling environment by understanding the drivers and barriers of behaviour change.
Although it can result: in lots of people becoming aware, but it did little to change their behaviour.
In a well-functioning democracy, the government provides reliable and timely information to the public.
Citizens have a right to know the policies and activities of their government.
Effective communications between the government and the public is especially important in countries in transition, where major changes in state institutions have left the citizen uncertain about the new roles of the government and public administration, and how to convey their views to representatives of the state.
To reach large numbers of the population, governments everywhere rely heavily on radio, television, magazines and newspapers.
More than ever, the credibility of the government and the acceptance of public policies depends on the degree to which it is open with the media.
When the public is allowed to understand the development of a policy by getting their involvement at the outset, it is then easier for government to build support and implement it and active its underlying objectives.
It is important to understand that neglecting to provide information to the public represents a serious impediment to governance, and underlining the benefits of improved government communication has a strong multiplier effect.
External communication with the media and the public can have a disciplining impact on policy work and help coordinate communication within governments, because consistent internal information is required to communicate efficiently and effectively with external audiences.
In many cases, countries not only lack capacity in communication between government and the public, but also internal communication among government agencies.
Setting up press offices alone will not increase government accountability or citizens’ confidence in the government.
Government communication has several ethical dimensions, including the following:
(1) to provide useful and relevant information to constituents;
(2) to listen to citizens and stakeholder groups;
(3) to continuously learn from interactions with citizens and stakeholders;
(4) to communicate with professionalism;
(5) to be truthful (do no harm and do not willingly mislead); and
(6) to illuminate issues and add value to public discussion.
Government communication involves not only sending out persuasive messages to the public, but also explaining working policies, creating awareness of the rights of citizens, and developing mechanisms that enable two-way communication between citizens and government.
It is a fundamental challenge to make public understand that government communication is not propaganda. “Information development” may be a more suitable brand to generate support for government communication.
The early phase of development communication was marked by Daniel Lerner’s (1958) modernization paradigm. The basic idea is that mass media and mass communication stimulate and diffuse values and institutions that are favourable to achievement, mobility, innovation and consumption.
Communication provides the foundation for the facilitation of good governance, through promotion of effective government, accountability and the active engagement of participants in civil society.
It is through communication that government agencies attempt to provide technical information and social services for improving the quality of life of citizens, and that civil society seeks to broaden and sustain participation in governance.
Development communication tries to establish two-way flows to share knowledge, opinions and perceptions among the stakeholders. This type of communication also tries to establish conducive environments for assessing risk and opportunities to disseminate information, and induce behaviour and social change.
The role of development communication has become important and relevant now more than ever after the continuous failure of the one-way vertical communication model: sender – message – channel – receiver (SMCR).
There are five keywords in development communication: dialogue, stakeholders, sharing knowledge and mutual understanding. The first keyword associated with development communication is dialogue. No matter what kind of project, it is always valuable and essential to establish dialogue among the stakeholders.
Dialogue is necessary ingredient in building trust, sharing knowledge and ensures mutual understanding.
Worldwide, the development focus has shifted from economic growth to include other social dimensions; hence, its approach to communication of the processes.
Sustainability and people’s participation have become key elements of this new vision, as also acknowledged by the World Bank.
According to the World Bank, ‘Internationally, emphasis is being placed on the challenges of sustainable development, and participation is increasingly recognised as a necessary part of sustainable development strategies.’
Without communication, participation cannot occur in a large scale or vice versa. Participation needs to be based on two-way communication principles and practices.
Development communication, as an interdisciplinary field, is based on empirical research that helps to build consensus while it facilitates the sharing of knowledge to achieve a positive change in the development initiative.
It is not only about effective dissemination of information but also about using empirical research and two-way communications among stakeholders (Development Communication division, the World Bank).
Raising awareness will have some impact; but not enough. To achieve more, we must use the full marketing toolkit – which the commercial sector use around the world every day – but which is rarely fully utilised in development.
Development communication supports sustainable change in development operations by engaging key stakeholders in the development process.
Governments need to be made aware of the incentives for communicating. Governments often don’t realize that communication is part of their job and is fundamental to their functioning.
Weak government communication has clear negative consequences.
