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Wumen Bagung – Communication for Development and Social Change Bulletin: “Whose Theory Counts?” (RMIT, 2018)

This edition of Wumen Bagung explores four key themes, each focused on how communication outcomes are influenced by the role of the community, and whether it is passive or active participant. The first theme brings together analyses from across Asia of different ways of communicating to local communities starting with a review of how water, hygiene and sanitation services are communicated in Cambodia, fresh approaches to communication underway in Myanmar by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the use of cable television in local Philippine communities.

The second theme – which details outside approaches to communication for development (C4D) – opens with Robert Boughen’s challenge for us to rethink Chinese media development investments, not from a neoliberal development perspective, rather through acknowledging that Chinese media assistance in Africa ‘has an active function in a cohesive model of the ‘development economy’. Edwar Hanna and Jackie Davies of C4D Network consider the effects of urbanisation on communication for development, while Sina Øversveen critically examines the Freedom of the Press Index.

The third theme focuses on the lessons to be learned from local communities by directly involving them in C4D. In ‘The Space Between’, Donna Griffin takes us on a journey of learning the Aboriginal way of understanding the world, while Winifredo Dagli reviews the learning development training offered by the University of Philippines Los Banos. Kylie Smith and Melissa Fan close this theme with an examination of C4D in the age of feminism.

The final theme provides examples of the community as leaders in communication and looks at how video is actively being used to interrogate local development challenges in India, followed by an analysis of public art as a critical tool in democratic communication.

Click here for full edition.

Adolescent Girls Creating Safer Cities: Harnessing the Potential of Communication for Development (UN-Habitat, 2012)

Safer cities strive to create public spaces that are open and accessible to everyone, without exception. Most cities, however, are not totally safe for
adolescent girls. What’s more, they are run and developed predominantly without their needs being taken into account. Each week 1 million people
move from the countryside to city slums, of which a growing number of migrants are girls, and there is growing pressure to find ways to address the myriad of dangers girls face, from violence and exploitation to discrimination and access to schooling and safe housing.

Communication for Development (C4D) has emerged as an important addition to those promoting the rights of girls in the city. Programmes based on C4D take into account the fact that, as experts in their own safety and use of the city, girls are best positioned to identify the issues and priorities
that affect them today and in the future, in order to make cities safer and more inclusive. In short, C4D gives adolescent girls a voice with which to take an active role in the development of safe urban environments.

Click here for full report.

“Voice of the voiceless”: Learning from SORADI’s project to strengthen accountability in Hargeisa (IAAAP Paper, 2018)

Citizens’ ability to seek accountability from Hargeisa Local Council is highly constrained, SORADI’s evidence-based, coalition-building model provides some clues as to what an effective approach might look like. Diverse, highly-networked, inclusive groups of citizens can work together to design and implement advocacy strategies, creating positive momentum for change. However, the development of capable, accountable and responsive authorities requires a step-change in the quality of the Councillors, who are responsible for leadership and oversight.

The paper draws on 22 key informant interviews who have been involved in the project, including members from both accountability fora.

Click here for full paper.

C4D Network attend Roundtable with Maimunah Mohd Sharif (Executive Director, UN-Habitat)

Jackie Davies, C4D Network, attended the Oxford Urbanists, ThinkCity, and the Oxford Sustainable Urban Development Programme Roundtable event with Maimunah Mohd Sharif, the Executive Director of UN-Habitat. Held in Oxford, UK earlier this month attendees had the opportunity to give their feedback and share ideas about how the UN can promote inclusive urbanisation.

Oxford Urbanists detailed the event: Ms. Sharif gave an opening speech relating her Malaysian background, growing up in a rural settlement, and coming to the UK for her studies to be a professional planner in her expanding role in local government. She discussed what she hopes to achieve as Executive Director of UN-Habitat, including the role of Oxford in expanding opportunities for wider participation by young people and academia in developing “true value” from urbanisation.

She also shared her nascent attempts to refine the agency’s vision and mission, and gauged from attendees what are the key recommendations that should be taken into consideration with regards to future trends in urbanisation, particularly with regards to social inclusion issues.

Wellbeing and Protracted Urban Displacement: Refugees and Hosts in Jordan and Lebanon (IDS Report, 2018)

The war in Syria, now in its eighth year, has led to the mass exodus of the Syrian people. Lebanon and Jordan have achieved a remarkable feat by hosting millions of refugees, with many having located to urban areas, where the great majority of local populations are already situated.

The war has slowed down the Lebanese and Jordanian economies. Simultaneously, the refugee influx has put tremendous pressure on urban systems providing housing and basic services (health, education, water, sanitation, electricity and waste collection) that were already strained prior to the crisis. The mass arrival has seen accelerated house rent inflation, severely diminished water supplies, daily power outages, higher unemployment rates, rising poverty, and the inability of health-care and education providers to cope with demand.

Charged regional politics are severely challenging delicate societal and inter-communal harmony. There are large discrepancies in perceptions of inequality and threats between Syrian refugees and host groups. Many refugees complain about their discriminatory treatment by local business and state institutions, whereas hosts consider Syrian refugees as disproportionately benefiting from international aid and an economic threat.

This research project, conducted between April 2017 and February 2018, aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) what modalities of reception drive what kind of gendered wellbeing outcomes for refugee and host communities in cities across Jordan and Lebanon? What explains these outcomes? (2) in what ways can policymakers, practitioners and donors support modalities of reception that promote gender equitable, improved wellbeing outcomes for urban refugees and host communities?

Click here for full report.

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