This text identifies and explores the relevance of development communication theory. The chapters address community participation, communication and culture from specific contemporary perspectives, and raise for discussion a number of associated methodological and metatheoretical issues.

What do we mean when we say participatory communication? What are the practical implications of working with participatory communication strategies in development and social change processes? What experiences exists in practice that documents that participatory communication adds value to a development project or programme? The aim of this user guide on participatory communication is to provide answers to some of these questions. Many communication practitioners and development workers face obstacles and challenges in their practical work. A participatory communication strategy offers a very specific perspective on how to articulate social processes, decision-making processes and any change process for that matter. Participatory approaches are nothing new. However, what is new is the proliferation of institutions, especially governmental but also non-governmental, that seek participatory approaches in their development initiative. This guide seeks to provide perspectives, tools and experiences regarding how to go about it with participatory communication strategies. It is conceived as a guide that hopefully can be of relevance and utility for development workers in the field. It is targeted at both at government and their officials, World Bank staff and at civil society.

The book thus addresses the extant gap in scholarship in the field and includes a chapter on impact evaluation, which current scholarship has either ignored or footnoted. In addition, the book uses case studies from both the global south and the global north to attend to complex and multidisciplinary concerns with participation, power and empowerment. The author brings in postcolonial perspectives to demonstrate that the use of MCD approaches emerged in response to the growing problems of underdevelopment, and not necessarily to western development theories. Using simple language that is at the same time theoretically engaged, he opens up the field to scholars across a large number of disciplines.

Derived from the best-selling Handbook of International and Intercultural Communication, Second Edition, this book contains the chapters that deal with the exciting field of international and development communication, illustrating structurally how this field of study is composed and how it has grown.

This handbook has been prepared as a training and field guide for designing, implementing and managing effective communication strategies for field projects in a participatory manner, building on the results of the Participatory Rural Communication Appraisal (ISBN 9251052514). Issues dealt with include the principles and processes of communication planning, message development, multimedia material production and the implementation of communication activities in the field. This strategy design process has been tested in training workshops and applied to various development projects including those dealing with agriculture, health and education, water and sanitation.

This text identifies and explores the relevance of development communication theory. The chapters address community participation, communication and culture from specific contemporary perspectives, and raise for discussion a number of associated methodological and metatheoretical issues.

This handbook provides a single reference resource for communication for development and social change. Increasingly, one considers communication to be crucial to effectively tackle the major problems of today. Hence, the question being addressed in this handbook is, is there a right communication strategy? Perspectives on sustainability, participation, and culture in communication have changed over time in line with the evolution of development approaches and trends, and in response to the need for effective applications of communication methods and tools to new issues and priorities. Divided into prominent themes comprising relevant chapters written by experts in the field and reviewed by renowned editors, the book addresses topics where communication and social change converge in both theory and praxis. Specific concerns and issues include food security, climate change, poverty reduction, health, equity and gender, sustainable development goals, and information and communication technologies (ICTs). The book shows how communication is essential at all levels of society. It helps readers understand the processes that underlie attitude change and decision-making and the work uses powerful models and methods to explain the processes that lead to sustainable development and social change. This is essential reading for academics and practitioners, students and policy makers alike.