Communication for Development: An Evaluation Framework in Action

"From girls' education awareness and action, to attitudes towards violence against children, communication for development (C4D) is a critical tool for sharing knowledge and creating social change. Evaluating how effective such communication has been in creating social change presents challenges."

Underpinned by an appreciative enquiry approach, this book explores the research, monitoring, and evaluation (RM&E) of communication for development (C4D). In each chapter, academic scholars partner with country-level teams, government and civil society organisation (CSO) partners, and other relevant actors on the ground to explore the application of participatory research methods in assessing the contribution of C4D strategies to address development priorities.

Specifically, the chapters draw lessons from collaborative action projects that brought together, between 2014 and 2018, 3 teams (the global C4D section of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), C4D and evaluation researchers from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University), and researchers from the University of Hyderabad) with the purpose of addressing challenges for the field of C4D in light of the increased focus in the development field on evidence-based strategies and interventions and results-based management.

The roots of the initiative discussed throughout the chapters of this book go back to 2011 when UNICEF, within the context of the then C4D Roundtable of the UN, commissioned the development of the UN Inter-agency 'Resource Pack on Research, Monitoring and Evaluation in Communication for Development'. Researchers June Lennie and Jo Tacchi, who led this process, wrote the following in the report that emerged (see Related Summaries, below): "Participatory approaches to R, M&E have been shown, over many decades, to be very appropriate and effective for C4D. However, the political will to invest in these approaches is often weak or absent, since they tend to be perceived as too time consuming and costly. A long-term perspective is required in relation to the use of participatory methodologies, given their numerous benefits, including flexibility of the process, increased ownership of the evaluation, better utilisation of evaluation results and recommendations, and strengthened evaluation capacities." (p. 35) Lennie and Tacchi also underscored the importance of approaching research and evaluation of C4D strategies through a holistic perspective that recognises the complexity of development, especially when it is intended to be genuinely participatory, and the use of mixed methods while considering organisational dynamics and contexts.

The book is edited by a frequent collaborator of Lennie's and Tacchi's, Jessica Noske-Turner, who is a scholar of media and C4D in the Institute for Media and Creative industries at Loughborough University London.

Following Rafael Obregón's foreword ("A Brief History of this Journey"), the book's main chapters include:

1. "Operationalizing a Framework for C4D Evaluation" - by Jessica Noske-Turner
2. "Using Community-Based Action Research as a Participatory Alternative in Responding to Violence in Tanzania" - by Barry Percy-Smith, Seraphina Bakta, Jessica Noske-Turner, Georgina Mtenga, and Patricia Portela Souza
3. "Finding and Creating Opportunities for Participatory Approaches to RM&E in Vietnam" - by Tran Phuong-Anh, Jessica Noske-Turner and Ho Anh Tung
4. "Exploring Sanitation: Participatory Research Design and Ethnography in West Bengal" - by Jo Tacchi, Tripta Chandola, Vinod Pavarala, and Rania Elessawi
5. "Using 'Tepetepe' for Understanding the Complexity of People's Lives in Malawi" - by Julie Elliott, Madalo Esther Samati, Jessica Noske-Turner, and Patricia Rogers
6. "Towards Horizontal Capacity Building: UNICEF Malawi's C4D Learning Labs" - by Linje Manyozo, Elnur Aliyev, Patnice Nkhonjera, Chancy Mauluka, and Chikondi Khangamwa
7. "The Challenges Ahead: Cultivating the Conditions for Small Revolutions in C4D Evaluation" - by Jessica Noske-Turner, Jo Tacchi, Rafael Obregón, Ketan Chitnis, and Charlotte Lapsansky

Rafael Obregón asserts: "For UNICEF - and, we hope, for many other development agencies that rely heavily on the role of communication to advocate for children's rights and achieve the ambitious agenda of the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] - these accounts will continue to inform our strategic thinking across development practice, capacity development, and key investments to sustain the relevance of C4D strategies in the global development agenda."