The Drum Beat 293 - Commission for Africa Report: Communication for Development

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The Commission for Africa Report

An intro from Warren:

The "Commission for Africa", chaired by Prime Minister Tony Blair, launched its report March 11 2005 in London, UK. There were 16 other Commisioners including Benjamin W. Mkapa [President of Tanzania], Fola Adeola [Chairman of FATE Foundation in Nigeria], Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown MP [Chancellor of the Exchequer, UK], K.Y. Amoako [Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa & UN Under-Secretary-General, Ghana], Anna Tibaijuka [UN Habitat, Tanzania], and Michel Camdessus [Africa Personal Representative, France, previous Managing Director of the IMF]. The full list of Commissioners along with other details can be seen online - click here.

With such a distinguished and influential group assessing the situation in Africa and highlighting the best way forward for accelerated and improved development in that continent, there was very considerable interest in the Commission's analysis and proposals. This interest included many of us in the development communication community. Exactly how would the Commission position development communication?



The results are very encouraging. When describing the required developments to effectively address poverty and the other serious development issues faced in Africa, the key components of development communication are prominent as central parts of the analysis and recommendations from the Commission. Some relevant excerpts from the Commission report follow within this issue of The Drum Beat. There are additional excerpts relevant to communication for development on The CI website - click here.

So, now, when someone questions the relevance and value of development communication to addressing the core issues in Africa [or anywhere else for that matter], you can quote the views of President Mkapa and others who highlighted that the main elements of development communication are core and central to any effective action.

- Warren Feek

wfeek@comminit.com

March 31 2005

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This Drum Beat focuses on the Report of the Commission for Africa, "Our Common Interest". In this report, there is extensive reference to and approval of core processes and programmes that are an essential part of development communication. A selection of the relevant quotes have been organised below around some of the main elements of the development communication (including media for development) process:

1. Essential Information & Communication Processes
2. Amplifying the Voices of Those Most Affected
3. Deeper Media Engagement & Development
4. Increasing Participation, Dialogue & Debate
5. Expanding New Technology Access & Use
6. Understanding & Working with the Cultural Context

For the full report as a PDF file, please click here.

For additional excerpts relevant to communication for development, please click here.

For details about the report in languages other than English, please click here.

For information on The Africa Commission's membership, purpose, process and other important background details, please click here.

For reactions to the report from civil society organisations within Africa, please click here.

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AFRICA COMMISSION REPORT: COMMUNICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT

*below are selected quotes (footnotes are omitted) - page numbers from the printed versions are provided for your reference.

1. Essential Information & Communication Processes

One thing that has emerged from all our considerations on issues of governance and capacity is the importance of good information and communication. In so many areas information can be a valuable driver for change. It is also necessary for monitoring and measuring performance and results. It is the lifeblood of transparent, informed and open societies, able to debate, decide and implement successful reforms, measure their impact and hold their governments to account.

[p147]

For political leaders to be held accountable, citizens must have proper information about government revenues and budget allocations. Openness makes it more likely that resources will be used efficiently.

[p31]

The aim is to foster adoption of good policies and practice by sharing information on what is working, and what is not. Peer pressure produces a strong incentive to act.

[p29]

Life skills that address issues like HIV and AIDS and challenge gender inequalities in a clear and comprehensive way are vital. Children should learn early about risky behaviours and build assertive communication skills. The younger generation could be provided with a window of opportunity to combat the pandemic and tackle stigma if given the right knowledge that is personalised to make it directly relevant to children's lives.

[p180]

Broadcasting and other methods of public communications can play a major role in preventing illness as well as increasing demand for health care, such as encouraging young people to seek sexual and reproductive health care. Examples of this include the Zambian Youth Forum that campaigned on reproductive health issues and gained a place on the National AIDS Council, and the expansion in FM radio in Uganda, which has been linked to the falling prevalence of HIV. African governments should enable community involvement to improve health outcomes as well as increase accountability.

[p182]

The development of health information and management systems is central to increasing accountability to communities.

[p185]

2. Amplifying the Voices of Those Most Affected

The right to receive information and to the freedom of expression is set out in the African Charter for Human and Peoples' Rights. This must be respected.

[p136]

In all this we insist on the need for Africa's voice to be heard more clearly. And we underscore that the first responsibility for change and improved governance lies with Africans themselves, in which the rich world has a moral duty - as well as a powerful motive of self-interest - to assist.

[p20]

The answer to this is putting mechanisms in place to make sure that the voices of all citizens can actually influence decisions of their governments. To do this requires good economic and financial management systems. But it also means empowering key groups within society.

[p31]

Individual voices and grassroots action can make a profound difference. The Jubilee 2000 campaign proved that. It was started by two individuals and ended with a million people on the streets worldwide, demanding that the debt of poor countries be dropped. The governments of the rich world were forced to listen and US$100 billion worth of bilateral debt was written off.

[p59]

It also means that people must be given a voice in defining an area's problems, deciding on solutions, and allocating resources to them.

[p117]

Good intentions are not enough. Mechanisms are needed to make sure that the voices of all citizens are heard; to monitor how governments respond to what they hear; and to enforce the rights of ordinary citizens.

[p134]

Within participatory approaches, the more powerful often have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and the education and influence to ensure that their voices are heard. Meaningful participation is a political phenomenon and requires those who traditionally make decisions to relinquish some of their control and to hear voices they may not agree with or may not usually listen to, including those of women and youth.

[p134]

Business groups, trades unions and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can often speak for a community, especially where individuals can find it difficult to make their voice heard or are unwilling to speak out.

[p138]

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3. Deeper Media Engagement & Development

The media is an educator and key information source that can help deliver the MDGs, promote transparent governance and, through balanced reporting, help prevent conflicts. The wide benefits from plural media means it acts as a public good in development. Information flows in Africa through a variety of media, including established media such as radio, traditional communication such as song and story-telling, and new technologies including mobile phones. Private media outlets and liberalised airwaves are increasing. For example, Mali now has 30 private newspapers, 147 independent local radio stations, seven state radio stations and one television station. In Uganda, those villages that in 1985 had ten community broadcasting stations have 300 or more now. This rapid expansion has generated some problems, including inadequately trained journalists, poor professional standards and weak self-regulation. Moreover, much of African media remains government owned or controlled. The monopolisation of media by any one group, including the government, undermines media freedom and popular trust, and creates space for distortion and rumour.



African journalists should maintain strong self-regulation and professional ethics in order to allow the media to fulfil its role as a public watchdog and generator of change. In addition, the political environment must be supportive of diverse, plural and free media, with a balance of public service, private, community and local media. AU/NEPAD should encourage African governments to eliminate any current restrictions on mass media, promote competitive frameworks that enable investment in diverse broadcasting infrastructure, and develop transparent and flexible regulatory environments and legal frameworks in co-operation with civil society. They should strengthen their relationship with civil society and independent media institutions.



African media would benefit from a regional or continental media reference point. Although some regional media bodies exist, they are few in number and tend to cover only particular aspects of the media. The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) for example does good work, but is focused primarily on promoting free media. A pan-African approach could increase the scale of funding and ensure co-ordination and a holistic approach to include the various aspects of media.



Recommendation: Independent media institutions, public service broadcasters, civil society and the private sector, with support from governments, should form a consortium of partners, in Africa and outside, to provide funds and expertise to create an African media development facility. Support for this is already evident from some media organisations. The consortium should work with African government ministries, independent institutions and civil society in order to provide long-term support for the strengthening of media capacity and programme-making through supporting regulatory reform, training and the generation of market and audience research.



Donors have tended to see support for the media as an 'add-on' to other development programmes, such as health initiatives. Whilst this is important, the media sector also requires support. We urge donors to increase substantially their funding to African independent media institutions and those governments promoting free media. Communications infrastructure must also be strengthened.

[p136]



A more effective African media will contribute to informed perceptions of the continent in the rest of the world. Currently much of the media in developed countries offers low and unbalanced coverage of Africa. We challenge the media sector to do more to ensure that audiences in developed countries understand what is happening in Africa, including through monitoring their coverage of Africa and increasing programme co-production with African professionals. The Internet gives people the control to find their own information and is demonstrating a growing appetite for news of Africa in developed countries. African media should be supported to serve audiences outside the continent via the Internet.

[p137]

4. Increasing Participation, Dialogue & Debate

Most projects and programmes work when they are designed locally with strong participation, and where they reflect local aspirations - both because local people understand local circumstances better, and because they will be more motivated to help these approaches succeed. That is a lesson of development experience which must be applied ever more strongly... But while the development solutions will come largely from African countries and communities, the world and especially the developed countries must take responsibility for helping Africa to fund these actions.

[p89]

Even within poor countries, the poorest people are those who are excluded from information, from government services, from full participation in society, politics and the economy and even informal community support systems. All too often the reason for the exclusion is discrimination, for example against women, disabled persons, ethnic or linguistic minorities, or persons with HIV or AIDS. Exclusion makes it especially difficult to escape from poverty; worse still, the disadvantage is transmitted from one generation to the next, as parents are unable to invest in the health, education, or nutrition of their children.

[p95]

Policies often fail because they are created without a full understanding of the local situation, people or history. Africa's diversity makes this point particularly pertinent. The term 'participation' holds a variety of meanings, but in essence is about people expressing their views and taking part in the decisions that affect their lives... Although in the past participation has been associated with community development projects, African participation is required broadly, from the project to the national or international level. Creating opportunities for people to be heard can lead to unpredictable and often contradictory messages but has the potential to inform policies, improve accountability and improve service provision.

[p134]

In Tanzania, a community participation project that included a focus on managing for results with better information systems has led to a 46 per cent drop in child mortality

[p185]

African governments and the international community should base policy change on broad participatory research. Participation should occur at all levels and stages of policymaking, including during monitoring and evaluation. Local authorities are a good entry point for democratic debate. Local or regional expertise should be invested in, in preference to bringing-in external experts. Decision makers should allow long timeframes for participation and ensure that the least powerful are able to express themselves. Facilitators should be trained in negotiations and communication, and informed of local gender norms and power relations.

[p135]

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NEW PULSE POLL!

The Commission for Africa Report "basically confirms what African NGOs and Governments have been saying all along. Core structural adjustment policy conditionality associated with debt and aid packages for Africa for the last two decades have been destructive to human security and economic growth. With this report, the World Bank and IMF must stop."

- reaction to the report signed by 7 African and regional civil society organisations and networks.



Do you agree or disagree?

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5. Expanding New Technology Access & Use

Growth will also require a massive investment in infrastructure to break down the internal barriers that hold Africa back. Donors should fund a doubling of spending on infrastructure - from rural roads and small-scale irrigation to regional highways, railways, larger power projects and Information & Communications Technology (ICT).

[p13]

Access to new information technologies, and the mobile phone in particular, is also having a profound cultural impact. This is heightened in communities where any form of communication over distance has meant long journeys, often on foot. Where many Africans never experienced the cultural leap of connectedness through fixed lines, the mobile phone provides a new form of identity. With scarce resources, collective creativity helps people get connected.... The form and speed of change associated with new technologies is an expression of culture and may defy existing economic models in the way it is driven by personal empowerment.

[p117]

The transition to e-governance is rarely smooth in any country but African e-governance faces two additional barriers: the lack of ICT infrastructure and mass connectivity to the Internet, and under-resourced and unaccountable bureaucracies. A good start could be for a number of African governments to pilot development of e-governance strategies, and then spread good practice developed through them to a second group of countries. The international community should support this work and consolidate and expand e-governance training for African civil servants.

[p133]



At a recent meeting of African Finance Ministers, infrastructure was identified as the top priority for promoting growth. They also underlined the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) for competitiveness and productivity. ICT is transforming the continent. In 2001, Uganda became the first African country to have more mobile phones than fixed lines. The mobile market in the region (excluding South Africa) has grown from under 20,000 users in 1993 to an estimated 18.2 million in 2003. The benefits of ICT are far-reaching - connecting schools to the internet; enabling remote rural communities to get urgent medical advice by phone; giving farmers access to market price information; potentially halving the costs of sending remittances.

[p225]



Recommendation: Africa needs an additional US$20 billion a year investment in infrastructure. To support this, developed countries should provide an extra US$10 billion a year up to 2010 and, subject to review, a further increase to US$20 billion a year in the following five years. This should support African regional, national, urban and rural infrastructure priorities - ranging from rural roads and slum upgrading to ICT and the infrastructure needed to support greater integration of Africa's regions and to enable Africa to break into world markets.

[p226]

6. Understanding & Working with the Cultural Context

The trouble is that although we all use the same terms, we often do not mean the same thing by them. Ideas of political and economic freedom can be manifested in very different ways and with very different results. It is culture that dictates the differences, which is why culture is so important when it comes to policy making.

[p115]

We want culture to become an inherent component of all development strategies - not just in terms of cultural products, but also in defining the terms of the development debate and the actions that follow. Culture becomes a way of working as well as an end in itself.

[p123]

As well as hearing individual perspectives, we recognise that institutions have cultures too. It is, for example, widely perceived that some international institutions, such as the IMF, World Bank, UN Security Council and even many NGOs in developed countries (some of which are perceived in Africa as arms of the donor governments that fund them), do not adequately give space for African participation and perspectives in their thinking.

[p116]

Those who ignore culture are doomed to failure in Africa. The outsiders who ran a workshop on AIDS in Angola recently learned that. They came to pass on their knowledge about transmission and prevention. They left having obtained new understandings of cultural practices such as initiation rites, scar-tattooing, blood brother practices, means of breaking the umbilical cord, polygamy and traditional marriage and healing practices. Only then did they come to understand why their education and awareness programmes had not resulted in higher use of condoms or lowered rates of infection. They had not known enough about local cultural norms and values on sexuality.



The international community must make greater efforts to understand the values, norms and allegiances of the cultures of Africa and in their policy-making display a greater flexibility, open-mindedness and humility.

[p28]

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RESULTS of our most recent Pulse Poll

At the centre of the international development community's response to the Tsunami should have been the direct provision of USD 500 equivalent in local currency straight to each affected person.



[For context, see ConunDRUM - "Tides of Hope" - Jan 20 2005]

Agree: 35.71%

Disagree: 50.00%

Unsure: 14.29%

Total number of participants = 14

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The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

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