Abstract

Isang Bagsak is a research and development initiative that seeks to increase the capacity of researchers, development practitioners and stakeholders active in the area of environment and natural resource management to use participatory development communication to work more effectively with local communities and other stakeholders. The program relies on a participatory capacity-building approach, complementing face-to-face activities with distance learning and web-based technology. This grant will allow the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Centre for Communication in Development to appropriate the Isang Bagsak program by offering it to a small number of teams in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Uganda, while developing a strategy to ensure its sustainability.

Post-Project Summary

A total of 25 scientists drawn from eight projects in Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe took part in the training course in Isang Bagsak or participatory development communication (PDC). The project enabled researchers and development practitioners to use PDC in their work and promote it as an alternative to traditional top-down approaches. The project succeeded in equipping the scientists with a range of relatively simple and accessible tools to carry out dialogue with communities. In Uganda and Zimbabwe, the participating teams went on to share their newly acquired skills with colleagues through workshops. The communities involved in the project became more aware of the need to conserve their environment. Some have, as a result, enacted bylaws to protect their natural resources.

The experience resulted in a new course in participatory communication for agricultural stakeholders. The new course was successfully tested in Uganda and incorporated into a training handbook by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It fostered a spirit of teamwork and collaboration in tackling development projects, and was instrumental in promoting South-South (Asia-Africa) collaboration leading to the establishment of a network of scientists and development practitioners. The participating scientists went on to publish articles and present papers on PDC techniques; some of them went on to pursue PhD degrees. The Centre for Communication Development (CCD) contributed to the establishment of two university programs in communication for development, one at the bachelor's level (from 2006/2007) and one at the master's level (from 2007/2008) at the University of Malawi.

The CDC distinguished itself as a leading institution in Africa in the area of PDC, with the result that its director was asked to participate on the steering committee of the World Bank First Congress on Communication for Development and on the editorial boards of such international journals as Communication for Social Change. The CDC used PDC research techniques to develop communication strategies for two leading institutions in Malawi: the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) and the National AIDS Commission of Malawi (NAC). The CDC was asked to help set up a rural radio training program modeled on the concept of PDC. Despite the CDC's best efforts to sustain the program past the life of the project, it was not able to withstand the forces of financial crisis and the ongoing political situation in Harare, and subsequently moved to Malawi.

Recipient Institution(s)