project. It did this by reviewing relevant literature in development communication. The review done showed that literature is replete with arguments critical of the dominant paradigm due to its top-down nature of communication. Scholars critical of dominant paradigm argue that participatory communication should be given a prominent role to ensure that stakeholders work in concert to realise the stated objectives of their development project. The study highlighted many contentious issues surrounding the nature and practices of participatory communication. It pointed out that the issues have played themselves out in literature in the form of different typologies of participatory practices, which were dealt with extensively in this study. The discussion of participatory communication in literature is also mindful of different models of communication and the space they occupy in participatory communication practices. In this study, there was a discussion of transactional communication models as depicted by Nair and White (1993:52) and Steinberg (1997:19). Both scholars emphasise that participatory communication will not achieve its stated purpose without mutual agreement of the parties in communication. They equally stress the recognition of the possible effects of some contextual factors which may have bearing on the prevailing nature of communication. A review of different communication tools used by participatory development communicator was given in the study. These different communication tools were discussed in view of how these tools can be used to advance participatory practice in a development project, especially with reference to the project examined in this study. Using qualitative research method, different and appropriate interview methods such as semi-structured, focus group and post-survey interviews were used to collect data from the respondents in this study. The analysis and discussion of the data revealed that different challenges on the ground could affect participatory communication practices in a development project. With regard to the project examined in this study, the analysis showed that there is a weak stakeholder relationship, especially stakeholders identified in this study as field officers. The study highlighted that stakeholders such as the agricultural extension officers and animal health technicians are not very active in the implementation process of the project. Some of the reasons pointed out is the fact that the secondary stakeholder such as the Provincial Department of Agricultural (PDoA) to which these field officers belong is not playing active role in ensuring that they complement the efforts of other field officers such as the IDC representatives. The second reason is the fact that the participatory focus of the project was not properly communicated to the beneficiaries. This also transpired in their inability to reflect participatory practice in their relationship with the beneficiaries and other stakeholders of the project. Other challenges, among others, as pointed out in the analysis showed that participatory communication practice requires expert personnel to be successful. In the case of the project examined, apart from the fact that there is shortage of manpower to handle the challenges mentioned in the study, there is no communication expert among the few active personnel in the field. The findings of this study showed that there was no clear role and identification of responsibilities let alone coordination of all actors involved in the project. Through the selected case study, this study has not only provided avenue to explore both theoretically and practically participatory communication, but has added to participatory communication discourse that there is no easy answer to challenges field officers encounter in practice. This is the reason the different participatory practices characterising nature of the project this study has investigated was given.

This study explored community building as a method for addressing the problems faced by Mexican Immigrant and Mexican American communities. One of the assumptions that underpinned this study is that community building can be used to counteract racist attitudes toward ethnic minorities. Historically, people of Mexican descent have been the victims of such attitutudes have found their way in oppressive social and economic policy.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study uses narrative analysis to investigate public communication efforts of community development groups to provide a richer understanding of the indicators of group success or failure in this context. The subjects are participants of the Indiana HomeTown Competitiveness program, an initiative that seeks to develop local economic capacity to move rural communities beyond outdated economic models and generate more innovative, sustainable community development. Indiana HomeTown Competitiveness emphasizes four points: entrepreneurship, leadership, youth engagement, and local wealth or philanthropic giving. The impetus for this study is the pilot program’s need for a better understanding of the manner in which participating groups might generate engagement from external community members. To better understand the groups’ success or failure regarding public communication efforts, instances of seven pre-determined themes derived from narratives provided by group members are investigated. The themes, identified by existing research, include group relationships, group structure, group process, member attributes, external forces, group communication, and member emotions. This study uses a blend of quantitative and qualitative analysis to give broad perspective to successful identification of effective tactics which groups may use to engage community members in economic initiatives by means of public communication. Though the study is exploratory in nature, the findings indicate that group communication, relationships, and group structure are likely predictors of a group’s success or failure. The findings of this study also offer a reflection of actions that were successful and also actions that were not successful to program participants, and documents results for future program participants to use. The results also expand upon the available research regarding community development using communication theory. Using a narrative approach also identifies directions of further study to address the multiple discourses created by groups that give insight into community and group communication.

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Media Studies University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg September 2015 / The year 2000 witnessed a significant convergence of global policy positions. These positions range from the neoliberal regime which gained traction in the mid-1990s, participatory development models of the 1980s, and the technocratic approach to development of the late 1990s. Despite their ideological differences, these policy positions found co-existence in the (MDGs) and have framed how poverty is globally understood and how it should be addressed, including the use of communication especially the media to promote or fast track poverty reduction projects. This thesis is a critical analysis of the extent to which the United Nations (UN) Communication for Development strategy of 2007 has been used in Kamaila Village in Zambia and Mwandama Village in Malawi to implement MDG-related projects. The two villages were chosen because they have been exposed to different models of poverty reduction activities. The Mwandama Village project is part of the Millennium Village Project where a holistic approach is applied to address poverty, while the Kamaila Village is a beneficiary of a water project which is considered to be important to kick-start village-driven poverty reduction activities. Even though the two villages have been used as units of analysis, the main goal of this study was to examine the two policy documents as texts – the MDG and the UN Communication for strategy – how the discourse and narratives that inform them and their relationship with power, shape social practices and behaviour at national and village level. The study also sought to establish how language operates within the context of power relations by applying theories of global governance, knowledge and power, hegemony, participatory and media communication. The methodology used to gather data consists of a critical discourse analysis on the policy documents and qualitative interviews with different respondents from the villagers, the UN system, NGOs, media and governments. Through a combination of these theoretical frameworks and methodologies, this study has shown that the narratives and discourses that inform the MDGs are influenced by western actors who use the power of money to pursue their neoliberal interests under the guise of reducing poverty. The link between political power, the poverty reduction ideas and interests of elite actors saturates and remotely controls available policy spaces for participation with external knowledge and rules, starting from the UN system down to the villages thereby enabling neoliberal ideas to control the flow of knowledge and the construction of discourses. Despite attempts to harness local modes of social communication to transmit the neoliberal notions of poverty in the villages, individual villagers have discursively devised ways of maintaining their own ‘traditional’ ways of life. This highlights that poverty reduction discussions must not be too obsessed with controlling or changing people’s minds and behaviour but seek to understand the grassroots’ lifestyles as a baseline for informed intervention. Ignoring this baseline knowledge is one of the many reasons development has failed dismally since the 1950s because it is driven by capital interests from the top to bottom with less or no intentions to address poverty. In addition, the ability of media messages to influence practices and behaviour remains a contested arena. But as this study established, the strength of messages to alter social practices has its limitations because behaviour is a manifestation of several factors such as environment, context, biology, genealogy and culture, some of which are not linked to communication. However, communication within the context of the villagers is part of their way of exchanging or transmitting ideas and knowledge in producing and reproducing their culture and not to eliminate it. This thesis makes scholarly contribution through the use of a critical approach to international policy formulation, and participation within a globalised world. While several studies have analysed the link between communication and poverty reduction privileging the neoliberal construction of these themes, this study has demonstrated that the grassroots are not unthinking; they have a well-being, cultural context and communication ecology which needs to be understood first and respected. These findings expose the tensions between the neoliberal interests-driven elite view of poverty and the local way of viewing well-being.

This study is an analysis of the implications of the manner of development, decision making and communication therein on Africa's development performance since the 1950s. It sought to establish the causes of development failures in Sub-Saharan Africa and to explore a way for sustainable community development. Four hypotheses were set: • First, Africa's development failures are due to cultural irrationality, as many modernisation theorists have suggested, including Goran Hyden (1980: 3-4) who asserts that "Africa's underdevelopment lies in the persistence of its pre-modern and pre-capitalist practices and structures" and Ulf Himmelstrand (1994: 25) with his "European superiority" notion; • Second, Africa's development failures are due to the exclusionary manner of development; • Third, as justification for the exclusionary manner of development, community participation in development could lead to disorder and paralyse governmental delivery capacities (Huntington, 1991), and • Lastly, community participation is untenable because communitarian values no longer exist in African communities. This study is in two parts. Part One verifies the first two hypotheses through reviewing the literature. Part Two verifies the last two hypotheses using field research data. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1999.

Development communication is now a recognized field within communication studies, but has always been implicated with the discourse and practices of development, as well as drawing on the lexicon of sociology for its elaboration of social phenomena and processes. This dissertation sets out to provide a case study-based review of the limits and possibilities of communication in/for development through the lens of interface analysis, a framework developed by Norman Long to reconstitute an understanding of development itself in an actor centered fashion. Adopting a broader based understanding of the concept of interface, in order to provide a communicative tool which goes beyond development practice , three dimensions of communication and development are considered: the 'dominant paradigm' with its emphasis on mass media; participatory communication with its emphasis on dialogue and social change; and communication based on new information and communication technologies, with its emphasis on the benefits of the internet. Central to the discussion is a consideration of the significance of information in developing contexts, and the centrality of communication to social relations more generally. Each of the case studies provides a concrete example of one or more of the three dimensions outlined above, and offers a platform for extending a conceptual and critical engagement with past contributions to the particular problematic. The objective of these engagements is less the establishment of firm conclusions than it is with the delineation of further topics for research, and the clarification of the future direction of communication in/for development. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.

Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programmes are implemented to ensure sustainable use and protection of the environment through appropriate capacity enhancement and empowerment mechanisms. CBNRM is an approach that has multiple objectives, such as enhancing the capacity, of communities to manage resources sustainably, and creating employment opportunities to enhance livelihoods of the communities. CBNRM programmes are implemented in South Africa by different government departments and organisations to achieve these objectives. Despite such interventions, communities often display insufficient knowledge and capacity necessary for effective participation in addressing natural resource management issues. The main objective of this study was to establish the effect of a CBNRM programme on the capacity of the KwaPitela community to manage natural resources for sustainable use. To address the main objective of this study, three sub-objectives were identified: firstly, to determine the community members’ ability to apply skills and knowledge in the management of natural resources for sustainable use; secondly to determine the community’s ability to participate with different stakeholders in the management of natural resources; and thirdly determine the community’s ability to make decisions about the management of natural resources for sustainable use. A basic qualitative research design was used and data collection methods included semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. Selected documents were analysed to confirm specific aspects of the qualitative data. The participants of this study were the KwaPitela development committee, members of the community, and stakeholders mandated to equip the KwaPitela community in CBNRM competencies. Regarding the first sub-objective it was evident that the development committee can apply planning, networking, and leadership skills as a result of the CBNRM programme. The development committee and members involved in the harvesting of natural resources displayed knowledge related to invasive alien species, legislative processes, and the importance of natural resources as an essential for their livelihood. These skills and knowledge were, however, not applied by the community members who were not involved in natural resource management and leadership processes. The development committee and members of the community are still in need of further skills and knowledge, for example entrepreneurship skills and knowledge on how to sustain projects, in order to successfully implement the land use management plan, as developed during the CBNRM programme. Meeting the second sub-objective, it was evident that the development committee had the capability to facilitate participation with stakeholders, but the development committee felt that they were not getting enough support from the stakeholders. In assessing the third subobjective, it became evident that the development committee was able to make well - informed decisions in natural resource management, but they lacked the ability to influence and implement the decisions taken. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Many community development initiatives place great emphasis on the need for the a participatory approach towards development. Here the beneficiaries are expected to engage in dialogue and collective action in order to be empowered and consequently developed. This study therefore seeks to explore the elements of dialogue and collective action in a crime prevention and health promotion intervention that was administered by a non-governmental organisation called Footballers for Life (F4L) at the Heidelberg Correctional Centre (Johannesburg, South Africa) from March to August 2011 amongst a group of 40 male offenders. Premised on the idea that true human development should be participatory and therefore dialogical, this study used Participatory Communication to explore dialogue for collective action within the mentioned intervention. Participatory Communication was applied through the use of the Communication for Participatory Development Model (CFPD), which was used as a guide through which dialogue for collective action was explored. Furthermore, F4L is an organisation that uses retired professional football stars who, acting as role models, offer a unique approach towards effecting behaviour change amongst the communities they work with. Hence in this regard this study used the Social Cognitive Theory to primarily explore the significance of role modelling towards behaviour change in the F4L programme at the Heidelberg Correctional Centre. Taking a qualitative research approach, this study used interviews, focus groups as well as a participant observation schedule to collect the relevant data. This data was analysed through a thematic analysis which was facilitated through the use of a data analysis software package called NVivo. The study reveals how the offenders were excluded from the initial dialogue that took place between F4L and the prison in the recognition of the problems facing the offenders and planning of the intervention. Upon invitation to join the F4L programme the offenders went into it without any sense of ownership or clear understanding of what the programme was about potentially threatening the envisaged purpose of the programme. However, the study also found that the democratic leadership style and genuine efforts of the F4L head Coach (Silver) were able to play a key role in fostering a sense of brotherhood and therefore ownership of the developmental process amongst the offenders leading to the attainment of certain individual as well as social outcomes, i.e. self-reliance, empathy, budgeting skills, collective efficacy as well as communal trust. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Thesis (M.Tech.: Office Management and Technology)-Durban Institute of Technology, 2004 v, 105 leaves / This topic was initiated because of love of community development and information communication application by the researcher. It was further strengthened by taking part during the International Wowen University (Ifu) practice in 2000. The main theme of the study was Information Age. Ifu is well known as the virtual university, which is based in Germany at the University of Hamburg. The researcher, together with eight other women from different countries, designed and developed a model for community development by using ICTs. The model can be used as a basic guide for similar projects. The work, therefore in this thesis is based on personal experiences shared experiences, and research as well as by reading others experiences. This study provides ideas for potential community development by using Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in rural areas with special reference to Ward Three of Durban Metro. The results of the study confirmed the saying “If you can’t beat them join them”. This study reported on research conducted in two different rural areas known as Bamshela and Ward Three. The results from the first area Bamshela, illustrated the way forward for Ward Three. Since the ICTs center exists in Bamshela the author received more information about the centre’s utilisation than its establishment. The focus on the second area emphasises the necessity, awareness and participation in community development. The three specifics focuses on whether there is a need for the ICTs centre for community development. Further more the study focused on areas where ICTs played prominent roles, such as in policy making, education, globalisation, ICTs, community development and participation of community members in community development projects.

This research focuses on a rock art recording process as a possible social development project from a Communication for Participatory Development perspective. The study is part of and builds on the wider National Heritage Council-funded Biesje Poort: KhoiSan rock art recording project. The wider project’s overall objective is “to alert and assist the local authority to the presence of a KhoiSan Heritage resource/s in their area of jurisdiction and assist in developing its educational and tourism potential” (NHC/Lange 2010, proposal). One of the project’s secondary objectives is to transfer skills in the recording and representation of the rock engravings and broader cultural landscape via GPS mapping to members of a present day KhoiSan community in the Northern Cape, as well as to young researchers from a variety of educational institutions in South Africa. My research explores and documents the role of participatory communication in the project including its promotion of skills transference, empowerment, and the level of participation amongst all participants. In doing so, the research investigates the dialogue, power relations and research negotiation between members of the multicultural and multidisciplinary research team. Data is gathered via participant observation and face-to-face interviews that is then analysed against participatory development communication principles as outlined in models such as Communication for Participatory Development (Kincaid & Figueroa, 2009), and strategies such as Participatory Action Research (PAR). Findings generated from this study reveal that in spite of all challenges encountered by participants the intended project objectives were met. This study further provides an insight into other possible research outcomes that could be achieved by implementing a participatory communication research with multicultural and multidisciplinary participants. Taking into account the possible influence that this research’s contextual dynamics could have exerted on the outcomes, recommendations have been made that further research be undertaken on a broader scale to provide more definitive evidence of using this approach. Further recommendations are made that dialogue, and skills acquisition or transference, be at the heart of every participatory communication. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.