"This thesis offers a study on the nuanced understandings of and the interplay between participatory video (PV), citizen voice and international development. The study investigates contemporary PV practitioners’ conceptualisations of the phenomenon of using PV to raise citizen voice in internation ... al development contexts. The study participants were 25 global PV practitioners who had experience on more than 650 PV projects. Of those projects, approximately 250 specifically aimed to raise the voice of excluded groups in international development contexts. Through investigating the PV practitioners’ perceptions of the phenomenon, the study identified three distinct epistemologies relevant to PV practice and raising citizen voice. The study called these the amplified, engaged and equitable voice pathways. Making the three categories explicit is of critical value to the PV field. They provide a language and theoretical grounding for why certain PV approaches may be more effective than others for social and/or political change. Of the three pathways, the research ultimately deemed equitable voice as the most viable for citizen voice to be both authentically representative and respectively valued in decision-making spaces. Accordingly, the study drew from scholarship and the characteristics within the equitable voice pathway to develop a conceptual framework for raising valued citizen voice with PV. The framework offers five key principles; named as personal recognition, collective representation, social and political recognition, responsive listening and empathic relationships. While having a framework is valuable for PV practice, the study also recognised that a conceptual framework in itself is often insufficient. Its viability requires an enabling environment for meaningful application. Thus, the research also identified six institutional views of PV practice in international development contexts with potential to diminish voice. It named them as the output-focused, voice opportunity, apolitical, agenda-led, harmless and uncomplicated views. These were views the PV practitioners in the study described as constraining their ideals in practice. The views ranged from institutions prioritising PV film outputs over political dialogue to institutions setting agendas with potential to suppress authentic citizen voice. The study interrogated the identified institutional views to discover their differing possibilities for legitimising or limiting citizen voice. The thesis concludes by encouraging three areas of consideration for participatory video to enhance citizen voice in democratic decision-making processes. First, it proposes deliberate attention on strengthening voice representation and voice receptivity in PV activities to reduce social and political inequity. Second, it promotes recognition of how political and institutional environments influence PV’s ability to raise citizen voice sufficiently. Third, it suggests greater reflection on how PV practitioners’ conceptualisations of voice affect citizen voice outcomes; and how practitioners might use their own agency to ensure meaningful change. Such forethought and action expands possibilities for PV practice to support citizen voice in being heard, valued and influential." (Abstract) more

"A national television service, Botswana Television (Btv) was introduced in 2000 by the Botswana Government. However, Btv’s role in national development has received limited research attention. This study examines the role of television in national development in Botswana. In addition, the study e ... xplores the factors that influence the performance of television in a developing country context, with a view to suggest issues for consideration in media policy in Botswana to improve the performance of the Btv [...] The study illustrates that the role of television in national development in Botswana is mostly consistent with the role of the media advocated by the modernisation theory of development communication. The roles of Btv in this regard are education, information, entertainment and dissemination of government information. Most research participants in this study shared a common understanding that Btv should be a medium for diffusing development ideas initiated by the Botswana Government, for possible adoption by the public. Other roles of Btv relate to countering the dominance of neighbouring South Africa media content in Botswana, as well as contributing to Botswana’s economic diversification through advertising. The positive factors that validate the applicability of modernisation theory in the analysis of Btv include planning for the introduction of the service, improved transmission signal access, diverse programs that have been aimed at addressing developmental issues such as health, education and agriculture, and the use of the national language. Nonetheless, Btv audiences complained about limited cultural content on the channel. A political economy analysis of the factors influencing the performance of Btv revealed that the absence of a formal media policy framework has exacerbated the political and economic pressures facing Btv, such as state control and limited funding. This study therefore proposes that there is a need for the Botswana Government to introduce appropriate media policy with more emphasis on issues relating to its broadcasting model, objectives, funding, and programming with a view to strengthening and positioning Btv to realise its full potential in contributing to national development in Botswana." (Abstract, page 2-3) more