"Drawing upon feminism and participatory communication, this research has used multiple methods to explore the rich and innovative experiences of the women’s radio stations in Senegal. The case of Gindiku FM, one of the four women’s radio stations in Senegal, is used to assess the community radi...o’s revolutionary potential for development and progressive social change. The findings show that women’s community radio has emerged as a response to women’s marginalization in both mainstream media and in alternative community media, as well as to women’s need to have their own communication means. The findings reveal that Gindiku FM is an outstanding model of a women’s community radio station that has successfully articulated gender and participatory communication to empower rural and poor women living in a context dominated by a Sufy Islamic Order. The findings show that three key factors have contributed to the success of Gindiku FM. The first factor is a clear commitment to integrating a gender perspective in all of their actions and therefore to question gender-based discrimination and marginalization. The second factor is the set-up of a network of 60 rural women reporters and 60 listening groups, in as many villages, as a scheme to ensure women’s inclusion and participation in the radio station. The third factor is the implementation of gendered programming targeting inequality, social injustices, and women’s subordination. The findings of this study indicate that Gindiku FM has produced changes both at individual and community levels. Women have been empowered technically, culturally and socially. The traditional image of a silenced woman, lacking agency and self-esteem, is fading for a new one that is more vocal, dynamic and less entrenched in traditional and patriarchal values. Therefore, Gindiku FM has emerged as a powerful model that can inspire women’s media activists, as well as donors willing to support initiatives in gender and communication for development." (Abstract)
more
"This book presents conceptual and methodological issues related to the use of communication in order to facilitate participation among stakeholders in natural resource management (NRM) initiatives. It also presents a collection of chapters that focus on participatory development communication and N...RM, particularly in Asia and Africa. There are many approaches and practices in development communication, and most of them have been implemented in the field of environment and natural resource management. But, even when considering participatory approaches in NRM, communication is often limited to information dissemination activities that mainly use printed materials, radio programmes and educational videos to send messages, explain technologies or illustrate activities. These approaches, with their strengths and weaknesses, have been well documented.Participatory development communication takes another perspective. This form of communication facilitates participation in a development initiative identified and selected by a community, with or without the external assistance of other stakeholders. The terminology has been used in the past by a number of scholars to stress the participatory approach of communication in contrast with its more traditional diffusion approach. Others refer to similar approaches as participatory communication for development, participatory communication or communication for social change.In this publication, participatory development communication is considered to be a planned activity that is based on participatory processes and on media and interpersonal communication. This communication facilitates dialogue among different stakeholders around a common development problem or goal. The objective is to develop and implement a set of activities that contribute to a solution to the problem or the realization of a goal, and which support and accompany this initiative. This kind of communication requires moving from a focus on information and persuasion to facilitating exchanges between different stakeholders to address a common problem, to develop a concrete initiative for experimenting with possible solutions, and to identify the partnerships, knowledge and materials needed to support these solutions." (Preface)
more