The document discusses participatory communication, emphasizing its role in facilitating community engagement and empowerment within development initiatives. It outlines the importance of dialogue, listening, and inclusive participation in overcoming challenges faced in various programs, particularly in the context of rural development. Moreover, it highlights the structured process for implementing participatory communication strategies, including assessment, design, execution, and evaluation to ensure stakeholder involvement and effective communication.

1. PARTICIPATORY
COMMUNICATION
meaning , importance, principles, process and factors
Presented to
Dr. Rajshree Upadhyay
Professor HECM
Presented by
Swati Inani
Phd. Scholar
HECM

2. WHAT IS COMMUNICATION
 Communication is simply the act of transferring
information from one place, person or group to another.
 Every communication involves (at least) one
sender, a message and a recipient.
This may sound simple, but communication is
actually a very complex subject.

3.  The transmission of the message from sender to
recipient can be affected by a huge range of things.
These include our emotions, the cultural situation,
the medium used to communicate, and even our
location.

4. WHAT IS PARTICIPATION
 Participation is the act of participating, or
being related to a larger whole.
 Participation means the act of sharing,
involving in any activity.
 Another word for this is involvement. A
person can enjoy participation in a club, a
celebration, or even a conversation

5. Communication and participation are key components
of successful development. Most development
programs in third world countries failed to overcome
poverty because of low participation and
communication mismatches in the process of
empowerment
(Servaes 2002; Mefalopulos 2003)
The intervention of outsiders and local elites has
undermined people participation in the decision-
making process
(Mosse 2004; and Belbase 2004)

6. Various development programs have less impact on the
improvement in the lives of small farmers in rural areas
because of factors such as:-
1. low participation,
2. the program is not targeted because the information is
inaccurate,
3. the technology is not appropriate,
4. agricultural information and innovation are poorly
understood and applied by farmers because the mismatch
of language style,
5. communication channel, and media.
6. Outsiders feel more knowledgeable that they ignore local
knowledge and
7. the lack of dialogue in learning and counseling to farmers
(Ascroft & Masilela 2004; Anyaegbunam et al. 2004)

7.  The weakness in the empowerment program
implementation is often caused by the thoughts of
the organizers of development that often define
logic with great planning and vision without
dialogue with the people who live off that decision.
(Servaes 2002, 2005, 2006; Mefalopulos 2003)

8. PARTICIPATORY COMMUNICATION
 Participatory Communication (PC) is an approach
based on dialogue, which allows the sharing of
information, perceptions and opinions among the
various stakeholders and thereby facilitates their
empowerment, especially for those who are most
vulnerable and merginalised.
 • Participatory communication is not just the
exchange of information and experiences: it is also
the exploration and generation of new knowledge
aimed at addressing situations that need to be
improved. (Thomas & Paolo)

9. There is possibly a valid reason why we have two
ears, but only one mouth.
Communication between people thrives not on the
ability to talk fast, but the ability to listen well.
People are ‘voiceless’ not because they have nothing
to say, but because nobody cares to listen to them.
Authentic listening fosters trust much more than
incessant talking.

10. UNDERSTANDING PARTICIPATION
As Jan and Patch mentioned,
 participation necessitates listening, and moreover,
trust.
 It will help reduce the social distance between
communicators and receivers, between teachers
and learners, between leaders and followers.
 As well as facilitate a more equitable exchange of
ideas, knowledge and experiences.

11. LISTEN BEFORE COMMUNICATE
 In participatory communication, before
communicate the communicator should listen to
the target audience.
 The need to listen should not limited to the
audience at the receiving end.
 It must involve the administrators as well as the
citizens, the poor as well as the rich, the planners
as well as their targets.

12. NOW WE CAN SAY…………
 Participation communication defined as the process
of giving priority to people perspective in identifying
and analyzing their problem and opportunities and
improving the situation through their self-
mobilization.
 It can be defined as that type of communication in
which all the interlocutor (a person who takes part
in a dialogue or conversation) are feel and have
equal access to the means to express their
viewpoints, feeling and experience.

13. Participatory communication initiatives create
opportunities for people to articulate their views,
identify common concerns, and seek solutions from
within their community.

14. IMPORTANCE OF PARTICIPATORY
COMMUNICATION
 To facilitate community participation in development
initiatives.
 It is a powerful tool to facilitate the process of
development by accompanying the local
development dynamics. It vary from community to
community (village to village).
 It is about encouraging community participation with
development initiatives through a strategic
utilization of various communication strategies.

15.  Participation carries with it feelings of ownership,
because its builds a strong base for the intervention in
the community.
 It was planned by a group representing all segments of
the community.
 Bringing a broader range of people to the planning
process
 A participatory planning approach avoids pitfalls caused
by ignorance of the realities
 It involves important players from the outset.
 It teaches skills which last far beyond the planning
process
 It can bring together and establish ties among
community members
 A participatory planning process builds trust, both
between your organization and the community

16.  A participatory planning process generally reflects
the mission and goals of grass roots and
community-based organizations
 It implies respect for everyone in the community
 A participatory planning approach should be
effective
 It does things the way they should be done

17. IN NUT SHELL
 If we see importance of participatory
communication
In aspect of participants its should be:
 Interesting
 Motivational
 Active participants take part in it.

18. IN ASPECT OF ORGANIZER
They should
 Manage time according to participants
 Provide Accurate information
 Take closer look of people
 Understand and identify the problems
IN ASPECT OF BOTH PARTICIPANTS AND
ORGANIZER
 Improved Interaction pattern must be used
 Both have Equal opportunity of participation

19. ACC. TO TUFTE & MEFALOPULOS PRINCIPLES OF PC
Dialogue, is a meeting between
persons to name the world. For
those who have lost the
primordial right to speak must
make a claim of truth and
prevent the act of ostracism.
Voice, is a shift in power,
providing marginalized sounds,
space and time to articulate
concerns, to pinpoint problems,
to formulate problems and to
act.
Liberal pedagogy, on
communication dialogue, means a
person or something that channels
the communication process. It can
be from internal community or
external that acts to facilitate
dialogue. There are four pillars of
liberal pedagogy: love, humility,
trust, and hope.
Action - reflection - action. Regardless
of the emphasis on dialogue and
reflection, participative communication
is also very action-oriented. As an
important element of participatory
communication, empowerment process
is based on reflection of problems, but
also the integrity of measures to act
collectively on identified issues

20. PROCESS OF PC
The communication program cycle can run parallel to
the project cycle when they both start at the same
time.
The basic process of a participatory communication
program are as follow

21.  Participatory Communication Assessment (PCA): is
were communication methods & tools are used to
investigate and assess the situation
 (Participatory) Communication Strategy Design: is
based on the findings of the research & defines the best
way to apply communication to achieve the intended
change.
 Implementation of Communication Activities: to
determine where activities planned in the previous phase
are carried out
 Monitoring and Evaluation: runs through the whole
communication program, monitoring progress and
evaluating the final impact of the intervention

22. PCA is a method and equipment of communication
support used to investigate and assess the
situation.
There are five basic steps in PCA research:
1) Understand the socio-cultural context while
identifying and defining key issues.
2) Create public space, build dialogue, and build
trust between stakeholders.
3) Assessing needs, problems, risks, opportunities,
and solutions.
4) Prioritize key issues for change and reconciliation
of perceptual differences.
5) Validate the invention and define the solution.

23. (PARTICIPATORY) COMMUNICATION
STRATEGY DESIGN
 Any successful design of a communication strategy or any strategy
begins with the definition of the objectives. This might seem where
strategies are designs on broad, shaky and even poorly understood
objectives are more frequent than expected. When this happens ,crises
and failures become the norm.
 For example, in a poverty reduction program one of the objectives was
to promote sustainable livelihood of communities in rural areas. The
objectives were that they are allowed for a large number of possible
interpretations and course of actions.
As a result, the communication strategy was weak and it was difficult
for the communication specialist to determine what was conceived and
understood by “ sustainable livelihoods”. The way poverty was defined
by the donor and the implementing agency was not accepted by local
communities- many of whom refused to be labeled as poor. The local
communities boycotted many of the activities that were intended and
defined for the poor.


24.  So similar to the first phase a series of basic steps can
help understand how to design a communication
strategy based on a participatory communication
assessment, helping to avoid problem. full participation
of stakeholders in all steps is not an imperative as long
as key decision take stakeholders input into account are
validate with stakeholders at a large stage.
The basic steps of strategy design are to be defined
 SMART Objective( SMART stands for specific,
miserable, achievable, relevant, time bound)
 Primary and Secondary audience
 Level/ type of change(i.e. Awareness, knowledge,
attitude, for)
 Communication approaches and activities
 Channels and Media
 Messages
 Expected output and outcomes

25. IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNICATION
ACTIVITIES
 Once the communication
strategy has been defined, it is
important to draw an action
plan to implement and
facilitate the management and
monitoring of all relevant
activities.
 There are many possible
ways to devise and organise
and action plan.
 Starting from the objective, the
plan includes people(
audience or stakeholders) who
are engaged in the needed
change, activities planned,
resources needed( human and
financial) party responsible for
each activity, and time frame.
 For example, Avian flu
prevention project have as
objective to alert people and to
engage them in discussing
and implementing preventive
actions to minimize threats
especially in rural areas.


26. COMMUNICATION ACTION PLAN

27. MONITORING AND EVALUATION
 The evaluation of
communication activities is
focused on output( for
example, materials produced,
number of viewers reached or
number of staff trained) or on
technical aspects( such as
rate and use of innovations,
adoption of new behavior).
 usually neglected are
consideration of stakeholder
satisfaction and feedback
about the proposed change.
 It should be emphasized that
will impact evaluation is
conducted at the end of the
communication initiative, it
need to be plant from the very
beginning of the initial phase.
 if indicators are not defined,
validate and assessed from
the start, no measurement will
be able to assess the impact
of initiative after its activities
are implemented.
 the same holds true for
monitoring indicator that are
needed to ensure that the
planning and implementation
of the activities stay on track


28.  Full participation by all stakeholders in any step of
the process is not possible. For some situation and
technical issues, it would not make sense to broaden
the participatory decision making exercise.
For example to built a bridge in a certain spot, there
is no need to involve all stakeholders in the technical
decisions concerning the type of concrete, bolts and
other technical specifications for construction. Unless
there are people familiar with different technical
engineering specification. For this general
participation would only delay the process and would
not benefit the end result.

29. AN ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF PARTICIPATORY
COMMUNICATION ASSESSMENT
 In a water project, officer of an international organization
identified that there is need to improve the water system
of a poor region in a Central American country. Based on
their knowledge and expertise the officials define what
was needed and which aspect should be improved with
little or no input from local stakeholders.
 Expectations of the stakeholders were not considered
and as problem emerged in project management came
under increased pressure from the donor and national
political authorities. To gain the support of what are too
often referred to as beneficiaries. Thus, a more
participatory standard was adopted in the following
stages, and local stakeholders were involved in decision
concerning the technical design of the new water system

30.  The end result of this mixed approach (that is top down
in the beginning and participatory from half way
mark) were less than satisfactory. Managers and a
subsequent review mission ascribed much of the failure
to participation when in fact should have been ascribed
to a faulty use of participatory communication.
 To be effective and actual participatory, the project
should have sought participants inputs at the beginning
when assessing the situation and making decisions on
what to do were made. Subsequent actions in the
process would have been restricted to technical experts.
This water project not only misuses the concept of
participation but also prove harmful for the overall
success of the project itself.

31.  When is stakeholders are not included from the
start, participation is significantly impaired.
 In this example local stakeholder should have been
include for defining the needed outcome of the
improved water system. They would have gained
interest and been knowledgeable about which
services were needed to improve life.
 Rather they found themselves in a decision of the
technical design of a water system in which they
had limited knowledge or interest.
 By switching these two basic factors no stakeholder
input in setting priorities and stakeholder inclusion
in technical decisions the project management set
itself up for failure

32. HERE ARE THE REASONS WHY PARTICIPATORY
COMMUNICATION IS GREAT
 It saves time,
 It is more effective as emotions are well portrayed,
 The feedback loop is faster,
 Verbal communication is economical,
 The tone is easy to read

33. FACTORS OF EFFECTIVE PARTICIPATORY
COMMUNICATION
1. Think before you speak
2. Speak with confidence
3. Be clear and concise
4. Be aware of your non-verbal communication
cues
5. Be a good listener
6. Think about the perspective of your audience
7. Vary your vocal tone

34. RESEARCHES
According to (Morris, 2000), Low-participation
communication approaches, also called “diffusion-
oriented” methods, tend to focus on changing
individuals’ behavior by sending messages to
audiences in a one-way flow. They tend to focus on
“products” such as television or radio programs,
and may reach large numbers of people within
relatively short periods of time. Lowparticipation,
diffusion-based approaches rarely prioritize
dialogue and community engagement, or may apply
them in a limited or time-bound manner. In contrast,
participatory initiatives “focus on community
involvement”

35. According (Singhal, 2003), Participatory
communication has been defined as “a dynamic,
interactional, and transformative process of
dialogue between people, groups, and institutions
that enables people, both individually and
collectively, to realize their full potential and be
engaged in their own welfare”

36. According to Thomas and Mefalopulos (2009)
participatory communication should be part of the
whole project process:
 Two-way communication should be adopted from
the beginning and be applied consistently.
 Full participation by all stakeholders in any step of
the process is not possible and, in some cases
probably not desirable. Broad consensus may be
sufficient.
 Inclusiveness must be balanced with consideration
of stakeholders’ time, resources, interests and
knowledge. After their input is taken into account,
stakeholders may not need to be involved in
detailed decisions beyond the scope of their
interests.

37.  According to Thomas L. Jacobson (2019),
the literature on participatory communication for social change
contains a variety of definitions specifying exactly what
participatory communication is.
Various definitions focus on project planning, implementation,
evaluation, interpersonal communication, radio, participatory
communication as a means to an end, participatory
communication as an end in itself, and more.
There is also debate over whether social marketing and
entertainment-education can be employed in a participatory
manner.
This chapter include past and current approaches, arguing that
Habermas’s theory of communicative action provides a useful
approach to the definitional problem.
It presents a scheme for differentiating among kinds of
communication for social change using this theory’s
classification of action types,
differentiating communicative from strategic action, as well as
subtypes within these.

38.  In the research of “Visual voices in participatory
communication” conducted by Arvind singhal ( 2003) focused
on Martha Stuart’s organization, which is for communication for
change and state that how participatory communication help to fix
the problems. Organization helps in developing participatory video in
India, Bagladesh Mali, Nigeria and several other countries.
 In their research he discusses two cases. One case of video SEWA
in Ahmedabad (India) and second one is Proshika’s Participatory
video program in Bangaladesh .These participatory videos help
women reach policy makers, politicians, bureaucrats. Women stated
that they complaint their problems about slum condition for many
years but no one hears. When they make videos about these
problems, through, thing happen. For years they told the municipal
authorities about the filth of our open trenches, but no one came to
see. They do not like to walk in stinky places. Finally, they saw how
bad it is when they made video and showed it to them. Then they
got worried because now here a recorded video in the form of film
and said all these things about them ignoring the problem. They are
afraid the film will be seen elsewhere and hey will be shown lacking,
so they took action to fix the problem.

39.  Stappers & etal (2007),“Sharing User Experiences in
the Product Innovation Process: Participatory Design
Needs Participatory Communication”, presents a model
of communicating user experiences to design teams. The
model comprises three qualities of communication:
enhancing empathy, providing inspiration and supporting
engagement. A new participatory communication tool is
developed and explored in two empirical studies. The first
study investigates the use of the tool during idea
generation by design teams. The second study compares
four different communication tools to study the qualities of
empathy and inspiration. Their findings indicate the value
of making the receivers of the information participative in
the act of communicating. In this way designers become
co‐creators and co‐owners of the information, resulting in
higher degrees of acceptance and use. The participatory
nature of the proposed tool spurs deeper understanding
and more intensive use of insights from user studies in the
creative process.

40.  Julia Novak (2009), research paper of “Reducing
Organizational Risk through Participatory
Communication”. Conclude that reducing risk and
averting crises are increasingly critical for
organizations. This study was designed to identify
strategies for workers to be mindful participants in their
organization's attempts to maintain the safety and
integrity of the food supply. After sequential
explanatory and exploratory phases, multiple
regression results indicated that sending information,
influencing outcomes, receiving information,
organizational openness, and foregrounding training
explained a significant portion of the variance for
organizational mindfulness. The findings suggest that
participatory communication practices enact and
sustain collective mindfulness and, thereby, reduce
risk.

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