The Journal of Development Communication

Development Communication and Gender-Based Violence: A Call to Save the Girl Child

2024-01-22T18:39:19+08:00

In past and recent times, several events in the African society tend to suggest that the girl child has not been given fair and equitable treatment. In spite of campaigns and sensitisation programmes geared towards changing the narrative, there are obvious negative and unpalatable practices against women in society. One such negative practice is gender-based violence which constitutes a problem hence, the imperative of this study. The importance of communication in the society cannot be overemphasised. Actually, careful use of communication to champion the causes affecting women can bring about tangible outcomes. Development communication is the idea of using communication for the purpose of advancing the goals of development in society. This can only be appreciated if it is realised that development has to do with the generation of psychic mobility and changing of attitude. Sometimes, certain societal projects and programmes have failed due to a lack of or the absence of communication components in the development calculus. This article has considered development communication as a concept, defined a girl child, gender-based violence, it deployed the biological Psycho-Dynamic theory to address this discourse. The study used the qualitative method in discussing ways violence against women manifests in Nigeria and their consequences, as well as the role of development communication in the fight against gender-based violence. The study found that violence against women still persists especially, in several parts of Africa and therefore, concluded that society will indeed be a great place to live in if everyone regardless of gender, is given fair treatment. This is because the girl child over the years has not been given the right and equitable treatment that can boost her educational, political, economic and social growths in the society. To this end, the study among others, recommended that the media should devote more time and space in their reportage on issues that addresses the concerns of the girl-child and women.

Media and Communication Studies at the State Universities in Sri Lanka: Challenges of English Medium Education

2024-01-03T22:44:40+08:00

Media education was introduced to Sri Lankan university education in 1973. But media education is mainly offered in Sinhala medium in university education. Therefore, students face some challenges in finding job opportunities, foreign scholarships, research and publications etc. due to the English language barrier. In this context, the purpose of the study is to investigate the challenges of offering media education in English medium in state universities by using the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) theory. Therefore, the Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and the in-depth interviews were conducted to collect data for the study. The results showed that there were some challenges in offering media education in English medium in the state universities such as the difficulty of finding visiting academics or resource persons who are capable of teaching media and communication in English medium, the limited permanent members available in the universities, the lack of exposure to the English language by both the permanent academic members and students in the field of Media and Communication Studies etc. Therefore, academics should take the necessary actions to offer media education in English medium. Then only the students and teachers can be familiar with English medium education to empower themselves in finding job opportunities, foreign scholarships, postgraduate opportunities, research, publications etc.

The Role of Communication Campaign Strategies for Sustainable Resource Development in Papua New Guinea

2024-01-03T22:44:40+08:00

This research underpins the role of communication campaign strategies for sustainable resource development in Papua New Guinea. The research employed both qualitative and quantitative paradigms. Field data were collected from a 10% sampling size to represent the whole population whereby 200 respondents were interviewed. Findings show that communication campaign was a technique to inform and influence landowners of Markham Valley. The research into the influence of communication campaign on technology transfer, diffusion process and adoption behaviour reveal that the most effective diffusion processes were observed from neighbour which confirms the extension, adoption and development of new technology through diffusion process within the same community. The research into adoption behaviour reveals that the most people in Markham Valley were found to be early adaptors of agricultural innovation. This research paper recommends that a socially constructed communication campaign is more appropriate and convenient in the case of Markham valley as it express social value of the communication which can influence and manipulate mindset of the rural people in Markham valley about the potential of commercial tree farming.

Migration and Sustainable Development: Migration Framing, an Impediment to Wholesome Inclusion to a Sustainable Future

2024-01-04T02:44:08+08:00

The coincidental events of the SDGs 2030 Agenda; a universal action for people, planet, and prosperity, taking place in the same year 2015 of the great migrants’ tsunami may not have favored the conceptualization of immigration in the SDGs 2030 Agenda. Actors comprising politicians, academics, civil societies, and agencies within the framework of the European Union gave their voices, framing the migrant influx. Most voices conceptualized migration as a one-way contributor to development benefitting only source countries. The transformational characteristics of immigrants as influencing development and growth are silent in the SDGs 2030 agenda. This skewed framing is a hindrance to harnessing the opportunities presented by immigration as an active agent of transformation both to receiving and sending countries. Europe in addressing her demographic challenges has moved to the admittance of skilled migrants either for study or work purposes. Through a cluster survey of immigrant students in Hungary conducted for this study, a deduction is made to the effect that migrants are settling in host countries, moving ahead to other destinations, and going back to their origin countries. The sooner the UN can understand this, and partner with the infantry on the move by way of enlightenment, the quicker it can harness the gains of immigration to the 2030 SDGs agenda.

Small Talk, Big Issue: Development, Silence and the Elite Agenda in a Bangladeshi Newspaper

2024-01-09T00:48:57+08:00

In an examination of development issues appearing in the highest circulated mainstream English daily newspaper in Bangladesh— the Daily Star (DS)— this study discursively argues that this newspaper provided much less attention and even remained silent on development issues related to education and agriculture that are of close concern to underprivileged people. The newspaper's silence and inconsistent coverage sidelines social needs important to voiceless people. Their coverage pattern can be likened to snapshots that have no value in solving the issues. The newspaper's coverage favours the elite but dehumanizes and ignores the circumstances of underprivileged people. While problems of development need to be debated in the mass media; the DS would rather remain silent and engage in a social exclusion process that breaches the norms of development journalism. The disinterest has impacts, not only in sidelining development issues, but also in dehumanizing and excluding the circumstances of underprivileged people.