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traditional communication model was unidirectional and top-down, using
the one size fits all formula. Development practitioners assumed
to know what and how was best for the community. And in the process most
of the audience was left untouched. However, development practice has
proven that the top-down approach can now be put behind. Exposure to
mainstream media has fuelled the aspiration of the rural community,
creating a brand new participatory model. Rural communication has come
of age.
Today, communication strategies
have an amazing opportunity to engage audiences. There is growing
involvement of the community, with common interests and a common
heritage, making it possible to have a two-way model. Moreover, rural
communication has moved from engagement to empowerment. The community
(particularly youth and women) is increasingly and actively involved in
the development, production and management of communication.
Earlier, civil society
organisations experimented with various forms of communication with
community involvement, particularly folk forms for creating awareness.
Thus, nautankis, puppet shows and street plays were used very
effectively to get the message across. However, the transition from folk
to technology has truly broken the barriers in rural communication,
leading to the use of mass communication on an alternative scale. The
Community Radios and Video Volunteers are using the ‘slice of life’ – a
simple and direct approach, touching the very core of people and the
communities.
When, in the year 2002, the
Government of India approved a breakthrough policy for granting licenses
to set up Community Radio Stations, various organisations and
professionals, including Development Alternatives, saw this as an
opportunity for a greater role of the community in taking charge of its
own development and in giving it direction and impetus. The
communication has now become Community Owned and Community Managed (COCOM)
and radio and video are very effective in such initiatives.
The radio as a portable and a
wide reach medium and the audio-visual media with its ‘seeing is
believing’ strength have been valuable in behaviour change
communication. The Shubh Kal campaign of Development Alternatives, led
by Radio Bundelkhand, has galvanised rural communities in one hundred
villages to understand climate change and fashion their own adaptation
solutions. They have shown the power of media owned by communities where
they do not have to wait for governments to provide solutions.
However, new media such as
mobile and ICT are still relatively virgin sectors in rural
communication with a lot of possibilities. With over 929 million mobile
subscribers in May 2012, and growing rapidly each month, mobile networks
can become India’s largest information platform. There is a lot of scope
for innovations and usage of such new age media in rural communication
and development. One such remarkable innovation is the Lifelines India
initiative of Development Alternatives, where over 1,75,000 queries from
remote farmers have been given answers from experts via mobile handsets
managed by volunteers.
Rural communications have
opened an exciting new chapter in enabling people to take charge of
their own lives. The community has demonstrated that it can manage these
new communication platforms. The question is: who will and how such
initiatives will be supported?
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