Acknowledgements

Introduction

About this book

1 | Communication for Development: setting the scene

A field known by many names

A bit of history

Entering the field: which door to choose?

So much communication and so little understanding

Context matters: no one-size-fits-all

Enough messages, more listening

Unpacking the debate

Turning decades of advocacy work on its head

PART ONE | What we know

2 | The meaning of ‘another’ development

Paul’s briefcase

Speaking ‘another’

What does Another Development look like?

Listeners lost ground to the tellers

3 | Planners and searchers: two ways of doing development

Communication is not the same as telling

Planners and searchers

Searchers listen; planners tell

Left-side, right-side thinking

Did we forget the media?

4 | Why communicators can’t communicate

I work in communication, but not the kind you think

I fix cars, I make posters, I produce videos

Right-brainers in a left-brain world

PART TWO | What we learned

5 | Working in the grey zone

All that was left was a two-way car radio

Orchid collections

Three coordinates for navigation

A primer on communication functions

Working in the grey zone in Mozambique: an illustration of the coordinates

6 | Early champions: uncovering principles

The Fogo Process: a prize orchid

Don Snowden: champion

Gaston Roberge: champion

Alex Sim: champion

Manuel Calvelo-Rios: champion

7 | New activists: principles that travel

Drishti: activist video champions

Alex and Wilna Quarmyne: activist community radio champions

Minou Fuglesang: an activist champion who does not mince words

Brian Beaton: activist Internet champion

A common focus

8 | The forgotten context

Organizations are half the methodology

Remote Aboriginal communities responding to history

Rat Park: the context leads to addiction

HIV/AIDS communication recognizes context

Media policy shapes context

Context drives functions

Listening to the context

PART THREE | What we can do differently

9 | Training and negotiating in the grey zone

Training and negotiating

Negotiating the zone of the possible

Listening to the context: a promising example from Central America

10 | Searching and listening: good communication, good development

In and out of the grey zone

Non-kinetic activity

Social media, a sense of hope

A global paradox

Implications for relocating our field

Postscript: Cultivating common sense on the farm

References

Index