Beyond the flipchart : three decades of development communication

The four types of strategies most often used in development communications (i.e., media-based, intructional design, participation, and marketing strategies) are discussed in relation to two vital concerns: (1) the importance of language, culture, and politics; and (2) sectoral (i.e., agriculture, population, education, health, and nutrition) interests. The use for development purposes of the various forms of modern communications media (television, radio, print media) is sketched, as is that of traditional/folk media and of other media such as slides and tape recorders. Particular attention is given to the development uses of the most advanced communications technologies (telecommunications and computers). Development communications, it is noted in conclusion, is currently shifting away from media-specific planning towards a systems approach and the related use of hybrid development communications strategies. Three fundamental principles underlying this shift - orientation to the audience, the focusing on specific development messages, and the growing realization that diverse media serve diverse but interrelated purposes - are discussed.