Communication for sustainable social change and development

Communication for Sustainable Social Change and Development involves the use of variety of communication techniques to address inefficient systems, processes, or modes of production within a specific location that has not incurred major technological advances. Different mediums and approaches are used to help individuals among the targeted society to acquire new knowledge and skills. This will allow communities not only to experience change but to guide it as well.^[1]

One of the effective ways in achieving sustainability and development has been found in a strategy that places the people of the community in the center of the communication process. This technique is also known as the participatory approach where interpersonal communication is exercised through community media. The members of the culture are agents of change as opposed to the outsiders who may provide any necessary tools. Technology then becomes implemented by people in their social and economic contexts and results in a major shaping process. The participatory approach, can be combined with three other types of communicative methods to affectively invoke social change. These include: behavior change communication, mass communication, and advocacy communication.^[2]

Different types of mediums can be used in achieving governance, health and sustainable development. Old media can be combined with new media to educate specific populations. Information and communication technologies (ICT’s) in addition to multi-media are able to address visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners and prove to be an important contribution to economic growth.^[3] Questions need to be raised about who the stake holders, policy makers, partners and practitioners are and what their goals might be for the community seeking sustainable development. Often times, those who set the agenda are the ones doing the funding for the project and may include international agencies, bilateral agencies, national authorities, NGOs, and local organizations.^[4]

Prior to the project, decision makers consider if introducing new technology will disrupt religion, language, political organization, economy, familial relations and social complexity of the targeted society. Other factors have to be acknowledged as well and may include already present policies and legislations, educational systems, service provisions, institutional and organizational constructions (in the forms of corruption, bureaucracy, etc), socio-demographic and economic aspects, and the physical environment.^[5]

MDGs

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are an official set of universal goals created by the United Nations Development Program to be completed within a specific time frame (year 2015). They address various aspects of human development and are categorized into eight objectives^[6]:

1. Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty
2. Achieve Universal Primary Education
3. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
4. Reduce Child Mortality
5. Improve Maternal Health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure Environmental Sustainability
8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development

These goals tackle extreme poverty in multiple parts of the world but with already pre-existing set backs, MDGs are questioned to be feasible. Progress in Latin America and the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East and North Africa, combined, was a tenth met of the last agreed target.^[7]

Latin America

Communication for sustainable social change and development

Area	21,069,501 km2 (8,134,980 sq mi)
Population	572,039,894
Pop. density	27 /km2 (70 /sq mi)
Demonym	Latin American, American
Countries	20
Dependencies	0
Languages	Spanish, Portuguese, Quechua, Mayan languages, Guaraní, French, Aymara, Nahuatl, Italian and others.
Time Zones	UTC-2 to UTC-8
Largest cities	[8] 1. Mexico City 2. São Paulo 3. Buenos Aires 4. Rio de Janeiro 5. Lima 6. Bogotá 7. Santiago 8. Belo Horizonte 9. Guadalajara 10. Caracas

Development in Latin America has been discussed since the early 1950s and began with the diffusion of innovations concept where countries like Brazil and Columbia would incorporate models brought by developed countries to foster economic growth, use media for technological and scientific advancements, address local problems and manage processes of modernization. In 1970s such type of development was criticized because it responded to the interests of the wealthier, already developed countries. As development efforts continued to fail and socio-economic and financial limitations surfaced, the 1980s were described as La Decada Perdida (The lost decade in Latin America). ^[9]

Development in Latin America is not the same as for countries more economicaly advanced like the United States. The differences are not only economic but social and cultural as well. Any intervention has to take into account the context in which change can be implemented and address not only the elite culture but the popular one as well. Interactive, digital, and participatory technology is encouraged to take part in the development process more so to educate members of the community and to encompass popular innovations and individual creativity. Public policies in information technologies need to reflect local development in order to guide practices of change for other regions. Concurrently, they need to promote members of the community to stimulate change by finding their own meaning in applications that could potentially improve quality of life. This type of thinking is a new approach to development and may be one possible solution to combat the eight objectives of human development in Latin America the Millennium Development Goals strive to address. ^[9]

Statistics

World Bank classifies Latin America in the lower middle and upper middle income range. An estimated 181 million individuals (33.2 percent of the population) live in poverty and seventy-one million of these (12.9 percent) in indigence.^[10] Between 2002 and 2008, forty-one million people were able to sustain enough progress to no longer be characterized as poverty but with the current Global recession, this number has decresed by nine million. Latin America still faces corrupt political, judicial, and security institutions protective of the interests of the wealthy.^[10] The second edition of the “Armed Violence and Development” report by the Secretariat from the Geneva Declaration on Violence and Development characterizes El Salvador as the “most violent country in the world”, just ahead of Iraq, with 60 deaths per 100,000 people. During the first week of November (2011), Manuel Melgar (the justice and public security minister of El Salvador) resigned from his post. The region overall is second to South Africa in terms of levels of crime and violence.^[11] Educational practices are also being questioned across the region. Chile has been experiencing five months of protests against the government‘s attempt to maintain the higher education’s private sector model. Students and teachers in opposition hope to revert to a state funded model, under an “Education for All” slogan in fear of emerging from universities with debts and loans. These street demonstrations, now catching congress’ attention, are a threat to Chiles’ 2012 budget. Without the proposed spending, potential education, health, training and anti-poverty programmes will cease.^[12] In Latin America, risks of inflation and excessive currency appreciation are a concern to the region’s long-term growth prospects and present instability in the financial sector. Current events such as the European debt crisis, the slow recovery in the US, natural and nuclear disasters in Japan and the implications from the political turmoil in the Middle East slow down progress within the region and foreshadow more difficult economic conditions.^[13]

Progress

Growth in Latin America - not including the Caribbean region - is expected to average between 3.5 and 4.5 percent of GDP in 2011 (better than economic activity in some developed nations). Progress is attributed to current macroeconomic management, a constant domestic demand, commodity export boom, and the commodity increase in prices which have spurred investments in mining and energy. Unemplyment rates have dropped down to seven percent and current results are better than in most North American areas and some wealthier European nations. In the fiscal year 2011, World Bank Group has produced $14.7 billion dollars in funding for the region. Contributions have been made by International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). Most of the funding was devoted to health, social, transportation, and public administration services. Countries that received the most financial help were Mexico ($2.7 billion), Brazil ($2.5 billion), and Argentina ($2.2 billion).^[13] Funding stimulates development which in turn promotes investment as the current case in Latin America. UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America (Eclac) calculated that direct investment (FDI) in 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries totalled to US$82.65bn in the first half of 2011 (up 54% compared to the same period during 2010). These numbers are on the path to be a new historic record in 2011. ^[12]

Countries with highest FDI increase

1. Brazil - Received US$44bn in FDI in the first six months of 2011 (an increase of 157% from the same 2010 period).
2. Columbia - FDI jumped 91%, to nearly US$7bn (more than it received in all of 2010).
3. Venezuela - US$1.18bn in the first half of 2011

Countries with highest FDI decrease

1. Argentina - FDI fell 30% in the first six months of this year from US$3.5bn in 2010 to US$2.4bn in 2011.
2. Paraguay - down 31%
3. Mexico -down 18%
4. Chile - down 14%
5. Uruguay - down 4%

A lot of the progress in Latin America has also been attributed to higher employment rates. In Columbia alone, 700,000 jobs were created since Juan Carlos Echeverry took up presidency in 2010. The government wants to create 2.5 million additional jobs by the end of 2014.^[14]

References

1. ^ FAO, Government of Italy, UNESCO, World Bank, IDRC, CTA (2005). Commu nication for Development Roundtable Report. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. pp. 12. http://books.google.com/books?id=y9M8RvHprJYC&pg=PA21&dq=communication+for+sustainable+social+change+and+development&hl=en&ei=qgWOTr_lCaTy0gGkq9UM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=communication%20for%20sustainable%20social%20change%20and%20development&f=false. 
2. ^ FAO, Government of Italy, UNESCO, World Bank, IDRC, CTA , (2005). Communication for Development Roundtable Report. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. pp. 29. http://books.google.com/books?id=y9M8RvHprJYC&pg=PA21&dq=communication+for+sustainable+social+change+and+development&hl=en&ei=qgWOTr_lCaTy0gGkq9UM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=communication%20for%20sustainable%20social%20change%20and%20development&f=false. 
3. ^ Schreyer, Paul (22 March 2000). "The Contribution of Information and Communication Technology to Output Growth: A Study of the G7 Countries". OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2000/2: 3. doi:10.1787/151634666253. http://www.tos.camcom.it/Portals/_UTC/Studi/ScenariEconomici/39746563563847689/wppdf_file=5lgsjhvj7mwk.pdf. Retrieved 13 October 2011. 
4. ^ Boyson, Jack K. "Resources for Mobilizing Funding for Development Projects". International Youth Foundation and the Small Grants Program of the World Bank. World Bank. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMACEDONIA/Resources/Resources_for_Mobilizing_Funding_for_Development.doc. Retrieved 13 October 2011. 
5. ^ "Factors of Change". Sociology Guide. http://www.sociologyguide.com/social-change/factors-of-change.php. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
6. ^ "Goals, Targets and Indicators". Millennium Development Goals. Millennium Project. http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/gti.htm. Retrieved 20 October 2011. 
7. ^ Vandemoortele, Jan. "Are the MDGs feasible?". United Nations Development Programme. United Nations Development Programme Bureau for Development Policy. http://62.193.78.3/cah/pdf/mdgs_feasible.pdf. Retrieved 19 October 2011. 
8. ^ R.L. Forstall, R.P. Greene, and J.B. Pick, Which are the largest? Why lists of major urban areas vary so greatly, Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie 100, 277 (2009), Table 4
9. ^ ^{a b} de Alcazar, Migdalia Pineda (2010). "The digital era and alternatives for human and communications development in Latin America". International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics 6 (3): 283–293. doi:10.1386/mcp.6.3.283_1. 
10. ^ ^{a b} Notas de Cepal. "Learning from Latin America". http://cdj.oxfordjournals.org/content/45/3/265.full#fn-3. Retrieved 3 November 2011. 
11. ^ UNODC. [www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/ihs.html "International Homicide Statistics, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime"]. www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/ihs.html. Retrieved 3 November 2011. 
12. ^ ^{a b} LatinNews (October 2011). "Even more of a haven? Economy & Business". LatinNews. http://www.latinnews.com.silk.library.umass.edu/component/k2/item/48899.html?period=2011&archive=25&cat_id=786369%3Aeven-more-of-a-haven%3F&Itemid=6. Retrieved 11 November 2011. 
13. ^ ^{a b} World Bank. "Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Brief". The World Bank Group. http://go.worldbank.org/3TIKEV9IQ0. Retrieved 4 November 2011. 
14. ^ LatinNews (October 2011). "COLOMBIA: Bold promises". LatinNews. http://www.latinnews.com/component/k2/item/48866.html?period=2011&archive=25&cat_id=786369%3Acolombia-bold-promises&Itemid=6. Retrieved 17 November 2011.