October 2015
ACTIVITY
1
Understanding how Communication Plan
Works in the Field
INTRODUCTION
Communication,
as a process of transmitting ideas and information, is not just a tool in
development work; it is an integral part of the entire development process. In
any organization with development programs or projects, communication is considered
as vital in serving and connecting with the community. In order to maintain
relationship with the community, these organizations need to continue using and
revising their communication plan, based on their experiences, throughout the
existence of their organization.
INSTRUCTION:
Visit
a government or non-government organization/ agency and check for their
existing or completed project or program, which has a communication component.
Analyze their communication plan and
write a narrative report of your analysis using the following points as your
guide:
1. Describe or characterize the agency/ organization visited
2. Describe what the program is all about (including its duration, background and rationale and its objectives)
3. Describe the kind of approach used in the program implemented/ being implemented based on the approaches in Development Communication Planning discussed in Module 1- (Lesson 3).
4. Assess the effectiveness of the communication plan by answering the following questions using the six elements of communication:
a.
What is
the message? (Message)
b.
Who is
the audience? (Receiver)
c.
What
media was used to deliver the message (Medium/Channel)
d.
Who
created the message? (Sender)
e.
What are
the expected audience performances after delivering the message (Effect)
f.
How does
the effectiveness of the message evaluated (Feedback)
Barangay Health Center
–Tawang, La Trinidad Benguet
Program objective: By the end of 2014, to achieve 90 %
participation of target audience on various health programs services offered.
I.
Profile
Tawang is one of the 16 barangay of the
municipality of La Trinidad, province of Benguet. It is low-lying mountain
overlooking the La Trinidad Valley. It is known for its famous Mount Kalugong (the
local term for hat), it was taken from a set of rocks which look like a hat,
which is very visible from the valley when looking up the heights of the Tawang
area. Barangay Tawang consists of five sitios; Boted, Banig, Central, Densi and
Papasok.
The Barangay Health Center of Tawang
was established in accordance to the
Letter of Instruction 949 issued by the then President Ferdinand Marcos
mandating the implementation of Primary Health Care in 1979, which aims strengthens the promotion of
health care. According to Mila T. Pagcial, the midwife of Barangay Tawang; the
population of the barangay as of December 2014 has reached 9, 333 with 2, 098
number of households.
II. Program/ Project Description
In congruence
to the Department of Health’s progam, “Kalusugan Pangkalahatan” or the
Universal Health Care which aims to achieve universal health care for all
Filipinos, the following programs were made available at the barangay health
center.
a.) Child Health
Educate
parents of infants from 0 - 15 months on the advantages of the new Pentavalent
and anti-measles vaccine (Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and
Haemophilus influenza B). Encourage parents to have their infant vaccinated and
complete the required immunization.
b. ) Maternal Health
Educate
women the importance of pre and
post natal check-up, immunization (Tetanus Toxoid) and micronutrient
supplementation that includes vitamin A, iron, iodine and folate. Teach
lactating mothers on proper breastfeeding, its importance and advantages.
c.) Expanded
Program of Immunization
Supplementary
immunization activities are used to reach children below 5 years old who have
not been vaccinated or have not developed sufficient immunity after previous
vaccinations such as the anti-measles vaccine, vitamin A supplementation and deworming.
d.) Health and Well-being of Older
Persons
Free vaccination against the
influenza virus and pneumococcal diseases for senior citizens.
e.)
Anti-Dengue Control and Prevention Program
Encourage households to
practice sanitation and proper water storage associated to dengue related
illness and deaths.
III. Approaches in
Development Communication Planning Used/ Applied
A. The Plan and Implementation
In
order to meet the program objective, the barangay midwife and nine (9) barangay
health workers devised a plan and communication approaches. The
group had created schedule that would meet the need of five sitios. The sub-clinic
in Banig is open every Tuesdays and Thursdays while Monday and Wednesday is
allotted at Central Tawang to accommodate clients from Densi, Papasok, Boted
and Central Tawang. In addition, the group has also field clinic every Friday
in different 4 sitios of the barangay and twice a month in Banig (this sitio
consists 1/3 of the population of the barangay) to visit ailing patients and
clients who were not able to come on scheduled consultation or immunization and
to constantly remind farmers and households who are using drums as water
storage to properly cover it well to prevent dengue mosquito to breed.
Posters,
visual aids, text messaging and interpersonal communication were the major
medium used in discussion and disseminating information. The approach was a
small group or one on one consultation or discussion that aims to empower
target audience by giving proper information about the programs and
persistently reminding the importance of good health, sanitation in the
surroundings and water storage. Through regular dialogue, visits and reminders,
the target audience gained in-depth understanding about the services of the
health center and showed willingness to participate. Because of these, the
group was overwhelmed by the result. The
90 percent participation rate target was not only met but also exceeded by 1
percent.
B. Approaches in Development Communication
Planning Used
Approaches
that were employ in the development communication planning are system approach,
process approach (sociological and communication theories), and ethical/normative
approach.
A
program can only be a success if it is planned carefully. Even a well planned
program can fail if there is no system. During the interview with the barangay
health workers (BHWs), three approaches came to my mind right away. Before the implementation of the programs, the
BHWs devised plans that would counter problems they expected to arise. The
problematic areas were identified with regard to their previous experience such
as the most common illnesses and diseases among the target audience, fear
because of not knowing and target audience unaware of the programs. They have designed
how are they going to implement it, one is the Field Clinic. Put it into
operation and made some adjustment when the need arises. Under the sociological theory, the planners understood
that the target audience such as children, mothers, fathers, elders, farmers
has different personalities, beliefs, ethnic group with different languages, and
educational background. Hence, they created different approaches in
communicating the programs and how to discuss it with the target audience. That’s
where the communication theories were used. That includes the languages used
and the strategies they employ in order to convince the reluctant individuals
understand the importance and advantages of the service offered. Finally, the
planners also took in consideration the decision of the target audience, showed
respect into their beliefs and secrecy of the target audience medical records.
They didn’t oblige the target audience to accept the program but they patiently
explained the program and waited for the target audience to finally concede
which is certainly ethical/normative.
IV.
Effectiveness of the Communication Plan
Based
on the output of the agency ( Barangay Health Center of Tawang), I think they
have devised an good communication plan. Their result showed that they achieved
their objective and they were overjoyed they exceeded by one percent. The
messages are the programs offered by the health center to different age group. These
messages were created to achieve the “Kalusugan Pangkalahatan” or the Universal
Health Care program of the Department of Health. These programs were then
passed down to the Provincial to Municipal Health Unit and to the Barangay
Health Unit. Therefore, the Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) are then the direct
sender of these messages which means that they have the crucial role in
implementing these programs. These messages were intended to almost everyone in
the community such as children below 5 years old, mothers, senior citizen,
ailing patients, households and farmers.
The messages were disseminated through text messaging, posting
announcements on various sari-sari stores, the use of visual aids and posters, one
on one consultation and discussion during clinic hours and field clinic. The BHWs said that not all target audience
availed the programs offered. Some of them refuse because they were afraid
while some doesn’t have enough information on the advantages of the program. Through
field clinic, the BHWs said that some
target audiences aren’t vaccinated yet because they have no way of receiving
the message, some are afraid of the after effect of the vaccine and they don’t
have any idea what to do. They also added that the senior citizens refused to
have influenza virus and pneumococcal vaccine because they claimed it would shorten their lives. Furthermore, farmers and households who are
using drums as water storage aren’t covering it well thus allowing dengue
mosquito to breed. But these barriers of communication were then solved through
the effort of dynamic BHWs. one on one consultation, in and outside the
clinic were very helpful to inform and empower the target audience. On a final
note, the program was a success because of the 91 % participation of the target
audience. It shows that the programs (message) disseminated through a various
communication approaches reached the target audience (receiver), understood the
concept and availed it.
Insight learned from the activity
Communication plans play a vital role in communicating health. Understanding the target audience e.g. who are they, their behavior towards the message, what language do they speak is indispensable in order to device simple and comprehensible communication vehicles. It is also imperative that specific health information is properly communicated to different age and cultural group to achieve desired action or change of behavior. In addition, health workers responsible in the implementation of the project should communicate regularly and should have ample knowledge about the message to ensure that the communication plan is carried-out accordingly.
That's all I can share about my first activity. It's been a great experience staying in the Barangay Health Center for a day and walking with the Barangay Health Workers during their field clinic.
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Communication happens in every aspect of human affairs. It may be easily captured or arduously understood. But to make its purposes and meanings concretely conveyed, it must be bounded on the margin of its scope; thus, planning comes in.
Communication planning is a guiding framework for various strategies for change. Nowadays, most of our social activities are elaborated and governed by projects and programs, and therefore, the intervention of an effective communication and planning dictates its success and failures. It may be systematic; process-oriented; results driven; politically, culturally, economically, and socially based; or even follows ethical norms and views.
Based on the government program I studied, I realized how communication diversify our perceptions. No matter how systematic a certain plan, the compilation of diverged feedback may in turn create an altered meaning of the purposes and objectives in which the program is rooted. Nevertheless, our shared-meanings and shared ideas significantly contribute to the overall evaluation of the project or program. And therefore, are good signs of transparency, accountability, and participatory behavior.
And just as communication serves as a process that requires interaction, communication plan will never be effective without the presence of our views that truly create a massive impact of its results. However, most of the time, we tend to express our thoughts just to show others that we care. We freely verbalize our standpoints, but the underlying responsibility and the challenge of how far have we reached to justify our thoughts into action is becoming cryptic --- that only shows how influential our views and opinions are in any communication plan.
Guarin, A. (2015, October 20). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/groups/1496739527314255/
Guarin, A. (2015, October 20). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/groups/1496739527314255/
My insight:
I truly agree with you Annalin Guarin Sison " the intervention of an effective communication and planning dictates its success and failures". Therefore, some interventions such as improper use of language, lack of knowledge and skill in communicating the message may fail the success of a project while delivering the message successfully and creating behavioral change to the receiver denotes effective communication and likewise improves teamwork, decision making and problem solving on the sender's part.
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The links of the article about the Ifugao Rice Terraces facing urbanization threats that were posted on facebook by fellow locals of Mayoyao, Ifugao caught my attention. Mayoyao people may have found it interesting because the subject of the article was specifically my hometown. It was written by Karl Malakunas and was posted in the websites of Manila Bulletin and Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Indeed, in 1995, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the Mayoyao Rice Terraces Cluster a World Heritage Site. Despite such recognition, the Ifugao Provincial Tourism Profile (2006) shows that Mayoyao had the least percentage of tourist arrival with 1%, Kiangan ranks 3rd with 6%, Hungduan ranks 2nd with 7%, and Banaue ranks 1st with 85%. The province-wide Search for Bugan ya Wigan di Gotad 2012 was instrumental to provide the reason for Mayoyao’s low tourist arrival. In the final question and answer portion, former Governor Eugene M. Balitang asked, “How do you develop the tourist spots in your hometown?” Mayoyao contestant Noel Ogano answered, “In Mayoyo, we have a lot of tourist spots but the problem is the road. We need to improve the road to make these tourist spots accessible to tourists so the government must partner with line agencies and NGO’s to acquire more funds”.
A year after, during Noel’s farewell walk, he said, “I told what was coming from the hearts of the Mayoyao people that as taxpayers, they deserve a road that is safe and that would boost their economy and tourism program. Just recently, I could see some road improvement projects along the Banaue – Mayoyao Road”.
Tourist blogs provide the description of the said road.
Awesome Solo Travels (2013) describes the Banaue – Mayoyao Road to be very narrow at some places allowing only one vehicle at a time.
Tripadvisory (2013) also mentioned that reaching Mayoyao from Banaue needs about 90 minutes of ride in a jeep. The road can be paved or muddy. Some parts are just by the cliff.
Ivan Henares (2008) who traversed the Santiago - Mayoyao route wrote to have navigated through rough and bumpy roads.
The road widening and cementing of the Banaue – Mayoyao – Aguinaldo – Alfonso Lista Road since 2011 is now resulting to speedy transformation of Mayoyao and its people. Long before this development, construction of modern houses within the rice terraces was already a reality.
The road development project is foreseen to have further speedy impact on the place and its people. On the light side, there would be faster and easier delivery and access of health care services, faster and easier business transactions, and more convenient transportation.
On the other side, influx of irresponsible tourists and investors, and further construction of modern houses in the rice terraces may be considered possibilities. As such, I've been thinking of how to get my messages across to prevent these urbanization risks, then, I thought of the social networking media. In fact, I already posted a video on the development of Tenogtog. This has waterfalls and water-pools in beautiful succession. With the development of access road and the footpath from one natural pool to the other, the number of picnic goers are increasing. It was just disheartening that the last time I went there, I saw scattered wastes.I also posted my write-up "Falling In-love with my Heritage" where I suggested a two-way scheme to academicians on heritage conservation: 1) teaching indigenous knowledge in a classroom situation, and 2) spearheading programs within the heritage site where direct contact with the locals and immersion in the traditional landscape would be considered. Both are meant to effectively address the eventual loss of appreciation and love of identity.
When I read the Development Communication Planning Approaches, I realized that without me knowing, I seem to be using John Middleton’s Ethical or Normative Approach maintaining that the planned use of communication is society touches on deeply held ethical issues: 1) the ethical implications of the purposive use of communication to persuade people to adopt new practices and to change attitudes and behavior, and 2) the decision makers when such use of communication is acceptable.
For the ethical implications, I'm still on the process of gathering feedbacks or information to determine if the use of the social networking media to get my message across could facilitate the Mayoyao people to adopt new practices and change attitudes and behavior as they embrace urbanization and commercialization. I'm just hoping that more would be one with me in this direction so that decision making would be participatory, collective, and sturdy.
Gomongwa, J. ( 2015, October 19). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/groups/1496739527314255/permalink/1517956165192591/
My insight:
Well, here's comes again the cliche, "It's sad but its true."
I guess it's the price of what they call urbanization and development. Your article Jeremy Gawongna again reminded me of my love affair with nature during my younger days. heart emoticon Those days when my siblings and I use to enjoy fishing and swimming by the small river that separates Hillside and Camp 7 in Baguio City. The water was so clean and clear that small fish swimming were visible. We used to pick sunflowers, catch dragonflies and grasshoppers on the grassy plateau which now they call the Woodsgate Subdivision. I remember just outside our house in Hillside, there’s a natural spring water where drink after playing. It was also where we used to fetch water for household consumption.
Visiting the Rice Terraces of Ifugao has been my longtime dream and I hope communication planners would be able to device an effective plan in order to preserve the beauty of the Rice Terraces of Ifugao, our priceless treasure...
... and someday when I get the chance to visit the place. It still the place that used to see only from blogs and postcards... clean and captivating, purely made of nature...
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November 2015
How to make a communication plan
Devcom policies and creating messages
The previous modules and lessons centered on the importance of making communication policies that would serve as the principles on how we implement communication processes in our organizations. Devcom puts prime on processes and therefore, it looks at communication as interactive with open venues for feedback.
Devcom plans are based on these communication policies and the main objective is how to communicate messages effectively using channels that are based on the contextual situation of the recipients of the message. Creating the most appropriate message is one of the most challenging stages in making a plan since the message compels the recipients to change their behaviors and act accordingly to contribute to development.
Paradigms as lens to development issues
The term development became the mantra of the world after the Second World War when countries were devastated and societal problems became more deep-rooted. Development workers and planners look at these societal problems from different perspectives based on different paradigms.
Devcom considers three development decades which is described based on paradigm shifts on how development was measured. Development was initially measured plainly by economic growth during the first decade (1960’s). This took a shift during the second development decade (1970’s) considering more human development indicators which included the basic services that were made available and accessible to people such as food, shelter, education and health services. It further elevated in the third development decade (1980’s) to en...
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Insights!
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Insights!
Development Communication was born out to
address the pressing need of people to be informed and educated. It promotes
human development; reduce poverty, unemployment and social inequalities. In
order to make changes and development, there should be a communication plan.
And to accomplish desired change and development, DevCom practitioners should
formulate an effective and efficient communication plan.
In addition to Ms. Joan Santiago’s
reaction, communication plan is a system to instigate communication strategies
using different resources such as human, financial, organization, material and
technical to achieve effective and efficient goals and objectives (Dy, 2015).
Therefore communication plan is a set of tactics that a DevCom practitioners
use to transport educational messages via communication channels
including: analysing
1. word of mouth,
2. news stories in both print and broadcast
media, press releases and press conferences,
3. posters, brochures, and fliers,
4. outreach and presentations to other
health and community service providers and to community groups and
organizations
5. special events and open houses that your
organization holds
There are four models development
communication plans that presented by Dr. Mary Ebitha Dy such as
information-based, strategy-oriented, broad context and research-based. With
all these models, I came to understand that they all have go to essential
processes like analysing the problem, developing objectives, creating a
message, budgeting, scheduling, implementation and evaluation. Professor Awas
professed that there’s no standard model in making development communication
plan (2015, Module III How to Make a Communication Plan). He further added that
the presence of basic aspects of plan and elements communication is a must. As
time changes, the needs and values of people change, economy and technology
changes too which can alter processes in development communication plan.
However even with the presence of
development communication plan, there are still many challenges that confront a
DevCom practitioner, the organization he/she belongs, the message that he/she
needs to deliver that might be contrary to his/her principles, the budget, the
time frame and most of all the target audience.
On a final note in designing a development
communication plan, DevCom practitioners should set a goal and objective that
is feasible and can truly yield to change and development.
Thank you very much for patiently reading.
A blessed weekend to one and all!
References:
Section
1. Developing a Plan for Communication. (2015). Retrieved from
http://ctb.ku.edu/.../promoting.../communication-plan/main
Dy, M. Y. (n.d.). Communication Policies
and Ethics [Course Module]. Benguet State University-OU.
Awas, Filmore. “Module III: How to Make Communication
Plan-2.” Benguet State University-OU.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Failing to plan is planning to fail”
Development Communication creates an atmosphere of change and development. It gives grounds for the people to know what they need and hastens human development. It empowers the mass to diminish (if not alleviate poverty) making unemployment and underemployment not a barrier towards attaining a specific goal. Hence, as a DevCom practitioner, we need to have the proper knowledge of the current state of our audiences for us to create the suitable message and right communication plan for them.
Ms. Joan mentioned: “Communication is continuous activity for development planners like us, which depends upon, serves, or is in some way associated with the community. The audience, purpose, channels, and message may alter, but the commitment to maintain relationships with key people and the media in the community continue. As a result, an essential part of any development communication plan is to continue using and revising our plan, based on our experience, throughout the existence of our development goals.” To that I agree, Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA) notes that a good motto in creating a communication plan is “communicate internally first before externally.” In that manner, collective efforts is possible making attaining goals an inspiration.
In our readings, I tried to compare all the all the models presented in our module, and they all have the same in common--- they require massive research. With this information gathered, we as Devcom practitioners will know our audience, will be guided by these profile, will be able to develop the right objectives for the situation of our audiences, create the proper communication plan for them, and the like.
What I also learned is that feedback is really important in Development Communication. As a mass communication graduate, we were taught to broadcast information (positive or negative) to inform, persuade, and educate without considering the outcomes of the pieces of information we send on air. Now, as a Devcom advocate, things have to be calibrated and consider also what the audience say in return, and how the communication plan works for them to improve the tactics, the message, and approach.
CEPA records that evaluation serves several purposes:
• To justify communication efforts for the leaders of your organisation and its stakeholders.
• To learn which methods are most effective and most efficient for future application.
• To learn how to organise and manage the communication process more effectively in the future.
• To define future steps after considering the results achieved.
The challenge to us as DevCom practitioners in assessing the effectiveness of the communication are the following:
• Communication is not an isolated event and it is hard to attribute an effect from the communication.
• Most target groups are bombarded constantly with messages from a large number of senders.
• A well-known saying in the field of advertising is: ‘of each dollar spent on advertisement 50% is a waste, unfortunately we do not know which half.’
On the other side of the coin, I also agree to Dizzy Gem's statement that there are still limitations that a DevCom practitioner will be facing. As a DevCom advocate though, we should embrace this imitations for us to create a realistic and achievable goal for the benefit of our audiences. And that includes a tight budget sometimes!
At the end of the day, just like what is noted to Sir Filmore’s post for our supplemental readings. Regardless of all those limiting factors to a DevCom practitioner, whether organizational goals or is it against our principles, the question is “Will this plan contribute to development?”
Thanks for taking time to read po! God bless everyone :)
Mallari, N. (2015, November 6). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/groups/1496739527314255/
REFERENCES:
Section 4. How to plan communication strategically. (2006). Retrieved from https://www.cbd.int/.../2008/doc/CBD-Toolkit-Section4.pdf
Dy, M. Y. (n.d.). Communication Policies and Ethics [Course Module]. Benguet State University-OU.
Awas, Filmore. “Module III: How to Make Communication Plan-2.” Benguet State University-OU.
My insight
Another enlightening information Nelmar, thank you. I certainly agree with you that one of the challenges in assessing the effectiveness of the communication plan is that “Most target groups are bombarded constantly with messages from a large number of senders.” In addition, because of these tons of messages target audience tend to skeptical and negative. They lost confidence that they become dogmatic.
The success of a development plan is equal to target audience behavioral change or course of action. This tells us that the highlight of a development communication project and plan is the target audience or group. It’s indeed one of the greatest challenges to understand well the very diverse personalities of such audience. The need to sit down, talk and listen to them, and sometimes live within their community is a must in order to understand them better.
I guess assessing the effectiveness of a communication plan is a long process. It takes huge amount of time and determination.
Have a blessed weekend!
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My classmates have already encapsulated the technicalities of DevCom Planning, as well as the required elements and components. I would like to share my insights on some other important points raised in our readings. To contextualize this comment, let me anchor my sharing on an existing Development Project being implemented by our university’s Extension Services Unit: the rubber and abaca plantation located in Bgys. Candawaga and Culasian, Rizal, Palawan. It started after the DENR granted a 321.92 -ha ancestral land to the University in 2006. For me, this initiative has captured the dynamic shifts in what we consider as development indicators: from being exclusive to economic growth to a more inclusive and holistic approach in measuring development.
The University’s partnership with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) through its Forest Program has influenced the crafting of the key development message which is clearly anchored on DBP’s main objective, and that is “To rehabilitate, enhance and manage 157 hectares of forest lands thereby improving soil, water, flora and fauna conservation linked with establishing means for poverty alleviation in a sustainable manner.” This objective is very important not only in developing an holistic message (economic growth, environmental protection, women empowerment, resource management) but also in measuring the program’s effectiveness. Once you have set the objective, your next concern is its realization. I think it is safe to say that your objective is part of the backbone of the communication plan. All other elements (receiver, message, channel, etc) are integrated in a way that will achieve a clearly stated objective translated into desired statistics, action or behavior. Generally, this Project aims to “encourage neighboring communities to plant rubber trees and abaca of their own to further rehabilitate denuded lands outside the project scope and to encourage more technology adopters to go into rubber growing to increase rubber industry in Palawan”. In an effort to evaluate its effectiveness University’s Extension Unit was able to keep records of the number of rubber growers and rubber technology adopters from neighboring communities. A study entitled “Perceptions of Indigenous Peoples on the Performance of the Palawan State University’s Rubber and Abaca Plantation Project for Ecological Rehabilitation in Culasian Village, Palawan Province, Philippines” was conducted to look into the respondents’ perceived level of success of the PSU Project and their attitude toward the protection of the forests. The indigenous community’s perceived increase of population of flora and fauna in their community five years after the establishment of the project was also conducted.
The project involves empowering and mobilizing Indigenous People (IP’s) to become self-reliant, without compromising their environment. This program, according to the extension office is the realization of its ecotourism mandate. It has benefited both the farmers’ families, and the environment. Since the farmers were given new source of income, they are discouraged from engaging in destructive farming practices like Kaingin, and illegal logging. This, in particular targets behavioural change among the receivers of the message. Furthermore, the project did not only create livelihood for the IP communities and promote environmental protection; it was strategically established to serve as a demo-farm to other communities. This way, people may be encouraged to engage in and capacitate the IP farmers with the fundamental operations (production and management) in the plantation through technology transfer. Since the project focuses on development of new skills and providing technical know-how on rubber-abaca farming, interpersonal forms of communication specifically lectures and trainings were deemed most appropriate in getting the message across. The approaches were mainly educational and persuasive.
On appropriate paradigms, it has been said that in creating DevCom messages, a practitioner may not limit himself/herself to a single paradigm. For me, this PSU-DBP Forest Project in Rizal Palawan has effectively converged three paradigms in crafting and delivering the key messages: Economic and Political (by giving them livelihood), Technological (by introducing to the IP community the different innovations and technologies in rubber and abaca plantation), and Values (by promoting environmental protection).
THANK YOU.
Arista, M.J. (2015, November 6). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/groups/1496739527314255/
REFERENCES:
Dy, M. Y. (n.d.). Communication Policies and Ethics [Course Module]. Benguet State University-OU.
Awas, Filmore. “Module III: How to Make Communication Plan-2.” Benguet State University-OU.
My insight
Five years ago, I was lucky enough to visit Palawan particularly in Puerto Princesa. I was astounded by its vast open land. So wide that I asked myself on what are the source of living there besides tourism and why so many unused land? But then these questions have got the answers as I read on the details of this Development Project you Mark Joshua Arista shared. It’s such inspiring to see a development project that does not only aim to improve economic growth but also to alleviate poverty, protect the environment and most of all empower people.
Subjectively speaking, DPB and PSU employed the best possible approaches in the creation of their development communication plan. The messages delivered were substantial that convinced the target audience get involved and support the Development Project. For according to Fr. Lagerway (2010), in any development program, the people are the target and for any real development to happen there must be an inner change of people to be willing to participate and be involved in matters that affect their very lives. Therefore, development communication plan approaches should be skilfully chosen and strategically implemented, and carefully evaluated in order to achieve objectives and create desired change.
A blessed weekend to all of us!
Reference:
Lagerway, C. (2010). Introduction to Communication. Retrieved from http://cfamedia.org/main/?p=2427
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I want to share my personal views on creating a development communication plan beyond the principles and strategies of how to do it effectively, which I will be highlighting a local development project, and understanding development, communication, and plan categorically in their simplest sense.
The Municipality of Bani, Pangasinan is known for its main product, watermelon, contributing greatly in the municipality’s income. In 2014, it started developing a project that would exhibit the municipality’s local products, and its rich resources that is seen an essential venue for the local community to highlight local industries that are in fact competitive in the bigger market - a pasalubong center. This project is also in line with the One Town, One Product (OTOP Trade), promoting entrepreneurship and creating more local jobs, more opportunities for our local producers to equally reap what they sow.
There is a common premise that everyone has the right to discover and expand their limits and potentials. But if such right has also reached its ends, then with no option, it must need support. This project/plan is not as complex as those related to poverty, health, education, disaster, culture, infrastructures, unemployment, etc.; however, the simplicity of this project has made me reflect on the littlest issues that we unconsciously thought are significant factors for the development of our community. It simply commences with the roots of social problems – the people themselves, and the deprivation of the natural social environment creating a sense of imbalance in the social structure. Empowering the weaknesses on the exhibition of the municipalities potentials simply by widening opportunities particularly of the local farmers, and thus promotes the existing richness of the municipality especially in terms of agriculture, is a good communication plan already. It doesn’t require intricacy to comprehend its purposes nor complex channels, but rather needs an interpersonal approach with the integration of new technologies to make their local products enhanced and innovative, by which it has (advantageously) readily available resources in their local community.
Development communication planning just sometimes requires us to understanding that basic needs call for basic answers, and none other thing contribute more than what we think is academic, smart, and intricate. As for me, the real complexities of making a communication plan is the divergence of views and perspectives that may defy our existing views and balancing what we believe in, what we oppose, and all the factors that contribute to the existence of the identified problem. It should not be an expression of a personal principle (not to say that personal views should be neglected rather should only urge the willingness to contribute to addressing a problem), but it must be rooted in an extensive researches and studies to answer the questions: What would be the effect of the end-result to the recipients of the communication plan? What are the recipient’s needs? What they want to happen? Is it just what I want to see or what they want or choose to see? Am I becoming single-minded? Am I really after the social welfare or merely satisfying my rants and personal claims. The channel used to convey the message, is also an important factor. Generally, in the Philippines, the major problem in communication planning is the identification, rationalization, and harmonization of proper communication in different development programs that may be grasped understandably by millions of Filipinos of varying cultural environment.
Sison, A. G. (2015, November 12). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/groups/1496739527314255/
Resources:
Quebral, N. C. (1976). Development communication. Laguna: College of Agriculture, University of the
Philippines, Los Banos College.
Quebral, N. C. (1998). Development communication. Laguna: College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines, Los Banos.
My insight
One Town, One Product was a success development project that aims to promote entrepreneurship and create jobs in each municipality. It was spearheaded by the Department of Trade and Industry which they believe as an effective strategy in stimulating economic development in the community thus, alleviating poverty.
Behind the success of a communication development plan are well-trained messengers, supportive receiver, strategically implemented and consistently monitored and evaluated. This does not mean that it’s perfect but rather has also its own downside. As Annalin Guarin Sison stated, some “real complexities of making a communication plan is the divergence of views and perspectives that may defy our existing views and balancing what we believe in. That somehow, discourages both the communication planners and the target audience or groups involve. According to Thusong Service Center (2000), DevCom planners should, however, balance creativity with an understanding of what communities would be prepared to accept and where consideration has been given to the norms and prevailing values of that community. In addition, planning is about community participation. I agree when Ms. Joan Santiago said that community development process provides the opportunity of involving and motivating people of the community to define, identify, analyze and solve problems that they feel are important. In addition, plan with communities, create structures which offer communities and developers equal power, and use communication methods which are fundamentally participatory in nature. This often requires listening to the advice of communities and changing the views they themselves hold. This entails that whatever perception and views DevCom planners have, they just have to leave it at home for a while and adopt views of the community that we perceive as beneficial to many.
A blessed evening!
Reference:
Development Communication - An approach to a democratic public information system. (2000). Retrieved from http://www.thusong.gov.za/docu.../artic_pres/dev_comm.htm...
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Instilling the spirit of Dev Com in all communication plans
In order to fully bring forth the desired change in the community, planning must not only be based on the formal approaches it must also be a process of work.-Alan Chalkley
In mass communications, yes we are called as the catalyst of change. We present facts based on documentations and gathered news. We are an eye opener to the society since we create messages that would enlighten and inform people. However, development communication goes beyond the purpose of informing. It goes into its deeper objectives and that is to involve and motivate people to change within the process. It doesn’t stop on just staging messages; instead it moves the audience to participate in order to target the goal towards change.
On the other hand, I also agree with Dizzy Gem’s final note that “DevCom practitioners should set a goal and objective that is feasible and can truly yield to change and development” Our youth leader in our church always emphasize on this whenever we create and propose projects during meetings. Feasibility of the project can greatly influence the people behind the project. It can actually keep them driven. Sometimes, we actually tend to think that it’s okay to propose a lot of programs and think that they can all be possible. But projects must be realistic, in the sense that projects/programs must be evaluated managed based on some factors like:a.Budget b.Timeliness/deadline c. Achievability d. Man power e. Resources f. other possible factors.
As mentioned in (Module III-How to make a communication plan, additional readings), there is no standard in making development communication plans. The framework given and elaborated in all the approaches work out and coordinate for their own limitations.
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I would also like to share a program and project spearheaded by the Episcopal Church of the Philippines which I believe and consider as one of the continuous projects since it constantly promotes change and action towards some communities in our country. The project started last year and it works out to serve the seven dioceses under the Episcopal church of the Philippines.
The Episcopal Community Action for Renewal and Empowerment is the revised development program of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. Episcopal-CARE seeks to improve the quality of life for its partner communities in the Philippines, facilitating poverty-reduction by providing or enhancing the opportunities to make a livelihood, while simultaneously empowering the partner communities through its asset-based approach and its commitment to creating self-reliance and sustainability. It also hopes to serve as an example for other development organizations in Asia and across the world as to how to help alleviate poverty without creating dependence.
E-CARE serves as means to empower its partner communities to help themselves, to alleviate poverty and give the people access to basic entitlements, and then to help others along the same path. At the same time, it tries to raise the level of gender-awareness in its partner communities, by ensuring that women of the community are part of the decision making process as well as the management of projects, and that the women of the community will enjoy the benefits of their new project.
Continuous efforts to reach communities are being done especially to farmers. Introduction to new gardening practices and technologies are being presented to them through seminars and workshops. An example of this new idea is the System of Rice Intensification, a method which increases the production of rice. The project also strengthens its partnerships with different livelihood partner groups. In fact, this project created outlets and fairs so as to constantly promote the farmer’s produce to the public.
Development as emphasized by Nora Quebral is the speedy transformation of a country and the mass of its people from poverty to a dynamic state of economic growth. The program created by the E-CARE was able to give and introduce an additional modification to the specified proponents (the farmers) through their project and can be a useful means in their farming added to their usual farming practices. It was a project that enabled them to try better ways in farming.
Esco, C.E. (2015, November 19). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/groups/1496739527314255/
References:
Mr. Filmore Awas. Module III-How to make a communication plan, additional readings
Crispin Maslog (1988) Philippine Communication: An Introduction
E-CARE Philippines
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