Communication for Development in Peacebuilding: Directions on Research and Evaluation for an Emerging Field

"More effective instruments are needed that perform the difficult task of re-connecting broken communities, informing citizens and involving them in processes of reconstruction, and enabling all groups in civil society to have a voice in the decision-making. Communication for development is an important practice within this area."

This article highlights the key areas in which communication for development (C4D) can play a role in the aftermath of conflict, with a focus both at the community and at the national levels. Valentina Baú begins by explaining that the present post-war peacebuilding context places a strong emphasis on providing humanitarian support, rebuilding infrastructure, and re-establishing the functioning of institutions that operate at the national level. Yet, she argues, there is also a need to strengthen interventions that begin from the grassroots. This involves creating an understanding, opening dialogue, and re-establishing relationships between groups who fought during a conflict. This is where C4D comes into play.

To explain, Baú provides an overview of the literature that has begun to discuss C4D in the light of peace creation. For example, she cites one definition, articulated as part of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)'s Peacebuilding, Education and Advocacy Programme (PBEA): C4D in peacebuilding can be defined as "a social process that fosters dialogue and meaningful conversations to reduce and prevent the risk of conflict or relapse into it. By using a range of participatory tools and methods, C4D in peacebuilding creates safe spaces for discussing both the causes and consequences of conflict, as well as 'normal and everyday life'. This process generates transformation at all levels by promoting listening, debating, building trust, learning to appreciate differences, sharing knowledge, developing skills, formulating and implementing policies, and learning in order to lay the foundations of a sustainable and durable peace." Figure 1 within the report illustrates one author's conception of C4D in post-conflict scenarios, which extends the use of communication to one that goes beyond the mere involvement of local media, encompassing a wider range of channels. "Even though located outside the academic sphere, these publications have really shifted the focus from the role of the media in conflict interventions, to that of communication in peacebuilding."

Next, Baú identifies research directions that aid to shed light on the effectiveness of C4D interventions targeting issues that are specific to post-conflict environments, especially in developing countries, where civilians are the main actors in the fighting. "Communities become primary agents in this course of action, and their perspectives and stories play a fundamental role." To understand this picture further, Baú suggests that the academic field and the practice of C4D and peacebuilding can work side by side to consider the following domains:

• Democratisation and governance - "Democracy can be achieved when the population has access to clear and up-to-date information about the steps that are being taken to rebuild the nation, and when an appropriate civil society consultation mechanism is in place. Good governance is ensured when all groups within society, including minorities, have the opportunity to be heard and their voices are fed back into the policy development at the national level."
• Information and communication technology (ICT) and new media - The use of video, mobile phones, computers, and other types of technologies to address both conflict and post-conflict situations needs to occur within the C4D sphere so that it remains accessible, inclusive, and takes into account the needs of different groups.
• Social media - The availability of computers and the internet connection expanding to more and more parts of the world can support a transparent picture of peacebuilding operations, giving citizens access to the data and seeking and sharing communities' input.
• Participatory media - "Participation is also crucial in setting in motion those mechanisms that change internal power dynamics and open the path towards positive social change. Applying these concepts to the production of media content leads to the creation of participatory media outputs whose planning, management and content-making are entirely driven by communities, who are given the tools to tell their stories." Furthermore, in the related arena of media development/journalism, Baú asserts: "By applying a participatory development lens to the use of the media in peacebuilding, media projects and journalists training can be shaped around the needs of communities and local organisations. Community media are also central within this framework."
• Gender and violence - Ensuring the inclusion of women in peace talks involves: providing women with a safe space to talk about their experiences of the violence and engage them in communication and media activities that enable them to move from their situation of victims to that of empowered individuals; identifying channels and setting up communication platforms through which women can have their say in the reconstruction process; and generating opportunities for dialogue between both men and women at the community level to address issues arising from the conflict.

Baú acknowledges that evaluating C4D activities in a peacebuilding context is difficult, as the impacts are not always immediately evident and/or can be intangible. She calls for more research to develop methodologies that are helpful in identifying change progressively. She indicates that developing a Theory of Change (ToC) framework that takes into account the different cultural realities, individual perceptions, communication norms, and social networks is another important exercise. The next section of the paper explores several frameworks that have been proposed to evaluate the role of the media in peacebuilding. One aspect Baú deems critical when following the methodology of ToC is "the clear articulation of those postulations that are understood to drive social change in a particular context." One basic framework for the use of ToC in peacebuilding draws from Shapiro (2006) and focuses on: changing people's perspective on an issue, while developing empathy towards others and modifying negative behaviour; and creating meaningful and collaborative relationships between former enemy groups.

Finally, she introduces a ToC framework for use in assessing the role of C4D in the achievement of sustainable peace after violence. Table 3 on pages 813-814 of the paper illustrates this framework, which is build on four theories: individual change theory, healthy relationship and connections theory, public attitudes theory, and social change theory. The ToC table offers guidance both on the evaluation and on the planning of C4D interventions in post-conflict settings. The column identifying the communication for social change processes that arise from the activities that have been (or are being) implemented outlines what can be regarded as the effects of the application of media and communication in post-conflict realities with a C4D approach. Social change embraces a series of changes that cut across all the dimensions involved.