Africa Media Review. Vol. 3 No. 3,1989 © African Council on Communication Education Perspectives on Development Communication* by Andrew A. Moemeka** Abstract This study specifies the components of development communication and, having done so, proceeds to evaluate the various approaches to this concep- tual formulation. Thus, it discusses the extension and community develop- ment approach, the ideological and mass mobilization method, the centralized mass media method, the localized mass media method, and the integrated approach. It concludes that since development communication is not simply concerned with the mere provision of information on development activities, it should not stop with conventional mass media. Rather, it must involve strong components of social organization and interpersonal and traditional modes and media if it is to succeed. 'This title represents the present stage in the evolution of an appropriate name for 'those communication actions geared towards enlisting full human partici- pation and understanding of development activities'. One of the earliest names was communication in support of development (IB11975). The IBI was followed by UNICEF in 1976 which called it 'project support communication1. The most popular name among social scientists and especially aid agencies has been 'development support communication'. But today, communication specialists working in the area of development, for obvious conceptual and operational reasons, prefer the name 'development communication'. **Dr. Andrew Moemeka is an associate professor, Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, Nigeria. Perspectives de la communication de developpement Cette etude specifie les elements de la communication de developpement et, cela fait, procede a revaluation de diverses approches dans cette formulation conceptuelle. Ainsi done, ('article traite de I'approche de I'expansion et du developp- ement communautaire, de la methode ideologique et ceile de la mobilisation des masses, celle des masses medias centralises, la methode des masses medias localises, et enfin I'approche inte'gree. En conclusion, ('article dit que comme la communication de developpement n'est pas uniquement interese'e dans la provision de I'information sur les activites de developpement, elie ne devrait pas se contenter des masses medias conventi- onnels. Elle devrait plutot mettre en oeuvre des elements dynamiques d'organisation sociale et des modes et medias interpersonnels et traditionnels, si ces derniers aspirent au succes. Introduction This discussion of development communication begins with the clarification of components of the concept because there are differences, both subtle and substantial, in the way different people and disciplines use it. Since meaning is inext- ricably bound with utilization, conceptual clarification is impo- rtant both for individual cases of explication and for desired general application. At the annual meeting of the International Broadcast Institute at Cologne in 1973, a report of the Working Committee on Communication in Support of Development' had the following definitions of the key concepts: (I) Development: The improvement of the well-being of the individual and the betterment of the quality of his or her life; (II) Communication: The transfer of information between individuals or groups of individuals by human or technical means; (III) Development Support Communication: The systematic use of communication in the planning and implementa- tion of development. While these definitions appear to capture the central issues of these key concepts, they are not operational enough. They fail to provide the framework for explanation and/or demonstration to enable in-depth understanding and realistic and practical application. We accordingly attempt to provide a more compre- hensive framework. Development One of the best known scholars of Development and Communi- cation, Everette Rogers, defined development as a widely participatory process of social change and material advance- ment (including greater equality, freedom and other valued qualities) for the majority of the people through their gaining greater control over their environment' (Rogers 1975b : 345—358). Inayatullah (1967:101), on the other hand, identifies the different aspects of development. He defines development as 'change toward patterns of society that allow better realiza- tion of human values, that allow a society greater power over its environment and over its own political destiny, and that enables its individuals to gain increased control over them- selves'. These two definitions show that development is a multi- faceted concept. It generally means different things to different people, ranging from the psychologist's preoccupation with individual or personality variables as self- reliance, achievement motivation, self worth and self-actuali- zation, to the communicator's concern for acquisition of new knowledge and skills, increased self confidence, control over oneself and one's environment, greater equality, freedom, ability to understand one's potentials and limitations, and will- ingness to work hard enough to improve on existing condi- tions. However, the different perceptions of, and viewpoints on deve- lopment are not mutually exclusive; they are interwoven. Together, they stress the fact that development is a normative concept in that existing conditions are no longer conducive to human dignity and socio-economic advancement and, there- fore, should be changed for the better. Therefore, development, though seen from different angles, means one basic thing to all people, a change for the better in both the human, cultural, socio-economic and political conditions of the individual and, consequently, of the society. It is not solely a matter of tech- nology or of gross national product. More importantly, it is a matter of increased knowledge and skills, growth of a new consciousness, expansion of the human mind, the upliftment of the human spirit, and the fusion of human confidence. Communication Communication is exchange of ideas. It is not the mechanical transfer of facts and figures as the mathematical model of communication (Shannon and Weaver 1949) would appear to indicate. It is also not talking at people. It is an interactive process that works in a circular, dynamic and on-going way (Hiebert etal. 1985). It is talking with people, a process with no permanent sender and no permanent receiver. In communica- tion, the roles of sending and receiving change hands, depending on who is talking and who is listening. This implies freedom, equality and shared interest. Communication defined in this way departs from what Beltran (1974:13) identified as 'the classical mechanic-vertical model', which sees communication as a process of transmission of modes of thinking, feeling, and behaving from one or more persons to another person or persons. In this model, the para- mount goal of communication is persuasion, and the element of feedback is important chiefly as a message adjusting device to enable the transmitter of messages to secure the perform- ance of the expected response from the receiver. This is the model which assigns actively predominant role to the commu- nicator, and a very passive role to the communicatee a sort of one-way(?) communication in which emphasis is on the effects that communication can have on people or on ways in which messages can use people. Our concept of communication, which I call the humanized, democratic interactive model, places emphasis on how people use communication or messages. It stresses genuine dialogue, free and proportioned opportunity to exert mutual influences and rejects the idea that persuasion is the chief role of communication. Here, feedback is imperative; its importance lies in the opportunity it creates for understanding the other person's point of view and, therefore, for ensuring co-orientational influences. Development Communication Concisely, development communication is the application of the processes of communication to the development process. It is the use of the principles and practices of exchange of ideas to development objectives. It is, therefore, an element of the management process in the overall planning and imple- mentation of development programmes. In a very broad sense, development communication is the art and science of human communication applied to the speedy, transformation of a country (economic growth, modernization, industrialization) and the mass of its people (self-actualization, fulfilment of human potentials, greater social justice, etc.) through what Rosario Braid (1979 :34) describes as the identification and utilization of appropriate expertise in the development process that will assist in increasing participation of intended benefi- ciaries at the grassroots level. Because it is communication with a social conscience, deve- lopment communication is heavily oriented towards man, that is, towards the human aspects of development. Even though it is primarily associated with rural development, it is also con- cerned with urban, particularly suburban problems. It plays two broad roles. The first is a transformational role through which it seeks social change in the direction of higher quality of life and social justice. The second is a socialization role through which it strives to maintain some of the established values of society that are consonant with development. In playing these roles, development communication creates an enhancing atmosphere for the exchange of ideas that produce a happy balance in social and economic advancement between physical output and human relationships. Interface of Communication and Development A close examination of the basic tenets of the new develop- ment paradigm (Rogers 1976) and of the ultimate requirements of the new communication approach to development (Beltran 1974) would reveal very close similarity between them. To begin with, participation is the key variable in the new develop- ment paradigm, just as it is for the new communication approach to development. In broad terms, the ultimate objectives of national development (urban and rural) are economic development, equitable distribution of facilities and benefits, national cohesion and human development. These are also, in broad terms, the ultimate objectives of develop- ment communication, even though, because of the importance attached to intelligent understanding of development issues, development communication gives pride of place to human development. In order to achieve these ultimate objectives, 6 both the new development paradigm and the new communi- cation approach stress the need for: 1. Equality of the distribution of social and economic benefits, information and education; 2. Popular participation in development planning and execu- tion, accompanied by decentralization of activities to the local level; 3. Self-reliance and independence in development with emphasis on the potential of local resources; and 4. Integration of traditional with modern systems, so that development is a syncretization of old and new ideas, with the exact mixture some what different in each locale. However, communication goes further to identify specific actions that should be taken in order to smoothen the path to achieving the above goals. At the International Conference on Communication Policies for Rapidly Developing Societies held at Mashhad, Iran, in 1975, a working group identified specific activities that development communication must strive to accomplish if it must contribute effectively to development. These include: 1. Determination of the needs of the people and the provision of sufficient citizen access the communication systems to serve as effective feedback to government. to 2. Provision of horizontal and vertical (interactive) communi- cation linkages at all levels of society, and communi- cation channels through which people at all levels of society and in all regions and localities can have the capability to communicate with one another in order to accomplish the co-ordination necessary for human and material development. 3. Provision of local community support for cultural preser- vation; provision of local media to serve as effective channels; 4. Provision of relevant information; 5. Support for specific development projects and social services; and 6. Raising people's awareness of development projects and opportunities, and helping to foster attitudes and motiva- tions that contribute to development. Goals and objectives identification are not the only areas in which development and communication are correlated. Research has shown that they also correlate very strongly in goals achievement. The use of media of communication has been shown to lead to positive and effective development behaviour. At three levels of analysis individual, community and national there is evidence from many countries in the deve- loping world that development and communication are strongly correlated. At the individual level, there are many factor-analytic studies showing communication variables to be significantly corre- lated with development variables (Deutschmann and McNelly 1964, Bostian and Oliverira 1965). At the community level, many examples also abound. For example, Rao (1966), in a comparative study of two Indian villages, found strong correla- tion between communication and social, economic and politi- cal development. In a survey of about 460 villages in Turkey, Frey (1966) found a clear correlation between communication and development. One of the examples of studies at the national level that showed strong correlations between com- mucation and development is that of Lerner (1958) which, in about 50 countries, showed that media participation highly correlated with literacy, urbanization, and political participa- tion; Lerner also found that the degree of change in < mmuni- cation correlated with behavioural changes. A LINES 20 study also found in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East a id South- east Asia, a strong correlation between mass media factors and economic factors in general development. Similar findings were reported by, among others, Cater and Schramm (1959) for 100 countries and by Farace (1965) for more than fifty countries. Even though these studies did not say anything about causa- lity, the incidence of correlation is so frequent and the relation- ships so strong that it does not seem wrong to say that commu. 8 -nication has been both cause and effect in the complex inter-* play of factors which make for development, both national and individual. In addition, the correlations are so strong that they provide justification for building communication into the deve- lopment process. Development communication is not merely a matter of trans- mitting information about how things can be done better by using available facilities. It is much more than the exchange of problem-solving information. It also involves the generation of psychic mobility or empathy, raising of aspirations, teaching of new skills and encouragement of local participation in deve- lopment activities. Development communication assumes the broader function of helping people to restructure their mental framework in interpreting specific events and phenomena, and to relate to the broader world beyond their immediate environ- ments. To be effective in doing this, communication activities in development must be inter-woven with other socio- economic and political processes. Development activities require rural people as well as urban people, in the government, and in business and other sectors to establish new social relations with each other. Communication processes facilitate the growth and development of such human relationships. Both the mass media and interpersonal communication systems are necessary in establishing and maintaining these relationships. But they cannot perform these roles effectively unless they are incorporated into the total development process. Many development specialists now believe that the chief factor of production in modern times, in both developed and developing countries, is information seen as knowledge, education or human capital (Parker 1977:49). To neglect this chief factor of production in the planning, execu- tion and evaluation of development activities is to unwittingly call for confusion in the interface between technical and social aspects of development and, hence, failure to realize the full benefits of development. Approaches to Development Communication Development Communication takes as its starting point both the felt needs' at community or local level, and the 'action 9 needs' as identified by planners. The operational strategy for meeting these two sets of needs follows four stages of activi- ties (Boyd 1975:6). The first is identifying and analysing the innovations sought by the community and those that develop- ment agents want to introduce to whom, when and with what material means. This is generally known as the diffusion stage in development communication. In the second stage, which is known as the social process stage, the thrust of activities is towards determining how existing social, cultural, psycholo- gical and indigenous communication factors, as well as government organizational factors, would help or hinder the adoption of new practices among the groups of people conce- rned. In the third stage, efforts are geared towards identifying existing media and how they relate to the people. Here, one looks at what combination of communication channels exist and how they can be used in the communities—traditional and interpersonal channels, as well as modern print and electronic media—for communication 'feed' both into and from the com- munity or communities. Finally, after repeating these analyses for geographically or sectorally related projects, locally tailored communication programmes are drawn up and imple- mented in phases with the real action potential in the commu- nities (taking into account available supplementary inputs from outside the community). Three different approaches to putting the above stages into operation have been identified (Moemeka 1985:177—185). These are the interpersonal approach which could be through the extension and community development method or through ideological and mass mobilization; the mass media approach which could be through centralized method or through localized method; and the integrated approach, which combines all the approaches and methods in appropriate ratio depending upon the identified felt needs and socio-culturai situation in each community. Extension and Community Development Method This is the oldest method of using communication to generate development. It is basically oriented to rural development although it can also apply to suburban and urban develop- 10 ment. The main thrust of this method is the dissemination of useful and practical information on agriculture, home economics, health and sanitation, etc. Such dissemination is done through the face to face method of communication. Agents travel from village to village providing the rural commu- nities with useful information on how to implement new ideas and practices and also teaching them through practical demo- nstrations. This method assumes that rural communities are interested in new ideas and practices in order to improve their living condi- tions. It also assumes that there are necessary and sufficient resources to support their endeavours, that is, to enable the people to apply available new information to useful develop- ment activities. It further assumes, as indicated in the Animation Rurale programmes of Senegal, Togo, Ivory Coast, and Benin (Goussault 1968 :525—550) that there is a crop of educated, intelligent and public spirited leaders within the communities who can motivate the masses to positive develop- ment-directed endeavours. The basic tenets of the extension and community development method can be summarized as follows: 1. That there are no solutions to problems that are imposed on local communities from the outside, and that local communities must first arrive at the problem definition and then its solution on their own; 2. That the social animator—the communicator—is to be as closely identified with the local community as possible; 3. That he/she is to be non-directive in his/her approach; 4. That communication's chief role is to help define the problem, but not give the solution; and 5. That community participation and social action is the goal and, therefore, feedback from the community is an essential means. One of the countries in which this method has been used is India. The country held, and rightly too, that the great mass of the illiterate and poor rural population is a highly valuable development resource (Rahim 1976:152). She, therefore, 11 worked from the premise that the individual rural family and the communities can be guided to the path of development if they were given practical knowledge of the social and natural sciences. The government decided that the best way to achieve the projected goals was to decentralize interpersonal communication to the community block level. Each community development block was served by a team of multi-purpose village-level workers supported by the subject matter specialists at the block level, and supervised and co-ordinated by the block development officer. The whole programme was planned, guided and supported by a national level community development organization (Taylor et al. 1965:169—193). The multi-purpose village level worker is the key communicator in this method: he/she serves as a mediator between the rural elite and the development bureaucracy of the government (Dubhashi 1970:67—74). Ideological and Mass Mobilization Method This is another of the communication methods that makes extensive use of interpersonal channels. In this method, the channels are activated not by development agents, but by the political party cadres. This is because this method sees deve- lopment, especially rural development, as a process which begins with a radical change in the political orientation of the people—radical change the ultimate result of which is the formation of new social relations. The main function of deve- lopment communication, therefore, is seen as that of promoting and (lightening' the political consciousness of the people. The primary goal of this method is the ability of workers and peasants to be self-reliant through mobilization of internal resources, and thus to be in a position to control their future. Physical and human development is subsumed under political consciousness because it is held that political awareness would motivate people to participate in development activities to satisfy their needs and aspirations. The operational stru- cture of this method is virtually the same as that of the exten- sion and community development method. But the structure and direction of message contents are different. While the 12 former deals directly with human and physical development problems, the latter lays emphasis on political awareness as a prelude to any other type of development. Two countries best known for the ideological and mass mobi- lization method are Tanzania and China. In Tanzania, the ideological messages in rural development communication originate from the Arusha Declaration of the Tanganyika African National Union Party and the essays on African socialism and socialist education by the first President of the country, Julius Nyerere. In China, development communication messages are predicated on the socialist ideology of the Communist Party. The Tanganyika African National Union, the only political party in Tanzania, assumes responsibility for rural development communication. Therefore, it is the duty of party cadres and government officials to expose the rural population to constant ideological messages transmitted through face to face communication, village meetings, rural training centres and political meetings. The basic unit used as channel is the cell, consisting of a small number of households, whose main functions are (a) to bring people's problems and grievances to the party and the govern- ment; (b) to communicate to the people the purposes, plans, and problems of the government and the party; and (c) to mobilize groups for the implementation of development projects. Tanzania has since linked this method with mass media. Centralized Mass Media Method This method lays emphasis on centralized control of both mass media infrastructure and the direction and flow of mass media messages. If we were to construct a continuum with extension and community development at one end, centralized mass media method would be at the other. It relies wholly on the mass media for its messages flow and almost completely ignores the interpersonal system. Because it uses the mass media for dissemination, its coverage potential is substantial: 13 and because the content of its messages is of a general nature, there is usually something of relevance, no matter how small, to different segments of the society. It is based on the assumption that a 'good and relevant message' is capable of being accepted by the individual on his/her own, irrespective of the origin of the message, and that the best and hopeful way to attract and hold a mass audience is to offer open and sponta- neous and continuous vicarious satisfaction as well as education. This is the method used by most countries in developing socie- ties. Many agree that developing countries adopt this method because it is the cheapest and easiest method to use. How- ever, research has shown that it is also the least effective in ensuring intelligent understanding and effectiveness of deve- lopment messages (Heshmat 1967:76, Moemeka 1987:63). In this method, programmes/messages are planned, produced and disseminated by 'experts' and programme officers in the urban headquarters of media organizations with very little or no reference to the views and opinions of the receiving audi- ences. Whether we are talking of radio, which is the most accessible medium especially for rural audiences, or of the newspaper,—whose content are meaningles unless one was literate, or of television—the urban elite medium—whose impact in rural communities is very minimal, the procedure is always the same. Development messages are planned and executed without consultation with the audiences to whom the messages are eventually directed. The result is that message contents are usually at variance with the felt needs of the people and, therefore, have very little chance of succeeding. Not only is there no organization at the reception end, but also, because of the desire to reach the largest number of people, the messages are always of a general nature. Effective deve- lopment messages demand some sort of organized action at the reception end, and also demand specificity in message content to ensure relevance. Localized Mass Media Method This method is also very much media oriented but, deriving its strength from the democratic participant media theory 14 (McQuail 1983), it lays emphasis on interaction with the people and on establishment of local media channels to provide access for the people. The starting point in this method is the identification of the problems of the people through personal calls, meetings and discussions by media personnel who are required to enter into the socio-cultural contexts of the people. Because of the need for specificity in message content, localized method calls for the establishment of local media —local radio, rural press and/or television production/viewing centres. Each of these provides access and opportunities for participation of the rural population in the planning and production of development messages. This method appears to be the answer to Rogers (1966) warning that Unless a communication strategy includes a two-way flow of messages, make sure that rural people have access to adequate channels and can express themselves in freedom, and unless the authorities are willing to listen to the message which come from the countryside and to learn from them, the 'best' of such strategies will come to naught. Through local media, the rural population can talk to them- selves, talk to the authorities and participate fully in the const- ruction and dissemination of development messages meant for them. Such an interactive atmosphere based on correct interpre- tation of the needs and aspirations of the people creates an understanding climate in which confidence, credibility and willingnss to make personal and community contributions are at their best. An investigation into the impact of Radio 0-Y-6(a mobile rural radio)in the then Western Nigeria provides evid- ence to support the usefulness of the localized mass media method. Not only did many members of the rural community participate in the radio's activities, but also the participative acts of these members radiated to non-participants thus leading to wide range acceptance of the radio messages and consequent changes in behaviour according to the demands of the messages (Moemeka 1987). The same is true of the impact of rural press in Mali (Kante 1979) and in Liberia (Miller 1979). The very act of participating in the planning and production of messages disseminated through these rural media, created 15 self confidence in the participants and turned them into hono- rary messengers of development. Integrated Approach This is the approach which combines interpersonal and mass media approaches into one, avoiding their limitations and problems but taking advantage of their potentials. The integrated approach uses the mass media and interpersonal communication at the same time. Not only does the inter- personal component involve the use of the extension and community development method as well as the ideological and mass mobilization method, but the mass media component also involves the use of centralized and localized methods. All these are then linked up with traditional channels and modes of communication. The structure of communication in any society is largely deter- mined by the growth and development of technology and by economic and cultural institutions. To the extent that societies differ in their patterns of economic and socio-cultural heritage, their communication patterns are also likely to differ from one another. In traditional societies or rural communities, direct face to face communication is valued as the most reliable and authentic form of communication. In such societies, the purpose of communication is usually to promote social harmony rather than individual well-being; to reinforce stability and order rather than to bring about change and growth. However, the ultimate goal of development communication is to cause positive and effective change through the provision of necessary information (backed up by physical inputs) that would create understanding and build self-confidence and motivation to change. The thrust of the integrated approach, therefore, is to feed the interpersonal and traditional network with information that would generate discussions which, in turn, would lead to intelligent understanding of development objectives and each person's role in achieving these object- ives. To feed the interpersonal channels, development communi- cation depends on the mass media which have the potential 16 ffor rapid dissemination and wide-area coverage. The limits of interpersonal channels are soon reached if development takes on a national character. Then the importance of the mass media becomes obvious. They have the power to disseminate information and development messages rapidly and, across the nation, but they are generally not able to change peoples' attitudes. Interpersonal channel lacks the enhancing charact- eristics of the mass media, but is relatively effective in indu- cing attitude change and effective development behaviours, largely due to the impact of opinion leaders and of peer-group pressures. Hence the need for a communication model (integrated approach) that would link the mass media to inter- personal channels. In rural Africa, no communication strategy is likely to succeed unless it takes into account the five basic principles that underlie the system of traditional communication—supremacy of the community, respect for old age, utility of the individual, sanctity of authority and religion as a way of life (Moemeka 1985:181). These principles infuse relevance and context into communication within rural communities. Therefore, any communication strategy which completely ignores traditional modes and channels cannot successfully win and retain the people's attention for long. Any communication message which completely ignores the values that underlie the context in which the people communicate cannot produce the attitude and behavioural changes necessary for rural development. As research has shown (Roger et al. 1977:363), not only are two media better than one medium for effective communication, but also a combination of the mass media and interpersonal communication is better than using either alone. To be effective, integration of all the approaches and systems must be based on existing traditional channels and modes of communication which are usually a reflection of the socio- cultural, economic and environmental conditions. Rural communities, especially those that most need development messages, by virtue of their conditions, still rely heavily on traditional media for information and messages. These tradi- tional media and modes are what they have relied upon for 17 years, and they have very strong confidence in them. Only the mass media strategies which utilize these traditional media and modes in collecting materials to be included in their modern media programmes, and in disseminating further, interpreting and consolidating mass media messages would prove effective in rural development. Our findings (Moemeka 1981:46) in a survey to determine which of seven media—social forums, town crier, village market, village school, newspaper, radio and television—villagers in Bendel State of Nigeria depended upon on their response to three development projects—Operation Feed the Nation, Local Government Reforms, and Universal Free Primary Education—show clearly the superiority of traditional media. Even though more than 80 per cent of the respondents said that they first heard of the development projects on radio, 15 per cent through traditional media, and 5 per cent from the newspaper (no one mentioned television), reactions to the project and subsequent messages were almost exclusively influenced by discussions and decisions that took place through the face to face contact pro- vided by the traditional media. This finding supports the cate- gorical statement made by Yu (1977:185) that no communica- tion policy can afford to continue to concentrate on the mass media while ignoring traditional/folk media and other channels of popular culture. The mass media are most effective when combined with interpersonal media as in media forums or with traditional media such as village theatre and travelling story- tellers. Development Communication Planning In development communication, planning is a deliberate, systematic and continuous effort to organize human activity for the efficient use of communication resources and for the realization of communication policies in the context of a parti- cular country's development goals, means and priorities and subject to its prevailing forms of social, economic and political organization. Development communication planning, therefore, must take into account the development environ- ment and goals of the country in which the planning takes 18 place. In addition, the country's political ideology, social issues, communication facilities and systems, as well as avai- lable resources must all be properly studied before planning the communication strategy that would suit the environment. Unfortunately, communication is usually brought in to the plan -ning of development programmes only as an afterthought. Emphasis in most developing countries is always on publicity. For the authorities in such countries, there is no difference between information (provision of facts and figures) and communication (exchange of ideas). No serious thought is given to the importance of communication mass, inter- personal, traditional and folk, in development. Provisions are usually made for publicizing development plans and objectives, but very little is done for feedback and for discus- sions. Hence, a common complaint of communication resear- chers and practitioners is that communication policies and plans are too often in the hands of those who do not know enough about communication to set up or contribute to the communication systems that best serve the development needs of their countries. In development communication planning, communication should not be seen only as a tool, a supporting mechanism or an independent variable in development. Communication should be viewed as an integral part of development plans, one of whose major objectives is to create communication systems or models that could provide opportunity for people to have access to means of communication, and to make use of these means in improving the quality of their lives. Therefore, in seeking solutions to the problems of communication in deve- lopment, it is imperative to first look at the larger development process, and then at the role or roles of communication within the larger system. In order to put the beginning of development planning on a sound footing, it is necessary to answer relevant questions like: 1. What are the country's development goals and objectives, particularly with respect to communication? 19 Summary Development communication is not merely concerned with providing information on development activities. Besides creating opportunity for the people to know about the tech- nical nature of new ideas and on how they work and with what effect, development communication plays the more important role of creating an atmosphere for understanding how these new ideas fit into the real social situation in which the people operate. Its ultimate goal is to catalyze local development activities, local development planning and implementation, and local communication to smoothen the path to develop- ment. Communication here should not stop with conventional mass media. If development communication must succeed, then it must include strong components of social organization and interpersonal as well as traditional modes and media. 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