by Rosalind Wong and Sim Ah Hua
May 19, 2010, Wednesday
A STUDY cum training visit on Enhancing Governance through Development Communication at the University of Philippines Los Banos (UPLB), the Philippines last December showcased the very idea of talking and walking development communication (DevCom). The programme was a mixture of lectures and visits to relevant organisations on the subject of DevCom.The UPLB DevCom experts stated that communication is part and parcel of any development project. Empathy and caring, they pointed out are the most important elements in conveying messages and making them more believable compared to elements such as commitment, openness, and competence.
This was very much reflected in the advocacy work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community organisations such as Masipag (Advocacy and Networking on Sustainable Agriculture) and Local Governance and Technology Promotion: Eco-waste Processing Centre in Timugan, Los Banos, which we had the opportunity to visit and network with.
All stakeholders in the programmes of these NGOs and community organisations were made to understand and accept the need to work together to achieve the desired goals. They were able to contribute and participate in the projects as they were well-informed and equipped with the right knowledge and know-how. They complemented each other’s strengths and weaknesses and created the trust and commitment that were vital to the success of the programmes.
The United Nations defines communication for development as a process that “allows communities to speak out, express their aspirations and concerns, and participate in the decisions that relate to their development” (General Assembly Resolution 51/172, Article 6). This fundamental principle in DevCom is the key to fulfilling a number of the Millennium Development Goals and ensures sustainable development is practised through the empowerment of affected communities.
This is not something new. In any project management, this is the crucial aspect which will determine the success or failure of any project. The community projects visited in the Philippines owed much of their success to the adoption of this DevCom principle, knowingly or unknowingly. It is like a bloodline or a vein that gives life to the projects and their sustainability. It is not something that can be plucked out and studied in isolation. The World Congress on Communication for Development, 2006 in fact arrived at the consensus that DevCom is central to any development initiatives from the beginning.
While emphasising the critical role of communication for development, political will is also crucial to push for change and to support any development initiative.
A case example is the Eco Waste Management programme run by the municipality of Los Banos. The political will to pass a legislation to support the implementation of waste disposal was a key to its success.
In just three years, the municipality of Los Banos was able to ban the use of plastic bags, segregate domestic waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes and promote effective recycling as well as composting. The availability of compost for their farms for the 21,000 households of Los Banos, who are mostly farmers, was an incentive for them to recycle their wastes.
The municipality of Los Banos is turning the plastic wastes into construction materials such as building blocks, tables and roofing. They are able to achieve this remarkable feat although they are only utilising local technology.
The machines for shredding are built from cast off metals and the moulds for the blocks, table and roofing materials are simple and ‘crudely’ made. Sarawak definitely can adopt a similar waste management approach to reduce the biodegradable wastes that are filling the dump sites at the moment. Think of how much members of the rural community could save if they are able to use these recycled materials to build their houses and longhouses. Imagine how clean our environment could be.
To start, the local authority must dangle the right carrots as well as implement the supporting legislation.
Although we do not want to create a ‘fine’ society that is only responsive to a ‘stick’, looking at the success of the Los Banos municipality, it works to apply both approaches to achieve the results that they now enjoy. This is where we go back to DevCom principles to engage local communities.
The most pressing challenge for Sarawak is to have the right champion that is able to facilitate this consultative process to engage the stakeholders in order to achieve a common goal together. This, no doubt, requires long-term planning and political will as well as in-depth understanding of the development communi-cation needs. But this is the only way to go forward.
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