30. Communication for social change: Aim for dialogue

The first paper in the Rockefeller Foundation’s Communication for Social Change (CFSC) working paper series examines how communication processes might be used at a community level to bring about social change. Communication in this respect is defined as the act of people coming together to decide who they are, what they want, and how they will obtain what they want. The rationale behind CFSC is that social change will be more sustainable if the affected community owns not just the physical inputs and outputs, but also owns the process and content of the communication involved. The paper argues that if any external agents wish to contribute to the process of communication and social change, they should shift their approach away from persuasion and one-way transmission of information, and instead engage in dialogue and discussion with members of the community.

Click here to return to the index page
or click to return to the summary page.