Tensions, Challenges and Issues in Evaluating Communication for Development: Findings from Recent Research and Strategies for Sustainable Outcomes
Responsible organisation
2015 (English)In: Nordicom Review, ISSN 1403-1108, E-ISSN 2001-5119, Vol. 36, no Special Issue, p. 25-39
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The complexity of development and social change and growing tensions between dominant results-based and emerging learning and improvement-based approaches to evaluating de-velopment interventions have created major challenges for the evaluation of communication for development (C4D). Drawing on our recent research, we identify significant tensions, challenges and issues in evaluating C4D. They include contextual and institutional chal-lenges, problems with attribution and unrealistic timeframes, a lack of capacities in both evaluation and C4D, and a lack of appreciation, funding and support for approaches that are more appropriate for the evaluation of C4D. We propose various strategies that can help to address these challenges and issues, including using a rigorous mixed methods approach, and implementing long-term, holistic evaluation capacity development at all levels and our new framework for evaluating C4D. These and other strategies can help to create a supportive environment in which new ideas and approaches can flourish, more sustainable outcomes of C4D can be achieved, and C4D organisations can become more sustainable and effective. The implications for C4D policy are considered.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Gothenburg: Nordicom, University of Gothenburg , 2015. Vol. 36, no Special Issue, p. 25-39
Keywords [en]
communication for development, evaluation, holistic approach, policy implications, strategies to address challenges; tensions, challenges and issues
National Category
Social Sciences Media and Communications
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:norden:org:diva-3921DOI: 10.1515/nor-2015-0027Libris ID: 10382037OAI: oai:DiVA.org:norden-3921DiVA, id: diva2:813423
Conference
This issue of the Nordicom Review, edited by Pradip Ninan Thomas, is a result of the boutique conference 'Beyond the Impasse' which was organized by the Centre for Communication and Social Change, University of Queensland in January 2013. The aim was to bring together academics who were involved in pushing the boundaries as it were of communication for social change in terms of theory and methods as they applied to practice.
2015-05-222015-05-222025-06-12Bibliographically approved