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- Description:
- This paper begins by profiling the key elements of the RASCOM study and their implications for the socioeconomic development of Africa. It then analyzes the traditional arguments in the debate about the role of the new Information and communication technologies in African development. Arguing for a regional approach to telecommunication infrastructural development, the paper examines SADCC's experience and concludes by offering a framework within which strategies can be mapped out for an integrated information and communication technologies development.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Description:
- This article discusses who decides the worth of an artwork and anlayses with what criteria is its value determined. The author considers aesthetics, art form, art content, and form and content as shared experience. Objective evaluation or appreciation of an artwork should consider both aesthetics and situational aspects.
- Date Issued:
- 1995-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Glendora Review
- Description:
- Development institutions have in recent years realised the importance of indigenous culture as an important vehicle for communication. This has led to the creation of programmes in which local cultural forms have been "recruited" as the communication process for "selling" development strategies. The paper draws upon the author's experiences of theatre for primary health mobilisation and awareness in rural Malawi. The advantage of performing arts as a medium for development communication are that: 1) they provide a more entertaining form than monologous media, 2) they can easily use local languages and cultural forms such as songs and dances, 3) they encourage participation and debate in the audiences. The main disadvantage is that such intrumental use of the performing arts can lead to a cornmodification of culture which is manifested in: 1) the professionalisation of cultural workers in a context which is not normally commercial, 2) the reification and triviliation of community culture through the use of traditional external forms to convey messages totally at variance with their original context. Such cultural engineering, at its most insensitive can constitute a form of developmental imperialism which erodes rather than supports the cultural cement binding local communities. Suggested solutions demand agents' wide-ranging consultations, not only with development minded stake-holders, but also with those who possess cultural skills and interests.
- Date Issued:
- 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Description:
- A contrast is made between economic types of rural development projects, which tend to be quantitative, and social development projects, which are qualitative. A number of evaluation models were studied on particular social development projects. A before-and-after analysis of particular social development group projects generated five indicators by which such development could be quantified: activities, action, changes in group behaviour, nature of intervention, and relationship with other groups. Continual monitoring of these aspects is suggested through a number of methods. The importance of relevance in evaluation procedures for small scale projects is emphasised.
- Date Issued:
- 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Description:
- Traditional approaches to rehabilitation of disabled people have emphasised segregated institutional care, and have largely neglected the need both to integrate people with disabilities into their wider community, and for community attitudes themselves to be rehabilitated or changed to facilitate this integration. This paper reviews institutional and community based strategies for rehabilitation, arguing the case for a community orientation but recognising some of the difficulties of implementing this effectively in developing countries.
- Date Issued:
- 1988-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Description:
- The thesis of this article is that the national interests of African states make it imperative for them to carefully evaluate, assess and examine the development of their present media structures and ownership patterns. The article identifies some of the new communication media in the African context and offers a detailed review of the national and international ramifications of their selection and adoption as privately-owned enterprises.
- Date Issued:
- 1988-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Description:
- Paulo Freire's ideas on the contents, methods and purposes of education are relevant in any serious consideration of the African development dilemma. Not only because he worked in and experimented with African societies, but also because of the universal flavour of his pedagogy, Paulo Freire brings some refreshing insights into strategies for responsible development through culturally-sensitive direct and mass-mediated education.
- Date Issued:
- 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Description:
- A most unsettling observation is that rural poverty is on the increase, despite decades of rural development. The blame is currently being placed on modes of designing and implementing development programmes, which are seen to have failed to take the basic needs of the poor into account. Further blame is placed on historical factors together with the social structures that have developed from them. The paper examines a selection of current ideas about rural poverty and their implications for the practice and teaching of fieldwork in social development, and points out the issues involved, giving suggestions on how they might be dealt with.
- Date Issued:
- 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Description:
- The decade of the 1980s could, from a communications perspective, be typified as the period of 'social mobilisation'. Rather than expanding on the theoretical assumptions underlying the social mobilisation approach for development, this article discusses the consequences of the theoretical assumptions for the use of personal and mass media, as experienced in the African context.
- Date Issued:
- 1991-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Date Issued:
- 1981-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Critical Arts
- Description:
- This paper explores the role of popular participation in development It is indicated that participation in development programmes by the local people is very crucial in order to ensure successful implementation of these programmes. The paper also advances the argument that although participation is seen as being very important, there are as yet few countries which have developed appropriate methods and organisational bases geared towards facilitating the participation process. A fundamental conclusion of the paper is that whilst maintaining existing patterns of intervention in rural areas, efforts should also focus on searching for more appropriate ways in which a participatory approach could underly the whole basis of the intervention.
- Date Issued:
- 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Date Issued:
- 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Critical Arts
- Date Issued:
- 1980-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Critical Arts
- Description:
- African nations are at the crossroads. Some of their economies are tottering, and on the brink of collapse while social, cultural and political structures are becoming weaker by the day. There is need for better management of Africa's resources. The article advances an argument that communication is critical in the empowerment of civil society. It points out that communication is a doubleedged blade that can either empower or disempower a civil society. The paper highlights key areas in which communication can empower a society. These are in the economic, cultural and political spheres. The effects of modern communication technology especially the internet and e-mail among others, which have radically transformed information dissemination system are discussed. It includes that African countries must take cognisance of the role of communication and harness it for their benefit.
- Date Issued:
- 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Date Issued:
- 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Date Issued:
- 1980-03-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Critical Arts
- Description:
- This paper first presents a general background and global perspective on literacy. It mentions the various aproaches that can be adopted towards the eradication of illiteracy, the purpose of literacy and its relation to economic, social and political goals. The need for a literacy campaign in Zimbabwe is analysed and the development of the National Literacy Campaign in that country, and the responsibilities for it assigned to the Ministries of Education and of Community Development and Women's Affairs, are discussed. The main emphasis of the paper is on the poor participation in and relatively high drop-out from literacy classes, presaging the failure to achieve the commendable objectives of the campaign within the target period. Some recent statistics are presented, which indicate the trend of the campaign over the last three years. A study of participation in literacy classes is then presented, together with an analysis of the reasons for low participation. The conclusions drawn indicate that there is a need for national commitment, revitalisation of the campaign and new motivation at all levels if it is to succeed and so achieve its original objectives.
- Date Issued:
- 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Date Issued:
- 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Date Issued:
- 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Description:
- This paper presents the results of a study on the relevance of income generating projects as a reinforcement of acquired literacy skills in Zimbabwe. Very little research has been carried out to assess the extent to which participation in income generating projects actually reinforces the students acquired literacy skills, whereas many studies have evaluated the impact of literacy on socio-economic activities. This study sets out to examine what effects socio-economic activities have on students' literacy test achievements. The results presented here tend to show that high participation in income generating projects is positively correlated with higher total mean scores for total literacy and arithmetic scores. However, the study revealed that variables of high and low participation are not the only ones and cannot be considered in isolation: other variables such as age, sex, etc had to be considered also as results show that these, together with high and low participation in projects, affects students' achievements in literacy test scores. It is believed that the results have useful implications for agencies involved in adult literacy work.
- Date Issued:
- 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Description:
- Review of: Bernard Williams (ed.). Obscenity and film censorship: an abridgement of the Williams report. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981
- Date Issued:
- 1982-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Critical Arts
- Description:
- This paper takes a critical look at the popular issue of participation, and suggests that a major weakness in the literature of participation is its failure to deal with the realities of statism in the modern world, and particularly the Third World. The paper argues that while many proponents of participation theory claim a commitment to socialism and marxism their views in fact derive from a blend of individualism, populism and anarchism, ideologies which incorporate a basic distrust of the state. In effect the impact of this is that participation theory has an implied distrust of state sponsored development. This distrust, the paper argues, is not necessarily a fair reflection of the current state of affairs in the Third World.
- Date Issued:
- 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Description:
- This paper discusses the role and importance of voluntary agencies in the promotion of mental health and the rationale for such a role. As the socioeconomic and political problems of societies grow more acute everyday, the potential solutions seem increasingly to indicate the need to make wiser and more effective use of all human resources and potential. Many of the solutions to these problems seem to call for the return of responsibility for making institutions effective to the people and the community to be served, through voluntary work for the common good. This is especially true of the voluntary work undertaken by relatives and citizens in mental health and other institutions. In this period of economic stringency, which seems likely to remain with us for some time, communities, in order to maintain services, have to rely on the contributions of volunteers and voluntary agencies.
- Date Issued:
- 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Description:
- In Africa the typical social consequence of drought is an accordion effect in which wealth and income shrink drastically. The poor suffer most severely as their mortality rate rises. Their plight then prompts dramatic increases in international aid. Moving this relief to those in need, however, is usually extremely slow, as indigenous elites and the head of the aid organisations struggle over their relative roles in decision-making. This article examines how a veritable welfare state has emerged from one of Botswana's most severe droughts and why this deviation from the typical African syndrome has taken place.
- Date Issued:
- 1988-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Date Issued:
- 1983-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Critical Arts
- Description:
- This paper states that the "democracy movement" in Africa has reasserted the need for independent press activity. There has emerged independent radio broadcasting, which supports the abrogation of state monopoly of the broadcast media. It is up to the media educators and communicators to ensure that the main objective of the emerging media ought to be the improvement of the people's lifestyle, both materially and politically.
- Date Issued:
- 1993-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Description:
- This paper examines the problems and prospects of the development and application of communication infrastructures and products in order to achieve cultural synchronization. It discusses the subject from the perspectives of an emerging discipline, and against the background of ethnic and cultural conflicts in various regions of the world. It gives specific examples of the uses and applications of new communication and information technologies elsewhere in the world, and points out the tasks confronting African governments and the private sector.
- Date Issued:
- 1988-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Description:
- This paper offers a criticism of modernisation and dependency schools of thought which have retarded the ability of social work to contribute in a meaningful way to the solution of Africa's many problems. A move from a residual to a radical paradigm is urged, reflecting five key dimensions which together offer a blueprint for a way forward. Radical developmental social work of an interdisciplinary nature, guided by informed, forward-thinking profesionals and grounded in African realities may be the only answer if the profession is to survive into the next century. Perhaps only then will the social workers be able to produce a practice that meets Africa's requirements and one that deals effectively with the major concerns faced by the African peoples.
- Date Issued:
- 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Description:
- Economic issues are critical to social development in the African context. The authors examine four areas: economics as a central social development issue, employment creation with particular reference to income generating projects, appropriate technology, and regional economic inter-dependence. Current patterns in the creation of income generating projects are analysed in detail so as to illustrate the central thesis that economic development is an essential part of social development but is more likely to be effective if practiced from a clearly social development orientation rather than from an exclusively economic development framework. The building of human capacities and self-reliance at both community and national level are also emphasised. The authors conclude that, although development is not mere economic growth, nevertheless the knowledge and skills needed to facilitate economic development should be acquired by everyone involved in social development.
- Date Issued:
- 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa