Participatory Communication: the essence.

• Author: Wafula, Anthony

A number of tragic events have rocked Kenya in the recent past. Osama Bin Laden came calling late last year and a number of cabinet ministers travelling in a chattered plane were hurt in a plane crash. The pilots and a cabinet minister died on the spot.

Of particular interest to the participants of the Participatory Communication for Advocacy workshop organised by FEMNET in November was the way these events were reported in the media. Most attention was given to the victims. Less was given to the impact of these accidents on immediate family members and the different impact it has on different family members, both men and women.

After participating at a workshop convened by FEMNET, we were able to pinpoint the number of mistakes often made when communicating on development issues that cut across the society. News is reported as perishable goods with a certain sell-by date. The particular problem is soon forgotten in its totality. For instance how does it affect relations between diverse members of a given society? Who are the beneficiaries and who are the losers? What impact might it have on gender relations in the society? What solutions or alternatives exist in the community to that particular problem?

Communication strategies ought to have a "liberating" aspect. The "liberation" should in essence enable the affected to come up with their own strategies and mechanisms of solving problems. The affected should be active participants in the search of answers to their development problems. This is the essence of participatory communication, It is all about letting the affected tell their stories in their own ways.

In participatory communication, participation is seen as bringing a people-centred rather than a marketcentred perspective to development. Participatory communication is meant to enable people take control of their lives, develop their confidence and skills so as to influence public policies through the media production process. People's popular participation represents a driving force for the determination of development processes and the materialisation of a right to participate in the decisions that affect their lives. How does it work?

Take a community living in a slum in an African city where majority of the inhabitants are poor. A makeshift bridge has been a source of conflict between the different members of the society. To the young men who man the bridge, it is a source of livelihood. Everyone using it must pay toll charges...