Prioritizing Communication in an Environment of Change

A Public Lecture by Mr. Batilloi Warritay, Communication for Development Expert, on “Prioritizing Communication in an Environment of Change: The Way Forward” on the 32^nd Anniversary of the Founding of the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM), at The British Council Auditorium, Thursday 06 December, 2012

Mr. Chairman, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, let me commence by congratulating the Institute of Public and Administrative Management (IPAM), as you celebrate this 32^nd Anniversary of your founding. More importantly, I wish to applaud, the significant contribution you are making in the field of public administration and management to this nation.

I wish to thank the leadership for the invitation, to share a few thoughts on a subject that I am convinced, needs greater attention. My hope, is that this period of reflection together, will begin the enquiry necessary, to plot a new path in the important area of Prioritizing Communication in an Environment of Change – The Way Forward.

Communication is basic to all human life. It is an absolutely necessary prerequisite in all our inter-relationships. Man has gained his identity by relating himself to others, through the exchange of messages and meanings. The great teachers and philosophers, the custodians of people’s spiritual well-being, and the leaders of great social movements in the past, have all used communication in various forms, to influence the values and behavior patterns of the societies in which they lived. Today, there is an unprecedented need and demand for change that assures us our future well-being. But who, we might ask, plans such change, and how? And how do individuals, groups, and societies come to an awareness of the need for the right type of change and therefore act on those decisions? I will attempt to outline how, by making communication a centre-piece of our development framework, we can strengthen our development strides and more concretely, attain many of our national goals

There are generally three key tasks that communication plays in the process of social change, that aims to ensure positive national development. First, the populace must have “information” about national development. Their attention must be focused on the need for change; the opportunities that come with change; the method and means for change and a clear sense of aspirations they need to develop, for themselves and their nation.

Secondly, opportunities must be provided to the people of a nation, to participate intelligently in the “decision-making process”. By this I mean, there must be dialogue, that is enlarged, to include all those who must decide to change. That is leaders must have an opportunity to lead and common people must be heard; the issues of change must be made clear and possible alternatives on development discussed together. Basically, information should flow both up and down the hierarchy line.

The third broad task, is that of skills, which need to be shared and taught. Adults need to know how to read and write, children must be educated, farmers and fishermen need enhanced skills and communities need to change and advance. These fundamental tasks of communication can be found in both traditional and or modernizing societies. In our case however, rapid social and economic change, demands an intensification in the way we harness and exploit communication.

Communicating for most Sierra Leoneans born before the 1980’s, has been characterized by a few distinguishing elements. For example, many of us, grew up in communities, where we developed a knowledge of our maternal language very early and perhaps simultaneously learned a second Sierra Leonean language. We were drilled at an early age, to understand basic greetings and courtesies, as a first step of inter-relating with those around us. We learned a deference structure. You did not just speak as you felt, to anyone. Your speech was guided by specific norms and codes. There was an acceptance of authority, law and order, even when you didn’t like it. Yet we obeyed. We were guided and tutored along the way, until we were either given the key to the front door of our homes; or got initiated into an age grade society; or left home after marriage, or other. In terms of communicating among ourselves as people, we were generally prepared.

In recent years, that picture has changed radically. Many of our teenage children are most likely unable to speak their ethnic language and if they speak the lingua franca Krio– it is a warped variant with statements like - “ a dey pan cam or a de pan eat, or “Cam watch insigh me shop.” You are lucky if youth and or adults, remember to say “Good Morning” or Thank You” as basic courtesies. Social graces are generally unknown, because many young people have basically “brought themselves up”; children bringing up children! We represent a nation, where the individual is more preoccupied about “self” than the collective interest. And yet, communication is still taking place. Perhaps in the wrong direction and from the wrong quarters.

Technologically, times have changed. We may no longer be a nation whose people depend on a town crier to announce the happenings of the day; or where we would hear a passing neighbour’s alert of “Ooo, you get rres na hose? Lili problem dey na ton oh! “ - the community alerts reminiscent of the military coup days of the 60’s. We have moved from the exposure to the “rediffusion box”, the radio put up on the wall in homes and introduced in Sierra Leone in 1953. We have moved through the popularization of the transistor set in the 1960’s, to the introduction of television through the then Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service in 1961.

Today, we are exposed to high definition television channels for the very few, mobile phones and the Internet, and all the gadgetry that new communication technology platforms afford us, including e mail, Skpe, Twitter, Facebook and many more. With an estimated population of 5.9 million, 78% of households have access to radios and 5 percent to TVs. A 2010 estimate, showed mobile phone access as 34 out of every 100 citizens and Internet access to about 40,480 users or 0.8% as of a Dec. 2011 survey. Facebook users 48,450. It must be stated, that update figures on television usage are hard to come by and must be changing all the time, especially with the access to the new SLBC with its reach in all the regions. With investments being made in infrastructural development including the supply of stable electricity and the fibre optic cable, internet and TV usage will grow exponentially soon.(Data from World Bank, UNICEF, ITU, UNESCO, AudienceScapes).

So what has happened? In terms of the technology, access and use of basic communication tools, for people’s participation and feedback, have not been adequately viewed as central in our development planning. Ensuring that “second task of communication,” that of providingopportunities for people of a nation, to participate intelligently in the “decision-making process”, has somehow been underplayed.

Our communication structure in Sierra Leone, is largely a reflection of the systems and processes handed down to us in colonial and post Independence times. In the 50’s and 60’s, the media expanded globally and for us in Sierra Leone, the establishment of a very centralized approach to information and communication systems. The central objective, of the system that was put in place, was to afford a predominantly one-way flow of communication from Government ministries to the people. The Ministry of Information and Communication largely aims at ensuring, that the masses of this nation are informed about the policies and direction of the Government of the day. It also gives priority, to the positioning of Ministry of Information and Communication personnel in all ministries, to ostensibly support a centrally coordinated expansion of Government’s communication programme across the board. Unfortunately, many of such seconded staff, support primarily, the public relations roles of their assigned ministers and their teams. However, credit must be given to past and current Governments, for providing an environment for people-centred media, through the massive expansion of Community Radio development and the freedoms granted the media owned by either civil society groups or private entrepreneurs.

Unfortunately, uncontrolled expansion, has also resulted in low standards, and high levels of non-professionalism, and polarization of the nation, promoted largely by the print media, operating from the nation’s capital.

The current “Agenda for Change” programme promotes Energy, Agriculture, Transportation and Human Development as central to the direction of the state. The role of communication in ensuring the attainment of these critical goals is limited to mainly a popularization of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Taking a quote from an area of the Agenda for Change document, it says “A key lesson learned during the implementation of PRSP-I, was the general public’s lack of adequate understanding of the PRSP’s contents, processes and impacts. Quite often, ordinary citizens viewed the PRSP-I as a separate project, distinct from other on-going initiatives within their localities. Even though the majority of the population was aware of the Government’s efforts to reduce poverty, the linkages between sectoral projects and the overall PRSP framework was not clear. In line with the Government’s overall strategy of inclusion, under the leadership of the Ministry of Information and Communication, the Government will develop and implement a National Communication Strategy. This strategic framework , will aim to strengthen national communication capacity within Government and other key stakeholders for long term effective dissemination of public information for sustainable development; Improve citizens’ access to information and free exchange of public information; and promote the active involvement of Civil Society in the dissemination of public information.” End quote.

Essentially, Government’s use of communication, continues the tradition of seeing it as a tool for the dissemination of its information, allowing civil society and the private sector a role in public and global information dissemination, in the hope, that they take care of much of the other tasks of communication as a tool in national development.

The Media Landscape

So a central question would be: What is the reflection of communication as represented through the media in Sierra Leone today?

The Print Media : Despite an illiteracy rate of 59%, there are 74 registered newspapers, although a little under 25 are really functional. The average size of 12 – 16 page dailies or weeklies, focus mainly on issues of national politics, legal and court proceedings, health, education, mining, and other development topics including international and local news and sports, and a high dose of adverts.

Although a few print media institutions such as Politico, Premier News and AWOKO, stand out as exemplary, many of us are all too aware of the shortcomings of the print media. Daily instances of defamation, character assassination, speculation, abuse and deliberate exaggerations, inaccurate reports and limited regional distribution are reflective of what the large majority of newspapers offer. Many newspapers are compromised as a result of partisan political leanings, due largely to financing from various private donors many suspected to be political. Poor remuneration, minimal certification, and a reluctance to join forces among professionals, have left newspaper development in Sierra Leone, a poor reflection of what it used to be nearly 30 years ago!

Radio : Radio remains the most widespread and effective medium nationwide. With broadcasts in English, Krio, Mende , Limba, Temne, and other languages, radio has garnered a nationwide listenership. There are currently 65 radio stations; 27 are community radio stations, 9 religious broadcast stations and 17 fall within the category of privately owned FM Commercial Stations. The rest are public broadcasting facilities and relay stations. The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation established in 2010, integrates a network of 5 sub-stations in the regions and the former UN Radio.

Here too there are challenges. The need for batteries, by a majority of homeowners not yet reached by the national power grid, has meant, that a large part of the population country-wide may at time, may be actually unreached by radio broadcasts from the centre. Local community radio stations, are saddled with the challenge of creativity in programming. In a quick Field Visit Assessment of 25 Community Radio stations country wide conducted by the Independent Media Commission in September, 2012, it was observed that over 90% of the radio stations sampled, indicated that, stations were limited in programme formats to essentially 7 forms of programmes: News, Current Affairs, discussion programmes, public service notices, religious and phone in programmes and music. Many international development agencies and NGO’s have provided training, equipment and exposure through trips abroad, to improve the quality and capacity of local producers and broadcast personnel but poor broadcast management and planning and little creativity in programming, have limited the real value to which community radio stations can be put all over the nation.

Although there are a few radio stations that deliberately run what may be described as “mischievous programmes”, overall, there is substantial evidence, that radio station managers and owners, are more responsible in the performance of their duties and show the potential for improved professionalism. The problems of un-trained staff, many of whom are volunteers, low salaries, and poor management by several community radio boards, raises serious questions, on how local communities have squandered and misused the tremendous liberty created by Government, by not maximizing opportunities in creative and diversified programming, for real change and dialogue in favour of the marginalised, excluded and voiceless.

Television: The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) Television is the national broadcaster, that is currently confronting the challenges of operating in new territory, especially during an election year. With its two channels, it attempts to provide a variety of programmes but still faces enormous problems in the areas of management, financing and programming. With major financial challenges, the Corporation has been unable to invest sufficiently in indigenous programming, especially in local drama or documentaries, and therefore has resorted to providing viewers with their share of Brazilian soap operas and films from the Africa Movie Magic series! It is also largely dependent on sponsored programmes, from either religious or mobile telephone companies, ever ready to attract “viewer clients” with “get rich quick” programmes, that are a new hope for many. Only about 16.2% of the national population watch television, with a higher percentage of such viewers, having a relatively moderate level of education. Erratic power supply in some areas of the country, have also contributed to low viewing audiences. An International Telecommunications Union (ITU) instruction in recent years, announced a regulatory condition for broadcasters all over the world, that all analogue broadcast of TV must stop by 2015. The challenge of wide-scale digitalization of all broadcast signals by 2012 among all West and Central African states, remains an issue that has not even been addressed by Government.

While the station has been fairly consistent in its presentation of news and other informative and educative programs, its major challenge, will continue to be how it projects itself as a truly independent entity. The recent elections and an International Observer Assessment do provide substantial “food for thought.”

Satellite Television Link services have recently increased in popularity. Latest information show, that there are now 4 Direct to Home (DTH) Providers registered in Sierra Leone. These have significantly revolutionized TV watching, by providing major league football matches watched by thousands in make-shift cinema halls, as a new form of entertainment.

Internet: With the increase of Internet Service Providers and the proliferation of cyber cafés mostly in the Western Area, and key regional towns, some newspapers are now forwarding their copy via the web. The use of the world wide web in the recent elections, for a largely external audience left a lot to be desired. The unregulated use of Internet sites for pornographic viewing is also a major concern as it impacts under-aged youth.

Home Video and Film: Sierra Leonean producers have joined the film-making bandwagon. Dozen of local movies have been released in the past 2 years. Problems of sponsorship, funding, technical equipment and editing facilities, good script writers and professional actors and actresses are the directors and producers continued nightmare. Limitations in marketing and distribution strategies, pose a threat to this growing new industry. While there have been some worthwhile productions, sadly, much of what is being produced by Sierra Leoneans is of little literary or visual quality or value. A worrisome development is the extent to which violent gangster themes with a profusion of explicit sexual scenes, is becoming the order of the day, if we use “All in the Game” as a possible worst case example.

Traditional Media: Although the performing arts have been popular in the past, many local theatre groups have given way, to the over-riding interest in home videos or to radio production and or the development of TV commercials. A number of development agencies continue to use theatre as a tool for community awareness and capacity building, around key advocacy events and development campaigns.

This is but an overview of the local media scene. The roles they play, are essentially information dissemination and entertainment. Media as an educational or skills development tool, is minimal and hardly noticeable. It is almost non-existent as a strategy in Governments use of communication as a tool in positive change and or development.

Major Changes Around Us

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, let me spend a few moments to highlight some of the changes around us. While Government, civil society and the private sector to a large degree, provide a limited non-creative and uninspiring media, we are confronted with significant changes all around us.

Most worrying, is the growing number of illiterate youths, who cannot read or write. An example is 18 year old Sheka, I recently met at Lumley Beach, who had never gone to school, was not in any Adult Literacy programme, could not write or sign his name but wanted a job! He is but one example, of thousands of restive youths that are uneducated, unmotivated and have no functional skills in an economy, that will find it difficult to absorb them, no matter the temporary solutions of quick election money, or individual public patronage available. There is no visible attempt to harness communication in favour of this group. Yet it is early days, as we have just brought in a new Government!

We have developed a new nation of street-based-youths, dependent on the dole line by shouting “ You borbor dey!” to the passing potentially rich car owner. The ideals of hard work are absent and are hardly being encouraged by the elderly. The response from a 27 year old un-employed man recently, on why he would not opt for a daily paid job in road construction, was “ You wan mek a go die before me tem?!”

Never before in the history of this nation, has our population been subjected to the current degree of fatalism and pre-occupation about the “powers of darkness” and their effect on our daily lives and events. Public street, radio and TV advertising from experts in the powers of the proverbial “fangay” witch-gun doctor, and a dependence on the world of evil, seem to be acceptable points of departure for our channels of communication. And right in front of the National Museum, in the heart of Freetown, soothsayers and their mix of fetish are the appetite of the midday passerby. If there is an Agenda for Change, and the prospective “Agenda for Prosperity”, such retrogressive social options should be rejected, through massive national public and community-based communication programmes of education and skills development, that move our people out of this malaise of fatalism, to a point where, simple scientific or social explanations allow us to take a hold of our individual destinies and understand, how that is linked to the vision of the state.

Another worrying development is the growing sense of a political elite, more concerned about their own well-being, than the enlightenment of and the informed participation of the masses in national development dialogue. We have just gone through a General Election period, in which the nation is divided on ethnic lines, and talk of nation building and “nation-ness” are scoffed at with cynicism, because leaders have not demonstrated or lived the call for nation-building sufficiently, to be believed in. Where is communication being used as an effective tool to build oneness as a nation and a move away from the need to secure our individual interests. There is however hope, as demonstrated in the past 3 weeks, when the concerted effort of mass media, artistes, civil society and religious groups, converged around a single issue of “No to Violence”. Sierra Leoneans, once again had a “Common Cause” in which they believed in and acted upon. And this was brought about, when Communication was effectively used to channel a central message in favor of a shared national aspiration.

With the prospect of broadband access, there is a clear need to understand how we will use access to new communication technology platforms for the positive benefit of distant village schools, primary health care centres in hard-to- reach communities, and agricultural extension centres around the country. Communication can and should play a central part in bridging these divides. We need to deploy and harness communication in favour of our peoples. Using communication as a tool to enhance distance training and education; health programming and economic development through improved banking services will have tremendous gains for the nation, if we strategically plan together. Such investments will have a direct impact on human resource development, that is tied to personal gain and growth.

We are entering an unprecedented time in our history, when the potential for massive capital investment and increased revenues from extractive mineral resources, will create significant financial resources, in which the infrastructural and social needs of this nation may be met, if such resources are carefully managed and disbursed. Sierra Leone’s current growth rate is estimated at around 6.5% per annum, which if maintained, will show growth rates of up to 10% by 2018. If this happens, there are prospects for a major economic turn-around in the next few years.

The concept of Development and Communication for Development

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, it is in this environment of change, that we need to see how communication put to work for development and centrally geared towards assisting all other sectors is critical and possible. So what is Development and why do we think Communication can and should have a central role in National Development?

If we adopt Roger’s now famous definition, we will say that “Development is a widely participatory process of social change in a society, intended to bring about social and material advancement, including greater equality freedom , and other valued qualities for the majority of people, through the greater control over their environment.” (Rogers, 1975b)

Yet it is only when people are communicating efficiently and effectively, that any development can really take place. We as people have to change, if we wish things to change around us. The process of trying to achieve this , is by no means easy, And, for as long as we keep the development of organized communication out of our overall planning for change, or use it only cosmetically to suit Government’s limited ends, the very success of our plans for national development and growth are at risk.

A Communication for Development therefore simply put, must be seen as a planned use of communication principles media and techniques to support programmers and projects in various development sectors. Here we find, a research and planned process, crucial for social transformation operating through 3 main strategies:

1. Advocacy, to raise resources and political and social leadership commitment for development goals at all levels;

2.  Social Mobilization, for wider participation and ownership of all strata of the nation and

3. Programme Communication, for changes in knowledge, attitude, and practices of specific participants in programmes

A Communication for Development in an environment of Change, would therefore be expected to:

4. Rouse our people from fatalism and a fear of change;

5. Encourage both personal and national aspirations, whilst building a spirit of nationhood;

6. Ensure that all citizens aim at having a better life than what they have but accept the responsibility of working for it as well and

7. As a people, aspire to national strength and greatness.

We have seen the limited role that the media is organized to play currently in Sierra Leone. And yet the media, can play a substantive greater role, as a part of the Communication Process.

The mass media can create a climate for development. The media can contribute substantially, to the amount and kinds of information available to the people of a nation. They can widen horizons and thus help to build empathy; they can focus attention on problems and goals of development and they can raise personal and national aspirations. This amounts overall, to creating an informational climate in which development is stimulated by communication. An integrated communication approach that focuses on issues, concerns, values that positively build our people and nation. We should be able to disseminate development information in both near and far away environments, that build skills and know how. By sharing political, economic, social and cultural reports and realities from elsewhere in the country and the world, the media can create an intellectual and awareness climate, that stimulates people to take another look at their own current practices, future perspectives and personal options.

The Way Forward

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, let me provide a few options for consideration of what needs to be done, to ensure that Communication is given a higher level of priority in the process of National Development Planning and therefore resource allocation and capacity development in this diverse and complex environment of change.

8. First, Communication as Hub or Anchor for our National Vision

Communication has to be seen as a driver for all the other sectors of national development. As observed earlier, a coordinated communication programme will ensure the required advocacy to raise resources and political and social leadership commitment for development goals at all levels. Such a leadership, will not only be at national level, but every strata of society, where a clear sense of vision, that is driven by a passion aimed at attaining clear goals, will be the basis of national growth and progress; - where everyone recognizes we have a stake in this nation, because we are all in it together. A focused communication programme will ensure that all citizens, aim at having a better life than what they have, and simultaneously, accept the responsibility of working for and at it as well. In essence, we need to use communication to rebuild a new Sierra Leone that is redefined and not just plastered over. The challenge is to not only make the case but to ensure that development planners in the Office of the President and the critical Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, accept the thesis for such a radical shift in the importance of communication as a sector.

In concrete terms it will mean:

9. moving the Communication Sector up the Resource Allocation Ladder, in which, instead of providing it with a set budget, that never responds to its real needs, that it draws down a designated realistic percentage of all ministerial sectoral budgets, as it is a cross-sectoral ministry with assignments and tasks in all sectors.

10. Drawing down funds from a special budget, established for cross-cutting requirements in the state such as Communication, Planning and or Defense. Such a reinforced Ministry of Information and Communication, would then be able to dedicate its human and infrastructural resources at the behest of the various sectors. This will be a major paradigm shift from the past. To achieve it, will require the necessary advocacy and clarity on why such a strategy is mandatory, for the successful implementation of the 3^rd National Development Plan otherwise called the “Agenda for Prosperity.”

Ultimately, placing communication at the centre of governance is not only good for the governed but is in the interest of those that govern, if they have a real interest in leading a process of national development. Communication, especially its tools in the media, should not be seen as adversaries to government but partners, even if there will always be a certain creative tension between the two.

11. Second, Communication Structure and Policy:

An Information and Communication Policy was developed in 1998/99 out of which the Independent Media Commission for example, was born. Other attempts at Communication Policies, may have been developed and partly implemented between 2003 and 2007. In 2009 a further attempt at developing a National Communication Policy floundered, due to several problems associated with technical capacity relevance, poor financial management and reporting of resources provided by UNDP and UNESCO, to ensure attainment of such a document. Government and its partners, need to return to the drawing board. Communication must be conceived and planned as a function that cuts across all sectors. For example, nutrition and agriculture are closely related in rural communities, and schools can play a major supporting role in informing children through their parents, about some of the more important issues. So the ministries of health, agriculture, and education would need to coordinate their communication efforts, to obtain the best results and avoid disseminating incomplete and contradictory information. The same will be true for other ministries like Trade and Industry, Tourism and Culture and all other ministries. This type of structure may sound challenging, especially against a backdrop of the known resistance by ministries to merge budgets and a desire for a certain level of “separateness” and “territory guarding” in their communication work. However, if Government is the get the benefit of using communication as a critical tool in national development, then such an approach needs to be considered or at worst, pilot-tested.

My plea is that Government needs to set in motionthe development of aNational Communication Policy, that integrates development areas as opposed to the separate sectoral development as seen in our current economic planning structure. We will need a policy that ensures a participatory social and public service character of the national, public, private and community media spaces. The design of any national policy, must begin by asking” “What kind of society do we want and how do we want to build it?” This will be a major step for Government, as some of these questions may not have been asked by other critical sectoral ministries. Raising them may also demand a questioning of systems that have traditionally been in place for many years. However, defining the society and how it is to be structured implies, that the old framework in which information and communication is used primarily to relay Governments developmental messages and instruction to the masses, must give way to a more inclusive and participatory process, that affords the clear interplay of old and new media approaches, tools and technologies that will aim at restructuring society.

Currently, the Ministry of Information and Communication operates a Strategic Plan and Framework and an Annual Workplan that guides its operations. If a Communication Policy were to be developed, the policy would then underpin the strategy and provide coherence as to its place in the vision of the state.

12. Third, Communication Education and the Market Place.

While the Department of Mass Communication, University of Sierra Leone may be commended for bringing together many critical elements for training in the broad field of mass communication, substantial more work is required in creating a more dialogical link between the department and the market place. Tertiary institutions providing training in Mass Communication, need to develop closer working relationships with their markets. Producing students that have the required academic training but limited skills required by the local professional and development partner will demand a more careful scrutiny of the current curricula used. The questions we need to ask are: “Where are the current gaps and how do we fill these places with the most qualified students we produce? What is the edge we must given them, that will make them marketable? Is it speech and or language fluency skills, if they wish to be broadcasters? Or is it exposure to the development world as they enter the programme? It is revealing that in the current curriculum of the Department of Mass Communication, Fourah Bay College there is scant exposure to:

13. Community Media

14. Media Project Development Skills and budgeting

15. Sierra Leone Culture and traditions and

Development communication and planning

We need to see development as the fundamental objective of scholarship. There is a need to mainstream development in the totality of our human resource development strategy. For us in the 'developing world', development is the very basis of our educational system. We should grow our educational system to develop agents of development. Our engineering, architecture, economics, liberal arts, communications, in fact all our students should be taught as agents of development.

We need to expose students to the “development world” because right at our doorstep, are a plethora of community-based, national, international and bilateral development focused NGO’s and agencies. Why spend 4 years trying to be a journalist only to find, that you now need to focus on being a Personal Assistant to a Minister! Or that there are communication openings in development agencies but your are not suited for the job!

Let me offer a few ideas that can be explored in future reflection in such institutions:

16. Instead of developing an “Introduction to Computer” course, start with a 1^st Year compulsory course in learning the basic skills of typing, through a Mavis Tutor Programme and create incentives of a Free Laptop and or Notepad, for each student that passes the course. This can be potentially done in close liaison with two to three private sector institutions and or a new relationship with DELL or SAMSUNG.

17. Develop an Internship programme from Year 1 and not the penultimate year, thereby creating professional associations between students and the work place. Allocations must be done competitively and in close consultation with receiving institutions, as opposed to the current practice of “ getting rid” of the student for a few months, and waiting only for a Self-Assessment Report.

18. For courses such as “An Introduction to Documentary Production and Photography”, develop public exhibitions hosted in the city and or for schools and have students graded by the public as part of an overall assessment grade system. One recognizes that programmes like Mass Communication and the Performing Arts, will continually struggle to justify their very existence in academic institutions, especially those in which the established courses of economics, engineering and the sciences have reigned supreme. Yet it is in such environments, that change is required most.

If students are not being absorbed by local newspaper editors, then trainers must be concerned. For your job does not end with the provision of a piece of paper, but with a student, cognizant and assured of his real capacity, as a force in the market-place. Above all, there should be the instilling of an academic demand for excellence, and the exposure to media tools, that students face, when they encounter the market-place, be that in the media, the development and or business world.

19. Fourth, Re-orientation of the media

A new national communication policy, will need to encourage the private sector to support Government’s vision, of using communication as a hub to national development. Most importantly, would be a recognition of the critical place of content and audience in media development. How do we ensure that local FM radio stations, invest in positive and creative content, that is wholesome and not just a sponsoring of programmes of little or no moral, ethical, or national value? Or continued hours of music?

How will we invest in the retraining of staff, that will aim to develop more educational programmes, that are beneficial to traders and local professionals, as they increasingly aim to improve their skills and direct their contribution to the nation’s advancement?

How can we develop an engagement and link between civil servants and technocrats in ministries and development groups and the media space, especially through community radio networks?

20. Fifth, New Communication Technology Applications and Platforms.

Sierra Leone like many other African countries is re-adjusting to the rapid application of new communication technologies. Among a youthful clientele and new businesses, we are witnessing an engaging use of Skype, Twitter and Facebook as fast and innovative ways of conducting business. It is clear that with our soon to be operational National Fiber Backbone Project, improved broadband and global inter-connectivity, we may be catapulted into the use of various ICT platforms that will change our communication story completely. However, before we can substantially talk of E-government applications, Government needs to fast track Internet and e-mail use in ministries and other sectors of the Government’s apparatus, as part of this paradigm shift, in putting communication at the heart of our national endeavour. In 2002, the Federal Government of Nigeria, in a radical public administration move, demanded that all staff of the civil service, become computer literate and use both Internet and e mail facilities, within a set timeframe, as a means of improving services to its various customers and its internal mechanisms of doing business. Deadlines were established, training provided and staff that did not conform and or pass the relevant tests, were eased out of their jobs. It is amazing to see, how dependent Senior Government officials are on writing memo’s and reports “long-hand” and waiting for secretaries to help out with typing tasks. We will have the challenge of testing some of the very creative ways in which ICT can change the life of local village communities, as being revealed in many nations in East and Southern Africa. Our application of new technologies will require a radical mind-set change in the way we do business.

21. Sixth, Information as Resource

More, importantly will be the way we transform our use of the technologies into Informational capital, that is the financial capability to pay for the use of electronic networks and information services, the technical ability to handle these network infrastructures, the intellectual capacity to filter and evaluate information, as well as the motivation to seek information and the ability to apply such information to our social situations. India started with investment in improved computer literacy among its youth. Today it has moved to become a hub for the storage of data in India, creating hundreds perhaps thousands of jobs because it has a workforce able to manipulate and support the use and application of ICT networks and resource databanks.

22. Seventh, the Digital Gap.

A National Communication Policy will also have to address the important question of where Sierra Leone wishes to stand in the current dialogue on the “the digital gap”. The term “digital gap” refers to the phenomenon of unequal access to ICT’s; to peoples unequal capacity to use these technologies; to the actual ways in which they currently use them and to the impact of these discrepancies on personal, family, and community well-being. It will be important for these questions to be addressed, if we should strive for some level of “digital inclusion” which would refer to the development of public policies on the countries construction, management and expansion of wired and wireless public digital networks, as well as to content offerings and the development of local capacities. These may well be issues that Government is currently considering. However, no nation can ignore the major advances taking place in the use of these technologies and their implication for rapid national development and growth.

In reviewing the issue of the digital divide, we must also consider language as an important factor of division among people of this world. In language technology circles , this issue is referred to as “the last six inches of the digital divide.” If all the infrastructural needs for bridging the digital divide were to be miraculously met today, there would still exist that six inch gap between the computer screen and the users eyes which can only be bridged by language. Hence, there will be the need to consider the localization of certain software applications such ATMs into local languages, particularly in rural areas, so that my aunt in Yamandu, Baoma Cheifdom, will not need to go and learn English in order to get the money from the nearest ATM machine , but will use her local languages in applying new technologies in business, agriculture and trade.

An issue I have not addressed is the Gender Gap in the digital divide and in the broad area of communication. Almost one in two women in Sierra Leone is literate, that is 48%, with the highest levels of 76% in the Western Area and 41% in the regions. And yet, boys and men have far more leisure time than girls and women. Women bear the greatest burden in farms, businesses, workplaces and homes. Access to basic radio, television and the internet is limited mostly by men who determine what channels are to be listened to and watched. Viewpoints of women are in many settings even today, channeled through the man’s point of view. Access denied is a right denied. So it raises the question of the need to ensure spaces for women to have adequate access and use of communication tools to be equally a part of the national development process.

23. A space for Dialogue:

Recently, the Independent Media Commission, established an IMC Media Research Network, with one of its goals being, improved coordination among International development partners, in media research, content and training in communication. Government will need to develop a space for dialogue between development partners, so as to fully benefit from international goodwill, while simultaneously ensuring against duplication of effort, unnecessary repetition in training activities; and the harmonization of strategies especially in community media activities. Even the coordination of funding across communication related organizations will remain an issue that needs to be assessed critically. These are but a few issues and ideas, required in developing a possible “roadmap” for further reflection and brainstorming on how we prioritize communication in development.

Conclusion

Mr. Chairman, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, let me close by saying, that Prioritizing Communication in an Environment of Change, will not be easy. It will require advocacy, allocation of resources and a new way of doing business. At some points, it might even be seen as threatening, to long-held traditions, customs and practices. It will need a willingness on the part of many actors in Government, to relax the stranglehold on the reins of how Government is currently structured, and how Government business is run. It will demand, a willingness on the part of several institutions and ministries to share common resources, financial, human and material. It will mean less regard for my “development territory” as in the case of donors and a greater understanding of commonly shared Goals and Objectives for the good of Sierra Leone.

In all this, two things are certain. If we boldly attempt these changes, we will know where we are going and there would have developed a new commitment to get there – Together!

I thank you for your attention

Mr. Batilloi Warritay

Communication for Development Expert

06 December, 2012

References:

Communications for Social Change Anthology: Historical and Contemporary Readings edited by Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron and Thomas Tufte, 2006 by Communication for Social Change Consortium, Inc

-Communication and Development: The Passing of the Dominant Paradigm by Everett Rogers;

- A Farewell to Aristole: “Horizontal Communication by Luis Ramario Beltran

-The Macbride Report: Conclusions and Recommendations – Excerpts from “Many Voices, One World: The MacBride Report” by Sean MacBride;

- Communication as if People Matter: The Challenge of Alternative Communication, by Mina Ramirez;

Cees Hamelink: Cultural Autonomy in Global Communications ,

Colin Fraser and Sonia Restrepo-Estrada Communicating for Development, Human Change for Survival

UNICEF, Sierra Leone Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2010 Final Report

UNICEF, Situation Analysis of the Status of Children in Sierra Leone, December 2011