ASCOT Library Zabali Campus

Views on support communication for rural development by F. R. Braid. – Support communication components at the village level in Korea by K. R. Tscha. – Bridging research and extension gap through development communication in Thailand by V. Khumnirdpetch & S. R. Naphuket – ‘We love or village program’ – a planned communication campaign for rural development by C.L. Chen – Communication support component of the Masagana 99 program by R. C. Alvarez. – Community organization approach to extension work by C. D. Isles – The role of formal organization in agricultural technology utilization : the KABSAKA case by R. V. Cuyno & G. Lambert – Communication technology for rural education : an exploratory study on the use of a multi-media approach in non-formal education by Z. T. Domingo – The educational and cultural dimensions in integrated rural development : the IIRR experience by D. P. Cabacungan – Prospects of modular instructional technology for an effective extension delivery system by F. H. Nordland – An applied research for support communication : confluence of factors affecting innovative behavior of rubber farmers of Southern Mindanao by A. G. Bautista – The nonformal education program of the ministry of education and culture of the Philippines by M. S. Ramos Background papers – Planned development and transfer of technology by J. L. Woods – Utilizing communication to support development by J. L. Woods – The communication planning process by L. Buruspha – Organizational constraints to implementing development projects by J. L. Woods – A communication – educational approach to agricultural extension : a receiver-focused viewpoint by R. V. Cuyno, E. F. Mannigque & P. A. Sto Tomas.

"Pressures are being brought to bear on development agencies in the developing countries to speed-up efforts to combat poverty and all other miseries associated with the syndrome. the goal is to spread out the benefits of science and technology to as many people as possible in the food, nutrition and population sectors. It is assumed that there is available technology that has already passed the tests of practicability, profitability and location-specificity. All that is lacking is to increase the social acceptability and the access to the new technology particularly of those who do not have the language facility, and those who do not have the means to buy the information or to travel to acquire the information.
Against this background the science, technology and the art of communication is being harnessed. It is the belief of many that information dissemination through 'information drives' or 'information campaigns' is all that is needed for the new development programs or the new technology to be mass adopted by the people.
Two support communication advocates Erskine Childers and Malicca Vajrathon observe that 'all over the world, rural development programs of every kind are limping, delayed, and often failing outright because of failure to communicate to people.' The relative failure of a program to meet its planned targets may have been partly due to the handling of material inputs- credit, seeds, fertilizer, equipment, etc. But the recurring reference of administrators of programs that have not succeeded, to 'the need for greater popular participation', clearly indicates that even where the material input is reasonably adequate and efficient, still something is missing concerning people. That something, so claim the two communication experts, is beyond any doubt whatever, planned, intensive, phased, and sensitive support communication.
In the seminar-workshop on 'Support Communication for Rural Development Programs' which was jointly organized and managed by the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center (FFTC), the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Resources Research (PCARR) and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), support communication was used to mean the employment of various communication channels (mass media, interpersonal and group), technologies (hardware and software), delivery systems (print, electronic, audio, visual, audio-visual, training and person-to-person), in combination of each other for the purpose of sending messages to promote, persuade, motivate and eventually induce behavior change contributing to attaining macro goals of a particular development program.
This requires the systematic planning and utilization of all appropriate communications methods and strategies starting at the earliest stages of development planning and continuing throughout the program implementation. Implicit in this is the need for the support communication program to be an integral component of the project itself. Unless this is so, then the task of providing the specific support communication when it is needed and for each audience needing it would be quite difficult to carry on.
Past communication efforts and all the government investments put in communications have had only limited impact on development programs. The reasons for this can be traced back to the orientation of development workers and how they perceive the role of communications. John Woods points out that development workers have not utilized communication resources properly in the planning and implementation of their development programs. As a result, most of the communication efforts in the development field tend to focus on public relations aspects of the program rather than being an integral element of the educational process and transfer of technology. Communication workers on the other hand, do not understand the development process and therefore, the information flowing through the various channels is not suitable to support development programs.
Over the past five years or so, the field of Support Communication has been gaining foothold. No less that the United Nations has initiated and popularized the field because of the belief that there is now a communication knowhow and technology that can sway people to accept and adopt developmental messages. It has been indicated, however, that only when support communication becomes an integral part of a development program would it be able to contribute to the successful implementation of the program.
The success of the seminar-workshop could not have been possible without the support of our co-sponsors and the assistance of a number of people: Dr. Rogelio V. Cuyno, Director of Applied Communication Division (ACD), PCARR and concurrently Program Leader, MARD, U.P. at Los Banos who was the Local Organizer of the seminar- workshop; Manuel P. Garcia, Jr. of MARD and Merlyne Malabuyoc of CPDS, both at U.P. at Los Banos for their help in managing the activity; the Heads and Staff of the various agencies that the participants visited during the seminar. Special thanks is due to Blandina Lansang de-Mesa of ACD, PCARR for her assistance in the preliminary editing of the papers included in this volume."