Strategic Communication for Rural Development
Fortunato Santucci · 2005
This study stresses that most people working in rural development agencies are convinced of the need for communication. Yet very often, their definition of communication is the old-fashioned agricultural extension-type activities, i.e. technical or socio-economic advice disseminated to farmers, or the production of mass media, such as leaflets, posters or radio programs, once a policy or a project has entered into the implementation phase. Most people are convinced that communication activities need to be implemented only during the life cycle of the project, from identification and formulation, to implementation, monitoring and evaluation. There is, however, an increasing awareness that both internal and external communication should be carefully planned, implemented and continuously improved. The paper's thesis is that the above-mentioned activities, although very important, are insufficient. At times, these efforts are fruitless and the money is wasted, because the policies or the projects have been poorly conceived. Indeed, Strategic Communication should be an integral part of any design procedure from the very beginning.