Communicating Rural Development: Strategies and Alternatives

In the developing world, rural communities are central to the entire process of development. As consumers, they create demand for goods and services and as participants they make things happen. However, rural communities can be passive recipients of benefits of development as well. Their participation depends on their own perception about the context and content of development initiative, the benefits that would accrue to them and the extent to which their participation is sought by the change-inducing system. Communication plays a pivotal role in creating an enabling environment for rural development through local action. The present book aims at examining the knowledge, attitudes and awareness of people regarding rural development programmes in Rajasthan. Two developmental programmes-IRDP and SWACH-have been taken up for detailed analysis. An attempt has also been made to look at the intertwining of communication and development processes with a view to provide an alternative paradigm.