Abstract:
This thesis focuses on â communication for development' concepts and initiatives, in an attempt to, first, investigate the limits of the UN's perceived shift from a top-down to a bottom-up development approach, and secondly, to evaluate the degree and extent of the effectiveness of its communication efforts to achieve development results. The main hypothesis is that communication, as a tool used to achieve development objectives, remains vastly underutilized within the UN system, partly owing to the lack of adopting a genuine people-centred, bottom-up approach in favour of top-down global strategies.
The thesis first embarks on a review of the evolution of development approaches, with a focus on the role of the UN, followed by an analysis of different schools of â communication for development', exploring the influence of the historical shift in global development thinking and the UN's role in this field. The thesis then tackles a case study from the United Nations Development Programme in Egypt to investigate the degree to which such initiatives are community-driven versus corporate-dictated.
Project evaluation analysis and a series of independent focus groups with target beneficiaries suggest that UNDP's communication focus at the corporate level remains largely driven by a top-down diffusion model for the purpose of increasing its delivery of development aid and prospect mobilized resources. Based on the research findings, the thesis concludes with a proposed alternative framework for implementation at the project level to balance off this corporate top-down influence with more effective and measurable communication initiatives that promote participatory activities stemming from the community and serving their genuine development objectives.
