Mapping Competencies for Communication for Development and Social Change: Introduction: Overview of the Conference

- from Mapping Competencies for Communication for Development and Social Change: Turning Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes Into Action

Introduction: Overview of the Conference

Competencies: The combination of skills, attributes, and behaviors that are directly related to successful performance on the job - Kofi Annan, UN, 1999

In the early 1970s, Harvard psychologist David McClelland first suggested the importance of testing for competence rather than intelligence. Subsequently, competency models have been used worldwide to establish the building blocks of superior performance in many professional and technical academic, organizational, and manufacturing endeavors.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has defined competencies as the combination of skills, attributes, and behaviors that are directly related to successful performance on the job. Competency represents observable and measurable knowledge, skill, ability, behaviors, and attitudes associated with excellent job performance, work results or outputs: it defines performance in terms of what work is done and how it is done. In the educational arena, competencies are forward-looking; help to clarify expectations; define future professional needs; and focus development of curricula, course design, and performance assessment for professional and technical programs.

In 2000 and 2001, representatives from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Pan AmericanHealth Organization (PAHO), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),and USAID's CHANGE Project discussed the utility of applying competency models tothe field of Communication for Development and Social Change. They envisioned acomprehensive set of competencies that could serve as a resource to design a new,competency-based curricula for students learning to become communicators and trainingprograms for those already working in the field.

These organizations invited leading experts from around the world to a conference inBellagio, Italy, to identify competencies for Communication for Development and SocialChange and begin the process of using competencies in curriculum development anddesign. The conference, which took place January 28-February 1, 2002, had fourobjectives. Significant progress was made in meeting each objective:

Objective 1: Define competencies for Communication for Development andSocial Change.

Progress: Through a process facilitated by María Irigoin, an expert in the field ofcompetency development, participants worked in small and plenary sessions toarticulate the key purpose of Communication for Development and Social Changeand the competencies that this key purpose implies. With Ms. Irigoin's assistance,these thoughts were organized into a model used in the competency field that isknown as a Functional Map. (The Functional Map developed at the Conference forthe field of Communication for Development and Social Change appears as Part III ofthis report.)

Objective 2: Define knowledge and performance evidence for each competence.

Progress: After developing the Functional Map, participants began the task of listingthe knowledge and performance criteria that would serve as evidence that a givencompetence has been mastered. These criteria, once refined, can be used to determinewhat education and training programs should be preparing communicators to do.

Objective 3: Review how a competency-based approach is used in curriculumdesign and delivery methods.

Progress: Ms. Irigoin's presentation on this subject introduced the participants andsponsors to the steps involved in turning the Functional Map into a competency-basedcurricula.

Objective 4: Decide on future steps for further consultation and dissemination ofcompetencies and to complete the curriculum design.

Progress: Participants suggested many ways to disseminate their work - and, inparticular, the Functional Map on Communication for Development and SocialChange - to colleagues, decision makers within institutions and funding agencies, andothers. These suggestions included postings on appropriate Web sites, this summaryreport, and more in-depth treatment through academic journals and presentations.Action steps, such as integrating the competencies into job descriptions, were alsoproposed. In addition, the sponsoring agencies (USAID, PAHO, and the RockefellerFoundation) began the development of specific plans based on the output of theconference to further formulate competency-based curricula.