Section 1: Collective Action: Communication for Social Change: An Integrated Model for Measuring the Process and Its Outcomes

Section One: An Integrated Model of Communication for Social Change

Collective Action

The collective action portion of the model describes the process of effectively executing the action plan and the evaluation of its outcomes. The model identifies five key action steps:

1. Assignment of Responsibilities.

To convert a plan into action, specific people must take responsibility to accomplish specific tasks within specified periods of time. Leaders must ask for volunteers or else assign tasks to individuals and/or community subgroups (existent or newly created for executing the action plan). Someone must take responsibility for each of the activities identified in the action plan. Depending on the complexity of the problem it may be necessary to create community task forces focused on specific project goals and subgoals.

2. Mobilisation of Organisations.

It may not be necessary for members of the community to take responsibility for all of the tasks that need to be accomplished, especially if there are existing organisations inside and outside the community that can help. Thus, one of the assigned tasks may be to obtain the support and help of pre-existing community resources. For example, in most health interventions, health providers and schools should be asked to contribute. In the experience of many communication activists, communication through the local media can be an invaluable resource for mobilising community support and activity. Díaz Bordenave (1998) lists several ways in which the media can facilitate the dialogue and action process. In the dialogue phase (a) it can support the diagnosis of problem situations and the presentation of the problem to the community (there are many examples of how radio or radio tapes have assisted in getting the "voices" of community groups in the dialogue process), (b) it can stimulate community deliberation and the prioritising of problems, (c) it can support the exchange of ideas and experiences among distant communities, (d) it can help community organisations find solutions to problems, and in the action phase communication and local media can contribute by (e) informing the community about available services and how to gain access to them, (f) training community members how to use the media to inform the general public about their needs, (g) helping communities to obtain legitimisation and support from authorities, (h) providing feedback to the community about the progress and achievements of community projects, and (i) praising/rewarding communities for their achievements and thereby enhancing member's self-esteem and sense of collective self-efficacy.

3. Implementation.

This step refers to the actual execution of the action plan and its monitoring. No plan can be successful if the required work is not done. Furthermore, leaders, members and/or subgroups should take responsibility for monitoring all the tasks that have been assigned making sure that activities are moving according to the timetable and everyone is fulfilling their responsibilities.

4. Outcomes.

This step refers to the actual results that the community is able to achieve given the resources, organisation and mobilisation process specified by the action plan and then carried out. If the problem was an unacceptable level of diarrhea among children under 5, then the solution — the action taken — should be followed by a reduction in diarrhea among that group. If a certain number of tube wells were planned for the preceding year, then how many were actually constructed? To know the results of community projects, some type of observation and/or counting of events/incidents need to be done to measure the level of achievement.

5. Participatory Evaluation.

The achieved outcomes may or may not be what the community originally planned in their specification objectives. The comparison of the outcomes to the shared vision and original objectives is an important self-evaluation process. For purposes of group motivation and reward, it is important that most of the community participate in the evaluation process so that the lessons learned about what worked and why can be shared throughout the community. The result of the participatory evaluation should be a new reassessment of the current status of the community with respect to the problem. This is shown in the diagram by the arrow moving back up to the shared vision and the assessment of current status boxes in the model. From here, the community is ready to renew the process, moving forward into further action for the same problem, perhaps, or on to a different problem. It is by means of this reassessment process that the community reinforces its sense of collective self-efficacy, which in turn leads to and increases the community's belief in and value for continual improvement (see vertical text going up from this box to the "Vision of the Future" box). This improvement is shown in the model as one of the primary outcomes of continual reassessment of the current status followed by a renewal of community dialogue and collective action.

External Constraints and Support refer to any factor outside the control of community members that can either inhibit or enhance dialogue and collective action. Extreme poverty, the drastic consequences of a flood or famine, or even the distance between homes in a community make it difficult to engage in a participatory process. It is easier to announce and get women to come to a group meeting in a densely packed Korean village, for example, than in the geographically dispersed housing pattern of a coconut plantation in certain areas of the Philippines. It was not possible for women to meet in jiggasha discussion groups in Bangladesh where the norms of purdah (modesty) and their husbands do not allow it (Kincaid, 2000). On the other hand, government construction of a community schoolhouse or meeting house can greatly enhance the capacity of a community to meet to discuss common problems. The model shows two-way arrows from community dialogue and collective action to external constraints and support implying that over the long run community action itself can be taken to remove external constraints and to obtain external support. Government field workers can persuade husbands to allow their wives to participate in group meetings; communities can construct their own meeting halls.