FCCM_blog

Welcome to the FCCM Blog section! If you’d like to post an article and share your thoughts, opinions and experiences around ComDev, community media and ICTs for family farming please contact us at info@cccomdev.org 

TV Series Helps Restore Rice Landscape Biodiversity in Vietnam

A TV series using entertainment-education principles helps change farmers’ beliefs and pest management practices in Vietnam. Developed by a multi-stakeholders’ group, the TV program focuses on motivating farmers to raise flowering plants along rice bunds. The key message is that the flowers provide the shelter, nectar, alternate hosts, and pollen to conserve insects such as bees. These insects in turn protect the rice crop from invading planthoppers. In order not to

Beyond the Playground - LEGO for Social Change

In the University of Queensland, Master students in COMU7102, Communication for Social Change Foundations, were lucky enough to receive a visit from Laura Simpson Reeves, who shared her wealth of knowledge on LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, and proved that playing isn’t always just fun and games. The courses’ mix of students, who specialise in both Communication for Social Change and Public Relations & Professional Communication, were surprised at the playful turn of events during one

Erfan Daliri: Using art to orchestrate change*

Erfan Daliri, a 2011 graduate at the Centre for Communication and Social Change, University of Queensland, is an author, speaker, artist, educator, mentor, event director, and agent of social change. The Centre had a chat with him about the Newkind Festival, as well as his events production company (with the soul of a social movement) UpUpTrampoline. In this article, Daliri’s lifelong interest in using the arts to orchestrate social change is uncovered.  Erfan Daliri’s

Educational campaign builds tsunami resiliency

Tsunamis are frequent in Indonesia and more than 35% of them are deadly. The December 26, 2004 tsunami claimed 178,000 lives in the island of Sumatra. In hindsight, the weak tsunami resilience of the people contributed to the terrible catastrophe. Many people were unaware, unprepared, and lacked knowledge about tsunamis. The mass media reported on the December 26 tragic consequences but did not provide substantial information about tsunamis (Morin et

Rural Communication Working Group Proposed at IAMCR

By Loes Witteveen, Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences A working group on Rural Communication has been proposed to the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR). This move was initiated by the GRI-RC during the IAMCR international conference in July this year.    Envisioned to provide a platform for academic scholars and professionals working in the field of rural communication, the focus of the group, however, goes

GRI-RC joins CCComdev

The Global Research Initiative for Rural Communication (GRI-RC) joins CCComdev global platform as a major partner. Comprised of the FAO ComDev team and six academia engaged in doing research, provision of technical assistance, and offering of formal courses in ComDev, GRI-RC will now be sharing in this platform their work and experiences on rural communication in the various continents and countries they cover.   The GRI-RC academia members are as

SMS market information pilot project in Cambodia builds interest

Cambodia initiated a pilot project on an electronic marketing communication system(EMCS) using short message service (SMS) technology in 2006-2007 to facilitatecommunication and exchange between farmers and traders in remote regions of thecountry. The EMCS provided information on market price, pricing trends, potential buyers,product quantity, and product quality useful to farmers and traders. The project, funded bythe Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), established theEMCS-SMS server and trained farmers and

‘Voice of Coastal People’ Tackles Climate Resilient Agriculture in Bangladesh

A network of rural radio stations in Bangladesh called “Opukoler Kotha” or “Voice of the People” has been addressing climate resilience among small farmers in southern coastal areas of the country. Composed of Krishi Radio, Radio Nalta, Radio Sundarban, and Radio Lokobetar, the network has established 100 listener clubs with at least 25 members each in their coverage areas. Using transistor radio units and their mobile phones, members of the

Rural radio network in Argentina: Sowing words, harvesting rights

From the Highlands to the Patagonia and from the sea to the Andes, “Sembramos Palabras, Cosechamos Derechos” (“Sowing words, harvesting rights”) is a community media initiative that gives voice to 19 rural radios managed by farmer organizations in rural and peri-urban areas of 12 provinces of the Republic of Argentina. A territorial experience that marks the opening of doors to basic rights such as habitat, land, water and marketing. Florencia Lance and

Red de radios rurales de Argentina - Sembramos Palabras, Cosechamos Derechos

De la Puna a la Patagonia y del mar a los Andes, “Sembramos Palabras, Cosechamos Derechos” es una iniciativa de comunicación comunitaria que articula 19 radios rurales gestionadas por las organizaciones campesinas en entornos rurales y periurbanos de 12 provincias de la República Argentina. Una experiencia territorial que marca una puerta de acceso a derechos básicos como el hábitat, la tierra, el agua y la comercialización. Florencia Lance y Martín Segura están al frente