Strategic Communication Management for Development and Social Change: Perspectives from the African Region

This book is the first of its kind within the African region to combine scholarly perspectives from the fields of Strategic Communication Management and Communication for Development and Social Change. It draws insights from scholars across the African continent by unravelling the complementary nature of scholarship between the two fields, through the lens of prevailing governance and sustainability challenges facing African countries, today. This edited volume covers issues that have adversely affected the achievement of goals related to humanitarian upliftment, development and social change for all African nations. Consequently, citizen participation, which lies at the heart of these challenges when considering the question of sustainable governance and policy development for social change in an African context is addressed. To this end, a reflection is also made on various case studies that exist where local citizens do not inform sustainable development programmes, while the promotion of bottom-up development and social change is largely replaced by top-down instrumental action approaches and hemispheric communication instead of strategic communication.

Themes explored include:

● Communication for social change, bottom-up development and social movements in the local government sphere

● Strategic communication in governance, planning and policy reforms

● The role of multi-stakeholder partnerships in achieving development of objectives geared towards good governance in Africa

● Public participation, protests, and resistance from 'below'

● Public sector health communications and development

● Media relations, accountability and contested development narratives with the Fourth Estate

● Social media and eParticipation in government development programs.

Tsietsi Mmutle is Senior Lecturer at the University of Pretoria in the department of Business Management, he teaches Strategic Communication Management modules at honours and Masters level in the Communication Management unit.

Tshepang B. Molale is Senior Lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, specializing in communication for development and social change.

Olanrewaju Olugbenga Akinola lectures in the Mass Communication department of the Olabisi Onbanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigera.

Olebogeng Selebi completed her PhD in Communication Management from the University of Pretoria. She was the host of the first Nobel Prize Dialogue event ever to take place on African soil.