Seminar: Media, Empowerment and Development

Time: Monday 7th June from 09.00 to 15.30 hours

Venue: MS ActionAid Danmark, Lokale A – Auditorium, Fælledvej 12, 2200 Kbn N

Registration is necessary. Please register online on our website: http://mediea.ruc.dk

A Danida-supported research project ‘People Speaking Back? Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa (MEDIeA)’ was launched in Dar es Salaam in December 2009.

Time: Monday 7th June from 09.00 to 15.30 hours

Venue: MS ActionAid Danmark, Lokale A – Auditorium, Fælledvej 12, 2200 Kbn N

Registration is necessary. Please register online on our website: http://mediea.ruc.dk

A Danida-supported research project ‘People Speaking Back? Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa (MEDIeA)’ was launched in Dar es Salaam in December 2009.

The project, running from 2009 to 2013, comprises of a team of 6 researchers (see http://mediea.ruc.dk). It explores how civil society-driven media plat-forms in Kenya and Tanzania enhance – or not – social processes whereby youth in the region can engage in public debate and participatory governance.

With this seminar, two objectives are pursued:

1) To launch the MEDIeA research programme, its sub-projects and its key development objectives, to a relevant Danish constituency of researchers and practitioners working with similar issues.

2) To share experiences and discuss the methodological challenges of exploring information and communication needs of citizens. How do we in practice research such needs, and how can relevant stakeholders – UN, civil society and academia – make use of the insights generated?

We will draw on three international experiences in exploring this question.

Firstly, the director of UNDP’s Governance Centre in Oslo will present UNDP’s experiences with ‘communication for empowerment’ as a working methodology to inform policy development.

Secondly, the British anthropologist Jo Ann Tacchi, based in Brisbane Australia, will introduce the anthropological method ‘EAR’ (Ethnographic Action Research) which she has developed and applied in a series of Asian countries.

Thirdly Jesper Lauridsen, former country officer to MS in Kenya, now head of ActionAid’s global governance program, will speak about how they explore the issue of information and communication needs of citizens from a governance perspective.

PROGRAMME

09.00
Welcome and Introduction to the Programme

09.15
‘People Speaking Back? Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa’. Introducing the Research Program by Thomas Tufte, RUC

10.00
’Communication for Empowerment’ by Bjørn Førde, director, Oslo Governance Centre

10.45
Coffee

11.00
‘Ethnographic Action Research’ (EAR) by Jo Ann Tacchi, Associate Professor, University of Queensland

11.45
‘Enhancing citizens’ information and communication rights’ by Jesper Lauridsen: MS/ActionAid: Global Governance Program

12.15
Lunch

13.15
Theory and practice – is there resonance or dissonance?
Workshop activity: Connecting MEDIeA’s research agenda vis-à-vis the different stakeholders way of working with media, empowerment and democracy.

14.15
Coffee

14.30-15.30
Discussing workshop outcome & Panel debate on seminar issues

Yderligere oplysninger hos
Nikita Junagade, projektmedarbejder
Media, Empowerment & Democracy in East Africa (MEDIeA)
and Glocal Network on Media and Development (Glocal NOMAD)

Roskilde Universitetscenter Institut for kommunikation, virksomhed og informationsteknologier Universitetsvej 1, bygn. 44.3 Postboks 260, 4000 Roskilde, e-mail: [email protected]