‘Mapping the C4D Landscape’: Key findings from the 2016/17 C4D Network Mapping Study

In the second of the Research Uptake Roundtable webinars hosted by Research to Action the Communication for Development (C4D) Network will present their mapping of the C4D landscape across the world.

C4D is, as many people acknowledged during the mapping, a burgeoning field of development practice, and still in some quarters misunderstood and under-represented. But it is also thriving, with an energy in-country that came through in the mapping process very clearly.

The mapping study is the first of what the C4D Network hopes will be an annual ‘temperature-taking’ about C4D around the world – not just from the ivory towers of Europe or North America – but from as many countries as possible where C4D practitioners and enthusiasts are truly testing the theories, adapting the approaches, amending the methods, and experimenting with channels and platforms in ways that are, as yet, mainly undocumented. The C4D network wants to capture and document the living and breathing C4D sector in Network members’ own words each year, to collectively see where the sector is and how it can improve what is done for greater development and human rights impact.

The 2016/17 C4D Network Mapping Study is an overview of the ‘C4D Where You Are’ mapping conducted by Network members around the world. The findings are the result of various Network Country Chapter Meet-Ups between September 2016 and January 2017, and responses to a country-specific online survey from nearly 50 countries.

The Study presents a country-level snapshot of ‘Communication for Development’ around the world, from the perspective of Network members who are working in C4D or teaching, studying, supporting, and on occasion commissioning it.

Due to the free-ranging nature of the consultative discussions and individual input via the online surveys, the C4D Mapping project gathered a great deal of both varied and specific information. In many cases people’s specific context drives perceptions and experience about their engagement with communication for development. On the other hand, there are also some clear overarching similarities and patterns in what people have said in response to the core questions posed.

These patterns are captured in the key findings which will be explored during the webinar.

Join the panel on 27 July at 2pm BST and sign up for FREE using GoToWebinar. Facilitators and guest speakers for the Roundtable will include:

• Nyasha Musandu – Facilitator (Research to Action’s Learning Coordinator)
• Tatiana Joiro Rodriguez – Panellist (C4D Network Consultant)
• Angelo Matinada– Panellist (C4D Network Manager)
• Cecilia Agrinya-Owan– Panellist (C4D Network Member)

Read the C4D Country Mapping Study 2016/2017 online ahead of the webinar, to find out more about the 50+ countries mapped. Join the conversation online and submit your questions early using the hashtag #R2ARoundtable on Twitter.