What is community-centred media?
The most effective media messages to encourage and empower communities for positive change arise when the community itself designs and creates their own messages that are relevant to their situation.
Community-centred media is therefore characterised by local people, using local media to produce messages about local community issues.
Who we work with
We are motivated by community members who seek to become agents of learning and not objects of learning because they have been given the opportunity to actively participate in the design and delivery of media content (Communication for Development).
We tend to work with disadvantaged groups under-served by government or other agencies. We give priority to enable vulnerable and marginalised groups.
We also work with those attempting to reach communities. For example: organisations, government departments, NGOs, radio broadcast workers, and communication-for-development practitioners.
Our goal is to bridge the gap between the practitioners and the community: we help practitioners to understand how to use media to reach the community with their messages, and we help the community to design and produce those messages with local meaning and impact.
What we deliver
Consulting, training and resources for community-centred media activities that promote health, build peace, empower disadvantaged communities and respond to natural disasters.
How we deliver
Nine complementary activities drive the design of HCR's workshops and communication strategies:
Promote the development of messages as a collaborative effort between local service providers and the communities they serve
Promote community involvement, participation and ownership in message-making
Promote the integration of communication components with on the ground activities for transformation
Facilitate confidence-building through the integration of community decision-making and problem solving processes in communication strategies
Recognize that oral-centred communication is consistent with the oral traditions of Indigenous communities and is, therefore, a significant cultural and social resource for facilitating decision-making processes that lead to change
Strengthen cultural security with culturally appropriate methods to develop communication content
Promote learning through the safety of culturally appropriate learning styles
Deliver workshops that are product-oriented: everything produced is ready for use
Make a practical difference in people’s lives