International and Development Communication
Summary
International and Development Communication examines how information exchange across borders and cultures shapes social change and sustainable development. Rooted in discourse on advocacy, participatory communication and social marketing, the field explores both traditional platforms—such as community radio, face-to-face dialogue and indigenous storytelling—and digital technologies, including mobile applications, social media networks and online knowledge-sharing. Emphasis is placed on bottom-up approaches that respect local knowledge systems, foster civic engagement and empower marginalised groups. Integrating perspectives from sociology, political science and development studies, it contributes to global agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals by addressing health promotion, educational access, gender equality and environmental stewardship. Key topics include the design of inclusive health risk communication in crisis settings, the hybridisation of indigenous media with new technologies for rural empowerment, and critical pedagogies aimed at decolonising the field. By bridging theory and practice, International and Development Communication not only analyses power relations in media systems but also develops concrete strategies for enabling collective action and long-term behavioural change in diverse contexts.
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International and Development Communication publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in international and development communication across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Participatory Communication: An approach in which stakeholders actively shape media content and strategies to reflect their needs and perspectives.
Indigenous Communication Systems: Traditional channels—such as oral storytelling, drumming and town-crier announcements—rooted in local cultures and used for community information exchange.
Community Radio: A locally managed broadcasting service that fosters two-way dialogue, civic engagement and social mobilisation at the grassroots level.
Decolonial Pedagogy: A critical educational framework aimed at challenging dominant knowledge systems and privileging diverse, often marginalised, epistemologies for social change.
References
- Unlearning Communication for Social Change—A Pedagogical Proposition. Social Sciences (2024).
- Community radio as a platform for development communication in Ghana. Cogent Social Sciences (2023).
- The Role of Indigenous Communication Systems for Rural Development in the Tolon District of Ghana. Research in Globalization (2023).
- Key Concepts, Disciplines, and Fields in Communication for Development and Social Change.
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