The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that is has taken place. George Bernard Shaw
The main job of scientists is to do research; starting from observing situations, asking questions, conducting research, analyzing data, making conclusions, publishing results, and suggesting further research, and the cycle starts again, and again. The desirable outlets for the results of scientific research are peer-reviewed journals as they are deemed to be the most credible source, for fellow scientists. The scientists also disseminate their results at conferences, which are also for their fellow scientists.
Peer-reviewed scientific articles are good for scientists, but they are too difficult to be digested by developers, policy makers, and the general public. However, for scientific findings to be used, the above-mentioned groups of people need to understand them enough to use them. This is especially true for development research. How can this be done? Here comes the communicator.
Translating the research findings to be in understandable forms for audiences is only the first step of communicating them as communication has to go beyond this to persuade the audiences to really believe it the results and to train some audiences to really adopt the research results. This is especially so for development research.
Workshop participants from AVRDC, Bioversity International, CIAT, ICRAF, ILRI, and IWMI develop strategies to facilitate the adoption of research outputs.
Humidtropics is one of three system CGIAR Research Programs among 15, led by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Its ultimate goal is for smallholders to have “better livelihood in a sustainable environmentâ€. Involving 15 Research Programs is challenging enough in term of executing the research program, communicating within and among the involved CGIAR Centers is more challenging, and communicating research funding to non-CGAIR partners and the general public may be the most challenging.
Valérie Poiré, Communications Officer of Humidtropics, provides her expertise on communication for communication officers and scientists of the CGIAR Centers and non-CGIAR Centers involved with Humidtropics at the Strategic Communication Planning Workshop in Hanoi on January 26 and 27, 2015. The participants, including online ones, are from AVRDC, Bioversity International, CIAT, ICRAF, ILRI, and IWMI.
We started by learning that it is more fashionable, as suggested by an American communicator, now to do two-way (rather than one-way) communication. It should start with listening, and then communicating. I think that it is the same analogy as doing bottom-up rather than top-down approach to research. Before communicating research outputs, it is needed to know how they are linked to Intermediate Development Outcomes, and Strategic Objectives, and who are the first users of the outputs. Once identified, the next step is to assess whether they only need to be informed (of the outputs), persuaded (on how good the outputs are), and trained (on how to use/adapt the outputs for their situations). Once these are assessed, the next step is to determine how much changes there need to be based on their current levels of knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Communication objectives and strategies are then developed. Finally, there are many available tools to accomplish these, ranging from traditional face-to-face meeting to DVDs and videos.
Vietnamese group dinner in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The participants then brainstormed and developed communication plans to facilitate the adoption of research findings in the Central Mekong Flagship of Humidtropics. It is intriguing that even the name of the Program, Humidtropics, Program researchers have written it in so many ways, and they are very often wrong! Branding is very important.
Part of the workshop was dedicated to raising Humidtropics’ profile with various audiences. At the end the participants agreed that the top three priority communication products to be produced are two versions (2- and 4-paged) of the Program brochures targeted at different audiences, and videos containing key messages about the Program that are about three minutes long, aimed at the farmers involved in the Program’s research activities.
Blog by Prasit Wangpakapattanawong, Country Coordinator, ICRAF-Thailand, edited by Valérie Poiré, Communication Officer, Humidtropics. Photos by Julie Mateo/ILRI and Valérie Poiré/Humidtropics.