Primarily, the focus of the course will be both on theory and practice. Not only the students would learn the theories around media and communication associated with development, but also, they would be taught the skills and tools related to the topic.

In our MA Development programme, as our students learn the theories and debates within the field of sociology, ecology, history of development from many vantage points, it is also imperative that they understand how to communicate development debates and policies to people and other relevant actors. As social media and multiple digital communication platforms has changed the media landscape, this course will also critically analyse their role in shaping the development discourse today. Therefore, this course will concentrate not only on ideas and concepts but also how students can learn the skills and mediums to convey them.

With new and unseen challenges in our everyday lives, this course allows students to comprehend the limits and possibilities of advocacy communication projects, the role of local actors, non-profit sectors etc. As future development practitioners and fieldworkers, students will acquire knowledge on effective communication strategies to gather data and engage in public campaigns. This course will help them to have a better understanding on how to identify and target a select audience, use the apt medium and language to communicate development projects.

By undertaking this elective course, students will engage in learning and applying different kinds of development communication strategies which happen both in traditional media as well as in new media. It will not only expose them to the changing mediascape in the digital age, but also enable them to situate themselves to use new tools and medium to share stories. In doing so, they will also learn on the representation of marginalised groups and the ethical and political questions linked to the subject. In this course, they will begin by understanding historical contexts and theories of development communication and end by discussing contentious issues of our times like representation of marginalised groups, fake news etc.