What to Me is Development Communication
 By Felix Librero, PhD/Professor and UP Scientist I/ U.P. Open University

Introduction
I’d like to share my own take on development communication, if I may, not in a manner usually prescribed by experts and academics but as I have experienced it.  I’m woefully aware that this is not the best way to explain development communication, and it’s entirely possible that my own experiences might actually be a wrong operationalization of development communication.   However, this is how I have practiced it in four decades of my professional life.   In this reflective sharing, you might even be able to see some ways of how not to do development communication based on experiences rather than on assumptions.  I have found this approach an easier way to arrive constructively at my own knowledge of development communication and how I went about practicing it as a profession and calling. 
To establish more clearly where I stand, let me begin by saying that development communication is a way of life to me.  It’s a profession, an attitude,  a mind set,  a philosophy.  It is a belief.  It is a calling.   How I arrived at these conditions is the message of this reflective sharing.
 
One Experience

Years ago I was a broadcaster of DZLB in Los Baños.  Sometime in the early 1970s, as I was preparing for one of my programs I saw an elderly man inspecting very closely the name plates on the doors near the radio station.  I approached him and casually asked how I could help him.  It turned out that he was just coming to the radio station “to consult anyone” as advised by a fellow farmer who had been DZLB listener.
 
I invited the man to my office and we talked.  He was Sangguni Flores, a retired government employee who has spent practically all his retirement money in a vineyard in Calamba.  His grape vines were all infected with fungus and there was no way they would bear fruits given their condition.  I interviewed him live on my program, took note of his problems, then informed him that we would seek assistance from the UP College of Agriculture.  I also asked him to continue listening to my program because I would be announcing now and then whatever information would be helpful to him.
 
When Mang Sangguni left, I immediately wrote a letter to the Dean of the College of
Agriculture requesting to form a team that would help Mang Sangguni.  The request was approved immediately, so I formed a team comprised of a plant pathologist, entomologist, soils expert, a horticulturist, and myself acting as team leader (pro bono, of course).  The following week we visited Mang Sangguni’s vineyard, did some ocular inspection and diagnosed his vines.  Mang Sangguni did all he was asked to do.  After about three months, Mang Sangguni came back to the radio station to thank our team and to inform us that his grape vines were starting to bloom.
 
Where’s Development Communication Here?
 
Was I doing development communication work?  May be, may be not.  From my angle of view, I was, indeed, doing top rate development communication work.  As a development communication practitioner, researcher, and academic, I’ve always looked at development communication as five Es.   Hence, development communication is an excellent, effective, efficient, entrepreneurial engagement.  What do I mean by these?
 
Excellence.  To me, excellence means that when we do development communication (which, to me, is really the endgame of helping others solve a problem) we must do it the best way possible.  We may not be able to do things perfectly all the time but it’s enough that we try to do things the best possible way given whatever resource may be available.  There’s a big difference between doing things the best possible way and doing things perfectly.
 
Sometimes when we insist doing things perfectly, we end up unable to do anything at all.  I recall a friend of mine in academe who has always wanted things to be perfect.  For instance, in the matter of publishing technical articles this friend of mine would never feel comfortable publishing an article if he did not think it was already perfect.  Well, I am sorry to say that in reality one doesn’t publish a perfect article.  But if, in fact, you’re waiting for that article to publish, my friend, I’m sorry to say it’s not coming by any long stretch of the imagination.
 
Let me clarify that the purpose of publishing a technical paper based on one’s work, especially if it deals with a new idea, is to invite other experts to comment and improve upon it.  I’ve always believed that one publishes new things such as a new method of doing research to invite other researchers to test and comment on such new methodology in order that it be improved.  This has always been the fundamental function of publishing a technical article.  This is called “work in progress.”
 
Unfortunately many Filipino researchers don’t like to publish possibly because they’re concerned about possible criticisms.  Of course, you’ll always get criticisms because it’s always easier to criticize.  But when you criticize the work of others you must be prepared to offer a better way of doing things.  If you’re unable to do so, simply keep silent.  If you don’t want to critique others’ work even if you do have a better idea, then just proceed and write it up and get it published so that more would benefit from it.  It might even lead to the resolution of a scientific anomaly.
 
My point about excellence is that we need not be perfect in all that we have to do.  Let’s just do our tasks the best way possible.
 
If you’re tasked to edit a publication, how much effort do you put into the task?  Do you go out of your way to clarify the point of view being advanced by the author or do you simply correct the grammar?  Have you done your best to make the publication worth reading not only because of the new information but also because of great writing?  Have you helped in making the publication offer new information or knowledge in more creative ways?  There are a whole lot of questions you need to answer, and there are a whole lot of other ways of doing an excellent job.  Have you done these?  Are you satisfied with your output?  Are you willing to attach your name to what you have done?  If you are, good.  If you are not, then you’ve not done your best.
 
Your work may not be perfect, but when other people compliment you for a job well done it means they’ve taken notice that you’ve done your best.  That is excellence enough for me.
 
Effectiveness.  Effectiveness is a measure of whether or not you’ve achieved what you set out to achieve.  When you practice development communication, what do you want to achieve?  What are your objectives?  Whatever it is you set out to do, make sure you achieve it exactly as intended.
 
“Puede na ito” isn’t good enough.  It must be “eto talaga!”  In practice, whenever you undertake to do something, let’s say write an article, take a picture, moderate a forum, write a script for a radio program, plan a communication campaign, or edit a publication, always start with a set of objectives.  What do you want to achieve by doing what you intend to do?  When you’ve set your objectives you’d be able to determine how to do it right and easily achieve your objectives.
 
This is effectiveness.  This is being able to do exactly as you planned and being able to get the results you expected.  This is good development communication practice.
 
Efficiency.  Being able to achieve your objective the quickest and the least costly way possible is efficiency.  Yes, many times we’re able to achieve our objectives but at what cost?  There are those who even complain that they’re unable to do what they’re expected to do because there’s not enough resources at their disposal.  Sometimes this is true, but many times this is only a cop out for one’s inability to deliver.
 
The trick, however, is that when you design and implement a communication action you must, from the beginning, insure that you would achieve your objectives with the least amount of resources at the quickest time possible.  If you’re unable to do this, then you don’t have an appreciation of your abilities, creativity, and skills as development communicator. 
 
Development communication is being able to do something effectively and creatively with the least amount of effort and resources.  It’s just like writing.  If you can be clearly understood in one word, don’t use a phrase; if with a phrase, don’t use a sentence; if just a sentence, don’t use a paragraph, and so forth.  Unfortunately, many somehow manage to use so many words to say so little (probably like I’m doing now).
 
Efficiency is a process that has no limit in terms of application, whether we deal with physical or mental activities.  Let’s use our resources as efficiently as we possibly can.
 
Entrepreneurship.  The concept of entrepreneurship brings to mind a certain orientation that is important to communication, which is systems orientation, creativity, and risk taking.
 
We’re concerned with systems orientation because all communication activities are bound by interacting phenomena, particularly in the natural setting.  Information sources, the nature of information or messages, the sources of messages, the means by which these messages flow, and the manner in which these messages are  influenced by their flow and even interpreted are all influenced by how systems operate.  In other words, in the field of communication, all the elements and situations influence one another.
 
Creativity is perhaps at the core of any communication activity.  How you communicate is influenced by how creative you can be in conceptualizing, designing, and implementing a communication action.  How do you use interactive mechanisms?  How do you use your voice?  How do you employ gadgetry?  How do you create situations that would likely influence decision making among people?  How do you treat your message so that it be received positively?  What media are you going to employ?  Under what conditions would you employ what method and what medium?  There are a hundred basic questions you might deal with when you look into a creative communication environment.  In many communication situations, sometimes you need to create an imagined environment or condition in order that you get your message across most effectively.
 
Engagement.  This refers to participation and commitment.  Development communication has always highlighted the significance of active participation among stakeholders of the communication situation.  Active participation, it has been observed, is a process whereby participants demonstrate in behavioral terms their commitment to what they have set out to do.
 
For the most part, it’s not enough to simply be able to provide information.  Frequently, it is more important to follow through.  And following through can spell the difference between a successful and unsuccessful development communication work.  As the Englishmen would say, walk the talk.