3.2.3 What is the influence of the cultural context? How can media campaign be used to realize the objective of development communication?

Coward feels that it is the educational (defined as indigenous knowledge) and cultural identity of a community that forms the basis of the communication strategy. They are, in fact, the underlying principles that guide our approach to development which varies from case to case.

Ballyn goes on to explain that each culture has its own folklore, sense of importance and ways of teaching and learning, values and perceptions of their status in the community. “While it is not necessary to use the local customs as methodologies, it is very useful to try and learn about such cultural issues and sensitivities in order to find easily comprehensible ways to explain technology or processes” [Ballyn].

Ballyn makes an interesting observation here. He says that every culture as an entertaining and instructional character such as the mythical Islamic Sufi Mullah Nasruddin . He could be named Til Eulenspiegel in Germany or Afanti da Gusha and Nasi Ur Din in different regions of China, but everywhere he goes around routinely puncturing the egos of the pretentious and mocking the bigot to get his message across to one and all. “There is a method in Nasruddin’s madness” [Ibid] and that is what the development communicator needs to unearth.

In many cases, the nature of development procedures are so distorted by bureaucratic regulatory nature and formulaic jargon that fear or displeasure are possibly the most common emotions expressed by the target community. Using local cultural metaphors and humour, and learning which local taboos to avoid and which to exploit can be regarded as useful tools for the development officer. It also helps to be as warm, open, honest and humorous as possible towards the host community.

But Hewitt feels that education and culture does matter but not as much as is sometimes claimed. People tend to get very hung up on cultural differences to the point where they fail to see common ground and common sense. Perhaps this is one of the problems that the Western countries face when communicating their developmental ideas to the developing world.

There are definitely differences between countries, not to mention continents, and the most obvious one being language. For example, in Latin America you cannot reach a large audience unless you work in Spanish or Portuguese, and in Africa you have a much bigger diversity to deal with. To reach a wider user-base, Microsoft has of late come out with an operating system in Swahili along with a handful of other languages.

Smyth emphasises on the level of education because “there is no point introducing written material for people who cannot read” [interview: 2004]. Language is also important, she says, because a pun in one language may make no sense when translated to another language. The same applies to images and symbols, which have different meanings or acceptability in different cultures.

Therefore, to conclude, it helps to learn about local cultural issues — metaphors and humours — and ways of teaching and learning in a particular community, besides mastering their language, in order to establish contact with the target audience. And, it is the responsibility of the media to respond sensitively, sensibly, and knowledgably to the exigencies of the situation. Only then can the communication process be effective.