FROM DIFFUSION TO COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION: THE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES OF THE NATIONAL MALARIA CONTROL PROGRAMME (NMCP)
ABSTRACT
This study examines the effectiveness of communication strategies deployed by the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) in fighting malaria in Nigeria. Over the years, these strategies have been more diffusion-based than participatory. Available documents indicate that the rate of success in the fight against malaria as championed by the agency has not been encouraging; leading to investigation of the reasons behind this lackluster performance. Communication was singled out as a major determinant of success for this project and this was investigated in Sokoto and Kano States, where qualitative processes were applied to assess the scope, depth and impact of the strategies employed through data analysis conducted on the documents of the agency and others relevant, in-depth interviews with four officials at state and local government offices of the NMCP and field interviews with 40 beneficiaries of the intervention in the two states. The findings of the study revealed that communication strategies play a key role in planning development interventions, but that these communication strategies need to be very effective to succeed. At the NMCP, it became clear that primarily, the diffusion-based communication strategies employed by the NMCP have not been very successful. This is because they do not engage the beneficiaries of the programme, despite the desire of the beneficiaries to have such engagement. Other secondary findings include the revelation of an apparent lack of capacity in the area of communication by officials and a template of activities that is skewed more towards some aspects of the programme than others. As part of the recommendations of this study, the need for the inclusion of participatory approaches among the regime of strategies employed by the NMCP was canvassed in order to establish the needed dialogue with beneficiaries and add value to the overall performance of the Agency in fighting malaria in Nigeria.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study:
Communicating Development After the second world war, developed countries came to the realization that the backwardness of the third world is a drag on their own development and they decided to initiate interventions in these countries with a view to bringing development to them. Interventions targeted the economic growth of these countries with the success of the developed countries as the model aspiration. Development was thought to be triggered by and was pursued through the diffusion of modern technologies, planned in the national capitals under the guidance and direction of experts. “Often, the people in the villages who are the 'objects' of these plans would first learn that 'development' was on the way when strangers from the city turned-up, frequently unannounced, to survey land or look at project sites” (Yoon, 1996: 37).
Terms of Use: This is an academic paper. Students should NOT copy our materials word to word, as we DO NOT encourage Plagiarism. Only use as a guide in developing your original research work. Thanks.
Disclaimer: All undertaking works, records, and reports posted on this website, eprojectguide.com are the property/copyright of their individual proprietors. They are for research reference/direction purposes and the works are publicly supported. Do not present another person’s work as your own to maintain a strategic distance from counterfeiting its results. Use it as a guide and not duplicate the work in exactly the same words (verbatim). eprojectguide.com is a vault of exploration works simply like academia.edu, researchgate.net, scribd.com, docsity.com, course hero, and numerous different stages where clients transfer works. The paid membership on eprojectguide.com is a method by which the site is kept up to help Open Education. In the event that you see your work posted here, and you need it to be eliminated/credited, it would be ideal if you call us on +2348064699975 or send us a mail along with the web address linked to the work, to eprojectguide@gmail.com. We will answer to and honor each solicitation. Kindly note notification it might take up to 24 – 48 hours to handle your solicitation.