ABSTRACT
The Communication for Development literature has emphasised the dichotomy between participatory communication and top-down, public-relations-oriented approaches, but contributes little in terms of reconciling them. Overcoming this dichotomy is imperative, inasmuch as lack of knowledge about participatory possibilities consistently leads to favoring public relations. This chapter provides lessons from an action research project aimed at strengthening evaluation and communication capacity in development. A case study is provided to illustrate how the logic of an evaluation decision-making framework was applied to communication planning, allowing for the combination of multiple purposes of communication: all legitimate, necessary, and complementary. This hybrid approach to decision-making in both areas – evaluation and communication – helped clarify the potential of participatory strategies, enabling communicators to redefine the purpose and value of their work at project level by linking it meaningfully to evaluation. The repositioning has the potential to generate the conditions for a more inclusive approach to communication, allowing both participation and public relations to co-exist, and leading to synergy rather than competition between them.
