Role of media in ensuring public participation

Akin Jimoh

[email protected]

Background

Definition of Public Participation

Stages of Participation in education

Why Public Participation in Education

Responsibility of the Education Journalist

Case Study: How one community’s

concerns reached a national audience

The attitudes that parents, communities,

employers and the media have towards

schools, and the support that these groups

can give, can make an enormous difference

to the quality of education children receive.

Where communities take an active role,

children’s access to education, the quality

of teaching and learning, and school

environments can improve significantly - ESSPIN Briefing Note 6

In view of this, open, participatory information

and communication processes lie at the heart

of changing societies and individual behaviour.

But they need to be put at the service of the

community, who want to be informed, to

understand and contribute to the debates

and decisions that affect their lives – at

community, national and international

levels.

Public Participation is a framework of

policies, principles, and techniques

which ensure that citizens and

communities, individuals, groups, and

organizations have the opportunity to

be involved in a meaningful way in

making decisions that will affect them,

or in which they have an interest.

School Based Management Level

Public Policy Formulation Level

Communities have an important role to play in ensuring all children are

educated and for raising teaching and learning standards in schools.

Public participation includes information exchange, public consultation, engagement, shared decisions, and shared jurisdiction.

SBMC enhances effectiveness through decentralization of power

Policy implementation is improved with public consent and commitment

Community Participation yields higher quality decisions

There is a growing demand for public participation

The need for greater openness of decision processes

Mistrust of expert advice

Need to resolve conflicts when one rise

It influences government priorities and processes

The Need to set priorities

Community participation helps to seek consensus

Enhance public knowledge, understanding, and awareness

The need to share information

Community participation establishes/solidifies legitimacy

Participation is fundamental to democracy

Leads to effective allocate of scarce resources

Leads to community ownership

Govt CSO

Provide Linkage

,

Community

MediaMedia

The media owes the public a crucial responsibility and must set agenda to

focus public attention on the Education Sector

Beyond looking at the failures of the

government on education, journalists can

publish success stories that bring into spotlight

the efforts of concerned bodies and citizens

e.g. International agencies, CSOs, Religious

bodies, Foundations, Philanthropists etc

towards advancing education in Nigeria.

To amplify the voices

of citizens and help

them to be involved in

development process

Promote the needs

and demands of

citizens

Perform its role as a watchdog to help demand that government works and deepen democratic values

Play the umpire role, by helping

enlighten/remind citizens of their roles

and government of their responsibilities

Influence government priorities and

processes

Manchar Lake in Sindh province, Pakistan, is one of Asia’s largest freshwater lakes. It is a major source of water in the region which is occupied by Pakistan’s poorest.

The lake supports an estimated half a million people through a variety of economic activities such as fishing.

The recent land drainage project by the government of Pakistan in the early 1990s to improve the drainage of waterlogged agricultural lands in northern Sindh polluted the lake with agricultural chemicals and industrial waste pour into the lake from the Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD).

Between 2005 and 2007 Panos London, Panos South

Asia, Shirkat Gah and the community of Manchar Lake

worked together to tackle the barriers that were

preventing the local community’s views from being

heard.

By sharing their contacts and expertise, and combining

different communication methods including:

1.Theatre

2.Debate

3.Media

Panos’ approach recognise the media as a

sector in its own right, with its own interests

and constraints, rather than purely as a

conduit for information.

Panos therefore enabled two journalists to

spend several days at Manchar Lake,

together with local CSO workers and

community members during a public debate

tagged people’s assembly.

The vivid personal stories that resulted provided both the motivation and the raw material for a variety of media outputs.

1.NGO newsletter2.Documentary television3.Radio features4.Current affairs television5.Other media coverage including five Sindh newspapers and the BBC radio Urdu Service and online Urdu Website.

It brought different actors together generating new relationships and inclusive dialogue and in doing so, helped to bridge the communication gap between ‘the governed’ and ‘the governors’.

Success include:Community ownershipFocus on voicesInteractive theatre: inclusive and accessibleBringing together interest groupsEngaging the local elite

Making direct voices of affected individuals central to the

public debate, enhances the relevance, legitimacy,

inclusiveness and accessibility of that debate

Using a number of communication methods, and producing

different outputs in order to engage a variety of audiences, is

important

Building relationships and mutual understanding between

communities, NGOs and the media significantly increases

awareness and strengthens advocacy campaigns

Local stories can raise national interest if they are conveyed

well

Involving local elites and gaining their support is crucial in

reaching higher-level policymakers

The media are important part of civil

society, reflecting different voices,

competing interests and the clash of

opinions within it. They should do more

to help articulate needs and demands,

shape opinion and attitudes, and

provide a vehicle for political and

cultural expression.