Valentina Baú

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Co-Director at Western Sydney University

Communication plays a crucial role in driving social change. Communication for Development (C4D) is a field that highlights the importance of communication in development, concentrating on how to effectively use a diverse range of media and communication channels that enable the inclusion, expression, and exchange of different voices in the develop...

This paper examines the role that community radio can play in a refugee camp, with particular focus on community building and social cohesion among young people. The article introduces the experience of RefFM in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya. Findings from four focus groups with young refugees in Kakuma shed light on both the uses and perceptions of t...

This paper addresses the role that communication and media interventions can play in fostering social cohesion among displaced populations in camp settings through a review of both practical and theoretical notions in this area. The multiple definitions available in the literature on social cohesion do not come to a consensus on what this concept m...

This article offers an exploration of the communicative ecologies of young people in protracted situations of encampment. Findings from research conducted in Kakuma refugee camp (Kenya) and Za’atari refugee camp (Jordan) are introduced with the aim of building a picture of the information and communication structures that exist within young people’...

This research note introduces the experience of using ‘timelines’ as a visual research method during online interviewing. It does so through a series of questions and answers that guide the reader through an exploration, understanding of and reflection on the method. This qualitative approach was used while conducting research on the influence that...

Stories of belonging in this country are incomplete without the stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who have had custodianship of this land for millennia. Each year, thousands of refugees are welcomed to Australia, home to the oldest continuous cultures in the world. Are refugees who settle in Australia aware of this rich and a...

Organisation-centric approaches in development communication and public relations that privilege the organisation can restrict communication to organisational mandates and goals. Organisation-centric approaches can reflect a modernist view of development or communication and have been critiqued for favouring technocratic development rather than ser...

This research incorporated an interface methodology that blended First Nations knowledges and Western research methodologies. This research advocates for a decolonising ethos to inform future institutional and systemic efforts to develop closer ties between First Nations and refugee communities, in order to truly build stronger foundations for belo...

In advocating for the establishment of SDG18—Communication for All, this chapter discusses the importance of media literacy among groups who have experienced conflict, with particular focus on the youth. Drawing on the ‘essential competencies of digital and media literacy’ articulated by Hobbs, a framework is built to discuss the role that communic...

This article analyses the role that Reality TV can play in the lives of young participants, when a programme is designed as a strategic intervention to achieve change. With roots in Communication for Development notions, this study brings together different theoretical fields to illustrate how media can be created with the intent of enhancing young...

Unlike previous studies conducted through content analysis of media reporting on migrants, this article adds to the literature of media coverage on migration through the presentation of interviews carried out with organisations directly involved in influencing and shaping that media content. Most importantly, unlike previous research in this field,...

As a result of its interdisciplinarity, that of peacebuilding and communication is an exceptionally diverse field, which encompasses many stimulating and creative subfields. Differences and similarities between them are grounded in the combination of theoretical frameworks that are adopted, and which become the backbone for both research and practi...

This article presents the reflections of the former activists who started and led the initial years of the ‘anti-capitalist’ struggle of Indymedia, as an alternative media platform in Australia. Through the interview analysis, the challenges experienced by the collective have been clustered into four themes: decentralization of the network; open pu...

The year 2019 marked the 20th anniversary of Indymedia. The last two decades have seen revolutionary moments in the field of alternative media, both from a historical and technological dimension. Indymedia has been one of the key players in this landscape, and reflecting on its experience 20 years later, is useful to try and unpack the factors that...

This entry advances theoretical reflections in the area of digital media access and citizen engagement and participation through digital communications. Specifically, it seeks to provide a framework to investigate the relationship between social development, civic and political participation, and access to digital media in countries where rights su...

A new approach to the use of media and communication in contexts of conflict has been emerging in recent years. Known in the humanitarian field as Communicating with Communities (CwC), it aims to address the short-term complexities and issues that arise in the immediate aftermath of a crisis, and seeks ways to provide a rapid response to emergencie...

With a focus on entertainment education, this article sheds light on the effects of radio drama in addressing conflict over land governance. The discussion is built around the broadcast of Bush Wahala radio series during the recent land acquisition process that has taken place in Sierra Leone. Through the analysis of semi-structured interviews cond...

Even after resettling in a new country, the trauma and resentment caused by the conflict experienced in their homeland are passed on from generation to generation among diaspora communities. One of the factors that perpetuate the conflict in their new reality is the ethnic separation that continues to be upheld and reinforced, from parents to child...

Despite the large number of communication strategies aimed at addressing issues specific to people living in refugee camps, no communication effort has targeted integration between refugees and host communities from a development perspective. As a result, there is a substantial lack of research on how Development Communication can be applied to thi...

This article presents insights on a participatory theatre initiative implemented in Kenya, with the aim of understanding the changes that were initiated towards the re-establishment of peace between communities. The project was carried out in the aftermath of the post-election violence that took place in the country between 2007 and 2008. Amani Peo...

Within a framework of Communication for Development in Peacebuilding, this article sheds light on the use of art forms such as puppetry and photography as communication channels among youth affected by conflict and displacement. The study presented here evaluates UNICEF Art for Development programme, which was carried out with adolescents living in...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce the new qualitative method of “Narratives of Change” to evaluate a project’s impact. This new methodology arises from a combination of the most significant change technique with a narrative analysis approach, and it is suitable for community development interventions. Design/methodology/approach Na...

By unearthing the connections between the literatures on participatory communication and civic engagement with the reality of postconflict peace, this article demonstrates how a communication for development (C4D) approach to engaging citizens in peacebuilding contributes to strengthening the reconstruction process at the end of the violence, while...

From the debated Modernisation paradigm all the way to the participatory and inclusive approaches for social change, development communication research has given rise to a stimulating scholarly discussion that has introduced both theoretical and evidence-based claims, which are contributing constructively to the evolvement of this discipline. By ad...

This article highlights the key areas in which Communication for Development (C4D) can play a role in the aftermath of conflict, with a focus both at the community and at the national level. It provides an overview of the literature that has begun to discuss C4D in the light of peace creation. It identifies research directions that aid to shed ligh...

This article begins with a literature review of Participatory Photography (PP) that highlights how this tool has been mostly implemented for action research, advocacy, and public health purposes. It shows how scholars have only quite recently begun to recognise its ability to generate change among PP participants. This is followed by a description...

This paper draws on the experience of conducting participatory video in the Rift Valley of Kenya after the 2007–2008 post-election crisis, when the country underwent a period of intense ethnic violence. By linking development communication to conflict transformation theory, this article offers a framework that highlights the impact that communicati...

p>The rise of the media in Sierra Leone. The media and the civil conflict. The evolution of the conflict. The Western media perspective of a "barbaric" Africa. Western media coverage of the civil war in Sierra Leone: the British example. The role of NGOs in news reporting. The end of the twentieth century saw an adverse escalation in armed conflic...