IDS Hosts Roundtable on Radio Convergence and Development in Africa

01 March 2012

The Radio Convergence and Development in Africa progamme (RDCA) and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) are hosting a roundtable to discuss ‘Putting Communication for Development Research into Use’, from 2nd – 5th March 2012.

While other forms of media continue to evolve, there is little disagreement on the fact that radio is still the dominant mass-medium in Africa. However, the dramatic increase in mobile phone penetration on the continent is ushering in a significant change in interpersonal communications and potentially a change in the conventional broadcast medium of radio. The penetration and democratization of the means of communication that has accompanied this growth has had a substantial but as yet largely un-researched effect on radio content and radio interplay with audiences, as well as social, economic and political development in Africa.

The RCDA is a research program implemented by Carleton University’s Centre for Media and Transitional Societies with funding from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC). It seeks to examine the impact of convergence between radio and new communication technologies.

The RCDA network is diverse, comprising practitioners implementing communication for development programmes, new academic researchers and established media development organisations and academic teams with strong research portfolios. One of the primary goals of the RDCA is to support the establishment of African researchers, and this roundtable has been put together for new and emerging scholars.

Researchers from across various regions in Sub-Saharan Africa will attend the event and it is hoped that plenty of reflective discussion and networking will take place.

For more information on the RDCA programme visit the IDRC archive.