Developing Entrepreneurial Ability in

Participatory Communication

Entrepreneurship is the process of planning, organizing, managing and assuming the risks of an enterprise. An entrepreneur is a person who organizes, manages and assumes risks of a business or enterprise. Entrepreneurs, psychologists, and academic believe that certain traits are important for entrepreneurial success. These are as follows :

Traits for entrepreneurial success

i) Goal-setting

ii) Perseverance

iii) Business knowledge

iv) Dealing with failure

v) Self-determination

vi) Moderate risk-taking

vii) Persistent problem solving

viii) Initiative

ix) Drive and energy level

x) Willingness to consult experts

Participatory communication

Participatory communication is a planned activity, based on the one hand on participatory process, and on the other on media and interpersonal communication, which facilitates a dialogue among different stakeholders, around a common development problem or goal, with one objective of developing and implementing a set of activities to contribute to its solution, or its realization and which supports and accompanies this initiative.

Stakeholders of participatory communication

Stakeholders are the persons/ organisations who have stake (interest) in the programme. They could be active community groups, local and regional authorities, NGOs, Department of Agriculture, or other institutions working at community level, policy makers etc.

Aim

i) To inform and persuade people.

ii) To change their attitude.

iii) To facilitate exchange between different stakeholders.

iv) To facilitate common development initiative to experiment with possible solutions.

v) To identify the support needed in terms of partnership, knowledge and material.

Application methodology

Participatory communication offers a new way of doing research and development projects. Its methodology can be understood along three sets of events.

1st set of events

It involves approaching local community by;

i) establishing contact with local community,

ii) understanding the local setting.

2nd set of events

It involves the stakeholders in planning a development programme or initiative;

i) to identify a given development problem or goal,

ii) to discover its many dimensions and potential solutions,

iii) to decide on a set of actions they want to experiment with or implement,

iv) to identify the necessary conditions in terms of knowledge, partnership and material conditions.

3rd set of events

It consists of developing a communication strategy, which involves;

i) preparing and implementing a communication plan to support the set of actions identified by the

stakeholders,

ii) facilitating the building of partnership,

iii) facilitating the acquisition of knowledge necessary to implement these activities,

iv) planning the sharing and utilization of results.

How to promote community participation

The good indicator of participation is when people take responsibility for carrying out a development initiative. This means that people not only take part in different activities, but also in the decision-making process and planning of the development initiative.

The success of researcher or development practitioner lies in their ability to facilitate the process of community participation. They have to perform several functions indicated as below :

i) Facilitate dialogue and the exchange of ideas among different groups and specific individuals. This presupposes a sound understanding of the local setting.

ii) Encourage thinking about local development problems and possible solutions or about a common goal to achieve the desired results. This presupposes understanding of the subject or enlisting people who have such an understanding.

iii) Support the identification and realization of a concrete set of actions for experimenting or implementing the solutions identified or for achieving an identified development goal. This presupposes managerial and other skills on the part of the researcher or development practitioner.

iv) Support efforts at awareness building, motivation, learning and implementing the development action. This presupposes better communication strategy to be used.

Skill required by entrepreneur or development practitioner

i) Developing a two-way communication process : The researcher or development practitioner

should be able to bring people to express their points of view and listen to others, and to build consensus around a course of action.

ii) Planning and developing a communication strategy : On the basis of two-way communication process they should plan and implement a communication strategy.

iii) Facilitating learning : The goal of research or development action involves acquiring knowledge and developing skills or know-how that will allow participants to implement a development initiative.

iv) Moderating discussions : As a communication facilitator, one is also a moderator. One must listen to various view points expressed, create opportunities for interchange, encourage participants to state their view, resolve conflicts and be judicious in the use of time available, while keeping the discussion on track.

v) Formulating and shaping information : Another function consists of making information accessible, in a form consistent with characteristics of the participants in the communication process.

vi) Encouraging and organizing women participation : Finally, it is important that women should be encouraged to participate in the development process.