Communication for Development student Vanessa Vertiz was interviewed for the Malmö University’s web (in English) after the fine evaluation of the ComDev programme.
We are of course thankful for the great students that help us to have reached the good results so far.
Greetings, the ComDev Staff. ‘
Link to article with interview:
http://www.mah.se/english/News/News-2012/Communication-for-Development-graded-highest-in-national-evaluation-of-higher-education/

On May 8, from 15:00-17:00 we will be using this portal to broadcast a guest lecture from Mark Mullen titled “The US and Europe in Georgia: The Differences in How They Do Development.”
– And what that means for you as you try to get a job.

Mark Mullen is currently working in Georgia, and has long experience from working in different countries: East Africa working on drought relief, followed by democracy related work for the National Democratic Institute (NDI, www.ndi.org), two years in Palestine, a year in Albania then in 1997 as the head of NDI in Georgia until the Rose Revolution. Mark started the national chapter of Transparency International in Georgia (www.transparency.ge) and is involved in a number of non-profit and for profit and social enterprise in Georgia.

There are many interesting connections between Comdev and Caucasus Studies and something that we plan to explore more through these types of events in the future.

If you would like to join the lecture in person you are welcome on May 8, 15-17,
Citadellsvägen 7 (room 104).

To learn more about the Caucasus Studies at Malmö University please see the program website.

As most ComDev students are well aware, the master programme has during the last year undergone thorough evaluation by the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education (HSV), along with all other educations in the area of Media and Communication at both bachelor and master levels. The focus on this evaluation was the correspondence between learning goals and learning outcomes in the examinations in general and the final Degree Work in particular. Ylva Ekström was assigned to write our so-called self-evaluation and put a lot of effort into this important quality work – and today we received the reward. ComDev is the only programme of twenty-six in the area of Media and Communication in Sweden that has received the highest mark.
We are immensely proud and happy to make this announcement to all current and prospective ComDev students at Malmö University. After twelve years of pioneering development we stand stronger than ever, with increasing numbers of applicants to the programme, and we are eager to continue and expand our work, in collaboration with our regional and international partners, to establish a centre of excellence in Communication for Social Change and Development at Malmö University.

Oscar Hemer (programme coordinator) and the ComDev staff

Youth in Transition is the name of a new collaboration blog project between the School of Arts and Communication (K3) at Malmö University and the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The purpose of the blog, which was launched in February 2012, is to bring together students and teachers from both universities in order to engage in peer reviewing and presenting student research collaborations in the media and arts field. The students involved in the collaboration come from courses part of the master program in Communication for Development, as well as courses part of the bachelor level program in Media and Communication Studies at Malmö University, and Fine and Performing Art, Dar es Salaam.

Currently the students work on four sub-topics within the major theme “Youth in Transition”:
- From the Village to the City – young peoples travel into a new urban environment, negotiating rural/suburban and urban lives and cultures.
- Tales of My Roots and Routes– an exploration of the notion of roots, routes and ‘tribe’. The latter can be understood in a Tanzanian sense, where the notion of tribe is well-known, and also debated and contested. In this perspective/avenue of work you may also investigate other meanings, i.e. senses of belonging and heritage.  This avenue give you an opportunity to focus on different layers of identity, to sub-culture, gangs, societies, social movements, community and narration of history, collective memory and the present. One belonging relates to others.
- Genderbender – Masculinity and Femininity in the city, at university, at home, among my peers. How to be a girl, boy, a person today in the communities we live.
- Jamming in the City – Traffic jams, cultural jams, drum jam, jammed houses, jammed futures? The notion of ‘cultural jamming’ taken in a variety of directions, mixture, re-cycling, appropriation (détournement?) of cultural influences, from food to architecture

The collaboration features also teachers exchange, and as part of that, Ylva Ekström from K3 (on the upper photo in the middle), Malmö University was in Tanzania for several weeks in March 2012 to teach, facilitate and guide students in Dar es Salaam working mainly around radio productions. There she worked with, among others, Charles Mustapha Kayoka (on photo to the left) who is currently at Malmö University and facilitating group work as well as teaching there. Project coordinator at Malmö University is Anders Høg Hansen, while in Dar es Salaam it is Herbert Makoye.

To learn more or join the blog you can visit its official website here.
All are welcome to comment and join the discussion!

Comdev gradute Christine Nesbitt has been selected to present her work at an upcoming conference in Durban, South Africa. Much of her concept came from the work she did while writing her Master thesis to complete the Comdev program. The IAMCR 2012 conference  is in the middle of July this year. You can read more about her work in the following abstract.

Documentary Photography as a Tool of Social Change: Exploring the middle ground:

Within a constructivist view, social realities are continually constructed and re-constructed through social practices and communication. Many scholars place the visual at the forefront of cultural construction of social life. Within this framework the paper explores how different positionings as an author, and different visual representations of people living and dying with HIV/AIDS influences meaning-making, and what that means for documentary photography as a tool of social change. Documentary photography for social change is a term that can be used to cross the divides between the disciplines that practice development communication in some way or form, allowing practitioners to find a shared space to work towards their outcomes.

My methodological tool box uses semiotics and discourse analysis, centred on how meaning is constructed and considers the politics of representation. My research design draws primarily on Gillian Rose’s model of researching visual methods; an overarching methodological framework to analyse visual culture, visualities and visual objects. The texts are drawn from a body of work focusing on HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa produced by influential South African photographer Gideon Mendel.

Through my analysis of the texts, it can be seen that reflexivity at the site of production and the use of contextual storytelling tools can lead to alternate representations working to counter the more stereotypical representation of AIDS. My analysis shows that through the reflexive, careful and considered practice of documentary photography it is possible to produce meanings creating social change at a discursive level. Furthermore, when documentary photography includes aspects of participation and self-representation, a space between the polarities of traditional photojournalism and participatory photography is opened up. This space broadens the reach of practice for documentary photographers working for social change as well as possibilities of further research in this little explored middle ground.”
—-
And here is a link to my ComDev thesis from which the paper is drawn:
http://dspace.mah.se/handle/2043/12356

Malmö University is a member of SPIDER (The Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions) and we have the privilege to offer travel grants to Master level students for doing field work (Degree Project) in developing countries. You can apply for a grant from 15.000 to 25.000 SEK (ca 1.600 to 2.700 €). The project must concern ”New Media and ICT for Development” and/or have an ICT4D component, and the field work must be carried out in what SPIDER defines as a developing country (which is NOT your home country). See the list of prioritized countries at the SPIDER website – http://www.spidercenter.org/travel-grants – but note that the application is to be made to Malmö University, and the decision is taken locally. All Malmö University students at Master level – regardless of citizenship or residence – are eligible for the grants.
To apply for a grant, you must submit a Project PM that describes the outlines of your intended field work and a preliminary budget. Applications can be sent by e-mail or (preferably) ordinary mail to
Oscar Hemer
Malmö University
School of Arts and Comunication (K3)
S-205 06 Malmö
Sweden
oscar.hemer@mah.se
Deadline for application: 15 May

Comdev professor  Oscar Hemer is one of the contributors to the anthology Africa Inside Out – Stories, Tales and Testimonies (UKZN Press), which was launched last week at the Time of the Writer Festival in Durban. The book, edited by South African writer and critic Michael Chapman, is the result of a call sent out to participants of previous Time of the Writer festivals. The call asked for “stories, tales and testimonies” about Africa. According to the editor, , the 18 stories in the volume contain “dislocations and affirmations” about Africa, which generate a kind of “restless energy”. He did not want to create the sense of a “Mbeki-esque African Renaissance, but to rather turn to the living challenges of ‘Africa Inside Out’.” The book includes contributions by the following authors: Doreen Baingana, Lauren Beukes, Elana Bregin, Marie Darrieussecq, Max du Preez, Ronnie Govender, Oscar Hemer, Deon Meyer, Kirsten Miller, Kagiso Lesego Molope, Kobus Moolman, Andile Mngxitama, Sally-Ann Murray, Patrice Nganang, Kole Omotoso, Zachariah Rapola, Albie Sachs, Angelina Sithebe and Chika Unigwe.

Oscar’s own book Fiction and Truth in Transition : Writing the present past in South Africa and Argentina (Lit Verlag), based on his dissertation last year, has also just come off the presses. It will be launched at a seminar at K3 (Medea) on 11 April, 10-12. The book will be available for sale at a 50 % discount, that is 25 € or 225 SEK.

The program for the March 29th seminar is now finalized and up on the Comdev portal. All students are welcomed to join online and all speakers will be broadcast here on the portal. It is a collaboration between the MA in Communication for Development, Malmö University and the MA in Media and Development, Westminster University

Former Comdev student Rasna Warah has been working with a documentary project focused on the relieve efforts in Somalia. See the program Tuesday, March 20th, at 20:30 Swedish time on SVT 2 or go to SVT 2 for a schedule of when the program will be re-played, it might even be possible to watch it on demand.
The project is titled ”Vem bryr sig om Somalia?” or “Who cares about Somalia?” The description (translated from  Swedish) depicts it as a look at emergency relief to the starving Somalia people, that both helps and hurts a country that never seems to get away from its own tragedy. Claes JB  Löfgren traveled to Somalia for six months and charted the international emergency relief that certainly relieves acute starvation, but also feeds corruption, crime and a bloody civil war. It is a film about the hunger and debt, where the question is whether the help is really needed – and who really benefits from the help and that help?

UNICEF announces two positions for specialists in the field of Communication for Development with short application deadline.

The first position is with a duty station in New York and the work will consist in providing assistance to regional and a country offices of UNICEF in order to develop communication strategies in the field of routine immunisation, ensuring that corresponding plans of action and programme activities are in place to support country programmes. The deadline to apply is 22 March 2012. Read more information.

The second position is with a duty station in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo and  is oriented towards working on communication, social mobilization and advocacy in the polio eradication initiative for UNICEF. Deadline to apply is 2 April 2012. Read more information.