Dear all,

The spring application window for ComDev’s programs and courses is now open from 15 March – 15 April 2019 and we are once again looking forward to receiving your application.

Our 1-year flagship online blended learning MA program

You will find all the details on the 1-year MA page.

Based on the strong competition for spaces and experiences from previous admission rounds it will be difficult to get admitted to the program without submitting your application letter!

The MA program is a 50% full-time course taught in our online blended learning Glocal Classroom that we have pioneered, improved and enhanced for almost 20 years!
ComDev program coordinator Tobias Denskus introduced our Glocal Classroom in the context of Malmö University’s internationalisation efforts.

You can also read and listen to what graduates from the course have said about ComDev. We just uploaded three more profiles in connection with the ComDev experiences in the United Nations system, a portrait of one of our pioneering graduates from 2002 & a brand new short video:

The 2-year MA course package to study 60 more ComDev credits

For those of you who already completed 60 ComDev credits, the 2-year MA is now an easy-to-apply-to course package and you will find all the details on the 2-year MA page.

Advances in ComDev free-standing  15 credit course

And finally, our Advances in Communication for Development: Social Action, Planning and Evaluation course will be available again in the autumn. The course is part of the 2-year MA, but it can also be taken independently as part of your on-going professional development or a great way to get to know the ComDev learning environment better!

Please note that all applications have to be made through Sweden’s central university admissions website and that the ComDev team will only evaluate the letters of intent and not other parts of your application. University admission should always be your first point of contact regarding application matters, including formal qualifications or language requirements.

If you are a British citizen and wonder about the implications of a possible ‘Brexit’ the short (and legally not binding) answer is: It’s complicated…You are most welcome to apply, we appreciate that British students have always been an integral part of the ComDev community and we sincerely hope that things get sorted out and you will be able to study without paying fees in the foreseeable future!

Our colleagues at Malmö University admissions (admissions(at)mau.se) and our course administrator Josefin Waldenström can be contacted for technical questions regarding your application as well – and you can also get in touch with the ComDev team at comdev(at)mau.se – just allow a few days for replying individually during this busy period of the semester.

We are looking forward to your applications and welcoming you to Malmö in September 2019!

Tobias Denskus & the ComDev team

Dear all,

We just enjoyed our first seminar in Malmö as more than 120 students across all our courses commenced their studies with us!

The autumn application window for ComDev’s MA program is open from 15 September – 15 October and we are once again looking forward to receiving your application.

Our 1-year flagship online blended learning MA program

You will find all the details on the 1-year MA page.

Based on the strong competition for spaces you should submit the application letter to strengthen your application!

The MA program is a 50% full-time course taught in our online blended learning Glocal Classroom that we have pioneered, improved and enhanced for more than 15 years! ComDev program coordinator Tobias Denskus recently introduced our Glocal Classroom in the context of Malmö University’s internationalisation efforts.

The Glocal Classroom was in action again recently at a very engaging teaching seminar in Tbilisi, Georgia.

You can also read what graduates from the course have said about ComDev. We also have more profiles in connection with the ComDev experiences in the United Nations system and a portrait of one of our pioneering graduates from 2002 available here on the portal!

Our colleagues at Malmö University admissions (admissions(at)mau.se) and our course administrator Åsa Ulemark can be contacted for technical questions regarding your application as well, but make sure that you checked the comprehensive information on University Admission’s site first.
You can also get in touch with the ComDev team at comdev(at)mau.se – just allow a few days for replying during a busy and active semester.

We are looking forward to your applications and welcoming you to Malmö in January 2019!

Tobias Denskus & the ComDev team


The report for the Cross-sectoral formative research – Knowledge, attitude and practice study, which was conducted under the leadership of ComDev professor Ronald Stade on behalf of the country office of UNICEF Lebanon is now available online.

The purpose of the KAP Study is,

  • To establish a baseline for UNICEF Lebanon’s Country Programme Document for the period 2017 to 2020
  • To recommend C4D interventions that are successful in removing barriers to the adoption of positive practices with regard to education, child survival, child protection, child rights and social inclusion

The background for the KAP Study is the impact of the Syrian crisis. Lebanon has received more international refugees per capita than any other country in the world. This has created an immense stress on Lebanon’s institutional capacities. Over one million children in Lebanon are directly affected by the crisis. They are in need of basic services like education, health care, clean water, as well as of protection and inclusion.

The empirical scope of the KAP Study has been

  • To include Lebanese residents, Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR, Syrian refugees living in informal settlements and Palestine refugees living in Lebanon’s designated camps
  • To cover each mohafaza (governorate) in Lebanon
  • To include female and male respondents of all age groups
  • To provide results on indicators for each of UNICEF Lebanon’s programme areas

The data for the KAP Study were collected using three methods, one quantitative and two qualitative:

  • Questionnaire-based interviews with 7,000 households
  • 48 focus group discussions
  • 42 key informant interviews

From the collected data on the various indicators could be drawn conclusions about knowledge gaps and barriers to positive attitudes and practice, both among external stakeholders (caregivers and children) and internal stakeholders (providers of public services, including UNICEF and partners):

External stakeholders

  • Attitudinal challenges and knowledge gaps with regard to gender differences
  • Knowledge gaps on vaccinations, breastfeeding and menstruation
  • Attitudinal challenges because of intensifying and spreading conservative norms, for example with regard to child marriage, family planning and forced pregnancies
  • Gap between favourable attitudes towards positive discipline and persisting practice of negative discipline
  • Lack of knowledge: children and caregivers do not know that child rights, in addition to a right to basic services, also include the right of expression, participation in decision-making and social inclusion
  • Alarming knowledge gap with regard to disabilities

Internal stakeholders

  • Capacity gaps in the field of medical ethics
  • Capacity gaps in the delivery of clean water and the treatment of wastewater
  • Insufficient capacities in the field of education
  • Inadequate practices in the field of child protection, especially insufficient protection against violence
  • Insufficient capacities to build trust, so that women are ready to report incidents of GBV and CP violations to formal authorities
  • Insufficient capacity to professionally identify disabilities
  • Insufficient integration of disability perspectives with other programmes
  • Need for more participatory C4D initiatives

Project manager Lana Khattab reflected on the research in her article Humanitarian response in Lebanon: changing social norms or reproducing them? and concluded:
Although aid organisations are increasingly concerned about promoting gender equality, when faced with people’s immediate needs and the urgency to addressing them as fast as possible, social interventions can rely on, and reproduce, unequal gender roles and norms, rather than working to improve them.

ComDev is hiring a full-time, permanent teacher & researcher!

by Tobias Denskus March 26, 2018 ComDev

Our Communication for Development program is looking for a Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor-equivalent) to join the team. This is a full-time, permanent position and applications are accepted until 30 April 2018. The full job specifications and details are available on Malmö University’s website. So please do not hesitate to spread the word, submit an application […]

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Apply for ComDev’s flagship MA program & courses from 15 March to 15 April!

by Tobias Denskus March 15, 2018 ComDev courses

Dear all, These are exciting times at ComDev again! The spring semester with more than 100 students across all our courses is well underway and we are looking forward to our next teaching seminar in April where one of the days will be dedicated to a theatre for development workshop exercise! The spring application window […]

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From Khartoum to #Khartoon-Seminar with Sudanese artist Khalid Albaih

by Tobias Denskus March 5, 2018 Uncategorized

Khalid Albaih is currently artist in residence at Copenhagen’s central library as part of the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN). He  joined ComDev on 1 March for a seminar with students and faculty where he presented his political activism and his journey from Sudan to Qatar and now Europe. Albaih’s cartoons convey scathing criticisms […]

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New book! The Global South Atlantic

by Tobias Denskus December 21, 2017 Comdev News

In their new book, The Global South Atlantic, editors Kerry Bystrom and Joseph Slaughter look at the South Atlantic as a site of globalized world politics: “The Global South Atlantic traces literary exchanges and interlaced networks of communication and investment—financial, political, socio-cultural, libidinal—across and around the southern ocean. Bringing together scholars working in a range […]

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Boundaries and Identities in Contemporary Georgia teaching seminar

by Tobias Denskus November 22, 2017 Comdev Projects

Under the pedagogical leadership of ComDev’s Hugo Boothby and Anders Hög-Hansen as well as Caucasus Studies’ Karina Vamling and in collaboration with colleagues from Flinders University in Adelaide and Tbilisi State University, the Boundaries and Identities in Contemporary Georgia event brought together more than 40 participants in the Georgian capital. This joint teaching seminar and […]

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Congratulations Anders Hög-Hansen!

by Tobias Denskus November 6, 2017 Uncategorized

The ComDev team is very proud to announce that ComDev lecturer Anders Hög-Hansen successfully completed the process to be promoted as a Docent, an Associate Professor in Media- and Communication Studies at Malmö University! Anders’ public lecture Mix Tape Memories. Art, Storytelling, and Development took place in October. Congratulations, Anders!

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New book! In the Aftermath of Gezi-From Social Movement to Social Change?

by Tobias Denskus October 9, 2017 Uncategorized

A new book, co-edited by ComDev’s Oscar Hemer, analyzes recent developments in Turkey from a comparative global perspective. In the Aftermath of Gezi-From Social Movement to Social Change? is the latest title in the Palgrave Studies in Communication for Social Change series: This edited volume addresses various aspects of social and political development in Turkey […]

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