Un/Making CSC: A critical engagement with Communication for Social 'Changemaking'

传播和社会变革的援助和发展筹资格局正在迅速变化。CSC是传播学中的一个学术和实践领域，关注媒体和传播在社会变革和发展过程中的作用。从历史上看，公务员制度委员会的许多做法都是作为国际发展合作的一部分得到资助的。然而，来自传统双边捐助方的资金正在减少，尤其是在新冠肺炎疫情之后。此外，慈善基金会，特别是那些与技术部门公司有联系的基金会，在资金规模和方案影响力方面都在增长。这种情况正在加速吸收社会企业家精神启发的话语和世界观在CSC实践。这种世界观反映了当代资本主义文化，并借鉴了新的商业管理箴言，强调乐观，创造力，大胆，领导力和自主权作为“变革”的方法。在这种世界观下，对捐助者的依赖被视为应避免的主要问题，传统的援助和发展被认为是失败的。对于当地的CSC从业人员来说，这种评估是有效的。实践者报告说，他们看到了社会创业办法的巨大好处，因为它使他们能够更加自下而上，以不那么不稳定和依赖的方式运作，更加适应当地需求，并确定自己的优先行动和办法，然而，这一趋势与学术界目前的辩论势头形成鲜明对比，主要关注的是通信在抵抗全球资本主义和非殖民化议程中的作用。因此，社会企业家话语和CSC更广泛的新自由主义化被视为对社会正义的威胁，而不是社会正义的推动者。联合国/制作CSC直接参与这些紧张局势，调查越来越多的企业话语内的沟通，社会变革（CSC）从从业者的角度来看的影响。从理论上讲，联合国/使CSC将从事跨学科的方式与社会企业家精神和领导力的研究。从经验上讲，它将使用参与和视觉方法与从业人员，社区和其他主要利益相关者询问的影响，在不断变化的CSC概念，筹资战略，利益相关者的关系，和替代框架。该研究将在两个不同的地点进行：马拉维的青年和女孩参与，这在历史上一直依赖于国际发展资金;以及印度的女权主义数字正义努力，在资金来源方面，特别是慈善资金，以及该组织的政治原则方面，正在谈判复杂的紧张局势。该研究旨在推进理论和实践的正义驱动的方法，以沟通社会'变革'。该奖学金使PI能够牢固地建立知识领导力，并塑造新的跨学科研究议程，涉及传播和媒体研究，国际发展研究以及社会创业和领导力研究。该奖学金旨在培养项目管理，方法创新，HE领导，公众参与和政策影响方面的技能和领导能力。该项目与几个有经验的CSC组织合作，共同开发见解，可操作的框架和政策简报，以社会正义为导向的方法来沟通社会变革。该奖学金将在项目的生命周期内对合作伙伴组织产生积极影响，并为未来的政策影响奠定基础。

The aid and development funding landscape for communication and social change (CSC) is changing rapidly. CSC is a field of scholarship and practice within communication studies concerned with the role of media and communication in processes of social change and development. Historically, much of the practice of CSC has been funded as part of international development cooperation. However, funds from traditional bilateral donors are shrinking, especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, philanthropic foundations, especially those linked with tech-sector corporations, are growing in funding scale and programmatic influence. This context is accelerating the uptake of social entrepreneurship inspired discourses and worldviews in CSC practice. This worldview mirrors contemporary capitalist cultures and draws on new business management mantras, emphasising optimism, creativity, boldness, leadership and autonomy as an approach to 'changemaking'. Under this worldview, dependency on donors is seen as the main problem to avoid, and traditional aid and development is framed as having failed. For CSC practitioners on the ground there is validity in this assessment. Practitioners have reported that they see significant benefits from social entrepreneurship approaches, in that it enables them to be more bottom-up, to operate in less precarious and dependent ways, to be more adaptive to local needs, and to determine their own priority actions and approaches.However, this trend is in stark contrast with the momentum of current debates in academia, where of primary interest is in the role of communication in the resistance of global capitalism and in decolonization agendas. Social entrepreneurship discourses and the broader neoliberalisation of CSC are therefore seen as threats to, not enablers of, social justice. Un/Making CSC engages directly with these tensions, investigating the implications of growing entrepreneurial discourses within communication for social change (CSC) from a practitioner perspective. Theoretically, Un/Making CSC will engage in interdisciplinary ways with social entrepreneurship and leadership studies. Empirically it will use participatory and visual methods with practitioners, communities and other key stakeholders to interrogate the implications in terms of shifting CSC concepts, funding strategies, stakeholder relationships, and alternative frameworks. The research will be undertaken in two distinct sites: youth and girls engagement in Malawi which has historically been reliant on international development funding; and feminist digital justice efforts India, where there are complex tensions being negotiated in terms of funding sources, especially philanthropic funding, and the political principles of the organisation. The research aims to advance theory and practice on a justice-driven approach to communication for social 'changemaking'. The Fellowship enables the PI to firmly establish intellectual leadership and the shaping of new interdisciplinary research agendas engaging across communication and media studies, international development studies, and social entrepreneurship and leadership studies. The Fellowship is designed to develop skills and leadership capabilities in project management, methodological innovation, HE leadership, and public engagement and policy impact. This project partners with several well-established CSC organisations with experience of navigating these tensions, to co-develop insights, actionable frameworks and policy briefs for a social justice-driven approach to Communication for Social Changemaking. The Fellowship will positively impact the partner organisations within the life of the project, and lays the foundation for future policy-impact.