Abstract:
The study investigated the communication strategies used by three Civil Society
Organisations in the Northern Region of Ghana. It identified the nature of the
communication strategies of the selected Civil Society organisations; and as well, the
reasons for using these communication strategies and how they meet the needs of the
community members. The three CSOs engaged in the study were the Ghana Developing
Communities Association (GDCA), the Youth Empowerment for life, and the West
African Network for Peace Building-Ghana (WANEP-Ghana). The qualitative research
approach was employed for the study, and the design was a case study. Respondents were
purposively sampled and responses were thematically analysed. The analyses were done
from the perspective of the participatory communication and stakeholder theories. It was
found that the nature of the communication strategies were dependent on the philosophy
and operational focus of the CSOs. The study also discovered that the decisions to use
particular communication strategies were influenced by a series of factors like the
cultural space, purpose of the communication, needs of target audience, existing
communication networks, budgetary considerations and the internal capacity of CSOs
staff. It is recommended for WANEP, GDCA and YE4L to deploy pragmatic
communication approaches such as using already existing traditional communication
channels to improve the participation and empowerment of community members to lead
the process in their own development.
Description:
A DISSERTATION IN THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND
MEDIA STUDIES, FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES EDUCATION AND
COMMUNICATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES,
UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENT FOR AWARD OF THE MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY
(COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIES [BUSINESS COMMUNICATION])
DEGREE
JULY, 2017