Research Seminar - Strategising communication and collective action towards sustainable nomadic livelihoods (Mongolia)

Date: 7 April
Time: 3pm-4pm
Location: Room 601, Michie Building (#9)

Abstract

The concept of Rural Communication Services has gained prominence over the past few years as the embodiment and institutionalisation of communication for development in support of family farming (e.g. FAO, 2017). Effective models for Rural Communication Services (RCS) are characterised by a delicate balance between information provision, facilitation of dialogue and co-creation of new knowledge within the given cultural and institutional context. The UQ Centre for Communication and Social Change led a three-year collaborative project (2014-16) funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) to design and establish RCS that would facilitate information exchange and collective action in nomadic herder communities involved in  the Green Gold Program. This is an innovative rangeland management program that aims at restoring degraded rangelands while improving herder family livelihoods in the seven most western provinces in Mongolia through the establishment and facilitation of a large network of Pasture User Groups and Herder Cooperatives. In this presentation we will share the principles of RCS design and establishment in a nomadic livelihood context and discuss the practices and lessons learned from the Green Gold RCS project in  Mongolia.

Presenter’s Bio

Elske van de Fliert is an Associate Professor at the School of Communication and Arts and Director of the Centre for Communication and Social Change, The University of Queensland. Her research focuses on the theory and practice of participatory communication in development and social change, and frameworks for and facilitation of transdisciplinary research for development. Her work finds application across several disciplinary fields, including agriculture, rural development and energy poverty.