DPU Working Paper - No. 96

Authors: Liz Riley et al

Publication Date: 1999

“… creative human beings are much more likely to achieve their objectives if they are well informed – if they have reliable information on current circumstances and trends to use in assessing the likely outcomes of different courses of actions” (Gorham and Kingley, 1997, p. 364). Information dissemination, learning and training have long been a central tool used to improve quality of life in poor communities.

Although development communication and information dissemination processes have been the focus of debate and research in the past, once again the attention is turning to how information is communicated and used, and to how it can be used more effectively to promote sustainable urban development.

Technologies for global communication are developing rapidly, access to mass media among the poor is increasing, and there is now a greater understanding of the workings of traditional channels for communication and learning. The need for training and access to more and better information for use in development initiatives is increasing, not only because of the huge scale of poverty to be addressed, but also because ways of managing the urban environment are constantly changing. 

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