Abstract

Ten years since the establishment of the Decentralization Policy, local participation in the decentralization process most especially among the rural communities is minimal. This has been attributed to the low levels of awareness and knowledge. This is regardless of the establishment of the Communication Strategy in 2003, meant to support the implementation of the Decentralization process and meet the communication needs of the stakeholders. The paper set out to examine the process of communicating decentralization in Malawi; assess its impact on the rural communities’ levels of awareness and knowledge of the process, as well as its effectiveness in supporting participation in the decentralization process. The study critically examined the Communication Strategy, its implementation plan and process, paying particular attention to the context of implementation, the key players and the approaches adopted in the communication process. Furthermore, an assessment of a sample of the communication tools in print and the Interpersonal Communication channels employed in the strategy also formed part of the study. The findings of the study indicate that most of the members of the community are aware of the concept of Decentralization, which is synonymous with the term ‘mphamvu ku wanthu’. However, problems of implementation have greatly compromised the effectiveness of the communication process in terms of building knowledge and skills to enable participation in the decentralization process. Lack of human resource and finances are some of the problems that have rendered most of the implementing structures non functional. Furthermore, most of the communication delivered was more informative than educative which was essential for the empowerment and participation of the rural communities’ in the decentralization process. This study submits that the communication process as employed has contributed to the awareness of the process among the target community. However, there is need for readjustment of the approach employed if the communication initiative is to promote participation in the decentralization process. A two – way and ‘bottom – up’ communication process that puts the rural communities and their communication needs at the heart process will be more aligned at promoting participation.

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School	: School of Arts, Communication and Design
Issued Date	: 2008

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