Communicating dogma in the face of climate change Trees and Alligators of this World, cherish your differences

By Minielle Tall

Certain things in life are obvious. Common symbols we all agree upon. Daylight and

Nighttime will never get any human being confused about. Water - in its consistency -

will rarely be mistaken. And breathing, walking, or eating are likely to be performed the

same technical way whether in Glasgow, Kabul, Perth, Ndjamena or Santiago.

Common sense is innate. But how far shall one possibly go to decide what is common

sense? Have you ever been for instance in some parts of Turkey where apparently in

order to say “yes”, one has to shake his head from left to right (and not up and down). Or

maybe to Senegal where after a great meal, burbling soundly means that you are praising

the cook.

Undoubtedly, cultural coding makes us who we are. Thus, by communicating with others,

we have to make sure that this internal code will cohabits appropriately with the external

messages that we convey.

To cut it short, in order to set effective communication processes, chances are that we

have to develop the ethnographic and anthropological parts of our own selves. The

objective being not to pass the message to others at any cost. But rather to ensure

that it will have the same reasoning and values as the one we, as the sender, are

considering it has.

Talking about communicating adaptation strategies in the context of Climate change, I

was fascinated to see how things, in West Africa, went from “We, the Scientists, are

talking. Please, remain quiet and learn” to “We, the Scientists, are here to learn from

farmers and exchange experiences”. Humility? Well, I guess so. But this noble behavior

did not come alone.

Actually, it took several failed missions, for many to realize that communication was

involving different layers.

As communicators, we surely know better. And if we want to build trust that will be

strong enough to convince a majority of stakeholders and ignite changes, we have to take

enough time to get to know ourselves (the team we are in) and them (the audience) better

so that our strategy will lay on solid grounds and not only on common sense.

Sustainable development will never be sustainable enough if we set standards and

rules that are relevant only for those who came up with them.

As a popular African saying states “a tree long stayed in the river never becomes an

alligator”. This reasonably means that we need to agree on the fact that some of us are

Trees and others are not.

The point is certainly not to determine who is BEST or how shall one “educate” or

“convert” the other. But rather to acknowledge that we all are DIFFERENT and the way

we learn from each other is no exception.

So do we really want to standardize thoughts and ideas just to feel more comfortable or

shall we look at the differences and complexities which, once understood and taken

advantages of, will make us more complete?!

When it comes to climate change adaptation strategies in West Africa, common sense

strikes again and may drive us to set the usual clichés. It is then our responsibility, when

appraising action plans and messages not to create barriers… that we will be the only one

not to see.

Dogma usually starts this way.

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About the author

Minielle Tall has been a communication for development consultant for more than ten

year. Since 2009, she is focusing on Rural development and Climate Change Adaptation

Strategies in rural and urban regions in West Africa.

Her references in this area include regional or continental programmes such as CCAA

(DFID-IDRC), ACCC (UNESCO-UNDP), PRCM (UICN-WWF-FIBA) or CCAFS

(CGIAR).

minielle.tall@gmail.com

Communication & Social Learning: The West African perspective

By Minielle Tall and …

I have never read Paulo Freire internationally acclaimed Pedagogy of the Oppressed …

But I believe in his concept of Conscientization which is, to me, the laying ground of

social learning.

Some people might in fact be quick learner while with others, magic will take more time

to operate. Not specifically because they are “dummies” (well at least let’s give them a

chance to prove us wrong!).

But mainly because their learning stages are different from yours or mine, does not imply

that he or she has to follow and obey the “common sense” rules.

About authors:

Minielle Tall is a communication consultant with ….

minielle.tall@gmail.com