Participation as Structural

This article on participation addresses the complexity of the concept of participation through discussing the organisational and structural conditions of the production of communication campaigns. These researchers examine social marketing, entertainment-education, and media advocacy interventions, in terms of types of problems addressed; the process of social change assumed; and the role of media in that process. They state that the use of media must fill a pragmatic need by not only responding to the logic of the particular condition addressed, but also resonating with broader ideological assumptions about social change.


The article characterises social marketing, and to some extent entertainment-education, as privileging the individual as the primary actor in social change. The success or failure of a campaign is seen as its appeal to individuals, not the structural context of the marketplace. Alternatively, a social justice orientation attributes social problems to structural conditions that inhibit participation. In addition to analysing structural conditions, the authors analyse organisational conditions, i.e., who has the power to create a communication campaign and who benefits from the changes proposed by it.


The research looks at differences in what is meant by participation in each of the models considered. "Within social marketing, participation might be marked through consumption. Entertainment education along with social marketing might invoke the use of focus groups and formative research as a form of participation toward improving the execution and utility of the campaign. Apart from seeing participation as a means toward a previously constructed goal, other models of change articulate the importance of community participation in determining the priorities and salience of issues, as well as appropriate means for addressing them."

For this framework of analysis, the authors recognise structural participation in the process of production - of the project, more broadly, and the message, more specifically. They state: "At the conceptual level, we consider structural participation to include formal, direct, and active involvement in allocative control over the direction of the project. At the operational level, we consider involvement in funding, decision-making, advisory boards and other clear acts as evidence of economic and political engagement in the process. This attention to the formal structure of the project funding, conceptualization, and implementation allows us to connect this vision of 'participation' to central issues of power, which we believe may have some influence over the nature of the messages invoked in media for social change projects."


They examine three social marketing models: the non-governmental organisation (NGO) model; the manufacturer's model; and the hybrid model, through their structural characteristics. The example of an NGO model is an NGO-constructed condom distribution programme, which serves a population who cannot afford to pay commercial prices for condoms, thus requiring subsidising of costs of the product and focusing distribution on maximising the size of the user population. "Often donor organizations assign local communities mediating roles to mitigate culturally sensitive issues of sexual practices and family planning." This model, as stated here, privileges the NGO, in terms of its control over project management, and benefits both the private companies contracted for product production and, possibly, marginalised groups without means of purchase; but it has potential to exploit local community groups, depending upon the positions taken by the decision makers.


In the manufacturer's model, corporate sponsors not only contribute commodity supplies for the projects, but also retain control over branding, pricing, and distribution of the products. Some of these are subcontracted to local agencies to help develop local market systems, often resulting in partnerships with local pharmaceutical companies, which can provide stable commodity supplies through their own sales outlets and marketing practices. Social marketing through mass media of a manufacturer's product may occur through conventional media channels or at clinics and through pharmacists (who are sometimes invited to training and public relations events). In this model, the commercial firms are participants, through their partnerships with the organising NGOs. However, despite aspects of commercial sustainability, there may be communities without "commercial viability" that are not included in the market.


The hybrid model is characterised as an evolution of approaches, integrating the previous models. "In this model participant local NGOs have become less likely to rely on donated commodities, but instead more likely to procure their own products with revenues from sales....This model positions local NGOs with commercial motivations in pivotal roles in project implementation. The so-called partnership between contracting agencies and these local NGOs is meant to create a private health infrastructure, as well as reduce the risks involved in developing locally based market systems." It places local NGOs in a position of “taking responsibility for market risks to ensure that they have fully vetted the viability of their ideas.” Profits from sales of commercial pharmaceutical products are used to feed money back into supporting the NGO, promoting project sustainability.

The article concludes that a structural approach to participation recognises a variety of agent and agency involvement: "The potential integration of community members in decision-making processes needs to be seen relative to the dominance of donor agencies as well as commodity manufacturers and private firms, in order to assess a more realistic portrayal of power dynamics." The authors claim that structural mapping of potential and actual control over key project decisions describes actual participation, not as idealised potential, but as hegemonic control by agencies and corporations.