Gives an overview discussion of the key characteristics of networks, noting that international development increasingly takes a network form. Networks typically put an emphasis on: facilitative leadership; building relationships and trust; light co-ordinating structure that allows decentralisation, autonomy and voluntary participation. However, these are charactersitics that traditional evaluation approaches have not been developed to address. Provides a useful check-list for evaluating networks and suggests some useful practical tools to approach the evaluation of networks, such as: ‘Contributions assessment’ to guage how effectively the network facilitates the circulation of resources, and enables people to make the contribution that they are capable of; ‘Clarification of aims and activities’ (adapted Weaver’s Triangle) tool to clarify how participants perspectives and activities diverge or converge over time; ‘Channels of Participation’ tool to assess how and were members interact in a network and look at changes over time; ‘Monitoring the edges’ to track independent networking stimulated but not through the centre
An extensive annotated bibliography of 100 documents relevant to 'bridging research and policy'. Mainstream literature is supplemented with alternative viewpoints. The bibliography has been divided into three key themes ('bridging research and policy: the political context', 'the actors: networks, organisations, individuals', 'the message and the media'), including 'new' subject areas that may be useful (eg social psychology, media studies, marketing and communication). The entries are listed alphabetically by author, and then cross-indexed by theme, and by academic discipline
A wide range of international case studies of grass-roots projects involved in communication for social change. Covers radio, theatre, video and the Internet and the participatory approaches they are employed in. Each case study gives a succinct overview which includes history, background, description of the media, outcomes and constraints