COMMUNICATION APPROACHES IN SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT: A STUDY OF SELECTED PROJECTS IN THE SOUTHERN SENATORIAL DISTRICT OF CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA.

This study was designed to evaluate communication and development which are termed by scholars as twin concepts because when development is initiated, the person, community or a society such a development is targeted at must be properly carried along through the instrument of communication. This is considered important to allow for proper diffusion, adoption and possible sustainability of such a development. Four objectives, four research questions, and two hypotheses were formulated to direct the study based on identified variables. Literature was reviewed in tandem with identified variables and the participatory communication theory used to explain the phenomenon under study. It utilised the ex-post facto research design in selecting a sample size of 355 using a quota sampling technique. Findings indicate that the communication approach adopted in the execution of the selected rural development projects was one that created a social distance between benefactors. It also indicates that the target population and benefactors failed to adopt appropriate communication approach which would have equally granted them access to lean their voices before the implementation of those projects. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made: benefactors of rural development projects should always adopt communication approaches that give and afford benefiting community's opportunity to equally express their own opinions about any development projects meant for them for sustainable rural development. Host communities of rural development projects should always make use of communication channels which are easily understood and appraised by beneficiary communities rather than depending only on the mass media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]