New EADP Discussion Paper Gives Guidance on How to Communicate in Transdisciplinary Projects ‎ ‎

The latest addition to the EADP Discussion Paper series analyses the status quo and best practices ‎regarding communications with local populations. “Communications on climate change and ‎biodiversity loss with local populations: Exploring best-practices and postcolonial moments in ‎eight case studies from across the globe” is the result of a one-year-long investigation with 25 ‎international experts under the lead of EADP director Dawud Ansari and Amazon rainforest expert ‎Regine Schönenberg. The paper considers the lessons learnt from eight different case studies in ‎which researchers or development practitioners communicate with local communities. ‎

The investigation offers unique insights into the knowledge generation process and asks how ‎projects can achieve postcolonial moments–a communicative utopia in which epistemic power ‎relations are disrupted. The researchers propose a new set of indicators for good stakeholder ‎communication and reveal that trust-building, time-management, and awareness among the ‎project team are crucial for success. However, the article also expresses concerns that funding ‎agencies in science and international development provide too rigid frameworks and require ‎reform.‎