My Revelation

I have been teaching communication for close to two years now, and up until the C4D ToT Learning Lab, my conceptualization of Communication for Development was molded around a vague handout about IEC. I was shocked to get the distinction between IEC, BCC and C4D. To me, these terms were far-fetched and conceivably out of the academic realm so my students never deserved to be bombarded by such concepts.

The mode of instruction by facilitators is nothing like the typical classroom pedagogies. Indeed, it is a "Learning Lab" and virtually everything is imparted from a practical learning perspective.

The Learning Lab to me is a revelation, an opening to a wider view of society and not just beneficiaries, but human beings who have feelings and deserve to be treated as human beings. Indeed, the foundation principles of C4D are pertinent to the actual word, especially perceiving others as self. The human rights-based approaches (HRBA) as well as social change got me thinking on how to improve my teaching techniques...to make my students appreciate one another irrespective of class.

There is no doubt that I will use these principles and concept in almost everything that I will do. I am even contemplating moving away from academia and plunging into field work to help my brothers and sisters more directly. For now though, I am thinking of putting more C4D flesh into the skeleton IEC curriculum to make it more practical and rights-based.