Effective Climate Change Communication for Sustainable Development in Rural Zimbabwe

Abstract

People living in rural settings have always borne the brunt of being the last to get information about issues to do with their development. Rural communities in Zimbabwe are poor, largely illiterate, sparsely populated and rarely reachable when using the traditional communication and information distributions methods. This chapter explores communication strategies and tactics that can assist in achieving sustainable development in Zimbabwean rural communities. It situates the dissemination of important information on sustainable development in educating rural communities about climate change through the use of locally devised communication tools. Using field interviews and archival research, this chapter proposes that improved information dissemination packaging should be key to effective communication in the face of climate change for sustainable development in rural Zimbabwe. Underpinned by Berlo’s Source, Medium, Channel and Receiver (SMCR) Model, this chapter identifies effective communication in articulating climate change issues for the betterment of lives in rural Zimbabwe as a very important aspect of the model for sustainable development. This chapter found out that harnessing indigenous communication knowledge remains the bedrock of effective communication for sustainable development in this setting. It recommends the use of a multimedia approach in climate change communication for sustainable development in rural Zimbabwe.