COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES OF SELECTED CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS (CSOS) IN THE NORTHERN REGION OF GHANA

ABSTRACT

The study investigated the communication strategies used by three Civil Society Organisations in the Northern Region of Ghana. It identified the nature of the communication strategies of the selected Civil Society organisations; and as well, the reasons for using these communication strategies and how they meet the needs of the community members. The three CSOs engaged in the study were the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA), the Youth Empowerment for life, and the West African Network for Peace Building-Ghana (WANEP-Ghana). The qualitative research approach was employed for the study, and the design was a case study. Respondents were purposively sampled and responses were thematically analysed. The analyses were done from the perspective of the participatory communication and stakeholder theories. It was found that the nature of the communication strategies were dependent on the philosophy and operational focus of the CSOs. The study also discovered that the decisions to use particular communication strategies were influenced by a series of factors like the cultural space, purpose of the communication, needs of target audience, existing communication networks, budgetary considerations and the internal capacity of CSOs staff. It is recommended for WANEP, GDCA and YE4L to deploy pragmatic communication approaches such as using already existing traditional communication channels to improve the participation and empowerment of community members to lead the process in their own development.