Connecting to the ‘Last First’: Call for Participatory Action Research in C4D to reach the outliers of Kerala Model

With its high Human Development Index (HDI) values, participatory and decentralization approaches, the Kerala development model has often projected an image of the State as a holistically developed community. Development studies have thrown light on the lived experiences of outliers in the Kerala model. New theoretical, policy-oriented, and action research methods emerged to identify factors inhibiting social change and their solutions. Alternate paradigms emerged in the Communication for Development (C4D) and Communication for Social Change (CFSC) disciplines, along with economic, sociological, and political domains. In the C4D arena, the technological deterministic one-way communication model alternated with participatory methods. This participatory technique was combined with the framework of ethnography to construct Ethnographic Action Research (EAR) methods for implementing Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) initiatives and their impact assessment. The Kerala development model is known for its decentralization schemes and participatory approach in the field of communication too. Nevertheless, scholars are yet to explore studies on communication infrastructure among marginalized groups and the relationship between communication and development. In the backdrop of Covid-19, most of the services the government provided moved into the online sphere in the internet-active State. At this juncture, this paper tries to root in the theoretical framework of 'Putting the Last First' and Dreze's action research to suggest methods to understand where the marginalized stand with respect to communication infrastructure. In 2022, the Government of Kerala introduced a new index to identify absolute poverty. With the theoretical framework of ‘Putting the Last First’ and action research, this paper tries to elucidate the need to apply EAR methods at the micro-level to understand the communicative ecologies of marginalized groups for planning and evaluating C4D initiatives.

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