Status of Science Communication in Rwanda by Tharcisse MUSABYIMANA
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Transcript of Status of Science Communication in Rwanda by Tharcisse MUSABYIMANA
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7/31/2019 Status of Science Communication in Rwanda by Tharcisse MUSABYIMANA
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STATUS OF SCI ENCE
COMMUNI CATI ON I NRWANDA:
A present at ion made at t heI nt ernat ional Cent re for Theoret ical
Physics ( I CTP) , Tr ieste, I t aly in aScience Communicat ion Workshop
17-21 October 2011By
Tharcisse MUSABYI MANA
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The Concept Science Communication
- Scholars exhibit a variety of views about
Science Communication. Brian Trench,Massimiano Bucchi (2010) expressed thatthough several publications have sought to
define the field of science communication,the status of science communicationremains uncertain in disciplinary terms.
- For the sake of this presentation, I haveused a definition from a variety of sources,which is simplified and summarised in
Wikipedia (2011)
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The Concept Science Communication
- Science communication generally refers topublic media aiming to talk about sciencewith non-scientists. This often involvesprofessional scientists (called 'outreach' or
'popularization') but has evolved into aprofessional field in its own right. Itincludes science exhibitions, science
journalism, science policy and sciencemedia production, among other things.
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The Concept Science Communication
- Science communication can also simplydescribe communication between scientists(e.g. through scientific journals) as well asbetween non-scientists.
- Partly due to a market for professionaltraining, science communication is also anacademic discipline. The two key journals
are the Public Understanding of Science(PUS) and Science Communication.
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The Concept Science Communication
- Researchers in this field are often closelylinked to Science and Technology Studies,but they may also come from the history ofscience as well as mainstream media
studies, psychology, sociology or literaturestudies.
- Agricultural communication, environmental
communication, health communication, etc.are considered subsets of sciencecommunication from an academic and
professional standpoint.
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Science as a mystified concept
- Many African countries are
encouraging science as a panaceathat can help them quickly attainsustainable development. In the
understanding of many policy makers,science is restricted to what iscommonly known as pure/hardsciences.
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Science as a mystified concept
- For these countries, people doing
social/soft sciences likecommunication, arts, sociology,education etc. are not doing sciences
and therefore should not take priority.This understanding is reflected inscholarship provision and setting thepass mark/grade for furtheringstudies.
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Science as a mystified concept
- It is very easy for one to get a scholarship
if he/she says that he/she is going to domathematics, biology, physics, chemistry,etc.
- However, it becomes almost impossible forone to get scholarship or funds if he/shesays that he/she is going to do
environmental communication, agriculturalcommunication, etc. because for funders, itseems that adding communication makes itnot science and therefore not a priority
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Rwandan Context
- Rwanda is amongst the poorestcountries in the world, with about60% of the adult population living in
poverty (cant afford basic goods andservices), and 42% living in extremepoverty (cant afford even basic food).
In terms of households, 57% arebelow the poverty line.
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Rwandan Context
- There is a higher incidence of poverty
in rural areas (66% below povertyline) than in urban areas (12% inKigali and 19% in other urban areas).
Access to a safe water supply isgenerally low (41%), and while mosturban households have safe drinkingwater (73%), the figure for ruralhouseholds is low 16%. (SustainableEnergy Africa 2006).
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Rwandan Context
- Much as many poverty analysts posit
that developing countries are poorbecause there is not enough research,experience shows that even the little
research that is carried out in thosecountries seldom reach the needypeople who need it for developmentalpurposes.
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Rwandan Context
- Higher learning and research
institutions are multiplying in Rwanda.These are producing a lot of well-packaged pieces of research. Many of
those institutions have high rankedprofessors and researchers whopromote their academic careers bycontributing research activities bothnationally and internationally.
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Rwandan Context
- Those institutions also train scholars
who also contribute research pieceseither by contributing to the existingbody of knowledge in research
assignments or as a requirement toget degrees. Consequently, theseinstitutions have libraries and book
banks full of useful pieces of researchand dissertations.
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Rwandan Context
- Many of those documents comprise
research results that ordinary andrural people can use in their everydaydevelopmental endeavours but they
remain a property of a few learntpeople who can access them andunderstand the enigmatic language in
which they are written and who, inmost cases, do not need them forpractical and developmental activities.
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Rwandan Context
- They remain a communication
from a scient ist t o anotherscientist leaving behind the non-scientist who constitute the majority.
However, if sustainable developmentis to be a reality in Rwanda and poorcountries in general, lay people, rural
people, illiterate people, the needypeople are supposed to be engaged inscience discussions.
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Rwandan Context
- Many researchers are adored and
highly paid for coming up withresearch results which only pile upand rote in the shelves of libraries and
book banks without reaching thepeople who need them in theirdevelopmental activities.
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Rwandan Context
- Media people have been swallowed up
by political and sensational issues.They are playing around with peoplesemotions in somewhat trivial matters
instead of accompanying lay people intheir long journey towards sustainabledevelopment.
- When a President or any politicalfigure visits and/or addresses people,
there is news
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Rwandan Context- When a political conflict crops up, there is
news.- When an accident happens there is news
- Etc.
- When there is no accidentally and freelygot event, news suffers
- There is a need to transcend opportunistic
reporting and think of media content thatcan drive towards sustainable development
- There is a need to reach a point where
science is also news
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Rwandan Context- For a few media people who try to think
about science, they simply and naivelyreproduce verbatim the language ofscientists
- This package makes the needy/ordinarypeople fail to access the content, whichthey desperately need. They need thecontent, not the package
- The communication then remains as goodor even worse than nothing for ordinarypeople
LETS MAKE SCIENCE A SHARED
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LETS MAKE SCIENCE A SHARED
PROPERTY FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT TO BE A REALITY
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THANK YOU VERY MUCH FORYOUR KI ND ATTENTI ON