[Commlist] CfC: Communications for Development 2.0: Rethinking Sustainable Communication in the AI Century

*      Communications for Development 2.0: Rethinking             
Sustainable Communication in the AI Century*

*Call for Chapters*

*Editors: Muhammad Jameel Yusha'u & Lara Martin Lengel***

Communication for development has evolved over the last seventy to 
eighty years with impactful contributions from leading scholars. The 
impact of their work has reverberated beyond academic circles, 
*shaping***policy and practice especially in the global south.

*These* groundbreaking *contributions* include the modernization 
theories of the *1950s and 1960s* led by Daniel Lerner, Wilbur Schramm 
and Everett Rogers whose *insights on* the stages of modernization, the 
contribution of *mass* media to national development, and the diffusion 
of innovation became *guiding* principles *for engaging with 
publics* for decades.

The work of dependency and other critical theorists, especially in the 
1970s, provided an alternative view in communication for development and 
by extension the international development trajectory. *Thinkers* like 
Andre Gunder Frank, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Samir Amin, Walter 
Rodney, Luis Ramiro Beltrán and Paulo Freire *recalibrated* the 
debate*s* by bringing to the fore *issues of*inequality, internal 
failure dynamics and the need for *communication* to address power 
imbalances.

The 1980s and 1990s introduced a seismic shift in the communication for 
development discourse by focusing on participatory approaches *to 
communication*. The works of Paulo Freire, Paolo Mefalopulos, Jan 
Servaes, Thomas Tufte, Alfonso Gumucio Dagron, *and* Srinivas Melkote 
among others reshaped the debate particularly on the need for community 
engagement and sustainable social change.

The adoption of the Millennium Development Goals in the *2000s* and the 
Sustainable Development Goals *in 2015* as well as the technological 
revolutions spurred by the internet and the sudden emergence of COVID-19 
*that*rebooted how people communicated had profound impact on 
*communication* for development, leading to calls on the United Nations 
to reconsider the 17 SDGs by adding SDG18—Communications for All, to 
ensure that the role of communication does not take a back seat in the 
development process.

While this is going on, the phenomenon of artificial intelligence *has 
emerged as a **transformative force*. *This*revolutionary phenomenon *is 
altering* how development is implemented at individual, country and 
continental levels. Artificial intelligence is likely to define the 
development path in the 21st century with profound impact on all 
sectors, be it health, education, infrastructure, poverty alleviation, 
food security, energy access, *and* climate action. Artificial 
intelligence *presents* new *promises*, yet *also presents* challenges 
that may exacerbate inequality. *The algorithmic governance of 
information flows, the concentration of AI capabilities in the global 
north, and the potential exclusion of marginalized voices from 
AI-mediated development discourse demand urgent scholarly attention.*

*This reality* calls for rethinking *of***how communication for 
development will be implemented in the coming decades. The aim of this 
book, *currently***under consideration by the renowned publisher, 
Wiley-Blackwell, *is***to***examine*communications for development in 
light of the rise of artificial intelligence. It aims to 
*revisit* previous theories, models and approaches to communications for 
development and *assess* their potency or otherwise in the artificial 
intelligence century. Communication for Development 2.0 intends to be a 
major *scholarly***collection and reference *work* that will shape the 
communication for development discourse in the AI *era**.* We seek 
*contributions*from established *and* emerging *scholars***to critically 
review and propose new approaches to communications for development in 
light of *artificial intelligence and its implications for development 
practice**.*

*Potential chapter topics***comprise but***are not***limited to the 
following*:*

·Diffusion, innovation and artificial intelligence

·Participatory communication and artificial intelligence

·Communication for development, artificial intelligence and inequality

·Communicating national development in the age of artificial intelligence

·Development communication and artificial intelligence in the global south

·Development communication and artificial intelligence in the global north

·Communicating social change in the era of artificial intelligence

·Data colonialism, artificial intelligence and communications for 
development

·Artificial intelligence infrastructure and communication for development

·Communication for development, language and artificial intelligence

·Digital inequality, artificial intelligence and development communication

·AI *divide* and digital dependency

·Communicating *Sustainable Development Goals* in the AI *era*

·*AI ethics and communication for development*

·*Algorithmic governance and development communication*

·*AI literacy and capacity building in development contexts*

·*Case studies of AI applications in development communication practice*

*Submission Requirements*

Prospective authors should send their *abstract submissions*to Muhammad 
Jameel Yusha'u ((mjyushau /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(mjyushau /at/ gmail.com)>) by *6th 
March 2026**. **Abstracts* should comprise the following:

·250 words abstract

·Institutional affiliation

·Corresponding email address

·200 words *author* bio

All *submissions***should be in *Word document format*. Authors whose 
abstracts have been accepted will be notified by *3rd April 2026*. 
*Final chapters should be between 5,000- and 6,000-words and will be due 
by 12^th June 2026.* Co-authored chapters will be considered. Full 
papers will undergo a rigorous *peer* review process. Submitted work 
must be original and not under consideration elsewhere.


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