[Commlist] Call for Book Chapters: Communication, Community Engagement and Community Development

*Call for Book Chapters:*

*Communication, Community Engagement and Community Development:*

*/Role of the Extractive Sector in Africa’s Development Agenda/*

Africa is endowed with enormous natural resources: crude oil and natural 
gas in Nigeria and Algeria, cobalt and copper in Zambia, bauxite in 
Guinea, and diamonds and platinum in South Africa, etcetera. For many 
African nations, the natural resource sectors, otherwise known as the 
extractive industries, are critical components of the economy, capable 
of stimulating economic diversification, long-term growth, generational 
equity, and reduction in inequality and poverty.Since the discovery of 
oil in Nigeria, the extractive sector has defined Nigeria's 
socio-economic development, leaving significant governance and social 
development challenges in its wake. Diamonds, coltan, cobalt and copper 
from the Congo DRC have triggered armed conflict and political 
instability in the country's East. Botswana, in contrast, has primarily 
attributed its extraordinary success in transitioning from an 
impoverished colony to a flourishing middle-income nation in less than 
50 years to the effective management of its natural resources. 
Similarly, exploiting Mozambique's coal and gas reserves has stimulated 
inclusive development, significantly reducing the scars of the nation's 
post-independence conflicts. Therefore, natural resources can become a 
blessing or curse depending on how their proceeds are applied to drive 
the development agendas of host communities and nations.

However, the pace of economic development in Africa does not reflect the 
size or potential of its natural resources. That is primarily due to the 
failure to implement appropriate policies and establish strong 
institutions to manage the natural resource wealth. Beyond the systemic 
weaknesses, other factors contribute to the gap between natural resource 
endowments and community development in Africa. Among these factors is 
the inability of businesses in the extractive sector to effectively 
engage and communicate with their host communities to agree on 
expectations and a mutually beneficial development agenda. These 
communication challenges have led to avoidable conflicts and 
frustrations for stakeholders, especially companies, host communities 
and governments. The mismatch between the expectations of the host 
communities and the multinationals operating in the extractive sector in 
Africa disrupts the process of expanding investments in the industry and 
catalyzing community development with natural resource wealth.

While some organizations in the industry have done well in optimizing 
community engagement, others are still struggling to devise a win-win 
engagement strategy. Their efforts are militated by these host 
communities' polyglossic and heteroglossic characteristics, especially 
in Nigeria's Niger Delta region and the Congo DRC. This situation has 
necessitated a shift in approach as these organizations continuously 
devise strategies to facilitate a seamless and mutually beneficial 
communication approach towards engaging their host communities.

The question then arises as to how best to engage and obtain the 
cooperation of host communities with diverse tendencies and limitless 
expectations in a rapidly changing but interconnected world. The 
proposed book seeks to interrogate the foundational theories at the 
intersection of communication, community engagement and community 
development; the diverse approachs to engaging host communities in 
Africa’s extractive industry; the benefits and policy imperatives; and 
how these coalesce to stimulate continental economic growth.

*Recommended Themes*

1.Community Engagement in Community Development.

2.Challenges of Community Engagement in a Digitized World.

3.Local culture and Community Engagement.

4.Community Engagement and deliberative dialogue.

5.Considering the Muted Groups in Community Engagement.
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6.Revisiting Media Ecology in Community Engagement.

7.Participatory Approaches to Engagement.

8.Sustained Engagement and Participatory Culture.

9.Strengthening Community Engagement for Sustainable Development.

10.Community Engagement and Stakeholder Management.

11.Community Engagement: Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization.

12.Communication, Community Engagement and Knowledge Mobilization.

13.Community Engagement, Extractive Industries and Policy Imperatives.

14.Approaches to Community-Based Research.

15.Communication and Engaging Marginalised Communities.

16.Agitations, Media Activism and Community Engagement.

Interested authors are invited to submit a whole original chapter of up 
to 7,500 words, including references, or an abstract of 250-300 words, 
with a short biography of 75 words for all authors. The entire chapter 
must generally demonstrate the proposed chapters' theoretical and 
empirical foundations. At the same time, the abstract should succinctly 
state the aim of the study, the theoretical/conceptual framework, and 
the methodological approaches used. All submissions should be forwarded 
to Prof. Silk Ugwu Ogbu ((sogbu /at/ pau.edu.ng)) and Alakwe Kizito Ogedi, PhD 
((kalakwe /at/ pau.edu.ng)) on or before May 05, 2023.

*Note that no payment from the authors will be required.*


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