A presentation made at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy in a Science Communication Workshop 17-21

October 2011 By

STATUS OF SCIENCE COMMUNICATION IN RWANDA:

Tharcisse MUSABYIMANA

The Concept Science Communication - Scholars exhibit a variety of views about Science Communication. Brian Trench, Massimiano Bucchi (2010) expressed that though several publications have sought to define the field of science communication, the status of science communication remains uncertain in disciplinary terms. - For the sake of this presentation, I have used a definition from a variety of sources, which is simplified and summarised in Wikipedia (2011)

The Concept Science Communication - Science communication generally refers to public media aiming to talk about science with non-scientists. This often involves professional scientists (called 'outreach' or 'popularization') but has evolved into a professional field in its own right. It includes science exhibitions, science journalism, science policy and science media production, among other things.

The Concept Science Communication - Science communication can also simply describe communication between scientists (e.g. through scientific journals) as well as between non-scientists. - Partly due to a market for professional training, science communication is also an academic discipline. The two key journals are the Public Understanding of Science (PUS) and Science Communication.

The Concept Science Communication - Researchers in this field are often closely linked to Science and Technology Studies, but they may also come from the history of science as well as mainstream media studies, psychology, sociology or literature studies. - Agricultural communication, environmental communication, health communication, etc. are considered subsets of science communication from an academic and professional standpoint.

Science as a mystified concept - Many African countries are encouraging science as a panacea that can help them quickly attain sustainable development. In the understanding of many policy makers, science is restricted to what is commonly known as pure/hard sciences.

Science as a mystified concept

- For these countries, people doing social/soft sciences like communication, arts, sociology, education etc. are not doing sciences and therefore should not take priority. This understanding is reflected in scholarship provision and setting the pass mark/grade for furthering studies.

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 do mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry, etc. - However, it becomes almost impossible for one to get scholarship or funds if he/she says that he/she is going to do environmental communication, agricultural communication, etc. because for funders, it seems that adding communication makes it not science and therefore not a priority

Rwandan Context
- Rwanda is amongst the poorest countries in the world, with about 60% of the adult population living in poverty (cant afford basic goods and services), and 42% living in extreme poverty (cant afford even basic food). In terms of households, 57% are below the poverty line.

Rwandan Context
- There is a higher incidence of poverty in rural areas (66% below poverty line) than in urban areas (12% in Kigali and 19% in other urban areas). Access to a safe water supply is generally low (41%), and while most urban households have safe drinking water (73%), the figure for rural households is low 16%. (Sustainable Energy Africa 2006).

Rwandan Context
- Much as many poverty analysts posit that developing countries are poor because there is not enough research, experience shows that even the little research that is carried out in those countries seldom reach the needy people who need it for developmental purposes.

Rwandan Context
- Higher learning and research institutions are multiplying in Rwanda. These are producing a lot of wellpackaged pieces of research. Many of those institutions have high ranked professors and researchers who promote their academic careers by contributing research activities both nationally and internationally.

Rwandan Context
- Those institutions also train scholars who also contribute research pieces either by contributing to the existing body of knowledge in research assignments or as a requirement to get degrees. Consequently, these institutions have libraries and book banks full of useful pieces of research and dissertations.

Rwandan Context
- Many of those documents comprise research results that ordinary and rural people can use in their everyday developmental endeavours but they remain a property of a few learnt people who can access them and understand the enigmatic language in which they are written and who, in most cases, do not need them for practical and developmental activities.

Rwandan Context
- They remain a communication from a scientist to another scientist leaving behind the nonscientist who constitute the majority. However, if sustainable development is to be a reality in Rwanda and poor countries in general, lay people, rural people, illiterate people, the needy people are supposed to be engaged in science discussions.

Rwandan Context
- Many researchers are adored and highly paid for coming up with research results which only pile up and rote in the shelves of libraries and book banks without reaching the people who need them in their developmental activities.

Rwandan Context
- Media people have been swallowed up by political and sensational issues. They are playing around with peoples emotions in somewhat trivial matters instead of accompanying lay people in their long journey towards sustainable development. - When a President or any political figure visits and/or addresses people, there is news

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 freely got event, news suffers - There is a need to transcend opportunistic reporting and think of media content that can drive towards sustainable development - There is a need to reach a point where science is also news

Rwandan Context
- For a few media people who try to think about science, they simply and naively reproduce verbatim the language of scientists - This package makes the needy/ordinary people fail to access the content, which they desperately need. They need the content, not the package - The communication then remains as good or even worse than nothing for ordinary people

LETS MAKE SCIENCE A SHARED PROPERTY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TO BE A REALITY

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THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION