Communication design and co-creation of information solutions for sustainable social change at the margins

Information poverty and the digital divide cause discursive disparities as well as erosion of cultural expressions and local knowledge in underserved communities in the global South. In this chapter, I describe several communication for development and social change (CDSC) research projects conducted in geographically remote parts of India with the objective of creating access to information and preserving local cultural resources and espousing participatory, bottom-up and co-creative visual and sensory approaches. The communication design used in this research adopted a reflexive and empathetic approach by situating the cultural participants at the center, thus legitimizing local knowledge, resources and agencies. Use of local languages and visuals, harnessing indigenous wisdom, designing in-situ and intercultural competences were some of the key aspects of the communication design initiatives employed in these research studies.These research initiatives envision indigenous participants as active co-researchers and leaders while ensuring dependency reduction, capacity building and sustained transformation.