SOCIAL COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM
The Social Communication and Journalism is designed to equip the Social actors and professionals with adequate skills and appropriate techniques to meet the communication challenges of a developing society like India.
The Social Communication professionals are being taught how to evolve new communicative models to bridge the growing gap between the poor and rich with effective communication skills. The professionals would also take initiative to utilise the potentialities of oral and rural media to bring in positive changes in our society with the help of appropriate modern communication technologies. The CEDECaims to promote journalism for change. It aims not only inform to the audience but to educate and appeal to their conscience to transform themselves as well as society.
The CEDEC Social Communication wing has so far trained 2500 grassroots journalists belonging to different parts of rural Orissa, who are now contributing their share in enriching the paper with substance and content on a part time basis. For regular services, the newspaper has engaged 150 active reporters who are based in the rural set up so as to feed the news items on basic problems of villages and sometimes suggestions for their solutions.
CEDEC since 1994 runs Course on Social Communication affiliated to Utkal University for imparting education to students at the Post-graduate level in different aspects of social communication and train them to be media professionals and Communication Experts. These aspects relate to social work, different facets of social communication and techniques as well as strategy of dissemination of information and knowledge relevant particularly to development and empowerment.
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
Agriculture is the primary occupation for nearly half of India’s population. Nearly 70 per cent are marginal farmers, owning less than one hectare of land. Sustainable agriculture as the means to promote the efficient use of resources, improves soil health, build resilience to extreme climatic events, and improve farmer incomes thus change the rural social life and ensure food security. CEDEC is pioneering sustainable agriculture to protect the environment, farmers, employees and communities and safeguard farmed species. Centre is sharing knowledge and best practices to enable the development and implementation of sustainable agriculture for the future.
Sustainable farming requires a wide range of skills from water and soil management, seed production, to marketing and business planning. To equip farmers and persons aspiring to become Sustainable agriculture farmers, School of Sustainable agriculture in CEDEC intends to give them a strong foundation in a broad range of skills so that they can be successful in their farming enterprises. CEDEC has a one hectare farm on campus that will provide students/Trainee the opportunity to understand the minutiae of Sustainable and organic farming.