Using Comics for Development Communication

This article focuses on the use of comics and cartoons in respect to how they can help communicate development issues to local audiences in India. Noronha focuses his article on the story of a Delhi-based cartoonist, Sharad Sharma, who strives to encourage local activists and artists to create comics as a way of sharing information with readers. According to Sharma, "problems in communicating messages in an effective way has caused a lot of frustrations to development workers. How can people be taught new skills at a low cost? What would be a good way to deal with sometimes quite sensitive, such as health issues? How can complicated new research, like in agriculture, be simplified so that ordinary people can benefit?" These are some of the questions and issues he seeks to address through comics and cartoons.

Noronha describes Sharma's efforts as requiring local content to be effective. Comics are in effect a visual story which must reflect local perceptions and visual cultural cues to be understood. Further, according to the article, "comics make sense in a cultural context like India's where he describes people as having a "rich story telling culture."

Sharad Sharma was originally inspired by the efforts of journalists in Finland, where their efforts "are much ahead." Sharma started his career in painting and eventually met like-minded associates with whom he carried out a series of workshops that were focused on visual communications and comics. This led to the formation of "World Comics India," which was established in June 2002. The group includes artists, activists and people working with media who seek to promote the use of comics as a medium in social change.

According to the article, India's mainstream English-language newspapers generally import syndicated material from the West, particularly the USA. This provides an opportunity for Sharma to focus on creating comic strips that are in local languages and reflect the issues of individual's day to day lives.