VALENTINA'S JOURNEY IN C4D IN PEACEBUILDING
Dr Valentina Baú is one of the leading scholars in C4D in Peacebuilding. She began her journey in the field of development with the Italian Cooperation in Mozambique, working on a Theatre for Development project that focused on HIV/AIDS prevention. This was her first encounter with what she later found out to be called Communication for Development (C4D). After deciding to undertake further postgraduate studies through the first Europe-based master programme in Communication for Development, offered by the University of Reading (UK), she worked for the Panos Institute in London, one of the leading NGOs in the field of C4D. Valentina also worked as a Communication Analyst for the United Nations Coordinator Office in Luanda, Angola, before settling in Australia to pursue an academic career.
Within the area of C4D in Peacebuilding, her PhD looked at the ways in which participatory media can be used as storytelling tools to share experiences of war among hostile communities in the aftermath of a civil war, and how sharing stories through the media can facilitate healing and reconciliation. As part of her doctorate project, she worked on the evaluation of two participatory media activities implemented in Kenya in the aftermath of the 2007/2008 Post-Election Violence. She assessed the impact of these projects in relation to ethnic reconciliation between and among communities in specific areas of the Rift Valley, where she spent three months interviewing both victims and perpetrators of the 2007/2008 conflict, who had been in contact with these media productions.
Today, Valentina conducts research on the multiple applications of Communication for Development in Peacebuilding, investigating different realities and forms of conflict. She documents and evaluates C4D approaches that employ different media and communication channels to contribute to social change and sustainable peace. She also looks at the application of C4D for civic engagement and youth participation in governance and peacebuilding.
Currently, Valentina is Chief Investigator on an Australia Research Council Discovery Award on Development Communication, Media and Peace in Protracted Displacement. This three year project (2022-2024) investigates the use of media and communication from humanitarian organisations in promoting peace and social cohesion among young refugees living in camps; the aim is to develop a new approach that brings together C4D and CwC (Communicating with Communities) in complex settings of protracted encampment.
She has collaborated with: UNICEF C4D Unit; UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti; UNICEF Philippines; UNHCR Jordan; conflict specialists NGO Mercy Corps; peacebuilding and communication specialist NGO Search for Common Ground; community engagement humanitarian agency FilmAid Kenya; Australian refugee settlement agencies Service Settlement International (SSI) and Great Lakes Agency for Peace and Development (GLAPD).
Her work has taken her to different areas of the world, including Mozambique, Angola, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Philippines, Colombia, Jordan and the Occupied West Bank.
Valentina is presently a Senior Research Fellow at Western Sydney University (WSU) – Institute for Culture and Society, a member of WSU Young and Resilent Research Centre, and a Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales – School of the Arts and Media.
Connect with Valentina on LinkedIn 
or on Academia.edu.
