A presentation was given by officers from the Extension, Education and Communication Service (SDRE) of the Sustainable Development Department to draw the participants' attention to the importance of communication aspects, participation and a consultative process including all stakeholders: administration, private sector, researchers, etc.
The presentation was in three parts: Overview of communication for development, A participatory approach, by Lydda Gaviria; - A tool for information and communication campaigns: KAP study, an overview of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of concerned stakeholders, by J. Jallade; - A proposed strategy for developing the communication/extension components of the National Reports, by P. Van der Stichele.
The specialists in communication recommended that a first step consist in discussion with various stakeholders during separate meetings on the base of a simple discussion tool, i.e. booklet. In order to prepare the above-mentioned meetings, e.g. information sessions, the potential difficulties/ problems should first be evaluated.
It was in general agreed among the participants that a good strategy for communication is important: to convince concerned stakeholders, to remove fear of change among fishery people and, obviously, later in the extension process for new/improved technologies to be used by industries; it was even observed that without giving appropriate attention to the perception and opinion of directly concerned stakeholders, misunderstanding of the real problem to be dealt with during the project could occur.
