First of all, let me welcome you to the The Ninth UN Roundtable on Communication for Development on behalf of Mr. Jacques Diouf, Director General of FAO.
This United Nations Roundtable represents an excellent example of interagency collaboration and of partnership between the UN and other institutions.
When FAO accepted the responsibility for organizing and hosting this event, it was determined right from the outset that the 2004 Rome Roundtable would be an open forum to include institutions and groups which are not part of the United Nations system.
We firmly believe that today, more than ever, the UN must strengthen its relationship with civil society and the private sector. This approach is also in line with initiatives by the UN Secretary General who recently launched the Global Compact Leaders Summit and the UN Fund for International Partnerships to promote new UN partnerships and alliances with companies and foundations as well as bilateral and multilateral donors.
Since they started 15 years ago, Communication for Development Roundtables were conceived as informal fora to bring together UN agencies, donors and practitioners to share progress, harmonize approaches and develop partnership arrangements. The same spirit prevails today because the common theme of Communication for Development lies at the heart of the challenge: To involve people in the process of their own development.
Roundtables meet every two years under the leadership of a United Nations agency selected by rotation. The present Roundtable was originally scheduled for 2003 but was shifted to 2004 in order to accommodate three key events that took place in 2003 – the Executive Council and General Conferences of UNESCO and FAO, and the World Summit on the Information Society. They have in various ways contributed to shaping the agenda of today's meeting.
At the 8th Roundtable coordinated by UNFPA with the Rockefeller Foundation, UNESCO and the Panos Institute and held in Nicaragua, participants identified the main theme for the 9th Roundtable to be on “Communication and Sustainable Development”.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Sustainable Development Department in particular, is honoured by the responsibility to organize this meeting as communication is a key component to sustainable agricultural and rural development. We believe that sustainable development goals can only be achieved if knowledge and information are effectively shared by rural people and supporting local organizations.
FAO has over thirty years of experience in the field of communication in support of agriculture and rural development. In fact, in 1969 FAO became a pioneer in the United Nations system when it established a unit dedicated to Communication for Development.
Throughout our experience in the field worldwide, we have learnt that Communication for Development approaches and methods can effectively contribute to fostering people's participation in identifying and articulating needs and decision-making processes affecting their lives. We have also learnt that by giving a voice to rural people, development workers, local authorities and national decision-makers, we can also help in policy acceptance processes, in mobilizing people for participation and action and in disseminating new ideas, practices and technology. Most importantly, communication methods and tools can help overcome barriers of literacy, language, cultural differences and physical isolation.
We hope that this forum will provide a fertile environment for debate and reflection on world trends, priorities and challenges related to Communication for Development which currently impact sustainable development. There is an urgent need to refine existing strategies or find new ones to implement communication for sustainable development programmes at community and local levels; to measure the impact of communication for sustainable development; and to formulate appropriate policy options in support of communication for sustainable development.
This meeting can also have an impact in clarifying the potential of Communication for Development in reaching the Millennium Development Goals, particularly those goals defined by the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society.
During the next three days your work will focus on three key themes – Communication for Natural Resource Management, Communication for Isolated and Marginalized Groups and Communication in Research, Extension and Education. We look forward to your recommendations and guidance on how to move forward in those three areas to achieve sustainable development.
In concluding my intervention I would like to thank those partners who joined FAO in the organization of the Roundtable and whose support enabled many participants from the South to attend. Our deepest gratitude goes to UNESCO, the World Bank, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Panos Institute and the Italian Government.
It is a very special pleasure for me, as a representative of the Directorate General for Development Cooperation of the Government of Italy, to open this Ninth UN Roundtable on Communication for Development, which is being hosted by FAO, and address a very warm welcome in Rome to all the participants to this important event.
I would like to express my satisfaction in acknowledging that the growing interest for this subject within the United Nations is in line with the importance that our Government attaches to the role of communication in general. In this respect I would like to recall that the Italian Government has reserved a session on “The role of Communication in the Development Cooperation” during a one-week Meeting illustrating the different aspects of the Italian Government, which recently took place in Rimini.
In the framework of the FAO-Italy Cooperative Programme, one of the main sectors has traditionally been Communication for Development. In recent years we have financed a number of projects, among which I would like to recall here the project “Development Support Communication for Southern Africa”, benefiting the countries of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), which was instrumental in establishing the Regional Centre of Communication for Development; and a similar regional project in Latin America called “Comunicación para el Desarrollo en América Latina”.
I would also like to make a specific reference to an ongoing project in Bolivia, which is capitalizing on the experience gained in previous international projects, because it represents for us a sign of a renewed interest in this sector. The project, which is contributing to the establishment of a Centre for Natural Resources Management in Bolivia, counts on the participation of Italian Universities and NGOs.
We are very pleased to have contributed to the financing of the present Roundtable, as a confirmation of the interest of the Italian Government in the crucial and innovative role that the United Nations and specialized agencies can play in this sector. This vision of Communication for Development as a process which facilitates information, training and participation is now shared by different UN and bilateral agencies.
This is the occasion for me to reiterate the interest and commitment of the Government of Italy to the decisive role of Communication in promoting human development and its importance to implement successful development initiatives.
In recent years, it has become evident that investments in scientific and material inputs for food security and rural development, bear little fruit without parallel investments in communicating the knowledge and information needed by farmers to put production inputs to best use. In poor rural areas, where agricultural productivity is low and unreliable and there is food insecurity, better information and knowledge exchange can play an important role in reducing poverty, but these have to be adequately shared among the end users according to their needs, values and languages through Communication for Development activities.
The systematic use of Communication can support development initiatives by giving a voice to relevant stakeholders such as rural people, development workers, local authorities and national decision-makers. Communication methods and media help to overcome barriers of literacy, language, cultural differences and physical isolation, enabling sustainable development.
Furthermore, in recent years it has also been demonstrated that a Communication for Development approach, based on the definition of local contents and the use of conventional media such as rural radio, is essential to bridge the rural “digital divide” and to provide universal information access to rural population.
We consider that Communication for Development initiatives need to be strengthened through a more active collaboration within the UN agencies and an improved coordination among donors.
We hope that this 9th UN Roundtable will be a milestone to establish alliances and partnerships to build capacities in developing countries and enhance the results at the field level. On our side, we will look forward to the conclusions and recommendations of the Roundtable.
Thank you very much.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of the UN Communication Roundtable and the significant role it has to play in bringing together UN agencies and international non-UN partners to discuss and debate the very broad, challenging, and crucial role and practice of communication in development.
Allow me to provide you with a brief history of the UN Communication Roundtable and why it is so significant to our work.
When it was first introduced, in the late 1980s as a UN interagency collaboration mechanism, there was no common definition or understanding of Communication for Development. This raised the need for coordination among each of the UN agencies. At the time UN agencies themselves were rarely aware of each others objectives largely due to their focus on the individual policies that reflected their work and guided their operational programmes and projects.
Many attempts were made to harmonize the situation and by 1994, a Joint Inspection Unit was designated to consult with the agencies and provide recommendations on how communication could better integrate in the work of the agencies and programmes and what future direction it could realistically take. The Joint Inspection Unit was careful not to confuse the technical means of communication, such as telecommunications and informatics, with the conceptual category of communication. It studied the relevance and importance of Communication for Development. Its recommendations allowed the evolution of an informal Roundtable to grow into a better organized system of coordination. I quote from the original recommendation “...the existing Informal Roundtable process should be regularized. It should include all United Nations agencies, the regional economic commissions of the United Nations and take into account the mandate of UNESCO on communication.”
In support of the recommendations, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 50/171 in 1995 (and subsequently resolution 51/172 to which FAO provided its input), requesting the UN Secretary General in consultation with the Director General of UNESCO to report to the General Assembly on the implementation of the UN Communication Roundtable on a biennial basis. Later, the agencies agreed amongst themselves that the chairmanship of the Roundtable would be implemented on a rotational basis.
In 1996, on the initiative of UNESCO, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on “Communication for Development”, which, inter alia, “stresses the need to support two-way communication systems that enable dialogue and that allow communities to speak out, express their aspirations and concerns and participate in the decisions that relate to their development”. The General Assembly “recognized the relevance for concerned actors, ...policy-makers and decision-makers to attribute increased importance to Communication for Development and encouraged them to include it ...as an integral component in the development of projects and programmes”.
Each Roundtable has somewhat followed a theme in order to limit discussions and to avoid inflating the agenda.
In 1996 the 6th Roundtable met in Harare to discuss Communication for Development. Its recommendations – that communication should no longer be seen as an isolated issue but rather as an integral component in every development project or programme that should provide people with the skills and techniques that allow them to communicate and to voice their opinions and aspirations – had an impact on the way we work and on the direction many of us have taken.
In 1998 in Brazil, the 7th Roundtable recommended the establishment of a Task Force on Communication for Social Change and Development.
The 8th Roundtable, in 2001, took place in Nicaragua against a backdrop of a rapidly transforming international response to HIV/AIDS.
In a nutshell, the UN Communication Roundtable has succeeded in bringing recognition to grassroots needs, justifying the need for resource mobilization, and emphasizing the importance of human rights and has achieved recognition for its purpose – mobilizing the participation of the international community at large; supporting increased human capacity in communication; and securing resources that contribute towards the growth of Communication for Development.
I will rapidly conclude by emphasising a few key points which I would like us all to keep in mind during the next few days as we brainstorm solutions to the challenges we must meet.
I would like to remind you that communication is a means to sustainable development, not an end in itself. The role of communication in the development process is to make people conscious of the reality of their situation and to make them aware that they have the power to change their social realities. It assumes that people are equal, that they have a right to knowledge and culture, and that they can criticize their situation and act on it. It also implies having faith in the capacity of all people, including the illiterates, to discuss intelligently about social issues.
I would also like to draw to your attention that the right to freedom of expression is a prerequisite for grassroots communities to enjoy their other rights. To participate in their own development, people must be free to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas”, as stated in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I cannot emphasize enough that without the guarantee of freedom of expression, vital processes such as participatory communication will be hindered from effectively pursuing social dialogue, securing ownership of development efforts. These liberties can only lead to the adoption of new attitudes and behaviours that can gradually empower people in strengthening the democratic process.
Hand in hand with the freedom of expression is the need for an independent and pluralistic media. This means that media should be free of any political or commercial influence and should serve a public service to citizens with the aim of informing, educating and entertaining.
I trust that this gathering will make an extra effort to contribute one more step into the future by producing innovative ideas, recommending creative solutions and putting into perspective that our world can most certainly be a better place – like you, I hope, I am happy to be here to continue this process.
Ms Ndiaye thanked FAO for inviting CTA to the Roundtable. She emphasized the longstanding cooperation between CTA and the institutions of the UN system and in particular the FAO which has enabled CTA to carry out its many communication activities. The ACP members account for 12 percent of the world's population and 25 percent of those living in poverty!
The CTA works to support and build capacities within ACP governments, organizations, training institutes and NGOs, amongst others, to generate information and communications in support of agriculture. A good reason for CTA to participate in the 9th UN Roundtable on Communication for Development is that the institution is in the process of revisiting its communication strategy with a contribution from some participants at the Roundtable. CTA expects from the debates an update on the evolution of concepts and practices in Communication for Development and how this can influence its future strategies. Ms Ndiaye also mentioned that on the occasion of its 20th anniversary celebrated last June, CTA has adopted the motto “Sharing knowledge, improving livelihoods”.
In addition, CTA aims to strengthen the capacity to generate information and communication in ACP organizations in the field of agriculture and rural development, and to support these organizations in order to conceive and carry out agricultural policies necessary for the autonomy of the ACP states. This means looking at poverty reduction, promotion of sustainable food security and the preservation of natural resources.
In practice, this involves the creation of a substantial database of donors and contacts;
the use of both ICTs and traditional means of communication to bring together those involved in this areas in the ACP countries and to facilitate contact with third parties such as multilateral and bilateral agencies, including the EU; the creation of the role of reliable intermediary between the ACP states and those of the EU; the creation of the capacity to reach the grassroots with tools that are flexible and with well targeted interventions.
Strategies include: programmes responding to demand; promotion of innovations e.g. the use of CDs; integration of the different tools of communication; giving priority to ACP actors and institutions; research into equalizing geographical differences. As well as an extensive website, CTA offers print publications, rural radio packs, thematic portals, Question and Answer papers, sponsoring for seminars and study visits etc.
The World Bank's first formal partnership on Communication for Development was with the FAO so I am very pleased to be here today.
The World Bank is about change; and change cannot happen without communication. Communication is very important to the Bank, which has expanded the ways it is doing communication and the places where it is doing it – currently in 70 LDCs and 10 developing countries. The Bank does not implement projects itself but runs operational support for developing countries. We are clear that a project can't achieve success without communication; that money and advice alone are not enough.
There are four pillars of the World Bank's policy on Communication for Development:
I think the past few days have reaffirmed the need to continue using the UN Communication Roundtable as an opportunity for bringing together partners and stakeholders of the UN specialised agencies and programmes. The discussions that were generated around the background papers and the resulting recommendations are a valuable asset to our thinking and will serve as a guiding tool that may help us, the UN agencies, to improve our performance in Communication for Development both collectively and through our individual mandates.
In relation to this, I would like to thank FAO once again for having taken a lead in organizing this year's Roundtable. I especially appreciate the way the team, led by Esther Zulberti and Jean Pierre Ilboudo, have carried out their task – professionally, charismatically, and patiently – the logistics has been run so smoothly that it is almost easy to forget that so much time and hard work has been invested in the organizing process. The report on the proceedings of this Roundtable will be prepared and distributed by FAO. Please do join me in giving the FAO team a round of applause!
The UN agencies present at this meeting have already agreed to confirm their participation in the 10th UN Communication Roundtable which will take place in 2006, possibly under another specific development related theme that will no doubt invite the participation of international and grassroots partners and stakeholders. The numbers will of course depend on the amount of funding that the agencies are able to mobilize and pool together. In the meantime, it will be useful to have a regular and somewhat consistent collaboration among the UN agencies and programmes using the mandate of our individual organizations to address specific areas of focus.
A UN interagency meeting took place yesterday to discuss some of these issues and we have reached an agreement that FAO, in close collaboration with UNESCO and others, will closely follow up on the recommendations that have been generated from this meeting.
We hope that UNESCO will host the 10th Roundtable which is tentatively scheduled for September 2006. The next meeting will no doubt be organized in close consultation with UN agencies, programmes and partner organizations. We shall make an extra effort to bring out the perspective of our respective agencies so that we can address Communication for Development issues from a well-rounded and holistic view point. Funds permitting, we hope to engage a similar level of participation from the academic, NGO and civil society sectors.
On behalf of UNESCO, I would like to welcome the World Bank to join the UN agencies in maintaining a dialogue, so that our efforts can be constructively complemented by the Bank's approach and thinking in response to development and possibly in the organizing of the proposed Congress.
I would like to briefly take a moment to remind you about something that you already know – Communication for Development is a profession that is vast and multilayered and it is expected to respond to complex and specific issues that range from interpersonal communications at the grassroots level, to a diverse and pluralistic media at the national level. While many of our frustrations are well founded because we cannot adequately measure the richness we can offer the world in terms of knowledge and experience in communication theory and practice. I hope we have all enjoyed during the past few days, the presence and experience of long-standing academics, creative and vibrant practitioners, motivated donors, dedicated research partners, project managers and implementers. I hope that together we can celebrate the belief that Communication for Development is a way of obtaining democracy, peace and justice in this rapidly changing world.
I thank you all very much for sharing your time and knowledge so capably and am honoured to have had the opportunity to meet many of you as part of this Roundtable!
I believe that the debate, discussion and discourse that we have shared during the past few days serves as a very important reminder that our work is crucial for:
I very much hope that this year's Roundtable has introduced some kind of momentum that is common in our approach to development and that will allow us to network amongst each other almost immediately after this event so that some joint action can take place. Of course, no miracle solutions have been introduced, rather, this is a process that will remain fuelled by our own enthusiasm to serve a collective purpose that can have a direct impact on the lives of the people who need us most.
On behalf of UNESCO, I would like to thank the Italian Government, the World Bank, IDRC, and CTA for the financial contribution they have made to this meeting without which it would have been impossible to envisage the level of participation we have enjoyed during the past few days.
