During this session the UN organizations provided a brief overview of their ongoing activities on Communication for Development since the last Roundtable in Nicaragua.
FAO has over thirty years of experience in the field of communication to support agriculture and rural development. In 1969 FAO pioneered the first UN Development Support Communications Unit, now called the Communication for Development Group within the Extension, Education and Communication Service. The priorities of the Group are to assist the FAO member countries to develop and implement effective communication policies, strategies and approaches using a variety of media, from traditional media to ICTs in the area of agriculture and sustainable rural development.
Since the 8th UN Roundtable on Communication for Development, FAOs Communication for Development Group has implemented projects and project components in the Near East, Asia, Africa and Latin America providing communication strategies and policies on rural development; and on how to mitigate HIV/AIDS in the agriculture sector. They have established a priority sector on Communication and Natural Resource management (NRM); and developed a new programme, Bridging the Rural Digital Divide (BRDD) which is a joint partnership between the Communication for Development Group (SDRE) and the Library and information Systems division (GILF). Through this programme FAO provides technical assistance, resulting in greater synergies and improved efficiency, using ICTs and traditional media such as Rural Radio and lastly; Building New Partnerships in the field of development Communication WB, CTA, IDRC, DFID, GTZ, the Italian Government, AIF Universities, CI, URTNA.
This is the first time the organization has been represented at one of these Roundtables. IFAD is a specialized UN agency dedicated to fighting rural poverty. It provides financing in the form of loans to governments, and works to upscale lessons learned through projects and programmes to influence policy-makers.
IFAD's work is crucial to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, because more than two-thirds of the world's extremely poor people live in rural areas of developing countries.
IFAD is demand driven and participatory. Everything IFAD does must ultimately strengthen the ability of rural poor people to lead their own development.
It is therefore looking at how Communication for Development can help to achieve that goal. The aim over the next two years is to develop an IFAD strategy for Communication for Development, which will be presented for comment at the next Roundtable. The process to develop the strategy will include piloting Communication for Development in IFAD projects, and promoting learning on Communication for Development in the organization.
UNDP have dedicated project resources to communication and there has been a rethinking of technical cooperation. There has been training of representatives in communication. There was a recent meeting organized in Dakar called “Young Leaders” which helped participants to communicate among themselves but also through the Internet. UNDP hope to do the same in Asia, Europe and Latin America. UNDP has been part of “Africa 2015”; an initiative to complement and intensify the efforts made by UN agencies, groups in civil society and governmental organizations to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa. People from the music world have been part of this initiative and the famous Senegalese singer Baaba Maal has been raising awareness of the fight against HIV/AIDS.
UNDP has a new project “Eco for the World” for which it is seeking partnership. This would link up with the NGO sector as a form of “edutainment”. The project would be using the Web, SMS focusing on MDG Goal seven. There is a TV series starting in January featuring eco-heroes highlighting how people can make a difference in terms of the environment.
The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 was a pivotal event and the environmental voice of the UN system. UNEP's work with CSP has meant it is a lot more development oriented and Agenda 21, the Millennium Development Goals have been integrated into all its activities. The environmental pillar should not be forgotten in the question of sustainable development; issues such as the growth of agriculture and its development impact on the environment are not tackled enough. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment will be addressing such issues (an international work program designed to meet the needs of decision-makers and the public for scientific information concerning the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being, and options for responding to those changes).
The issue of urban community development has not really been addressed in the papers tabled at the Roundtable in Rome; however this should be reflected in deliberations. Also, people should not underestimate the role of mass media. UNEP is doing more and more audiovisual work, working with TVE getting outputs on national and global channels.
UNESCO's approach to the implementation of Communication for Development projects is based on its unique mandate on communication and the guiding principle of Article 19 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Freedom of expression and a free flow of information are necessary preconditions for people to participate in their own development. For this purpose, UNESCO supports various advisory groups and networks and promotes freedom of expression. The celebration of World Press Freedom Day (May 3) and the award of the UNESCO/Guillermo prize are two global activities that UNESCO implements. In addition, it supports national level efforts to develop an enabling environment for a free and pluralistic media. UNESCO made a significant contribution during the WSIS to retain the freedom of expression as a core value in using ICTs.
Capacity building is the pillar of freedom of expression and forms the backbone of all of UNESCO's actions in Communication for Development. The key focus strategy is based on priorities that seek to promote, advocate, train and support an enabling environment for media development. Communication for Development is obtained by nurturing an enabling environment and providing access to various traditional and new information and communication technologies.
This includes promoting a pluralistic media, advocacy, legislation and policy formulation, journalistic training for developing countries and supporting local production and programme exchange initiatives to ensure that the voice of local people is reflected through the media.
The International Programme for the Development of Communication is the only multilateral forum in the UN system designed to mobilize media development support. This grant facility supports projects that promote freedom of expression with a focus on community media and human resource development. The programme has disbursed US$ 90 million since its inception in 1980 to more than 1000 media projects in 135 developing countries worldwide and has been instrumental in promoting community radio in Africa and Asia.
As part of the follow up to 8th Communication Roundtable and response to HIV/AIDS, a compendium offering different perspectives and approaches to development communication has been published under the title “Approaches to Development Communication”. A similar publication has been produced under the title “Research on ICT and Poverty Reduction in South Asia”. A broader emphasis on HIV/AIDS has been introduced to UNESCO's regular programme in the Communication and Information Sector both at headquarter and field office levels. In addition to regional and sub-regional training programmes on improving journalistic knowledge and research skills on the science of HIV/AIDS, UNESCO is mobilizing a worldwide network of young television producers as a capacity building exercise against stigma and discrimination. Other initiatives include a resource mapping activity on HIV/AIDS communication.
At global, regional and country levels, in the area of Communication for Development, UNICEF worked across the five organizational Medium Term Strategic Plan priorities. In particular, there is a stronger focus on the participatory dimension of communication. Specific achievements in the policy area are the development of community engagement and advocacy components of the WHO/UNICEF/UNAIDS Guidelines on Infant Feeding and HIV, UNICEF/WHO Prevention of Mother-to-Child (PMTCT) Scale Up Strategy, UNICEF Nutrition of People Living with HIV/AIDS and UNICEF's contribution to the revision of Communication for Development guidelines (with UNESCO and other UN agencies).
In house, the technical programme developed guidelines on how to work with faith-based leaders on immunization, and developed communication strategies for girls' education, ECD and FGM.
In terms of its programmes, UNICEF developed a strategy for a human rights approach to Communication and Community Capacity Development for Social Change, in the context of HIV/AIDS (East and Southern Africa); worked on social mobilization for accelerated polio initiatives in Nigeria and India; on communication for a post-war Afghanistan Immunization Programme. In the area of HIV/AIDS, as part of the PMTCT Communication (UNAIDS funds for community level initiatives) UNICEF developed tools for baseline assessment, initiating and sustaining community dialogue and local planning, facilitated development of 12 national PMTCT communication strategies, development and global field testing of support materials for infant feeding and PMTCT related information and counselling. It also initiated community Dialogue in support of Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses, Early Childhood Development in Malawi, IMCI/Uganda, Young People Programmes in Ethiopia and supported TOSTAN community involvement project on FGM in Senegal.
Finally, as part of the “Right to Know Initiative” UNICEF conducted working groups on participatory assessment and communication strategy planning methodologies for HIV/AIDS prevention among adolescents and young people in 14 countries.
In-house capacity building included communication capacity assessments in four regions and the development of a communication capacity-building strategy in the Eastern and Southern Africa Region (ESAR).
A number of partnerships were formed, including an MOU with Johns Hopkins and The Communication Initiative; a JHU SCOPE strategic communication planning model adapted to UNICEF and WHO needs for HIV/AIDS Communication in the context of the 3 x 5 Treatment Access Initiative; and finally, JHU-UNICEF joint development of indicators for facility-based interpersonal communication linked with immunization in India.
The World Bank has tried to mainstream development communication by setting up units and incorporating it onto programmes. There has been substantial public polling by sector and country. Corruption keeps coming up as the number one impediment to development.
The WB has helped put a chapter in a resource book on PRSPs. Its work on communication in community development is soon to be published. In HIV/AIDS there is agreement that all programmes should have a communication component. The WB has been working on global distance learning (teleconferences) utilizing it for working groups, learning events and bringing people together.
WFP has reshaped and streamlined their communication programmes. There is improved communication to beneficiaries, donors, local workers and other UN agencies. They have moved to develop a new approach to local and new media e.g. Internet with a better website. They have also been developing partnerships with other UN agencies. WFP believe that schools are the key places in the field where partnerships could be developed. They have been working with UNICEF and UNAIDS on a new programme on guidance and coordination on HIV/AIDS matters. They are also working with FAO on a school garden project.
One case study can serve as an example. WFP have developed a programme in Latin America called the “Latin American School Feeding Network” which is a good example of Communication for Development. Together with the American School Food Service Association and the government of Chile, a network has been set up to strengthen and expand Latin American school feeding and child nutrition programs by connecting parents, teachers, government officials, the food industry and nutrition and education groups. The network enables members to share best practices, health and education information, relevant research through the Internet and conferences. WFP would like to expand this model and have just started a similar network in Asia and have plans to do the same in Africa.
In terms of Communication for Development WHO have hundreds of messages to communicate. They have mostly been communicating `to' rather than `with'.
HIV/AIDS – in conjunction with the 3 x 5 programme, there is a huge communication component but the progress is slower than anticipated. WHO acknowledges the importance of Communication for Development on a community level. They have a network of country offices (120) whose size and capacity differs greatly. They have one full time (short term) staff member dedicated to Communication for Development. It was acknowledged that this was not sustainable. There is supposed to be a report going out to the Secretary General put together by UNESCO.
In a separate short meeting representatives from FAO, IFAD, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO, and the World Bank met to organize the next Roundtable and to discuss mechanisms for coordination and follow-up.
UNESCO proposed that UN agencies would collaborate in one major project to be implemented between now and the next Roundtable. It was agreed that one or two of the MDGs would be selected as a focus for the development of a joint communication proposal. It was agreed that UNESCO and UNICEF would provide an outline of this proposal.
UNESCO is willing to host the 10th UN Roundtable in September 2006 and will consult with other agencies regarding the theme of the meeting. Follow-up on the recommendations of the 9th Roundtable will be made jointly by FAO and UNESCO. As in the past, the reports of all Roundtables will be compiled by UNESCO and presented to the Secretary General of the UN.
