Global Meeting Examines Communication Strategies for a Better World

26 October 2006

ROME, Oct 25 (OneWorld) - Anti-poverty advocates and communications experts are meeting in Rome this week to examine how communications strategies can best promote global economic and social progress.

The first World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD) launched in Rome Wednesday with introspection deep in the minds of development professionals and communication experts on where communication fits in the development sector and whether communication strategies can be given credit for successful development programs.

Probably one of the answers to the vexed question of what makes for effective communication for development came from the Bhutanese Minister of Agriculture Sangay Ngedup. Effective communication for us has been listening to the people and understanding their problems. The leadership in my country has walked every single inch of the harsh terrain, sat with the people and ate food with them. Getting answers from the people of Bhutan has made for a good communications strategy.

The government of Bhutan has come up with a measurement of Gross National Happiness, said Ngedup, adding that "we have successfully protected our culture as well as our natural environment along with meeting our people's needs. In a recent census we found that nearly 97 percent of the people in the country are happy. It was only 3 percent who said that they were not happy.

The WCCD is looking at how communication contributes to better development effectiveness, which can impact the lives of people and communities in a positive way. It is also trying to ascertain if communication for development can be pushed into the mainstream media, an effort that could increase the reach and impact of development efforts worldwide.

Politicians and practitioners repeatedly pressed for a greater focus on people, local communities, and the grassroots when discussing their formulas for better communication.

According to Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron, an executive director at the Communication for Social Change Consortium, environment has been on the global agenda for over two decades [but] still not much has happened. On the contrary many governments have made natural devastation their national agenda. It seems the only communication that governments listen to is from corporates and that is a communication that goes against the environment.

He added that the latest buzzword is "participatory communication" but again for that to properly reflect the will of the world's people, organizations must ensure that their policies are right, their communication strategies are correct, and that they have the right staff to implement these strategies.

Speaking at one of the sessions, the director of the UN's Millennium Campaign, Salil Shetty, gave an overview of the recent Stand Up Against Poverty campaign, which made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest single coordinated movement of people in the history of the Guinness World Record.

The Millennium Campaign was started in 2002-2003 by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan when we realized that inequality was growing between countries as well as within countries," Shetty said. "It was a political issue that though the world has enough resources, people continue to be poor. We therefore built the campaign on three things: increase awareness on the Millennium Development Goals, build political will, and work with people to make governments accountable.

We realized that this was not going to be an easy task. We worked with communication experts and with advertising agencies to create messages that people would understand. We used celebrities and even Nelson Mandela joined us. Now we find that aid to the developing world has increased and debt cancellation has taken place. So, do we attribute this to the massive two-year global campaign that we launched or was it a natural global political process? The jury is still out."

The three-day WCCD was inaugurated by the Italian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Patrizia Sentinelli in the presence of hundreds of development practitioners, information and communication experts, and communicators from all over the world. The global meeting was organized by the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, and The Communication Initiative with the Government of Italy as the host.

User comments

"Global Meeting Examines Communication Strategies for a Better World"

Author: Govinda Rizal

Time: 26.10.2006 05:54

Comment: Lyanpo Sangay Ngedup from my country moved the audience in Rome and received the longest clap for saying only 3 percent of his people are not happy and rest are happy. Of course, happiness is a relative term, yet my government has taken good initiative to quantify it.

Our people drink water from streams, carrying it home takes hours; cooking gas and electrify are dreams though the latter is exported without distribution to the people. Children die of malnutrition and rats predominate in hospitals, lands are snatched from people for expressway, no justifiable compensation is made. Privatization has taken away the health and education of the people including children. Politically a lot of promises are distributed. We are waiting for the day somewhere in 2008 when we shall have better government. A lot of people affiliated to political movement are heard to have been exiled. A lot others are believed to be living in exile as refugees and wanting a return home.

Taxes are soaring up and facilities are falling low. Less than 30 percent of the children pass high school and less than 5 percent of the university going aged youth, graduate.

Yet when my minister says 97 percent of our people are happy in an international forum, my heart swell with pride.

"Global Meeting Examines Communication Strategies for a Better World"

Author: Govinda Rizal

Time: 26.10.2006 05:52

Comment: Lyanpo Sangye Nedup from my country moved the audience in Rome and received longest clap for saying only 3 percent of his people are not happy and rest are happy. Of course, happiness is a relative term, yet my government has taken good initiative to quantify it.

Our people drink water from streams, carrying it home takes hours; cooking gas and electrify are dreams though the latter is exported without distribution to the people. Children die of malnutrition and rats predominate in hospitals, lands are snatched from people for expressway, no justifiable compensation is made. Privatization has taken away the health and education of the people including children. Politically a lot of promises are distributed. We are waiting for the day somewhere in 2008 when we shall have better government. A lot of people affiliated to political movement are heard to have been exiled. A lot others are believed to be living in exile as refugees and wanting a return home.

Taxes are soaring up and facilities are falling low. Less than 30 percent of the children pass high school and less than 5 percent of the university going aged youth, graduate.

Yet when my minister says 97 percent of our people are happy in an international forum, my heart swell with pride.

"Global Meeting Examines Communication Strategies for a Better World"

Author: Govinda Rizal

Time: 26.10.2006 05:51

Comment: Lyanpo Kandu Wangchuk from my country moved the audience in Rome and received longest clap for saying only 3 percent of his people are not happy and rest are happy. Of course, happiness is a relative term, yet my government has taken good initiative to quantify it.

Our people drink water from streams, carrying it home takes hours; cooking gas and electrify are dreams though the latter is exported without distribution to the people. Children die of malnutrition and rats predominate in hospitals, lands are snatched from people for expressway, no justifiable compensation is made. Privatization has taken away the health and education of the people including children. Politically a lot of promises are distributed. We are waiting for the day somewhere in 2008 when we shall have better government. A lot of people affiliated to political movement are heard to have been exiled. A lot others are believed to be living in exile as refugees and wanting a return home.

Taxes are soaring up and facilities are falling low. Less than 30 percent of the children pass high school and less than 5 percent of the university going aged youth, graduate.

Yet when my minister says 97 percent of our people are happy in an international forum, my heart swell with pride.