Background Note on Communication in Governance

This 6-page background note was prepared in the context of the October 2006 World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD) in Rome, Italy. Organised by the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and The Communication Initiative (The CI), this event brought together over 700 participants, many of whom were the authors of the 120 papers that were accepted as part of WCCD. (To learn more about the WCCD initiative, please see The Drum Beat #377).

Written by officials from the Information and Communication for Development team of the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Development Communication Division of the World Bank, this report provides an overview of the rationale for including governance as a WCCD theme. The authors "make the case that information and communication processes - and the media of communication - are a fundamental part of how governance systems operate in any political community. What is more, they are fundamental to the agenda of pro-poor social and political change." To do so, they use the following 3 levels of analysis:

1. The state and its organs - "Communication is pivotal to state effectiveness", making the general flow of information to members of the public - and the communication capacity among governmental officials that is required to do so effectively - crucial. In addition, the authors explain, there are various intra-governmental functions that depend on good communication flows, such as consensus building within the machinery of government (e.g., so that goals, values, and objectives can be "accepted system-wide").
2. State and civil society relations - The authors stress that "public opinion is the basis of political authority", implying a key role for information and communication. Since, for instance, as they claim, "democratic politics is a bewildering cacophony of voices", governments that engage in partnerships with various advocates can help to mobilise the public, provoking action. Civil society can assist in this regard by, for example, helping articulate guidelines related to freedom of speech, advances in media law, and access to information. Along these lines, the authors note that, "where there is free flow of information about public affairs and citizens engage in debate and discussion about the leading issues of the day you will have competent citizens who will not tolerate misrule. All the vital processes involved are information and communication processes." To facilitate this, the authors indicate that free, plural, and independent media systems have been shown to be key to secure accountability within governments.
3. The public and its problems - According to the authors, communication can play a role in shifting "the prejudices of the community", as well as in addressing "the problem of unity". In addition, citizens need information about the performance of their elected officials if they are to be able to hold them accountable. An alert, spirited, and well-informed public can, in short, influence the quality of governance.

The second portion of the report outlines several proposed sessions for the WCCD on the theme of communication in governance. Among the topics to be explored in the 6 sessions described here are: the role that communication could possibly play in securing political will for "pro-poor" programmes, the extent to which development leaders are actively working to strengthen the voice of the people in holding governments accountable, the question of how to fight corruption (e.g., by strengthening the media's role and capacity in this area), and the importance of transferring more knowledge (and, thus, power) to the public so that public institutions can be made transparent.

The authors also explain that communication for development has evolved beyond traditional propaganda and marketing, moving toward a greater emphasis on two-way communication flows, dialogue, and participation. Thus, a proposed WCCD session described here involves examining how best to forge agreement on international standards for pivotal aspects of this field, such as how to measure the effectiveness of communication for development programmes working to ensure good governance through strategies focusing on participation and transparency.

Click here to open or save the full document in MS Word format.