Context of Communication for Development, 2004

This 26-page paper was presented at the 9th United Nations Roundtable on Communication for Development in Rome, Italy, September 2004. It examines recent global issues and trends shaping communication for social change in the 21st century. It argues that increased funding, improved leadership and strategic cohesion of communication resources are critical to reaching the Millennium Development Goals.

from the Introduction

"The importance of communication in the development process has been acknowledged for many years by the development community. FAO has spent at least thirty years pioneering and promoting - both in thinking and practice - the centrality of communication in development. The most essential ingredient of good communication - putting people at the centre of the communication process - has similarly been understood and documented for many years.

Despite this, the 2004 Communication for Development Roundtable takes place against a background where resources for communication activities continue to be difficult to mobilize, where strategic thinking and implementation of communication in development are going through a period of some confusion, including within several bilateral and multilateral agencies, and where development organizations continue to find it difficult to put people at the centre of the communication process. It also takes place at a time when the arguments for effective, professional and people-centred communication strategies have arguably never been as compelling.

This paper seeks to provide a brief overview of the context of development communication, particularly in terms of some key trends and events since the last Roundtable on Communication for Development in 2001, as well as a contextual link between the 2001 and 2004 roundtables. It does not claim to be comprehensive, and has sought to avoid duplication with some of the other papers prepared for the 2004 Roundtable. It falls into four sections.

First, it examines the development context, particularly focusing on the principle strategies now being deployed to meet the Millennium Development Goals, and the relevance of communication to these strategies. It also outlines some of the other key development challenges where particularly strong arguments can be made for the centrality of communication, with a focus on the subject of the last Roundtable, HIV/AIDS communication.

Second, it examines the changing communication environment and looks at some of the implications of these changes for current debates on communication.

Third, it briefly examines the context of funding and resources available for communication initiatives.

Finally it seeks to identify some of the main obstacles which need to be tackled if communication for development is to receive a substantially higher priority in international development strategies.

The specific issues of communication and sustainable development which form the main focus of the Roundtable are covered in detail in other papers prepared for this event and are only lightly covered in this paper. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and should not necessarily be taken as the views of FAO."