<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="DE">Liebe FoMe Liste,</span><b style=""><span style="" lang="DE"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style=""><span style="" lang="DE"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="DE">Mit dem Beitrag über den WCCD möchte ich einige Eindrücke von diesem
Kongress teilen – wie es bereits von Christoph Spurk begonnen wurde. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="DE">Mein Name ist Andreas Mandler, ich bin im Moment in der Communication for
Development Group der FAO in Rom als Volunteer beschäftigt. Mein fachliches
Interesse gilt den laendlichen Kommunikationsstrukturen und der Situation
der Medien in Zentralasien. Ausserdem beschaeftige ich mich mit dem Zustand der
nationalen landwirtschaftlichen Forschungseinrichtungen in Zentral- und
Osteuropa (inklusive des Kaukasus und Zentralasiens). </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="DE"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style=""><span style="" lang="DE"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="">The first World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD),
October 25 – 27, 2006</b><span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I am very thankful for Christoph
Spurk's analysis of the WCCD. To his remarks on the congress, I would like to
give some additional impressions, because I believe it is essential to further
discuss the outcomes of the WCCD. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">As main achievements of the
Congress I would consider: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">- overall promotion and
visibility of the role of communication in development projects and initiatives
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">- intensified debate about the
role of communication for development (ComDev) among different development
cooperation (DC) institutions </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">- the promotion of ComDev as a
separate discipline inside the institutions was strengthened </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">- the value added of use of
ComDev in DC projects was shown through various case studies and provided
evidences (to a certain extend)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">As main constraints I would
consider:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">- the lack of a common agreement
on<span style=""> </span>a durable definition of ComDev</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">- scientific
inputs/ papers were not given the proper space and attention within the
congress</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">- the lack of time to discuss the
final document, which led to limited participation in the debate and rather
synthetic final recommendations. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The congress was jointly
organised by FAO, the World Bank and the Communication Initiative. Each
organisation coordinated the preparation of a thematic stream, which reflected
the overall expertise of each of these organisations in the particular domains
addressed. It was the intention of the congress to bring together academia,
practitioners and policy-makers to join the discussions related to 4 broad
thematic areas: Communication in Health, Communication in Good Governance, and
Communication for Sustainable Development. In addition, special events were
also organized to cover other relevant issues, such as indigenous people,
sustainable tourism, avian flu etc. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">However, one must admit that the
Congress seemed to be more focused on decision- and policy makers than on the
exchange of knowledge and experiences among academicians and ComDev
practitioners, whose contribution was often marginalized. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">While the focus was on policy and
decision makers in order to convince them for the extended need to
mainstream ComDev into development polices and programs, the actual definition
of the subject and theoretical approaches were mostly left aside. So the
original</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">scientific approach turned in a
political one. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Consequentially the congress
journal announced the aim to endorse and support the mainstreaming of the
discipline ComDev. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Considering that, it becomes
clear why there was more emphasis on policymakers and decision-makers. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Even since the concept of the
WCCD switched, I consider the reluctance of the participants not to deal more
with ComDev theories than they actually did, as a sign for other priorities.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Also the practitioners used the
WCCD as a place to express claims for the political will to bring ComDev more
into the centre of the DC, to strengthen institutional support and donor
attention. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">This new emphasis on concrete
output and action plan was underlined by the heavy presence of Media such as
RAI and BBC, who actually were responsible for 2 single sessions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Related to the preparation of the
WCCD, FAO expectations were explained in a preparatory Communication for Sustainable
Development document ( see: <a href="http://www.devcomm.org/worldbank/admin/uploads/WCCD%20Files/CSDFin4.doc">http://www.devcomm.org/worldbank/admin/uploads/WCCD%20Files/CSDFin4.doc</a><span style=""> </span>)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">As identified in the document,
FAO objectives to the WCCD were the following:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">•<span style=""> </span>Discuss
the theoretical foundations and methodological approaches applied in practice.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">•<span style=""> </span>Provide
data and evidence of the impact of communication in development projects and
programs.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">•<span style=""> </span>Demonstrate
the value-added of Communication for Development.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">•<span style=""> </span>Reflect
on how to incorporate communication into development policy and practice.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">At least the first point on that
agenda was underrepresented in comparison to the others. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">One may notice that even if
theoretical approaches were on the agenda of the Congress co-organizers and
participants, the aspect of mainstreaming the discipline of ComDev became
dominant. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The emphasis on that aspect is
also expressed in the final document "The Rome Consensus" were the actual
definition of ComDev is quite short. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">"Communication
for Development is a social process based on dialogue using a broad range of
tools and methods. It is also about seeking change at different levels
including listening, building trust, sharing knowledge and skills, building policies,
debating and learning for sustained and meaningful change. It is not public
relations or corporate communication."<span style="">
</span>(<a href="http://www.devcomm.org/worldbank/vpr/index.asp">http://www.devcomm.org/worldbank/vpr/index.asp</a>
)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">More attention is provided to
best practices, challenges, strategic requirements, long term foundation and
recommendations. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">However, this document is being
enriched with recommendations and concluding remarks from each of the sessions,
and will be finalized and made available by December 2006. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">(see: <a href="http://www.devcomm.org/">www.devcomm.org</a> )</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">However one recognizes the
priorities of the WCCD, the questions for a definition of ComDev, its
methodology and its evaluation remain. More theoretical knowledge would
strengthen the discipline substantially. At present, I regard it as essential
to relate theoretical ComDev models to a strict defined region. In any case,
this debate also has to clear, to which extent ComDev is a science. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Please comment freely!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">With best regards, </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Andreas Mandler</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="IT">mail: </span><span style="" lang="IT"><a href="mailto:andreas.mandler@googlemail.com">andreas.mandler@googlemail.com</a></span><span style="" lang="IT">
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="IT">FAO Rome</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Sustainable
Development</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Extension,
Education and Communication Service</span></p>