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Communications Play Vital Role In Development, UN-Backed Conference Told

October 26, 2006
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“The vital role played by communication in development topped the agenda of a United Nations-backed conference that opened on Wednesday, with a warning that rapid advance in technology risked widening the gap between those with access to cell phones and the Internet and the one billion of the world's population without. …

The three-day event - the First World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD) - is jointly organized by FAO, the World Bank and The Communication Initiative partnership, and is hosted by the Government of Italy at FAO's Rome headquarters. It will examine the role of communication in speeding progress in the specific fields of poverty reduction, food security, health, governance and sustainable development, illustrate the wealth of innovative and creative communications work now taking place, and urge that a communications component be included in all new development projects. …” [UzReport.com (Uzbekistan)/Factiva]

“… ‘To communicate means to do something together, to participate and therefore to share, and it is essential to win the fight against poverty,’ underlined the Italian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Patrizia Sentinelli, who took part in the first day of the congress as a representative of the Italian government, together with the Minister for the Environment, Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio. ‘Communication helps cooperation become more effective, continued Sentinelli, and is an opportunity for dialogue, confrontation and growth which is indispensable to build transparent and concrete development policies.’ …” [Agenzia Giornalistica Italia/Factiva]

“… In an opening speech, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said communication and sustainable development are closely bound. The rapid development of information communication technologies was speeding economic growth across the world and creating a global marketplace, Diouf said. The pace, he warned, risked widening the gap between those with access to cell phones and the Internet, and those without. ‘By extension the danger is to further widen the divide between all those who eat three meals a day and the 854 million who count themselves lucky to get one,’ he said. The traditional media such as radio, video, film, music, and theater were also important in spreading knowledge and promoting development, Diouf said. Effective communication had the potential to change the lives of millions by ‘planting the seeds of knowledge, and hope, among the world's poor,’ he concluded. …” [Xinhua (China)/Factiva]

“… Among the delegates attending is Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture, Francesco Rutelli, while World Bank President, Paul Wolfowitz, and Nobel Economic Prize winner, Joseph Stiglitz will participate via videoconference. The Congress concludes Friday, October 27 after the approval of a set of recommendations for policy-makers, development practitioners, NGO representatives and communication professionals.” [Agencia Mexicana de Noticias, NOTIMEX/Factiva] // World Bank

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