October 2006
25-27 October 2006
Rome, Italy
Communication is a key component of agricultural and rural development. Sustainable development goals can only be achieved if knowledge and information are effectively shared by rural people and supporting agencies. Communication for development approaches and methods are effective tools for fostering peoples’ participation in identifying and articulating needs and decision making processes affecting their lives.
The systematic use of communication can support development initiatives by:
Communication methods and tools used for development purposes can help overcome barriers of literacy, language, cultural differences and physical isolation. They are powerful tools to inform and educate people about new ideas and technical innovations, as well as to foster greater collaboration in research, training, extension and education interventions.
FAO has over thirty years of experience in the field of communication to support agriculture and rural development. In 1969 FAO become a pioneer in the UN system when it was establishing a Development Support Communications (DSC) Branch. Many of the innovations in communication policy, approaches and methodologies used by UN agencies, governments and non-governmental organizations were developed and tested by FAO.
In 1994 the DSC branch was merged into the Extension, Education and Communication Service (SDRE) with the name of Communication for Development Group, including a core group of communication for development professionals.
Over the years, the Communication for Development Group has implemented hundreds of projects and project components in the Near East, Asia, Africa and Latin America with a variety of partners from Governments, other UN agencies, International Development Organizations, NGOs and universities. Several communication systems and training centres have been established which ensure support to communication for development initiatives at the field level.
The Communication for Development Group provides assistance to FAO member countries to develop and implement effective communication policies, strategies, approaches, media and systems in support of sustainable rural development especially those falling within FAO’s mandate (eg. food security, agriculture, forestry, fishery, nutrition, natural resource management, etc.). Priorities identified by member states are:
The Communication for Development Group places a strong emphasis on the use of participatory communication methods and tools such as: participatory rural radio for community involvement and to reach remote areas; multi-media packages for awareness campaigns; video for training and to enhance participation; Internet based networks for linking researchers, extension agents, educators and farmer groups providing new information sources, local media to support rural learning systems.
FAO has a long tradition in executing communication for development projects in the field. Currently, FAO manages around 50 projects and project components in the Near East, Asia, Africa and Latin America, in collaboration with Governments, UN agencies, donors and NGOs.
Radio is one of the most widespread and popular tools of communication in developing countries. Radio is an effective medium for addressing issues such as food security, poverty reduction, environmental protection and a host of other concerns.
The FAO Extension, Education and Communication Service has from the very outset considered rural radio as the privileged medium available to rural communities, to have access to useful information and knowledge, to dialogue and to share experience, knowledge and techniques. It is excellent for motivating farmers and drawing their attention to new agricultural production ideas and techniques. Rural radio programmes are most effective when produced with audience participation, in local languages and taking into account local cultures.
FAO has been a leader, especially in Africa, in promoting community participation in rural radio programming. Nowadays community radio activities help in bridging the rural digital divide facilitating the link with the new information and communication technologies (e.g. Internet, cell phones, etc.). See also: www.fao.org/sd/eims_search/webpage_result_know.asp?agrovoc=9000143&lang=en
New ICTs are recognised as a crucial force in world economic and social development. When used appropriately ICTs can overcome issues of the "last (or first) mile of connectivity" in rural areas.
The Communication for Development Group in collaboration with the Library and Information Systems Division and the Research and Technology Transfer Service in FAO, promotes two internet based communication networks:
These applications, jointly with the appropriation of ICTs by local stakeholders and the integration with communication for development methods and tools contribute to bridging the rural digital divide.
FAO has identified some critical issues for governments and other stakeholder to address in order to improve the impact of information and communication on the rural poor such as:
See also: www.fao.org/sd/eims_search/webpage_result_know.asp?agrovoc=9000083&category=32&lang=en
There is a need to strengthen the capacity of FAO member countries to address problems related to natural resource management and sustainable agriculture issues through strategic communication and information interventions which can change attitudes, knowledge levels and management practices of key resource users.
Special attention is given to strengthening communication system of Indigenous People in Latin America and other regions. Communication for Development participatory approaches can facilitate dialogue and exchange of knowledge and information on natural resource management, increase then community knowledge-base, promote agricultural practices which are compatible with the environment and develop awareness in policy makers, authorities and service providers.
FAO is implementing field projects and designing methodologies in support of targeted communication for NRM initiatives. Within this framework collaboration with other FAO units, UN and development agencies, donors and the World Bank has been activated.
See also: www.fao.org/sd/eims_search/webpage_result.asp?agrovoc=9000115&category=35&lang=en
Communication can empower rural women and men by giving them a voice, allowing them to influence the actions of development organisations, their communities and governments to transform their own lives.
However, communication can give women and men a voice in development only if they have the means to be heard: for example, rural women need affordable access to communication systems and media and the skills to use them in promoting their own development solutions. Communication processes helps rural women to advocate changes in policies, attitudes and social behaviour or customs that negatively affect them.
It also helps women to exchange experiences, find common ground for decisions, take more control of their lives and add value to their role as active partners in rural and sustainable development. See also: www.fao.org/sd/dimitra
The HIV/AIDS pandemic is affecting seriously the agricultural sector.
The disease is killing people in their most productive years, decimating the workforce, impoverishing households, shredding traditional safety nets and tearing the social fabric of the communities, for many the only reliable support systems.Within the overall context of development, communication is pivotal in bringing about processes of sharing knowledge and informed decision making so that the people themselves change those attitudes and behavioural patterns which impinge on the quality of their life.
Furthermore, communication for development can create an enabling environment at all levels, and a culture of non-discrimination and in the long run influence behavioural change. It can facilitate mutual assistance (mitigation/support) and serve as a means to aid community-based development as well as to promote grassroots communication.
FAO is actively involved in the definition and implementation of communication for development strategies and projects for HIV/AIDS prevention in collaboration with other UN agencies (e.g. UNFPA, UNAIDS) and Governments. See also: www.fao.org/sd/eims_search/webpage_result.asp?agrovoc=9000077&category=32&lang=en
Many people in developing countries live a long way from the global information highway. However, remote rural villages contain a rich communication environment that predates modern electronic media.
In this modern age of new information/communication technologies and mass media, the cultural values of traditional media channels must not be disregarded. If we are to properly communicate with rural communities, we must learn more about and better understand how to channel our development work through those communities' traditional communication channels as well.
Receptivity to outside development messages can be greatly enhanced by the use of traditional and folk media that are an integral part of rural life, for example proverbs, poems, songs and dances, plays and stories.
Traditional media offer an effective means to integrate local agricultural knowledge with new scientific knowledge from outside sources. At the same time new media can be appropriated and managed locally by indigenous people and farmers for their own purposes.
See also: www.fao.org/sd/eims_search/webpage_result_know.asp?agrovoc=9000167&lang=en
Making hunger history is fundamental, not only to reduce poverty but to reach the social and economic goals of development including those contained in the Millennium Declaration. Communication plays a strategic role in development interventions to alleviate hunger and poverty in a sustainable and equitable way. Without communication and effective, inter-disciplinary, participatory and community-based actions that address local causes of poverty and malnutrition the MDGs related to poverty, hunger and nutrition will not be reached.
Communication fosters participation and consensus building, transparency and knowledge exchange, through the application of communication strategies, methods and technologies to different development issues building on the needs and capacities of all concerned. This should therefore be adequately and explicitly reflected in the implementation of the MDGs.
FAO plays a key role in gathering and disseminating publications on Communication for Development such as case studies, methodologies and best practice guidelines in both print and electronic format. See also: www.fao.org/sd/kn1_en.htm
The FAO Communication for development group is based in the FAO headquarter in Rome, Italy and is composed by:
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