FAO's contribution to the implementation of MDGs: the central role of Communication for development

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, we are facing 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 confusion, including 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 so compelling.

We believe that today, the development context should focus on the principle strategies now being deployed to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the relevance of communication to these strategies.

Why Communication for development?

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