Keynote Address: VIII International Communication for Development Roundtable

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As with previous meeting, the purpose of the interagency Round Table, which took place in Salvador de Bahía in 1998, was to share information and concrete experiences, to form a solid basis for inter-agency collaboration. This exchange of information and experiences has led to explore common strategies and to identifying mechanisms to improve “the interaction among actors in development, namely the agencies, organizations, funds and programmes of the United Nations system, Governments and non-governmental organizations” as noted in Resolution 50/130. The Round Table concentrated on communication for development experiences, strategies and approaches in dealing with various stakeholders involved in development.

Trends in UNESCO Communication Programmes

The main policies of the United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (UNESCO), sector for communication and information have, in recent years, been in line with the main policy development of other leading United Nations agencies. In order the major challenges posed by the development of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the years to come, UNESCO provided a platform international policy, discussion and guidelines for action on the preservation of information and universal access to it, on the ethical, legal and societal consequences of ICT developments specially with the Information For All Programme, providing training, networking and supporting indigenous knowledge.

In this areas, UNESCO's action is based on partnerships and alliances within and outside this United Nations Round Table on Communication for Development which is held every two years since 1988 and UNESCO is also co-operating global knowledge network (GKN) for the forthcoming United Nations Task force on Information and Communication Technology as well as with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the organization of the world summit of the Information society in December 2003.

Over the last 20 years, the Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) has made considerable efforts to improve its working methods and to refocus its 900 projects on the most urgent priorities in communication development in more than 130 developing countries. These efforts have had a remarkable impact on a broad range of fields covering, among others, the promotion of press freedom, media independence and pluralism, community media, development of human resources for the media, modernization of national and regional news agencies, radio as well as television organizations.

UNESCO aims at increasing the contribution of media and information to the process of social integration and development, in general, with particular emphasis on poverty and Illiteracy eradication, good governance, gender issues, empowering women and young people, research in media education through forms of advisory service to Member States, conferences, meetings, seminars, publications/documentation and training.

At the request of the latest Round Table, several new publications and documents compiled 15 years of UNESCO experience in supporting grass-roots community media. This collection of information allows to improve the internal governance of community radio settings, facilitates preparations for establishing new associative broadcasting projects and establishing adequate relations with national regulatory authorities.

Several publications including The Community Radio Handbook and the innovative worldwide study on the economics of national cinematographies represent important references to the professionals concerned.

The experience gained from many projects and studies has demonstrated the fact that community radio is one of the most effective means (and not very costly) of communication for development, especially in rural communities, as well as of social participation, of information and advice on literacy, health, child care, improved agricultural methods, vocational training and protection on the enviroment.

UNESCO is since 1996 en nowadays, promoting Communities Multimedia Centres (CMCs) integrating Community Radio and Telecentres aiming multipurpose community telecentres for bringing information and informatics facilities to the grass-roots level.

The CMC addresses the digital divide in Less Developed Countries seeking to ensure that information, communication knowledge become the basis tools of the poor in improving their own lives through an approach that is cost effective, country differentiated and enpowerment-oriented.

The pilot CMC project, already implemented, with notable success, at Kothmale Community Radio in Sri-Lanka, has served as a model for further pilot projects now being in September 1995, in this connection, UNESCO launched the operation: “Women make the News” to mark the International Women's day. In March 2002, this Women Day will be dedicated to the struggle against HIV/AIDS.

Following a study by UNESCO that showed the marginal presence of women within the journalism profession in Mediterrean Arab countries, it launched a series of activities with a view to strengthen the presence of quality women journalists, to introduce new perspectives for the interpretation of media output and thus bring about changes in long-established practices. In pursuance of the recommendations of the seventh Round Table, the follow-up of these professional meetings has been considerably improved through a weekly up-dating of the UNESCO website (www.unesco.com/webworld/com) which counts a million and half visitors a year.

UNESCO's Division of Development for Communication aims at providing support for Member States, particularly the developing countries, to strengthen their communication capacities as an integral part of development strategies, and in enhancing the educational and cultural role of public broadcasting organizations, especially in the field of endogenous audiovisual productions for the preservation of cultural diversity.

UNESCO will further encourage not only the production of audiovisual materials by the local media, but also the exchange of such programmes, e.g. UNESCO Programme CreaTV which aims at encouraged creative endogenous television productions in developing countries. Several regional CreaTV Workshops were organized in cooperation with the INPUT Group and local professional organizations.

Special attention was given in Indonesia (in close cooperation with the United Nations Provisional East-Timor Administration), Philippines and Cambodia to reinforce the free media through enhancing journalistic skills and legislation with the sustained support of DANIDA, The Danish governmental agency for international cooperation. In the Balkans, meanwhile, several actions were undertaken to restore independent public media structures such as radio/TV broadcasting and news agencies funded by the Commission of the European Union. In November 1999, the chair on freedom of Expressions was launched at the Al-Qods University in Jerusalem. In cooperation with the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights and several professional media associations, a round table was organized in Geneva in May 2000 on “the media in conflict and post-conflict areas” the annual international celebration of the World Press Freedom Day continues with an increasing number of participants from United Nations agencies.

Particularly relevant to the recommendations of the Seventh Round Table and the Secretary-General's recent Call for Action on HIV/AIDS has been the systematic integration of information on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in most UNESCO communication programme. The Division of the Development on Communication participated in a large number of seminars and workshops in close cooperation with other United Nations agencies in Africa and Asia. In 2002, and in close cooperation with UNAIDS, an innovative health care information methology was developed through investigative journalism in East Africa.

Reacting to the fact that several African national news agencies has shut down by the turn of the century and that others were nearing closure, urgent stidies were undertaken to analyse the situation and identify possible solutions. The classical model of news gathering and dissemination had been undermined by the Internet and by economic factors. A workshop in Amman in JANUARY 2000, brought together 13 news agencies from Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern and Central Europe and Middle East.

UNESCO paid an increases attention to studies and research in the field of media by supporting professional organizations such as International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), and through its active participation at major events, particularly at the Forum of Youth and Media researches in Sidney, Australia and Thessaloniki Summit on children and Media.

The exponential growth of the Internet has evoked a renewed interest on the part of national authorities and the public in general, in the concept of distance learning and youth Media Education for their integration in formal and informal school curricula. UNESCO has therefore started a series of research programme on Media Literacy aiming to improve critical approaches towards the media and broadcasting organizations.

As for the Round Table today our priority is to ensure its continuation. These meetings are an essential part of the two year report to the Secretary General of the United Nations inter agency cooperation on communication for development.

Therefore, we will applaud any initiative to develop a common project between agencies.

I thank you for your attention.