Communication for Social Change Consortium

This 9-page report summarises the results of a consultation that the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) carried out with communication for development (C4D) practitioners in January 2007 for presentation at the 10th United Nations (UN) Round Table on C4D in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from February 12-14 2007. C4D is a concept rooted in the role of communication in enabling participation and exercising voice; it is distinct from "development communication", or external communication/advocacy (a concept focused on promoting an organisation's own agenda). The theme of the Round Table was "Towards a Common UN System Approach for Harnessing Communication for Development to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals".

The purpose of this consultation process was to obtain practitioner, civil society, and other external perspectives on the issues highlighted in the Round Table agenda. The need for such a consultation is highlighted by the opening remarks of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, who explained that "we need to establish a common strategy to assist Member States to integrate communication for development as a key component of development planning. Previous round tables have consistently observed that there is an inadequate focus on communication for development in development planning. If there was any, it was usually limited to mere publicity for the plans and failed to recognize the importance of sharing knowledge with the purpose of reaching consensus on development planning, implementation and evaluation."

In this context, in January 2007 GKP asked approximately 40 non-UN organisations involved in the C4D arena to participate in the pre-Round-Table consultation process; GKP received a total of 7 completed questionnaires. Author James Deane opens this report by exploring the reasons for this limited feedback - including that potential consultation participants may have found the issues being discussed at the Round Table difficult to engage with, or were skeptical about the assumptions underpinning the agenda. However, Deane believes that the feedback received nonetheless "represents a substantive and useful set of conclusions for input" to the Round Table, particularly because "many of the responses were consistent with each other, which implies some degree of consensus over some of the main issues."

The report summarises the consultation feedback, with salient points being:

• Respondents welcomed the Round Table initiative, stressing that the issues being discussed are important and timely, and that they addressed very real and urgent challenges.
• Respondents argued that greater engagement and coordination at both country level and the international level on the part of the UN related to C4D would be helpful, but agreed that "investment in communication for development initiatives are currently not strategic, focusing mainly on very sector-specific initiatives rather than on a systemic approach that can build information and communication capacities throughout society and across sectors." Several attributed the fragmented and non-strategic character of many initiatives to a lack of C4D capacity and expertise within the UN and broader development system, articulating the need to employ (as facilitators or advisers) experts who have a holistic view of C4D.
• There was a strong consensus that involvement of civil society, private sector, academic, funding and other organisations needs to be secured through multi-sector or multi-stakeholder partnerships. Some felt that the UN is well-positioned to navigate competing interests, thereby fostering more effective C4D, but urged that the UN (or governmental structures) should not be in exclusive control; "otherwise the whole issue of 'two-way communication' becomes compromised."
• Respondents articulated the need to incorporate C4D into national-level planning systems, urging that multilateral and bilateral development organisations pay closer attention to the value, scale and diversity of current C4D initiatives already thriving at the country level.
• There was a universal consensus that a more coordinated UN system could play a crucial role in engaging governments, with the purpose of securing more enabling policy environments for community media, public service broadcasting, information and communication (ICT) policy, and freedom of expression.

The gist of the consultation feedback seems to be that C4D practitioners welcome UN engagement in this field and feel that it has an important role to play - in many realms (e.g., advocacy) and at many levels (e.g., nationally and internationally). While potentially very potent and positive, increased coordination in the C4D arena on the part of the UN carries the risk, many respondents noted, of stifling innovation, empowerment, and pluralism - in large part because the UN system works principally in support of and in partnership with government.

Based on some of the informal feedback received through the above-summarised process, it can be concluded that "further consultation and clarification after the Round Table is highly recommended."

Global Knowledge Partnership Secretariat.