The Rome Consensus: Communication for Development - A Major Pillar for Development and Change

Editor's note: This document emerges from the October 2006 World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD) in Rome, Italy. Organised by the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and The Communication Initiative (The CI), this event brought together over 700 participants, many of whom were the authors of the 120 papers which were accepted as part of WCCD. Through various sessions, a series of recommendations were developed, discussed, and distilled into an overall set of recommendations which are summarised here and which may be read in full at the link provided below. To learn more about the WCCD initiative, please see The Drum Beat #377.



Signed by the participants of the WCCD, this consensus statement makes the case for the role of communication for development as a strategy for fostering sustainable social and economic processes. The approach is participatory, and involves deepening communication links through a broad range of tools and methods that put the people most affected by poverty and other issues at the centre - so that they can voice their perspectives and then act on these ideas to improve their situation in relevant and sustainable ways. Dialogue is crucial to this strategy, which seeks change at different levels through listening and debating, building trust and creating policies, and sharing knowledge and skills.



This document presents only a few of the examples of the body of evidence presented at the WCCD of initiatives that have successfully drawn on this strategy to meet development challenges such as those delineated in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Highlights include the use of rural radio forums in India, participatory communication to address female genital cutting in Senegal, a communication campaign to address acute respiratory infection in Cambodia, and so on. (Links to further online information about these projects and findings are provided). Harmonising communication approaches that have been used to shape such efforts may be important in moving forward.



WCCD participants elaborate specific strategic requirements as part of their call for development organisations to "place a much higher priority on the essential elements of communication for development process." Here again the engagement of people in generating change - as contextualised within their own cultures and contexts, as informed by their own ideas, and shared as through their own media - is identified as key.



Based on these requirements, the participants advance a series of recommendations for policy makers and funders. Here is a synopsis:

• Policy-making: national development policies should include specific communication for development components.
• Programming: development organisations should include communication for development as a central element at the inception of programmes.
• Training: efforts should be made to strengthen communication for development capacity within countries and organisations at all levels.
• Funding: financial investment should be expanded to incorporate the core elements of communication for development.
• Assessing: development communication programmes should be required to identify and include appropriate monitoring and evaluation indicators and methodologies throughout the process.
• Collaborating: partnerships and networks at international, national and local levels should work to advance communication for development and improve development outcomes.
• Respecting: legislation should be adopted that provides an enabling environment for communication for development - including free and pluralistic media, as well as the right to information and to communicate. In general, movement toward a rights-based approach to communication for development is recommended.

Click here for an online Spanish version of the complete Consensus document.