The World Congress on Communication for Development

The World Congress on Communication for Development
Rome, Italy - October 25-27, 2006

The first World Congress on Communication for Development will focus on demonstrating that communication for development is an essential ingredient for meeting today’s most pressing development challenges and, as such, should be more fully integrated in development policy and practice.

This 3-day Congress will bring together communication professionals engaged in development initiatives, policymakers, development practitioners, donor and civil society organization representatives, community representatives, and academics from around the world to share experiences and best practices in this growing field. Discussions and presentations will focus on what works, what doesn’t, and how communication for development contributes to better development effectiveness.

The Congress is designed to showcase the wealth of innovative and creative work underway from around the world. Sessions will use innovative and creative ways to present information and share knowledge using different approaches and techniques that encourage dialogue and exchange, consistent with the spirit of the discipline.

It seeks to reach beyond those working directly in communication for development to include the broader development community and policymakers. To do this, the Congress will be structured around the most pressing development challenges that confront us today.

Presentations and discussions will demonstrate the value-added of Communication for Development; provide data and evidence of the impact of communication in development projects and programs; and highlight the most promising theoretical foundations and methodological approaches underpinning Communication for Development today.

Each day of the Congress will open with a keynote address by recognized speakers who have made significant contributions to the field of development and development policy and thinking who will address the broad issue of development and the role of communication.

The Congress also includes a series of special events on particular areas of communication for development practice such as edutainment, documentary films and videos, music, and radio programs, and on key topics that are both within and beyond the scope of the main development challenges themes such as climate change, ICT, and Corporate Social Responsibility, to name a few.

Congress participants will collectively build a series of key recommendations on ways to incorporate communication into policy and development. These recommendations will be refined during the three days of the Congress and discussed in a forum with policymakers on the final day.

Through the vehicle of a policymaker’s forum, policymakers will reflect on the recommendations of Congress participants and on potential opportunities, options and obstacles for mainstreaming Communication for Development in development policy and practice. This will help define a roadmap for next steps in support of mainstreaming communication for development in the future.

www.sportanddev.org

This Internet platform is a worldwide hub dedicated entirely to Sport & Development. The site provides a common working framework that facilitates the promotion of Sport & Development as a new domain of international cooperation, and is visited frequently by representatives of the United Nations, governments, sports federations, non-governmental organisations, and academic institutions.

Included on the platform is a thorough account of Sport & Development issues, a project database, a directory of the key organisations and experts that make up the field, an archive of news and documents, a regular bulletin with detailed updates and interviews, an agenda of conferences, a listing of career opportunities, and a discussion forum.

In short, the platform acts as a communication tool and is a crossroads where a wide range of Sport & Development initiatives and information can be researched, analysed and discussed between those with an interest in Sport & Development – including both practitioners and academics alike.

Explore the platform today and discover why the international Sport & Development community is turning to www.sportanddev.org

UN debut for $100 laptop for poor

UN debut for $100 laptop for poor

By Jo Twist - BBC News technology reporter in Tunis

A prototype of a cheap and robust laptop for pupils has been welcomed as an "expression of global solidarity" by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The green machine was showcased for the first time by MIT's Nicholas Negroponte at the UN net summit in Tunis.

He plans to have millions of $100 machines in production within a year.

The laptops are powered with a wind-up crank, have very low power consumption and will let children interact with each other while learning.

"Children will be able to learn by doing, not just through instruction - they will be able to open up new fronts for their education, particularly peer-to-peer learning," said Mr Annan.

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Media Education: Role of the knowledge societies

Media Education: Role of the knowledge societies
26-10-2005 (Paris)

This theme shall serve as an objective for a seminar uniting a group of experts of the two rivers of the Mediterranean, through French Commission for UNESCO, which is to be held on 27 and 28 October 2005 in Paris.
The “Knowledge societies”, for instance, to be more pluralistic, inclusive and participative, it is really necessary to provide all the citizens, especially the younger generation with the competence to know how to decode an information, to maintain a particular distance, when it comes to the critical analysis, and to have an individuality in the production of contents.

The problem of the media education may be treated from two principal angles: the youth education in traditional and modern media, on one hand, the sensitisation, and the professional training, being well aware of the impact of their productions on the public, particularly the youth, on the other.

A dialogue can be initiated between the different types of actors who are concerned (experts, teachers, parents, journalists, producers, etc.), which includes, of course the youth (students from the associated schools of UNESCO)on how to balance a good knowledge and a good awareness of the preoccupations and the expectations of the public, the constraints and the responsibilities of the professionals and the role of media education in the era of the information society. On the basis of this exchange, within a comparative and co-operative Euro-Mediterranean framework, the seminar shall elaborate the recommendations valorising the development of media education to the international scale, at the same time to the intended national authorities.

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Glocal Youth - Media Education and Interculture

Glocal Youth is a web site of media education and interculture, a guide to educate young people to grow an aware relation with media, facilitating the development of critical thinking skills and of a responsible citizenship. Glocal Youth wants to encourage boys and girls to reflect upon youth representations conveyed by mass media, in the World Northern and Southern regions.

The project Glocal Youth has been inspired by a series of questions:What image of youth world is conveyed by media addressed to youth? Are there any representations and stereotypes which often recur? What are the differences and similarities between media from Europe and from the developing world? Does it emerge a representation of "Global Youth" or do the differences between North and South prevail?

In order to find an answer to these questions, they have carried out an international research on media production for young people in World Northern and Southern regions (press, radio, music, television, cinema, internet). Then they have selected the most significant media products, both from the North and from the South. Taking this selection as a point of departure, they have elaborated a didactic kit, to be used by teachers, educators and young people as a practical tool of education to media and interculture. Furthermore, some groups of students will realise media products: so they will be able to express their right of speech, to create products that better correspond to their ideas, passions, projects.

The project combines the two perspective of media education and interculture: on one hand, it aims to promote among young people a critical approach towards media; on the other hand, it intends to foster the knowledge of the media environments of provenience of young immigrants, and compare them with the European ones, enlightening specificities and uniformities.

The project Glocal Youth, carried out with the support of the European Union, has been realised by a team of researchers and intercultural operators coming from different European countries:
Lai momo - Italy
Centre Audiovisuel Liège - Belgium
Grupo Comunicar - Spain
Centro de investigação e de comunicação cientifica - Portugal



For further information: http://www.glocalyouth.net/

E4D Meeting in Ljubljana (Slovenia)

It was good to meet you all in Ljubljana!

Katja, Nadia, Zuzana, Kathleen, Pamm, Susanna, Andrea

Well... David is taking the photo :-)

Many women in this group, uh?

All the best,

David

"Bringing Hurricane Katrina into the Classroom: Media Literacy Lessons and Activities"

"Bringing Hurricane Katrina into the Classroom: Media Literacy Lessons and Activities" - A Starting Place for Analyzing Media Coverage of Hurricane Katrina The Alliance for a Media Literate America (AMLA) has created a downloadable media literacy lesson and activity guide that offers a starting place for educators who want to help students analyze, understand, and cope with Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. “Bringing Hurricane Katrina Into the Classroom: Media Literacy Lessons and Activities” includes lessons such as Editorial Decision-Making, Looking at Language, and Taking Action, plus dozens of links to alternative news sources, commentary, and media comparisons.This free, downloadable guide is available on the AMLA website. An expanded and interactive version, including a bulletin board for sharing thoughts and reactions, will be posted on September 15th, when the new AMLA website launches.