First World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD) (Rome, Italy, 24-27 October 2006)

The recent First World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD), organized by the World Bank, FAO and the Communication Initiative, reinforced the growing recognition that Communication for Development is an essential development tool and needs to be raised on the global agenda. NGOs, multilateral development institutions, bilateral donors, development practitioners and academics extracted the most useful conclusions from the vast array of debates, discussions and exchanges which took place at the Congress and transformed them into a set of simple recommendations for policymakers on, for example, ways to improve how communication is used by governments and communities to produce more tangible results. A concrete set of recommendations was eventually agreed upon and will serve as an advocacy tool to reach policymakers “It is time that leaders give higher priority to communication”, said Garth Japhet, Chair of the Communication Initiative Partnership.