The Drum Beat – Issue 545 – «First International Seminar on Communication, Development, and Human Rights in the Mediterranean. New Challenges for the International Agenda»
June 7 2010
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This Drum Beat is a translation of a recent Son de Tambora, focused on communication and media for development in Spain and the Mediterranean region. It includes:
* An INTRODUCTION to the recent international seminar within which the following presentations were given:
* A focus on THE MEDIA’S SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.
* Presentations focused on the Mediterranean COOPERATION AGENDA.
* Presentations on the RIGHT TO COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION.
* A focus on CIVIL SOCIETY COMMUNICATION.
* Final presentations, focused on EDUCATING C4D PRACTITIONERS.
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From The Communication Initiative Network / Red de la Iniciativa de Comunicación -where communication and media are central to social and economic development http://www.comminit.com/
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This special edition, focused on Spain and the Mediterranean region, is a translation of Son de Tambora #255, published February 11 2010 (see http://www.comminit.com/es/node/310545 for that issue, archived online). The goal of this edition is to collect recent communication for development discussions, thinking, and trends from this region. It includes an introduction by Olga del Rio, Associate Professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and Vice President of the Observatorio Mediterráneo de la Comunicación, as well as summaries of the compiled presentations from the «First International Seminar on Communication, Development, and Human Rights in the Mediterranean,» held in Barcelona, Spain, December 3-4 2009. This issue of The Drum Beat is the English archive of the December seminar; more detailed presentation summaries are available on La Iniciativa de Comunicacion website in Spanish.
FIRST INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON COMMUNICATION, DEVELOPMENT, AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. NEW CHALLENGES FOR THE INTERNATIONAL AGENDA
The «First International Seminar on Communication, Development and Human Rights in the Mediterranean», financed by the Agencia Catalana de Cooperación de la Generalitat de Catalunya [Catalan Cooperation Agency of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia], is part of a project to raise awareness about communication for development and the media’s social responsibility relative to human development, human rights, democracy, and peace. The project pursues the creation of strategic alliances between «new actors» (communication professionals, teachers, and students) and development non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The appearance of communication as an item on the international development agenda, more than twenty years after the McBride report and the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO), is a result of the appearance of the Information and Communication Society and of the opportunity provided by the organization of a World Summit on the Information Society, sponsored by the United Nations in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005). The Geneva Plan of Action identifies the media as having a role as actors for development (C9. Item 24).
In 1996, at the initiative of UNESCO, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Resolution on «Communication for Development», recognising the importance of having funders, policy makers, and decision makers attribute greater importance to communication for development, and encouraging them to include it as an integral component of projects and programmes.
The emergence of communication for development as a necessity led the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Bank, and The Communication Initiative to organise the First World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD) in Rome (2006). The central purpose of the Congress was to effectively promote the full integration of communication into development policies and programmes and to promote strategic associations and alliances in this area. Its basic objective, according to its organisers, was to demonstrate that communication is essential if we are to face the current challenges of development.
To that same end, the UN Inter-Agency Round Table, at the 10th Round Table on Communication for Development (Addis-Ababa, February 12-14 2007), reached agreement that the commitments made towards the Millennium Development Goals require communication systems. The Round Table resolved to transmit to the UN system the need to integrate communication for development into the principles and methodologies for planning and executing programmes, as well as for their follow-up and evaluation.
Despite those directives, in Spain – within Spanish, Catalonian, and Mediterranean universities and research centres – communication for development has not yet assumed its corresponding role in educational processes and in the curriculum at schools of communication. Moreover, communication professionals and their organisations have not managed to gain an awareness of the media’s social responsibility related to democratic governance, peace building, the exercise of human rights, or the peaceful coexistence of different cultures. In addition, the importance assigned by the above-mentioned international organisations and collectives to communication for development has not yet been incorporated into the Spanish national agenda for development cooperation with sufficient relevancy by either government agencies or civil society organisations.
In this context, the «First International Seminar on Communication, Development, and Human Rights in the Mediterranean» takes on great significance. The Observatorio Mediterráneo de la Comunicación (OMEC) [Mediterranean Observatory of Communication] organised the event in cooperation with educational centres such as Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona [Autonomous University of Barcelona] and Máster Europeo de Especialización Profesional de Mediación Intermediterránea – MIM [European Masters in Mediterranean Intermediation], professional associations such as Colegio de Periodistas de Catalunya [College of Journalists of Catalonia], Federación de Sindicatos de Periodistas [Federation of Journalist Unions], the Federación Catalana de ONG para el Desarrollo [Catalan Federation of NGOs for Development] and Agencia Catalana de Cooperación para el Desarrollo [Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation].
A similar philosophy of cooperation guided the Seminar’s structure, which incorporated all the actors in the communication ecosystem in the understanding that only through collaboration would it be possible to empower communication for development and social change on the Catalan social agenda, and therefore on the Spanish social agenda.
Another of the Seminar’s goals was to highlight the work being done in this area by specialised international actors, so that agencies, NGOs, academia, students, journalists, and decision-makers in the realm of communication and development cooperation might improve our knowledge based on an exchange of experiences, as a first step toward the incorporation of this issue on the Catalan, Spanish, and Mediterranean agendas. Below you will find a summary of the presentations given during the Seminar.
[PLEASE NOTE: more detailed presentation summaries are available on The CI Network in Spanish only. A few full presentations are also available in English; these are noted below.]
PANEL 1 – THE MEDIA’S SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, A COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRACY. THE MEDIA FOR DEMOCRACY AND DEMOCRACY FOR THE MEDIA
Facilitator: Pere Oriol Costa, Professor of Political Communication and Director of the Strategic Communications Laboratory
1. David Mowbray – Africa Director, BBC World Service Trust – During this presentation, Mowbray presented the BBC World Service Trust, the BBC’s development arm which holds the objective of placing communication and the media – television, radio, and, above all, electronic media – at the service of development. According to this presentation, World Service Trust (WST) operates as an NGO within the BBC; it has offices in 20 countries and has approximately 500 or 600 people around the world. It works in six areas: emergency response, health, livelihoods, the environment, education, and governance and human rights. All interventions by WST are designed based on prior research in order to determine what the audience already knows and what it needs, and which communication strategies should be used. The majority of WST projects are carried out in states-in-transition, states-in-conflict, or post-conflict states.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/310204
Contact: David Mowbray david.mowbray@bbcwst.net
2. Orencio Vásquez – Director of the Observatorio de la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa [Corporate Social Responsibility Observatory] – Vásquez structured his presentation around several points: the factors that have propelled companies beyond their traditional arena of responsibility, the current communication and media context, and the social responsibility of communication media. He argues that in the end the debate is around the development model we want to use: an economic model, based on production and market laws, individual interests, and less state intervention; or a socio-economic model that seeks a balance between social and economic issues. Vásquez identified some obstacles to the collective development of social responsibility: a short-term market perspective that demands profitability very quickly, conflicts of interest, and the economic focus used to manage companies and the media.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309969
Contact: Orencio Vásquez ovazquez@observatoriorsc.org
3. Nadire Mater – President of the Fundación de Comunicación IPS [Communication Foundation IPS] and advisor to BIANET projects in Turkey – Mater presented a landscape view of the media in Turkey, characterised by control by economic groups, polarisation in favour and against the government, and the existence of taboo issues. It is in this context that the Independent Communication Network (BIA) has been developed, an initiative of the Union of Chambers of Engineers and Architects of Turkey (TMMOB), the Physicians Association of Turkey (TTB), representatives of the local media, independent journalists, and scholars. BIA’s activities, as described by Mater, have included workshops that: promote politically and ethically responsible journalism, guide organisations on how to handle the media and gain visibility, and teach how to prepare publications and participate in events. BIA also provides legal advice and monitors freedom of expression violations.
[Full presentation, in English] http://www.comminit.com/files/NadireMater.doc
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309605
Contact: Nadire Mater mater@bianet.org
PANEL 2: COMMUNICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT AND THE RIGHT TO COMMUNICATE ON THE COOPERATION AGENDA
Facilitator: Carme Coll, Advisor to the International ART Program, UNDP Geneva
4. Adam Rogers – UNDP Strategic Communications Counsellor, Geneva – Rogers presented the work of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the concept of communication for development that is used within that organisation. UNDP concentrates on helping countries develop and share solutions to the challenges they face: democratic governance, poverty reduction, crisis prevention and recovery, energy and the environment, and HIV/AIDS. According to Rogers, communication for development is a fundamental component of the UNDP’s work. He suggests that UNDP’s standpoint is that communication can be used to achieve greater effectiveness in all fields, but especially in development. Most of the time, however, it is not assigned its proper place and, therefore, one of the greatest challenges of communication professionals is to convince decision-makers of its importance.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/310207
Contact: Adam Rogers adam.rogers@undp.org
5. Laura Losada – Member of the Secretaria de Estado de Cooperación Internacional [Office of the Secretary of State for International Cooperation] (SECI), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation MAEC – In her presentation, Losada outlined the Spanish cooperation structure, whose actors – cooperation agencies, unions, town councils, autonomous communities, citizens, development NGOs, and companies – contribute to a budget called Official Aid for Development. According to Losada, for the Spanish bilateral organisation, Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID), communication is understood in several different ways. It can be a way of rendering an accounting, or reporting, on what is being done in the area of cooperation. It can be an engine for development (the recovery of a radio station in Bakid, Afghanistan in order to support education in basic health issues, nutrition, and literacy for women, is a good example). Communication can also b!
e an instrument for transparency and a mechanism for communities to participate in, and take ownership of, development processes.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309506
Contact: Laura Losada comunicacion@aecid.es
6. Kitty Warnock – Advisor on Communication for Development, Panos – Warnock presented the model of the network of Panos Institutes, which work to promote and support communication and the media as a fundamental part of the entire development process. For Panos, communication is at the «heart of change» in all of its forms and manifestations – everything from interpersonal communication, to government strategic communication campaigns. Communication brings empowerment, participation, and good governance. According to Warnock’s presentation, Panos London works with 4 interrelated categories of communication: «Voice,» which refers to direct expressions from people; «Dialogue,» referring to exchanges of information and points of view, negotiation, and participatory decision-making; the «Mass Media,» including both traditional and electronic media forms; and «Information and Communication Technology,» which explores «communication networks» and the development roles of, for exam!
ple, mobile phones and telecentres.
[Full presentation, in English] http://www.comminit.com/files/Panos.doc
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/310202
Contact: Kitty Warnock kitty.warnock@panos.org.uk – info@panos.org.uk
7. Paavani Reddy – Programme Officer for Governance and Civil Society at the Oslo Governance Center (OGC), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) – Reddy makes reference to the Civil Society and Communication team at the OGC, which works on communication for empowerment, communication for development, and access to information. According to Reddy, UNDP uses communication for development (C4D) as one of the key approaches to enhance inclusion and participation of economically poor and marginalised people in decision-making processes that affect their lives. UNDP OGC co-sponsored with the World Bank the 11th UN Inter-agency Round Table on Communication for Development in order to discuss two main topics: evaluation and demonstration of the impact of communication for development, and the institutional positioning of C4D in development agencies and organisations.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/310218
Contact: Paavani Reddy paavani.reddy@undp.org
8. Warren Feek – Executive Director, The Communication Initiative – According to Feek, faced with the current priorities of international development, related mainly to the Millennium Development Goals, communication and the media generate arenas for: dialogue and debate, the production and organisation of precise information and knowledge, critical analysis, participatory decision-making, and the expression of all voices. His presentation highlighted the central role that communication and the media have played in major processes of social change, such as: the civil rights movement, the gender rights movement, the anti-apartheid movement, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, natural resource management, and others. In conclusion, Feek noted some lessons on the most effective roles played by media and communication within change processes, as well as the possibility of reconciling the media and the need for change with good journalism and the media in action.
[Full presentation, in English] http://www.comminit.com/files/WarrenFeek.ppt
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/310219
Contact: Warren Feek wfeek@comminit.com
PANEL 3: THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. VOICES AND SILENCES.
Facilitator: Francisco Martín, Committee for Solidarity Journalism at the Catalan School of Journalists
9. Jamil Azar – Senior Journalist Al Jazeera – Azar’s presentation focused on the Al Jazeera news agency, launched in 1996. The motto of the Al Jazeera network – «the opinion and the other opinion» – demonstrates a commitment to offering a different view of news events. According to Azar, Al Jazeera discusses issues that are normally taboo in the local media, presenting these issues with a particular style and vocabulary. Honorific titles such as «your majesty», «your excellency», and «your eminence» are not used. Both Palestinian leaders and Israeli politicians have the same opportunity and amount of time for presenting their version of events. Azar suggests that based on their strategy of balance and equality, the network has attained a high level of credibility and has consolidated a pan-Arab channel that speaks for no state, government, or group.
[Full presentation, in English] http://www.comminit.com/files/JamilAzar.doc
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309611
Contact: Jamil Azar azarj@aljazeera.net
10. Dardo Gómez – Secretary General of the Federación de Sindicatos de Periodistas (FeSP) [Federation of Journalist Unions] – Spain – In his capacity as a representative of the Federation, which brings together independent trade unions of information professionals whose arenas for action are their respective autonomous communities, Gómez spoke about information as a basic right which is being violated by the growing penetration of media groups and their «productions». For Gómez, the media and journalists should act as delegates and intermediaries for citizens and their right to information, and therefore, they are obliged to be rigorous in their respect of this right. Reporting processes, misinformation, and lack of information by journalists and the media are other aspects Gómez analysed during this presentation.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309579
Contact: Dardo Gómez spc@sindicat.org
11. Javier Bauluz – Director of Journalism and Human Rights, Spain – Baulez presented the achievements of the Human Journalism Project, developed with the goals of researching, producing, and distributing professional journalism with a human rights focus through a global network of journalists and social organisations, as well as the construction of a centre for audiovisual documentation. This project arose out of the preparation of a Journalism and Human Rights Manifesto during the International Journalism Encounter, which was signed by journalists from diverse media, as well as freelance journalists. The Human Journalism Project argues that journalism must have a social function, that journalists need to rebuild credibility and not be influenced by political or private economic interests. Journalism needs to be rebuilt from the foundation up, so that it can go back to being a public service and answer a human right; it must be a field whose owners are its citizens.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309585
Contact: Javier Bauluz jbauluz@periodismohumano.com
12. Juan Montabes – President of the Red de Instituciones Reguladoras Mediterráneas [Network of Mediterranean Regulatory Institutions] and of the Audiovisual Council of Andalucia (CAA) – Montabes presented the process of building the Red de Instituciones Reguladoras del Mediterráneo (RIRM), currently made up of 19 regulatory authorities in 16 countries, whose fundamental activities include everything from promoting respect for values, principles, and basic rights, the protection of children against sexual and violent content, to the promotion of education for children in human rights, and promoting honesty of information and a diversity of opinions. Montabes also highlighted the responsibility of those working with audiovisual media for promoting tolerance and understanding among cultures in the Mediterranean basin.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309521
Contact: Juan Montabes presidente.caa@juntaandalucia.es
PANEL 4: COMMUNICATION AND CIVIL SOCIETY. INSTRUMENTS FOR CHANGE
Facilitator: Olga Del Río. Associate Professor, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and international consultant
13. Chiara Tripepi – Information Officer, Developing Europeans Engagement for the Eradication of Global Poverty, DEEEP – Tripepi presented DEEEP, a programme created by the CONCORD Development Education Forum (European NGO Confederation For Relief and Development) to strengthen the capacity of NGOs to raise awareness, educate, and mobilise European public opinion related to worldwide poverty eradication and social inclusion. DEEEP engages in education for development as an active learning process based on the values of solidarity, equality, integration, and cooperation. It allows people to go from basic knowledge of the priorities of international development and human development, to getting involved in a personal way, and taking specific informed action through an understanding of the causes and effects of world problems.
[Full presentation, in English] http://www.comminit.com/files/ChiaraTripepi.ppt
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309683
Contact: Chiara Tripepi c.tripepi@deeep.org
14. María Luz Ortega – responsible for Education for Development at the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation MAEC – Ortega spoke of the concept of and arenas covered by «education for development», giving special emphasis to the challenges established by the Third Directive Plan for Spanish Cooperation, a plan which the AECID will implement in the formal education sector. Ortega indicated that education for development and communication for development have traditionally been separate fields. She suggested that this separation is produced when, instead of focusing on the objective, we dedicate our efforts to discussing the pros and cons of the instruments – school or the media – thus running the risk of forgetting the goal: the generation of citizens who can build development.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309599
Contact: María Luz Ortega luz.ortega@aecid.es
15. Montse Santolino – Responsible for Communication for Development, Catalan Federation of Development NGOs – According to Santolino, the different cooperation actors in Spain and Catalonia have adapted to a business model, making for instrument-focused, diffusionist, and media-centric communication. Basically, they have oriented their work toward marketing and press bulletins. As a contrast, Santolino presented the Federation’s work in communication and education for development, which has three main objectives: the construction of a communication model suited to social and development organisations, the redefinition of the relationship with the media, and the democratisation of communication. Santolino also noted that the Federation has established an agreement with the Convención de Periodismo Solidario (Solidarity Journalism Convention) to work on these issues.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309669
Contact: Montse Santolino comunicacio@fcongd.org
PANEL 5: RESEARCH AND CREATION OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS FOR DEVELOPMENT
Facilitator: Teresa Velázquez. Journalism Professor, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and President of the Observatorio Mediterráneo de la Comunicación (OMEC)
16. Hanke Van Haastrecht – Teacher, University of Groningen, Netherlands – Van Haastrecht explained some theoretical aspects of intercultural communication and demonstrated, using examples, how communication should be handled based on a recognition of differences between cultures. The theory of intercultural communication, stated Van Haastrecht, describes culture like software: It is born with an empty hard drive, and then it begins to fill up. It is like collective programming. People from the same culture are differentiated from others by the way they think, act, feel, and greet. This theory identifies 5 dimensions of culture: i) the distance of power, ii) individualism and collectivism, iii) masculinity and femininity, iv) evasion of insecurity, and v) orientation. It takes into account certain aspects such as cultural differences in time, space, language, non-verbal behaviour, physical conduct, and etiquette.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/310062
Contact: Hanke Van Haastrecht ankevanhaastrecht@gmail.com
17. José Manuel Pérez Tornero – Professor of Journalism, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona – Pérez Tornero presented the study «Assessment Criteria for Media Literacy Levels», which proposes a way to measure skills and competencies in Europe related to digital technologies and media, and analyses the capacity of citizens to use the media and the new information and communication technologies (ICTs). The study was done by the High-level Expert Group for Digital and Media Literacy at the European Commission. It has generated 114 indicators and presents different levels, such as: the capacity to access technology both from a personal and a collective point of view, the context in which people use ICTs, and the understanding of and capacity to critique media content.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309966
Contact: José Manuel Pérez Tornero josepmanuel.perez@uab.cat
18. Rut Gómez Sobrino – Responsible for the Audiovisual and Communication Development Department at the UNESCO Center of Catalonia – UNESCOCAT – In this presentation, Gómez Sobrino highlighted UNESCO’s leadership in the processes of communication for development in the Mediterranean, related to forming and training communication professionals, cooperating with specialised NGOs and with other UN agencies, supporting infrastructure, and raising awareness on priority issues such as the security of journalists. She mentioned the International Programme for Communication Development and the UNESCO Audiovisual platform, managed from the UNESCO Center in Catalonia, which has the goal of fomenting audiovisual production in developing countries, as well as other goals related to training.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309940
Contact: Rut Gómez Sobrino r.gomezsobrino@unescocat.org
19. Victoria Debrigode – Language Professor, Instituto de Educación Secundaria Andrés Bello (The Andres Bello Secondary Education Institute) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife – Debrigode spoke of legislation aimed at improving the quality of education in Spain and of the need to guarantee equal access to education for everyone. She highlighted that all citizens must have educational opportunities – inside and outside of the educational system – in order to acquire, update, complete, and expand skills, knowledge, abilities, and competencies for personal and professional development. It is within this framework that the educational unit «Coexistence» has been implemented, with the goal of providing instruments for analysis and reflection for critical examination of the messages of journalistic texts. The presentation gave some examples and results of the working sessions.
[In Spanish] http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309950
Contact: Victoria Debrigode vdebrod@gobiernodecanarias.org
EVENT ORGANISERS
* Observatorio Mediterráneo de la Comunicación (OMEC) – http://www.comminit.com/en/node/305857
* Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona – http://www.comminit.com/en/node/317743
* Máster Europeo de Especialización Profesional Mediación Intermediterránea – http://www.comminit.com/en/node/317743
* Colegio de Periodistas de Cataluña – http://www.comminit.com/en/node/306909
* Federación de Sindicatos de Periodistas – http://www.comminit.com/en/node/306919
* Federación Catalana de ONG para el Desarrollo – http://www.comminit.com/en/node/306925
FUNDED BY:
* Agencia Catalana de Cooperación Internacional de la Generalitat de Catalunya – http://www.comminit.com/en/node/306935
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This issue of The Drum Beat was written by Juana Marulanda and Deborah Heimann.
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Partners: ANDI, BBC World Service Trust, Bernard van Leer Foundation, Calandria, CFSC Consortium, CIDA, DFID, FAO, Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano, Ford Foundation, Healthlink Worldwide, Inter-American Development Bank, International Institute for Communication and Development, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs, MISA, PAHO, The Panos Institute, The Rockefeller Foundation, SAfAIDS, Sesame Workshop, Soul City, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNICEF, USAID, WHO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Chair of the Partners Group: Garth Japhet, Founder, Soul City garth@heartlines.org.za
Executive Director: Warren Feek wfeek@comminit.com
Latin America Director: Adelaida Trujillo atrujillo@comminit.com
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