World Congress on Communication for Development

The first World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD) will be held in Rome, Italy from October 25 to 27, 2006.

Main Objective

Hosted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and organized by The World Bank [http://www.worldbank.org] , FAO [http://www.fao.org] and The Communication Initiative [http://www.comminit.com] , the "First World Congress on Communication for Development" intends to clearly demonstrate to policy and decision-makers the effectiveness of Communication for Development in helping meet today's most pressing development challenges and to advocate among them for the systematic inclusion of communication in development policy and practice. Communication for Development - as a process of dialogue, information sharing and building mutual understanding - is a powerful tool to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of development interventions, to assess and mitigate the political and social risks of those interventions and to build social ownership and sustainability.

Participants

The WCCD, the first event of its kind, will bring together more than 500 policymakers, development practitioners, NGO and CSO representatives, and academics/researchers active in the field. Thousands more from around the world will be able to participate via webcasting andbroadcasting.

Organization and structure

The Bank has spearheaded this event, and has involved more than 75 key institutions, including multilateral and bilateral partners, media institutions, academic and research institutions, and NGOs to help organize the Congress. The three party governance structure consists of a Steering Committee (to provide overall advice and guidance to the planning), a Scientific Committee (to conduct the paper review and the Mainstreaming study) and an Advisory Body.

Invitees Profile

Nobel Prize Keynote Speakers, Highest Level of Representation from the UN and The World Bank, Italian Authorities, High Profile Public Figures, Ministries and Authorities from Developing Countries, Prime International University Representatives and Academicians.

Themes and Structure

The Congress will be structured around four broad thematic areas: Health, Governance, Sustainable Development, and Communication Labs. During the Policymakers Forum leading policy and decision-makers will discuss and debate the opportunities and constraints they envisage vis-à-vis the proposed recommendations for mainstreaming communication in development policies and programs.

A Mainstreaming and Policy Recommendations Study commissioned by the Scientific Committee will serve as the basis of discussions at the Policymakers' Forum, integrate the outcomes of the Forum and then be published, together with the proceedings of sessions and papers.

Media Partners

Media Partners include IPS-Inter Press Service, RAI (Italy), BBC (UK) and CNBC (Germany). Additional media outlets are Al-Jazeera (Qatar), Reuters, CNN Español, and major Latin-American media; Romebased correspondents of the international press, together with major Italian newspapers will cover the event. BBC will broadcast from the Congress site its flagship program World Debate, while CNBC will broadcast the show Global Players.

Expectations

This event has generated an enormous amount of interest around the world with more than 600 papers submitted through the call for papers, more than 1,700 registered through the Congress website, more than 600,000 hits on the site, and more than 2,000 people participating in pre-Congress e-discussions on Congress-related topics and themes.

Website

[http://www.devcomm.org First World Congress on Communication for Development]