World Congress on Communication for Development

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

The First World Congress on Communication for Development was hosted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and organized by The World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization, and The Communication Initiative. It intended 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.

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

FAO and the World Bank spearheaded this event, and 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 consisted 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.

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.

The Congress was structured around four broad thematic areas: Health, Governance, Sustainable Development, and Communication Labs. During the Policymakers Forum leading policy and decision-makers discussed and debated the opportunities and constraints they envisaged 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 served as the basis of discussions at the Policymakers' Forum, integrated the outcomes of the Forum and was then published, together with the proceedings of sessions and papers.

...
Wikipedia