COMMUNICATING WITH DECISION MAKERS (CONTINUED)

Authors

  • Silvia Balit

Abstract

The11th United Nations Inter-Agency Roundtable on Communication for Development, held in Washington in 2009, had as its theme “Moving Communication for Development up the International Development Agenda: Demonstrating Impact and strengthening the Institutional Position”. The Roundtable approved three interrelated priorities for recognizing communication as a fundamental component in development: advocacy with policy makers; monitoring and evaluation to demonstrate impact; and training of communication for development professionals; and agreed to formulate and implement a common strategy. In this article, Silvia Balit provides some personal reflections on the obstacles that exist, and contributes ideas for the development and implementation of an advocacy strategy.

Author Biography

Silvia Balit

Silvia Balit, from Italy, has many years of experience in the field of communication for development and social change. Her professional career has been devoted to working for the UN system, first with the United Nations in New York, and then with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome. Together with Colin Fraser, she pioneered the Development Support Communication program in FAO. Between 1984 and 1998 she was in charge of FAO’s Communication for Development program. In this capacity, she led many initiatives aimed at strengthening rural communication systems in Africa, Asia, the Near East and Latin America to promote sustainable development and social change.

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Published

2010-05-01

Issue

No. 14 (2010)

Section

Articles