Dear colleagues and friends,

The Expert Consultation on Communication for Development that was held here in FAO was a unique opportunity for all of us to meet and reflect on the crucial challenges that ComDev in agricultural development is facing today. Communication needs and available channels in rural areas are going through tremendous changes and rural people are increasingly calling for new communication capacities to access relevant knowledge and information on rural support services and technologies.  

 

The enthusiastic response we received to our call, not only illustrates how much ComDev  is a fundamental ingredient in development processes but it also confirms the need for ComDev professionals, and the organizations that they represent, to work together, establish relationships and partnerships to address together the above challenges. The recommendations from the Expert Consultation, certainly point in that direction.

 

We are very happy with the outcomes of the meeting and want to personally express our gratitude to each and every one for contributing with your ideas and with your expertise, as well as for the stimulating discussions we had throughout the three day gathering.

 

We will soon contact individually the participants who expressed interest in following up on the EC recommendations. In the meantime we encourage you to visit the EC website and browse through our photo gallery, watch the video interviews on you-tube and read the comments on twitter. These are all available at the following links:

·         EC website http://www.fao.org/oek/communication-for-development/expert-consultation/en/

·         EC photo gallery https://picasaweb.google.com/113899598850285694621/FAOComDevExpertConsultation

·         Twitter coverage of the event http://twitter.com/#!/faocomdev

·         ComDev channel on youtube http://www.youtube.com/FAOcomdev

 

Please feel free to share these links with your colleagues and friends, particularly the videos of your interviews and statements on ComDev.

In addition to the recommendations of the EC you will also find attached the list of the experts and of all the participants with their profiles and contact details. The consultation report will be emailed and posted on the website within a couple of weeks.

 

Best regards,

May Hani, Mario Acunzo and Riccardo del Castello

Communication for Development

Research and Extension Branch

FAO, Rome