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Power Point PresentationsEffective Communication forSustainable Social Development(Food and Agriculture)By: Mahira AfzalFAOUN, Islamabad, PakistanDevelopment Communication“ A process that builds consensus and facilitates thesharing of knowledge to achieve positive change indevelopment initiatives.It is not only about effective dissemination ofinformation but about using empirical research, twoway communication and dialogue amongstakeholders.It is also a key management tool that helps assess sociopoliticalrisks and opportunities.By using communication to bridge differences and takeaction towards change, development communicationcan lead to successful and more sustainable results”Communication for DevelopmentPeople working to improve agriculturalproductivity, food security and rurallivelihoods, Knowledge and Informationare very vital to effectively respond to theopportunities and challenges of:social,economic andtechnological changesTo be useful, knowledge (innovations,research findings, or pressing policyissues) must be effectively sharedamongst people and institutions.Communication for Development(ComDev) is therefore a criticalcomponent of any developmentinitiative.Rural Community: Existing ProblemsThe rural community is suffering from multi-dimensionalproblems mainly due to unavailability of information and lack ofcommunication, including :PovertyLow IncomeLow Literacy RatesLack knowledge to sell their productsAgriculture information (soil, water, crops, seeds, fertilizers andmodern farming techniques).Lack of HealthcareLack of information (markets, market rates, weather and floodforecasts).Community DevelopmentDigital DivideAn increased disparity between users who have themeans to access information and those who do not.The major barrier to this is political will. Followingthat, the constraints are mostly educational,technological and financial in nature.Barely 2% are linked to the Internet and most peopleon the planet have never made a telephone call.Rural DivideICT revolution has greatly increased the possibilitiesfor disseminating and sharing knowledge and yet,disadvantaged segments of society are excluded fromICT flows (FAO, Strategy for Action).Rural people face constraints in accessing appropriateand timely information, no access to up to dateinformation hampers economic development.ICTs can support bottom up articulation ofdevelopment needs and perceptions and facilitatelinking global and local knowledge.35