The FCCM and communicating via social media

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Written by: Anastasia Zammit, FAO

Late last week, FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy, welcomed almost 100 guests from all four corners of the world, travelling from afar to attend and participate in the Forum on Communication for Development and Community Media for Family Farming (FCCM).  The Forum, organized by FAO in collaboration with AMARC, aimed to showcase and raise awareness on the role of Communication for Development (ComDev) as a driver for innovation as well as family farmers’ participation in rural development.

 

Given the event’s purpose, a number of specialists in the area of communication and rural development were brought together, given a unique opportunity to share cross-disciplinary ideas and discuss experiences.   It was also a chance to contemplate on the complex but encouraging way forward for rural communication services as an integral part of public policies for rural and agricultural development.  With a great deal of communication practitioners filling FAO Headquarters, it was only natural for the stimulating discussions to spill over onto a host of social media outlets, including Twitter.       

While those in attendance shared their FCCM experience in 140 characters, using hashtags, pictures and Retweets to interact with their new virtual peers, the most interesting discussions were between Rome-based participants and those following the discussions from elsewhere via web streaming. Interesting interactions took place between those in Rome, Uganda, the Dominican Republic, Canada, the United States, the Philippines, Nepal and Malawi, amongst others.

To get a better idea of the dialogue and debate which took place, take a look at these Storifies:    

A very big thank you to all social media aficionados who chimed in on the discussions! All those interested in the Forum’s main themes and discussion topics may still provide their inputs by using the hashtag #FCCM and using the @FAOcomdev and @AMARCnews Twitter handles.   

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