Learning and sharing in communication
for rural development

Dear FCCM friends, next month (August 10-14) AMARC will have its global conference in Accra and during the fourth day we are organizing a Forum on Communication and Community Media for Sustainable Rural Development, in partnership with FAO. As you can see, this is an initiative to follow up to the global FCCM and continue the dialogue between community media, farmer organizations and development agencies, this time with a more specific regional focus. We aim with this initiative to identify concrete areas for collaboration and establish solid alliances, particularly in Africa. More on the Forum objectives and structure in the blog we just published on the FCCM page . We are pleased to invite you to join us in the organization, to participate and engage your colleagues, networks and partners as relevant. Please reply to this message or contact me/Mario if you are interested. We look forward to have you on board! All the best, Francesco

Hi, Katie. Welcome to FCCM. We're happy to know that there are now a number of people getting interested to work on gathering evidences re: Rural Communication Services as applied to practical endeavors like family farming. One of my PhD advisees at UP Los Banos, Hassan Mahammad Kamrul, has just completed his dissertation on RCS' role in delivery and adoption of saline-tolerant rice variety in Bangladesh. It has been externally reviewed and soon Kamrul will be happy to post key results of his work. Meantime, we will be capturing some of his significant findings and post them in our FCCM page in the coming days. For others who are currently working on RCS in family farming, we will be happy to hear your experiences. Building up our lessons learned will surely go a long way.

Hi, Katie. Welcome to FCCM. We're happy to know that there are now a number of people getting interested to work on gathering evidences re: Rural Communication Services as applied to practical endeavors like family farming. One of my PhD advisees at UP Los Banos, Hassan Mahammad Kamrul, has just completed his dissertation on RCS' role in delivery and adoption of saline-tolerant rice variety in Bangladesh. It has been externally reviewed and soon Kamrul will be happy to post key results of his work. Meantime, we will be capturing some of his significant findings and post them in our FCCM page in the coming days. For others who are currently working on RCS in family farming, we will be happy to hear your experiences. Building up our lessons learned will surely go a long way.

Dear Friends, Colleagues, Partners, In line with the FCCM action plan, and its approved programme, UNESCO is planning an international seminar on community media sustainable policies and funding models in 2015. Following the FCCM discussions last year in Rome on community media, this invitation for partnerships intends to facilitate good practice, experience exchange, policy recommendations and support for business models and funding mechanisms. The idea is to invite speakers that can inform an international and focused audience about the complementary role community media offer as public value, opportunities and challenges of independent funding mechanisms, good practice business models, regulation and policy. Partners and sponsors are invited to support geographic and sector representation, i.e. a balanced mix of duty bearers, actors and stakeholders - from donors, regulators to community radio and farmer representatives. Post your opinion and let us know what priority areas you feels should be addressed and by whom. Best regards, Venus Venus E. Jennings Programme Specialist – Media Development and Society Section Division for Freedom of Expression and Media Development / La Division pour la liberté d'expression et le développement des médias Communication and Information Sector / Secteur de la communication et l'information 7, Place de Fontenoy 75232 Paris Cedex 07, France Tel: (+33) (0)1 45 68 38 11 Skype : venus.jennings