28 Sep 2012 WACC conducts survey on communication rights

WACC Deputy General Secretary and Director of Programmes, Lavinia Mohr, presented  results of the communication rights survey during the Executive Committee meeting in Toronto.

A recent survey on communication rights conducted by WACC has concluded that greater understanding of communication rights can strengthen participatory development and facilitate achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).



The survey conducted among WACC members and partners worldwide revealed that an overwhelmingly high number of respondents (82%) recognized the link between communication rights and participatory development, but could benefit from more focused resources.WACC’s Strategic Plan 2012-2016 identified the need to map and better understand the extent of communication rights knowledge among members and partners. The results of a recent survey were presented today at the Executive Committee meeting taking place at the WACC office in Toronto, September 27-October 1.

Responses to a question based on Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights about the relationship between communication rights and human rights showed that most people perceived communication rights in a framework set many decades ago. According to the findings, recent additions to communication rights such as the right to memory and the right to silence have not yet been taken up.

When it came to languages, the survey found that Arabic is the fourth most requested language for communication rights publications after English, Spanish and French. This underlines the need for WACC to consider publishing resources in Arabic particularly in its series of No-Nonsense Guides.

The most popular primary source of information among participants for communication rights is the Web and the most popular tools respondents felt WACC should develop were its website, hosting regional conferences and assessment tools for communication rights.

“The survey has helped to characterize the overall perspectives of members and partners and the potential variables that may influence communication rights understanding,” said WACC General Secretary, Rev. Dr Karin Achtelstetter. “The results provide a strong basis on which WACC will provide its network with training, tools and support to undertake advocacy activities in the area of Communication rights”, she said.

The survey was conducted in WACC’s working languages: English, Spanish and French.

The full study publication and all the text responses are available upon request.

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