PUBLIC COMMUNICATION AND (DE)POLARIZATION FOR BREAKING THE GRIDLOCK

Join us for the fourth and FINAL webinar of the 4-part series where we will explore insights and recommendations from the Human Development Report 2023/24 for innovative governance programming!

Co-organized by the United Nations Development Programme and The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), this session will explore the opportunities and challenges of public communication practices as a way to strengthen trust in institutions and promote a more constructive government-citizen dialogue.

Watch the recording here:

BACKGROUND

The UNDP Human Development Report 2023/2024 “Breaking the gridlock: Reimagining cooperation in a polarized world”, highlights the challenges caused by the intensification of inequalities and political polarization, underscoring the importance of facing these issues with urgency and assertiveness to overcome the barriers towards advancing the development agenda.

The Report proposes three strategies to break this gridlock: (i) narrow agency gaps: enhancing people’s voices – especially the most vulnerable – in decision-making processes; (ii) dial back temperature to push back polarization: promoting new governance approaches that can reduce polarization and promote the building of bridges between different perspectives; (iii) build a 21st century architecture for global public goods: promote new dynamics of cooperation with public goods as catalyzers for dialogue building.

Through a series of webinars, UNDP in collaboration with development partners, discusses the implications and potential of these recommendations for boosting innovative work in governance programming.

SESSION OBJECTIVES:

1. Discuss the concept of public communication in the context of HDR recommendations;

2. Learn how public communication can be applied to enhance citizens trust on public institutions, reducing polarization and strengthening democracy;

3. Amplify/resurface concrete applied country examples on public commnunication to promote innovative governance practices.

SPEAKERS:

Sarah Lister, Head of Governance, UNDP

Gillian Dorner, Deputy Director, Public Governance Directorate, OECD

Heriberto Tapia, Research and Partnerships Advisor, Human Development Report Office, UNDP

Aline Castro, Deputy President of Relations with Associates, ABCPUblica - Brazilian Association of Public Communication

Mario Riorda, Expert on Communication, Austral University

Dimitra Dimitrakopoulou, Head of Translation Research, MIT Center for Constructive Communication

Tim Dixon, co-founder, More in Common

Carlos Benitez, Resident Representative, UNDP Guatemala
 

MODERATOR:

Carlotta Alfonsi, Policy Analyst – Public Communication and Access to Information, Public Governance Directorate, OECD

Ezgi Ozturk, Governance Community Manager, UNDP

PREVIOUS SESSIONS:

➡️Watch the recording of the first webinar on deliberative democracy here.

➡️Watch the recording of the second webinar on media actors here.

With landmark publications in the topic, such as “Good Practice Principles for Public Communication Responses to Mis- and Disinformation” and “OECD Report on Public Communication”, OECD has been playing a leading role in promoting the strengthening of public communication capacities in different countries in recent years. The new OECD Scan of the United Kingdom focuses on “Using Public Communication to Strengthen Democracy and Public Trust”.