Introduction

In November 1989, as the Berlin Wall began to fall, UNESCO's General Conference adopted a New Communication Strategy, aiming to respond to the needs of emerging democracies and those of developing countries. This strategy has a three fold objective:

1. to encourage the free flow of information, at international as well as national levels;
2. to promote its wider and better balanced dissemination, without any obstacle to the freedom of expression, and
3. to strengthen communication capacities in the developing countries in order to increase their participation in the communication process.

The New Communication Strategy reaffirms the fundamental principle of a «free flow of information» found in UNESCO's Constitution. In particular, the Organization commits itself to promoting freedom of expression as a fundamental human right and press freedom, an essential component of all democratic societies. With this purpose, UNESCO supports inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations working for the defence of these principles while preserving and developing its own means of action.
In order to concretize its commitment to the democratic process in transitional countries, UNESCO, in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Public Information, has organized a series of regional seminars on promoting independent and pluralist media (Windhoek, Namibia, 1991; Almaty, Kazakstan, 1992; Santiago, Chile, 1994; Sana'a, Yemen, 1996; Sofia, Bulgaria, 1997). These seminars, which gathered each time hundreds of media professionals from the region, led to the adoption of five «Declarations» which lay down the pre-conditions for the establishment of press freedom, media pluralism and independence. Exceptionally in the United Nations system, these Declarations were formulated and drafted by the participants themselves, all of them media professionals, being later endorsed by the Member States represented in UNESCO's General Conference.

In December 1993, following UNESCO's request, the United Nations General Assembly decides to declare 3 May (day on which the Declaration of Windhoek was adopted) «World Press Freedom Day». In 1996, the Organization created a UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

The second objective of UNESCO's New Communication Strategy stresses that wider and better balanced dissemination of information has to be ensured without any obstacle to the freedom of expression. The New Communication Strategy does not seek to weaken the mighty but to strengthen the weak in order to balance as much as possible the information flow. Hence the third objective of UNESCO's New Communication Strategy: to develop communication capacities in the developing countries, in particular through the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC).

At a time, when the media and specialized information are tending to move closer together because the technologies through which they are conveyed are now often much the same, the principle of «free flow» of information should be widened to cover all forms of information that contribute to the progress of societies and their democratic functioning. The objectives of UNESCO in the field of information and informatics are to link telecommunications with information technology and the audio-visual media with a view to opening up new prospects for the progress of knowledge and the development of intellectual co-operation. Noting the major repercussions of the coming technological revolution on all aspects of life, UNESCO promotes reflection on the impact of these technologies and fosters access to the possibilities they offer for educational, scientific and cultural development. UNESCO helps its Member States to frame integrated policies and strategies, taking into account the convergence of telecommunications, information technology and the electronic media, maintaining linguistic and cultural diversity.

UNESCO encourages the development of information and informatics capacities of Member States. The efforts are mainly directed towards extending infrastructure and improving training in developing countries and in countries in transition to democracy.

Another of UNESCO's objectives is to improve the organization and operation of libraries, archives and information systems in developing countries. UNESCO aims particularly to bring within their reach the benefits of new technologies so that the knowledge accumulated by them can be managed better and made more accessible. Important efforts are oriented towards the development of regional information technology networks.

This document pressents UNESCO's action to ensure, within the limits of available extrabudgetary resources, that the above-mentioned «New Communication Strategy» is put into practice, in particular its third objective.

The following pages show the present situation with 254 extrabudgetary projects being implemented by the Communication, Information and Informatics sector and its Regional Advisers. The report describes all on-going (not administratively closed) projects and their respective budgets representing the funds provided for the current phase of the project. Most of the data is summarized at the beginning of the document and under each «regional» chapter, providing an analysis of trends in the field of communication, information and informatics.