MEDIA ENGAGEMENT

The specific objectives for the media day are to identify what the media need to know about effective change in urban water management including communication with stakeholders, the best means of providing them with information and how to promote opportunities to engage them in changes in urban water management. The conference will gather media views on SWITCH outputs and those of other processes analyze their potential for communication and debate ways forward.

Conference messages for the day

1. It is no longer possible for a single organisation to be effective on its own. This complexity requires that we work co-operatively. It involves becoming good at 'communicating' or 'conversating' with each other

   • The complexity of the world means that there are more groups and organisations with responsibility and power. It is no longer possible for a single organisation to be effective on its own. This complexity requires that we work co-operatively. It involves becoming good at 'communicating' or 'conversating' with each other. Conversation implies both a social act and social interaction. It is about exchange, not transmission. It is about seeking to understand each other.

   • In successful cooperation building trust is vital. Confidence in partners needs to be established. A key part of conversation is developing positive attitudes and opinions about the others with whom it is necessary to cooperate.

2. We communicate either to change ourselves, by gaining knowledge that others have and to form opinions about others. One effective route for communicating 'one to many' is the media.

   • We communicate either to change ourselves, by gaining knowledge that others have and to form opinions about others, but also to influence others. To influence people's behaviour we need to understand what are the barriers they face to change.

   • Communication requires both a signal that indicates that a change is appropriate, identifies what is the appropriate behaviour, and is associated with a sufficient incentive to overcome the barriers to changing behaviour.

   • One effective route for communicating 'one to many' is the media. The media are experts in communicating with the different audiences.

   • Timing is essential. There are many issues competing for people's attention and we need to know when it is the best time to get the media’s attention on water issues.

Programme overview

08.15 - 09.00	Keynote address Managing Water in the City of the Future By Professor Kalanithy Vairavamoorthy, Director of the School of Global Sustainability, University of South Florida, United States.
09.00 - 09.30	Welcome and Highlights of the Conference
09.30 - 10.30	Interview session City examples of strong and successful media engagement (D1)
10.30 - 11.00	Coffee break
11.00 - 12.30	Parallel sessions. The role of media and communication in the process of change Round Table of media and communication representatives of LAC, Africa, and Asia Stakeholders views (small groups’ discussions). Working Group A | Working Group B | Working Group C Working Group D | Working Group E | Working Group F
12.30 - 13.00	Dialogue session Dialogue between stakeholders and media on strong and successful media engagement in the process of change
13.00 - 13.30	Light lunch
13.30 - 15.00	UN Talk Show Insights and feedback to the conference on the messages of World Water Day 2011

	Plenary room, ground floor
	Working group rooms
	Round table room, 1st floor
	Paraninfo of the University of Zaragoza, City Centre