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Our mission:
The COMplus communications platform creates synergies between partners, showing evidence of an increased impact among key audiences/stakeholders.
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KEY OUTCOMES
- A shift in decision-makers’ attitudes towards sustainable development.
- A robust 250 percent increase in media intake of this agenda around the world (print, broadcast and e-media).
- Public support of COMplus from world leaders about the relevance of COMplus as a communications platform, including former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Nobel Prize winners Wangari Matthai , Presidents Lula from Brazil and Costa Rican President Arias, ministers and legislators from industrialized and developing countries, CEOs from leading companies, and opinion leaders.
- More than 40 organizations have requested to be part of COMplus in the last four years.
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Reaching wider audiences with multimedia products
Broadcast
- TV features on sustainable development reach 20 million homes in Africa through Reuters Africa Journal on a weekly basis.
- 300 million homes in 170 countries were reached through BBC documentaries on glacier melting, conditional cash transfers and climate change effects on small islands (Slippery Slopes, Cash In Hand and The President’s Dilemma).
- Climate Thinkers series reaches over 500 million viewers worldwide during UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. BBC World TV broadcast a series of 18 short films tapping into the minds of the world’s leading climate change scientists, policy makers and civil society organizations at the front line of climate change seven times per day over eight days (December 2009). This series was also broadcast on national TV in Africa and India.
- Small Islands, Big Impact documentary reaches 50 million South Asian homes. The short film, based on an exclusive interview with President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, was distributed to 25 broadcasters throughout Asia/Pacific and uploaded onto YouTube. The documentary was produced by TVEAP.
- Over 150 broadcasters screen material from ground-breaking policy event on climate change. Video news release and coverage of legislative consensus at the GLOBE Legislators’ Forum in Copenhagen (October 2009) ahead of the COP 15 broadcast on BBC’s flagship news programme Newsnight, BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service Radio (UK), Rai (Italy), TFI (France), CBC (Canada), TV2 (Denmark), and Deutsche Welle (Africa), among others.
Web
- At least 150,000 views of videos and commentaries on partners’ and COMplus’ web pages since 2003. To access our website, please visit: www.complusalliance.org
- 500,000 viewers regularly visit Inter Press Service (IPS) web pages to access information on the COMplus-sponsored series of features. For more information, please visit: www.ips.org
News features
- Hundreds of independent news features on sustainable development issues distributed to over 97 countries by Inter Press Service (IPS). Under this initiative, COMplus, IPS and the International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ) encourage environmental journalists around the globe to produce in-depth, independent new features on key sustainable development issues. These features are translated into English/Spanish/French and used by hundreds of government, United Nations, NGOs, civil society organizations, research institutions and thematic websites.
- News features and reporting guidelines on biodiversity distributed in 24 languages. The short set of Reporting Guidelines on Biodiversity includes context, definitions, story ideas and expert sources. The guidelines are a key mentoring tool for working with journalists and were. Launched at the Settimana della Biodiverista (March 2009) in the presence of the heads of the four Rome based food agencies (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Food Program (WFP), and Biodiversity International). The news lines will include a mix of features, analysis, interviews and occasional op-ed contributions.
- Close to 100 international news articles were published on the GLOBE Legislators’ Forums in Rome (June 2009) and Copenhagen (October 2009). Media coverage included articles in TIME magazine (US), Times of India (India), TV Globo (Brazil), The Moscow Times (Russia), and Mail and Guardian (South Africa), among others, encouraging accountability of legislators in their home countries.
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Reaching decision makers
- One million people a month read COMplus-sponsored climate news website. “AlertNet Climate” (www.alertnet.org/climate) – a dedicated climate news website on humanitarian and development impacts of climate change, is viewed and noted by policy makers, journalists, aid workers and students worldwide. About 75 freelance journalists from around the globe are currently writing for the site and close to 75% of all COMplus partners contribute to the site, which became fully active in the lead-up to the COP15 at Copenhagen in December 2009. This multimedia communication platform combines news, features and social media like Twitter, Facebook updates, videos podcasts and other tools to facilitate access to information related to low carbon development and the humanitarian impacts of climate change. For more information, please visit: www.alertnet.org/climate
- A total of 200 legislators from the G-20 countries agreed on climate change solutions at COMplus-supported GLOBE Forums. COMplus worked on media outreach to include curtain raiser viewed by 120 international legislators in Copenhagen (including legislators from China, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and India). For more information, please visit: www.globeinternational.org
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Gauging the opinion of decision makers and journalism trends in climate change and sustainability reporting
- Tracking the opinion of over 5,000 sustainable development decision makers - more than 50 percent of them in the developing world (in government, civil society, private sector and academia) through surveys conducted by GlobeScan, a global public opinion research institution and a COMplus partner. The latest survey (2010) highlights that environmental NGOs are rated as having the best performance on climate change. Some governments received extremely poor grades on their past year efforts, as did corporations. Government investments in combating climate change are deemed to be good for the economy almost unanimously, and most experts are of the opinion that investing in mitigation now will be less costly that paying for adaptation in the long-run. To access the reports, please visit: www.globescan.com
- Survey on media treatment of sustainable development issues suggests that there is a serious gap in coverage of sustainable development issues between journalists’ choice and their editors. Respondents from 73 countries suggest that the measures perceived to offer the greatest potential for improved coverage of these issues are sensitizing editors and access to better quality sources. About 81% of respondents would be interested in covering sustainable development topics more than they currently do. To read the reports, please visit: www.globescan.com
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Capacity building and knowledge sharing for professional journalists
- 1,000 journalists from 40+ countries trained by COMplus globally are using newly acquired skills in their coverage on sustainable development themes.
- COMplus has developed a database tracking performance of trained journalists, editors and communicators to assess the value of training. For more information, please visit: www.complusalliance.org
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ABOUT COMplus
The COMplus Sustainable Development Communications Alliance (www.complusalliance.org) operational platform started in 2003 as a network of existing communications organizations to provide a diverse communications platform on sustainable development. During the past seven years, it has shown remarkable success through a synergistic approach across partners and the implementation of three business lines:
- Multi-stakeholder platforms for dialogue;
- capacity building and knowledge sharing; and
- high-impact multimedia products.
COMplus member organizations are drawn from across the media, communications and sustainable development sectors, global advocacy groups, and international organizations, providing a unique range of perspectives on current strategic and thematic priorities.
The value-added of the COMplus platform in a nutshell:
- Tracks opinion of 5,000 sustainable development decision makers.
- Reaches 300 million homes around the world through films, documentaries, and videos.
- Reaches mainstream and alternative media globally, especially in developing countries.
- Trains hundreds of journalists annually and tracks skills upgrade and use.
- Establishes strategic alliances with legislators, private sector, civil society and academia to move agendas forward on key sustainable development areas.
- Decodes sustainable development information to fit the global public’s daily needs.
- Provides a platform for South/South cooperation.
Membership/Partners: BBC World Service Trust, Conservation International, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), Global Environment Facility (GEF), GlobeScan, International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ), Inter Press Service (IPS), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), One Planet/DevTV, Thomson Reuters Foundation, TVE, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Bank, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), and TVE- Asia Pacific.
Associate Partners: GREEN, a UK based communications agency specializing in sustainable development; and NHK Eco Channel, NHK's brand new portal website, dedicated to climate change and sustainable development. NHK, Japan Broadcasting Corporation is Japan's sole public broadcaster.
Current management structure:
- Steering Committee/Board, comprised by one representative from each partner organization, meets twice a year and makes decisions on strategy, initiatives, and allocation of resources. The Chair of the Board is Sergio Jellinek (sjellinek@worldbank.org).
- COMplus Operational Coordinator based in UK: Emily Marlow (emily.marlow@complusalliance.org).
- COMplus administrative/logistics center based in Costa Rica. IUCN is the host organization of the partnership and is in charge of the administration: Cristina González (cgonzaleza@worldbank.org) and Mauricio Guevara (mauricio.guevara@iucn.org).
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COMplus FUNDING PARTNERS
- Denmark – Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DANIDA)
- Norway – Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NORAD)
- Sweden – Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
- United Kingdom – Department for International Development (DFID)
- World Bank– Houses and manages COMplus multi-donor trust fund (Patricia da Camara, pdcamara@worldbank.org).
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