On November 15, Carolina Azevedo, Chief of Communications at the United Nations Development Coordination Office spoke with Montclair State students on the challenges and opportunities of communicating globally in the current context.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can’t tackle poverty alone,\u201d she stated, \u201cIt’s poverty and education and health, and hunger. They are so interlinked.\u201d\u00a0 These linkages require communicators who can share the message of development to a variety of stakeholders.<\/p>\n
As this is an important part of Chief Azevedo\u2019s position, she encouraged students to consider the ways in which their communication can reach many different groups.\u00a0 \u201cAt the end of the day, many people who want to communicate effectively, end up thinking strategically,\u201d said Azevedo, \u201cIs it a Facebook post? Is it a Tik Tok? Is it Instagram? You’re going to communicate differently, depending on the channels\u2026 What’s your key message? What is it that you want to communicate? And who’s your audience? Because that’s the most important point.\u201d<\/p>\n
She noted that this need comes with a responsibility for greater transparency by the United Nations, as well.\u00a0 Speaking to the need for development initiatives to be accurately communicated to the stakeholders they serve, she states, \u201cThere is a big push for not only communicating the stories, but also information that boosts transparency and accountability that every taxpayer wants to see. \u2018Show me the results.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Increased transparency in the social media filtered environment of modern communication presents a unique challenge: the danger of misinformation.\u00a0 Trustworthiness was noted as particularly important with Chief Azevedo encouraging students to \u201cStop and think. Do you know who shared information with you? Can you just do a quick fact? Check and try to make people understand that everybody plays a role when it comes to spreading whatever it is that you’re sharing.\u201d<\/p>\n
With targeted, engaging, and ethical communication, her work at the UN Development Coordination Office (DCO) seeks to create meaningful real-world change.\u00a0 \u201cWe need to boost education, quality of life, and the environment. We need to support women and girls,\u201d she stated, \u201cIt’s a commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students were provided a unique insight into both the DCO\u2019s mission and how solid communication strategies are essential to meeting that mission.\u00a0 Responding to Carolina Azevedo\u2019s message, Danielle Goldstein, a Junior in Communication Media Studies, stated “Ms. Azevedo said that you need to know who your audience is and how and where to reach them.”<\/p>\n
This perspective on how key global goals of the United Nations intersect with the need to communicate about those goals with a broader public is a lesson that is meaningful for the next generation of advocates and communicators.<\/p>\n
Ms. Azevedo spoke eloquently about her experience as Chief of Communications and Spokeswoman of the United Nations Political Mission in Colombia in 2017-2018, in the framework of the historic peace process between the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC), a guerrilla group, and the Government. She highlighted how working on a daily basis with Colombian women and men who were very committed to the peace process, in particular, working hand in hand with local radio stations in towns and indigenous communities, had been \u201cthe most fabulous experience\u201d she had ever had. Professor Toro Carnevali<\/a>, the event organizer, underlined how Chief Azevedo embodied the pillars of Montclair State University through her commitment to public and community service.<\/p>\n This presentation was part of the Pollack Speaker Series which brings important leaders in the world of global affairs to Montclair State University to share perspectives with students.\u00a0 Carolina Azevedo\u2019s presentation was co-sponsored with the department of Political Science and Law<\/a> and the School of Communication and Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carolina Azevedo, Chief of Communications at the United Nations Development Coordination Office Joins Pollack Speaker Series<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-faculty-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/political-science-and-law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/political-science-and-law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/political-science-and-law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/political-science-and-law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/political-science-and-law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/political-science-and-law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1224,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/political-science-and-law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions\/1224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/political-science-and-law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/political-science-and-law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/political-science-and-law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/political-science-and-law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}