IPS – Inter Press Service and Menendez Pelayo International University (UIMP) organized their fifth annual seminar, with this year’s 3-day meeting focused on “Communication for Social Change and Development”. It was held from 10 – 12 September, 2012 in Santander (Spain).

The seminar gave an opportunity for different actors working in the field of communication, development and social change to exchange experiences and create synergies, with a view to improve public policies on communication, and good practices in these fields. Read more »

BANGKOK – To get a view of current development and social news and issues relating to the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN), which was set up by IPS Asia-Pacific under its programme with the International Development Research Centre.

ASEAN, South-east Asia’s main grouping of 10 member countries, gets a lot of media coverage. But most of this is centred around high-profile events and summits, leaving little room for in-depth analysis and investigation especially of social issues that rarely make the headlines at such events. Read more »

(L to r) Mario Lubetkin, IPS Director General and FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva during the inauguration of the new IPS offices, FAO headquarters. Credit: ©FAO/Giulio Napolitano.

The signature of the IPS – FAO hosting agreement took place on September 6th at the new IPS offices at FAO Headquarters in Rome. José Graziano da Silva FAO Director General, Marcela Villarreal, FAO Director ESW and Mehdi Drissi, FAO Chief, Media Relations; Rita Mannella, Italian DGCS and Claudio Miscia, Italian Representative to UN Organizations in Rome and Mario Lubetkin, IPS Director General, Sabina Zaccaro, IPS Italian Correspondent and Pablo Piacentini, Director of the IPS Columnist Service were among those present.

Following the ceremony, a group of about 60 IPS friends coming from UN and international organizations, media and civil society celebrated this official inauguration of  the new IPS premises with a glass of wine. Read more »

IPS Correspondent Martha Nyambura and the team received the second place in the annual IFAJ-YARA Award for Sustainable Agriculture Reporting. The judges noted that she “presented an engaging story that illustrates what people in Africa are facing (and) made good use of limited resources to produce the report, addressing the issues of food access, hunger and nutrition for a growing world population”. See below for the link to her winning multimedia presentation. Watch the audio slideshow here.

ROME, 23 Jul – Inter Press Service (IPS), the international non-profit news agency headquartered in Rome, officially launches its new website this Monday, Jul. 23.

Mario Lubetkin, IPS’s Director General, said that the re-design comes at a time of shifting sands for the media and communication sector. Read more »