Enabling People to Be Seen and Heard

The World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) advocates for communication rights—including freedom of expression and access to information—as a fundamental requirement for human rights and sustainable development. WACC addresses 'communication and information poverty' through four main strategies: building grassroots capacity, monitoring media representation, analysing communication trends, and leveraging international networks. The organization focuses on five key areas: digital communication rights, the rights of migrants and refugees, indigenous rights, climate change, and gender equality. A central component of its work is the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), which provides evidence of the systemic under-representation of women in global news media.

• Communication rights are essential for the realization of other human rights and sustainable development, yet they are frequently ignored, leading to 'communication and information poverty' and social invisibility for marginalized groups.
• The rise of digital platforms has fragmented the media landscape, increasing the power of unaccountable global corporations and allowing some governments to better control information, though these tools also offer new avenues for marginalized voices.
• WACC's digital communication rights programme emphasizes that internet access alone is insufficient for sustainable development; it must be accompanied by addresses of ownership, privacy, surveillance, and digital media literacy.
• Forced migrants and refugees face severe barriers to communication due to linguistic, cultural, and political factors, often resulting in their exclusion from public discourse and the prevalence of hostile or xenophobic media narratives.
• Indigenous communication rights, particularly access to community radio, are critical for the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the preservation of indigenous languages and cultures.
• The climate crisis disproportionately affects marginalized communities, and effective responses require that scientific knowledge be communicated in local languages and that vulnerable groups be enabled to tell their own stories and organize for change.
• The Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) provides evidence of extreme gender imbalance in news media, finding that women constitute only 24% of news subjects and sources.

APA

World Association for Christian Communication (n.d.). Enabling People to Be Seen and Heard. https://waccglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/3-Enabling-English.pdf

Chicago

World Association for Christian Communication. Enabling People to Be Seen and Heard. n.d. https://waccglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/3-Enabling-English.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Association for Christian Communication |title=Enabling People to Be Seen and Heard |url=https://waccglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/3-Enabling-English.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldassociationforchristiancommunicationndenabling, author = {{World Association for Christian Communication}}, title = {{Enabling People to Be Seen and Heard}}, institution = {World Association for Christian Communication}, url = {https://waccglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/3-Enabling-English.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }