Bruce Girard
BRUCE GIRARD has extensive experience in a broad range of areas, including journalism, development communication, community media, research, education, and ICT applications for development. Key areas for current research are global media and communication governance, the use of ICTs by independent media in developing countries and civil society participation in policymaking processes and activities. He has published widely on all of these themes. As a communication strategist, current clients include the International Association of Media and Communication Researchers (IAMCR), UNDP, the Centro Internacional de Estudios Superiores en Comunicación para América Latina (CIESPAL), LIRNE.NET and the World Dialogue on Regulation.
In 1996 Girard established Comunica, as both a foundation for consulting and development activities and a network of researchers and activists with similar concerns. Comunica projects have included organisation of numerous seminars, training sessions and projects studying and supporting independent media’s use of information and communication technologies to strengthen efforts for development and democracy. Girard is also an initiator and spokesperson of the campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS), was a founder of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) and was co-chair of the Civil Society Plenary at the first Preparatory Committee meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society.
Girard has consulted for numerous national cooperation agencies and international agencies, including designing and teaching courses on ICT and development for the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD), teaching radio management and training for Radio Netherlands Training Centre (RNTC), and developing a project to network researchers and policy makers in Africa for the European Commission and the World Bank. He has worked intensively with the Communication for Development Group of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to develop a global network linking rural radio broadcasters with new ICTs. He is currently working with a UNDP led Digital Review project for Latin America and the Caribbean which will bring together researchers and organisations from across the region. Other international agency clients have included UNESCO, ITU and UNRISD.
From 1998-2003 Girard was a resident researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, with his work focussing on on trends in international governance of media and communication. During that time he was also centrally involved in the launch of the World Dialogue on Regulation as a leading researcher for LIRNE.NET in the Americas.
While Girard’s experience is global, having worked, taught and lectured in more than forty countries, he has a particularly strong base in Latin America, where he has lived for more than ten years.
