Slovenian NGOs have stepped on the path of the European debate on images and messages in communication material and public campaigns. Various fundraising campaigns that took place in Slovenia in the last quarter of 2009 triggered the discussion and the round table Images of Africa and global South in fundraising campaigns. Organized by the African Centre of Slovenia and Slovenian NGO platform for development cooperation and humanitarian aid SLOGA on 14th December 2009, the participants of the round table – NGOs, students and academics – exchanged views on ways mainstream fundraising campaigns are carried out and looked for best practices in Slovenian space. The participants emphasized dehumanizing images and stereotypes of Africa that these public campaigns promote. While recognizing the reality of poverty in Africa the panellists agreed that this is a one-sided story and images of passive Africans waiting for help from the West should be challenged. A panellist from the Faculty of Education introduced the in Europe already well known concept of development pornography that she felt was the most adequate term for describing the topic of the debate: use of shocking images of people in the global South living in poverty as part of campaigns by NGOs to encourage general public into donating money.
This round table was only the beginning of a wider discussion on the topic. African Centre of Slovenia and SLOGA are already planning new events in 2010 on the topic and within this frame a promotion of Code of Conduct on Images and Messages.
Related link:
Code of Conduct on Images and Messages, presented at the Development Education Forum (DEF) in Malta in October 2006, and approved by CONCORD General Assembly in June 2007:
http://www.trialog.or.at/images/doku/code-of-conduct-on-images-messages.pdf
Information provided by Marjan Huc, SLOGA
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