• they encourage countries to address many facets of one issue with a view to the development of strategies to address problems and plan for future periods;

• they focus the media's coverage for one year and allow for many aspects of one issue to be explored, understood, debated and resolved;

• they often have the potential to involve organisations and individuals that may not be ordinarily concerned with that issue

• they stimulate a whole-of-government and whole-of -community response to issues that concern everyone in some way.

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