Upload
bolaji-okusaga
View
851
Download
2
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
By Bolaji Okusaga
Public Relations in Policy Evaluation and Implementation
Content
• Concepts and Contexts
1. Public Policy and Public Relations
• The Role of Public Relations
2. Moving a Policy Agenda to Legislation
• Where is the Convergence?
3. Conclusions
1. Public Policy and Public Relations
CONCEPTS AND CONTEXTS
Politics and Public Policy
PUBLIC POLICY DEFINED• A course of action adopted and pursued
by a government ruler, political party, etc. (Webster’s Dictionary)
• Public Policy is an attempt at solving a problem as well as attain objectives
POLICY AND POLITICS• Public policy, as a discipline, is rooted in
the study of politics• Politics is as ancient as Man….
EXPANSIVE SCOPE
The scope of public relation is wide and it include political and policy fields.
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Public Relations provides relevant
information on planning and
developments.
Forging a Link Between Public Relations and Public Policy
Why Discuss Public Relations within the Context of Public Policy?
PUBLIC POLICY• Issues• Solutions
CATERING TO PUBLIC INTEREST• Stakeholders• Management of
Expectations
Competition for Scare Resources
Conflicts of Interest
Contexts of Public Policy
CULTURAL CONTEXTNorms Customs History
GOVERNING CONTEXTRules and institutions
POLITICAL CONTEXTPartisan dynamics Political system
ECONOMIC CONTEXTBudget Taxes Inflation Unemployment
SOCIAL CONTEXTDemographics Socialization and Social Setting
Policy Cycle and Public Relations
PROCESS ENGAGEMENTIdentify objectives What problem are we trying to solve?Identify alternative courses of action for achieving objectives
In which ways can the problem be solved?
Predict the possible consequences of each alternative What are the likely negative impacts of each solution?Evaluate the possible consequences of each alternative
What are the likely options of picking one solution over the other
Select the alternative that maximizes the attainment of objectives.
How do we pick the best solution while mitigating any negative consequence
The objective of every Public Relations activity is to influence public opinion.
Public Policy aims to solve a public problem
The ultimate goal is to get people to take positive action for a cause.
Approaches to Governance
There are four approaches to governance:
The market efficiency approach
The performance
efficiency approach
The stakeholder
relations approach
The people’s influence approach
Themes of Public Policy
Scarcity:• Trade-offs
Diversity:• Ideas and
OpinionsChange
Costs and Benefits
Unintended Consequences Crisis
Identifying the Impacted Public
Problem Identification• Affects• Objectives / Goals• Information Gathering
Stakeholder Analysis• Allies• Assets / Constraints• Opponents
Stakeholder Management Process• Strategy• Managing Expectations• Action Plan
Rationality and the Policy Process
VALUES AND WORLD VIEW
• In the policy making process, rational analysis is usually in context: within the interplay of evidence, value and belief systems of the participants, the structure of the process, and the distribution of power.
GAME OF INTERESTS
• Most policy analysis are not value neutral.• There are always interests at play.
MANAGEMENT OF EXPECTATIONS
• This calls for engagement with stakeholders• That is Public Relations at play
Evolution of Lobbying
LEGEND ONE:
• The term is believed to have originated in British Parliament, and referred to the lobbies outside the chambers where wheeling and dealing took place. Oxford English Dictionary, believes the term was used as early as 1640 in England to describe the lobbies that were open to constituents to interact with their representatives.
LEGEND TWO
• The word Lobbying was coined at Willard Hotel
• President Ulysses S. Grant was in office (1869-1877). Apparently President Grant would frequent the Willard Hotel to enjoy brandy and a cigar, and while he was there, he’d be hounded by petitioners asking for legislative favors or jobs. It is said that President Grant coined the term by referring to the petitioners as “those damn lobbyists.”
Definition of Lobbying and Lobbyist
LOBBYING:
To promote or secure the passage of (legislation) by influencing public
officials
To attempt to influence (a public official) toward a desired action (Merriam-
Webster)
LOBBYIST: Any individual who is either employed or retained by a client for financial or other compensation whose services
include more than one lobbying contract; and whose lobbying activities
constitute 20% or more of his or her services’ time on behalf of that client during any three-month period (LDA)
Public Affairs/Government Relations
Public Affairs is “the management function responsible for monitoring and managing a corporation’s external environment.”
It always includes government relations, and sometimes community relations and communications.
Lobbying and advocacy are government relations sub-functions. Source: Public Affairs Council
“Lobbying is Democracy in Action”
Lobbying is modern marketing: trying to transform a group’s narrow interest into something perceived, rightly or wrongly, as serving the broad public interest.”
Robert SamuelsonNewsweek ColumnistDecember 22, 2008
The Organisatio
n
Opinion
Leaders
Partners
Trade and
Industry
Government
Professional Groups
Local Communit
y
Competition
The Lobbying Environment
Case-Study 1
Management of Expectations on the Petroleum Industry Bill
Changing the Way Business is Done in the Oil Industry
The Nigerian economy is mainly
driven by activities in the Oil
and Gas sector
Over the years, there has been clamour for a
revision of legislation guiding
the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry
A series of activities have
been carried out since 2000 and
this has culminated in the
Petroleum Industry Bill,
which has been revised several times without
passage
Enter the Petroleum Industry Bill
Issues and Possible Outcomes
Critical Areas of Conflict
The Demand for Stakes by
Local Communities
Unbundling of the NNPC Tax Issues
Possible divestment
of IOCs
Case-Study 2
Addressing the issue of Policy reversals in the Agriculture Industry – The EEG Debate…
The Issues
The Suspension of the Export Expansion Grant
EEG is a post-shipped export incentive scheme designed to encourage
non-oil exporters – especially in the Agric
Sector
The federal government has suspended the EEG
scheme on suspicion that there could be some
irregularity or abuse by few exporters
Possible Consequences
Effects of the Suspension of the Policy
Delay and uncertainty in proper implementation of existing EEG policy is putting the investments in the non-oil export sector into peril
Employment of thousands of workers in the non – oil sector is at risk
Strong negative signal for any potential investors
The business environment in Nigeria is being impacted negatively by government not matching words with action
2. Moving a Policy Agenda to Legislation
THE ROLE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Managing Stakeholder Expectations Around a Public Policy
•What should the promoters of Public Policy do to get the policy agenda on the table and get a Bill passed enforcing the policy?
Agenda Setting
THE CONTEXT
Agenda-setting refers to the power of the media in defining the focus of its target as to what is important in the public domainAgenda-setting is the creation of public awareness and concern on an issue by the news media.
THE FOCUS
The theory of agenda-setting is based on two assumptions:• The press and the media do not
reflect reality; they filter and shape it• Media concentration on a few issues
and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues.
THE REASON
To influence a thought processTo shape opinionTo gain empathyTo compel action
The Conceptual Model for Agenda Setting
Personal Experience and Interpersonal Communication
Media Agenda Public Agenda Policy Agenda
Real World Indicators of the Importance of an Agenda, Issue or Event
Intensifying the Agenda
Interactive Session
Invite Concerned Parties to an interactive session
Intimate them with the details of policy intentions enable them
become advocates
Rationale
Give a face to policy
Keep stakeholders as friends
Enable them make inputs to the bill
Get their buy in
Taking a Position
Interview by Promoters of the Policy• To give credence to the initiatives as well as
profile the provisions of the Policy
Rationale:• This is to project issues raised by the policy in
the public domain• It will be an avenue of creating buzz around the
policy and thereby arouse the interest of the market.
Reaching Out
Courtesy VisitsReaching Out to Critical
Stakeholders within the Policy Community
The Senate
The House of Representative
Key Opinion Leaders
Rationale• The visits will give the policy
promoters an opportunity to explain the rationale for the policy and seek buy-in• The import of these visits is
to generate PR capital, extract endorsement and also confer credibility on the policy
Case-Study 3
Influencing Public Policy Decisions: The National Tobacco Control Bill Issue
Introduction
THE PROTAGONIST
• Tobacco Companies seek to carry-on business without punitive laws
THE ANTAGONIST
• Anti-Tobacco Groups and pro-health lobby groups primary role is to protect ‘public’ safety, health and welfare and they usually have the backing of global donor Agencies such as Bloomberg and the Bill and Melinda Foundation who fund their operations and are supported on the policy side by the World Health Organisation
THE CLASH OF INTERESTS
• Given the fact that both parties usually clash on policy-making platforms, for sometime now, the issue of Tobacco Control has been a irrational, messy and emotional subject
The Setting
PRO-BUSINESS
Tobacco Companies are seeking to prevent the
de-normalisation of their operating
environment by Anti-Tobacco Groups
PRO-HEALTH
The Bill was largely championed by Anti
Tobacco Groups working with Pro-Health
Legislators
The Dynamics
Anti-Tobacco Group Pressure
Pressure by Anti-Tobacco Group in the Media and at Tobacco
Control Bill Public Hearing Sessions advancing the need for Nigeria to adopt the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
Political Lobby
Lobby by Tobacco Companies essentially centred on the need
for balanced regulation that looks at all sides to the argument and
considers the economic implications of stifling business
Political Rationality
Policy Paradox, Deborah Stone (2002)
Politics – sphere of emotion, passion, self-interest and raw power
Policy-making – an activity that includes rational analysis, objectivity,
allegiance to truth, and pursuit of the well-being of
the society as a whole
Value based Best solutions are often balanced trade-offs
STRATEGY TYPE INDIVIDUAL STRATEGIES1. Relationships Coalitions, enlisting support of others, cooperation, information
communication, consultation, use of media, and going public
2. Rational Analysis Health hazards, rational persuasion (informed reasoning), use of evidence/data, cost-risk assessment, risk analysis, probability/statistics, etc.
3. Language Create interest in issue, create need, storytelling
4. Power Rules/laws, ambiguity, trade-offs, ingratiation (compliments)
5. Emotion Exploiting focusing events, images to affect feelings about issue, create schema (schematic) of desired conditions, inspirational appeal, and emotional appeal
6. Values Equity, citizen rights, health and liberty
Influencing Strategies Discovered
Significance/Implications
Model of
SocietyModel of Reasonin
g
Policy Decisio
n
Model of Policy Making
Model of Business Reasonin
g
Model of Cause
Reasoning
Public Relations
3. Conclusion
WHERE IS THE CONVERGENCE?
The Meat of the Matter…
Public policy in Action
Principally, public policy is about decision-
making
And the process through which these decisions
get made, implemented and evaluated.
Some Policy Actors…
• Policy Promoters – Executive Arm or Private Citizens• The Parliament• Interest groups• Courts• Consultants• Opinion Leaders• Bureaucracies
• Policy Networks and Think tanks• Bureaucracies• Public administrators• Local Communities• Business• Media
The Role of Public Relations in Public Policy Evolution and Implementation
Public Relations plays in Public Policy Process:
Reducing Uncertainty
Managing expectations
Demonstrating concerns
Building networks
Building trust and commitment
Encouraging involvement through feedback and two-way communication
Prompting task oriented behaviour - ‘walking the talk’
40
Lessons Learnt: How to Better Manage Public Policy Interventions Using PR Strategies
Assess the Policy Environment
Audit the Prevailing Issues
Establish Communications
Protocol.
Identify the most crucial Stakeholders.
Anticipate issues likely to arise from
Policy Position .
Gauge the strength of the alternate
position and Conflicting interest
Develop cogent proactive, reactive and counteractive
positions
Obtain feed-back
Be ready to negotiate
Be open to compromises
Fine-tune strategy based on feed-back
and compromise position adopted
Act to resolve the contending issues
Thank you.