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Aid Communicators Conference
Wednesday 17 March 2010 Conference Notes P
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Selling Development Panel 1
Questions and Discussion 3
Creating World‐Class Communicators at a Development Agency
7
Development and the Media Panel 9
Questions and Discussion 10
Civil Society Panel 14
Questions and Discussion 15
Crisis Communications 18
Contents
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Selling Development Panel Jayne Dullard, General Manager, CPR (Chair)
Campaigns: work with a clear start and end point tends to be more successful. Something running on forever weakens the message.
Clarity and accuracy in PR is crucial – know what you want to get out of it, your objectives.
o One of your objectives might be positioning your industry so it has a better reputation, though this might not be the best means of securing public funding, for instance.
Test and know your messaging, carry out focus groups. Costly but worth it.
Evaluate afterwards with focus groups. If you weren’t successful this time, will give guidance for next campaign.
Neil Travers, Founder and Managing Director, Red Agency Some thoughts on communications:
State of massive transformation. 10 years of internet, now new and evolving social media channels. Eg ‘side wikis’ as new channels to understand and use.
PR now acknowledged as integral part of marketing efforts and the face of marketing/advertising really shifting.
o Eg. Red Agency owned by EuroRSCG – French marketing multinational. Currently producing 40% traditional advertising, 60% is digital.
PR no longer considered the ‘poor cousin’ of marketing; its value/importance has grown.
PR has an increasing impact on the content of media. PR practitioners outnumber journalists in Australia. Journalists today are under multi‐skilling pressure to produce varied modes of media at a high pace – video, written stories, radio interviews. Enormous content production and pressure coming from PR vying for media space, less time for journalists to analyse, evaluate what they receive. Solution/opportunity for us – producing better, more compelling content.
o Earth Hour for WWF, Foodbank – pro bono work for Red Agency. Not only something the agency’s staff wanted to support, but offered an opportunity to engage with the 450 companies that donate to Foodbank, for instance.
o Tourism Australia targeting Aussies to utilise their withheld annual leave. ‘No Leave No Life’ campaign. In addition to traditional campaign, engaged ‘ambassadors’ or spokespeople – editor of Men’s Health, a demographer etc. Also, Red Agency targeted 150 high profile business/travel/lifestyle bloggers.
Richard Muller, Managing Director, Porter Novelli
Challenges faced by communicators: clutter, trust, disinterest.
GFC meant clients more focused on efficiency – emphasis on metrics, quantifiable results. Has had a functional impact.
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Social media ubiquitous; represents a massive shift… Engages and informs communities, allows interaction in entirely new ways.
How communities form has changed with digital media: Eg. H1N1 outbreak, May 2009. Porter Novelli was engaged by pork industry for damage control. Looked to specific online forums/bulletin boards to gauge public opinion, as well as find direction on how to inform the public on the reality of the risks related to pork. Able to gauge through these ‘online conversations’ that public opinion was being informed by formal media channels, and getting reliable, educated information on the risks associated with pork and H1N1 out through these channels became a priority. This shows the importance of social media – participants informed by all the usual channels but allowing us to understand and engage with what is going on in different communities – and permits the creation of new communities. Eg. Fanpages on Facebook through creation of compelling content for a relevant demographic. Peer to peer conversations most powerful for transforming communities’ opinions/beliefs/attitudes:
o 14% trust advertising o 27% trust expert opinions o 23% trust what they read in newspapers o 70% trust their friends
Second most trusted source of information – local shopkeeper.
Important to look at the variety of audiences in social media – observers or creators (bloggers, forums participants etc), critics. If you can drive messaging within the active ‘creator’ group, you can reach a much larger audience of observers.
Personalisation of experience. Social media in realtime and on demand, allows people to interact.
o Eg. Porter Novelli do pro bono work with street kids NGO based in Siem Reap. PR strategy has been to emphasise and share the personal experience via the organisation’s website. Donors being acknowledged online, building personal bonds/connections between donor and beneficiary.
o Eg. AMEX members program in 2007. Asked for charities/social justice ideas to be suggested (2000 programs submitted) and then members voted for who should receive the sizeable donation/prize money. This led to many new members signing up (186,000 new members, worked out at about $16‐$20 for a new customer), huge interaction and discussion between members about social justice ideas and projects centred around the Amex brand. Huge potential for corporate social responsibility tie‐ups.
Does your aid agency brand proposition allow CSR opportunities?
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Eg. Kleenex Let it Out campaign. Brand repositioning: let emotions out, and celebrate it. Lounges placed in capital cities and people recorded and shared online ‘letting it out’.
Concluding idea: conversations and communities. Understanding transformation on how people interact and communicate. How can your brand interact with these communities?
Comment from Jayne: Reaffirms the crucial point about the interplay between traditional media and digital media. Just getting a Facebook page and Twitter account is not enough – you need to assess what your message is, and what will work for you in a given campaign as you would do in selecting channels within traditional media. Prue MacSween, Principal Director, Verve Communications Thoughts on PR:
Assessing what our job is: objective of campaign, what client (board, government funding body) wants, what the brief is about. Go back to basics.
Identify target audience, constituents, and what’s appropriate for them. Can this audience handle the social media that we’re adopting?
Key messaging – should be engaging, compelling. Stand out from the crowd.
GFC has made it harder, less funds available for NFP sector. Also, tragedy fatigue.
In‐house crisis media training but just general PR training for a key person; be media ready for the new fast‐paced environment.
Don’t forget a ‘hospitality regime’ – create relationships with media, it’s easier to pitch a story to ‘friends’; look after them and be useful to them.
Media doesn’t necessarily want what we want to pitch to them – ‘telegenic victims’ might be more what they’re after.
Questions and Discussion Melany ‐ Anglican Board of Mission Speaking as a fundraiser, from a faith based international agency perspective, what advice would you give on how to overcome obstacles working with tricky areas, like corruption, expense, political delicacy, such as in Burma? For example, photography problems – especially in emergencies, trying to get photos signed‐off in time. Neil: Clients these days are fussy, not always on message, and highly particular. Regarding the photo issue, perhaps talk to a photo agency. AusAID: AusAID has online photography library. AusAID can also attempt to get images that might be needed, discuss it with them. Diane – World Education How can you generate higher conversions from Facebook to website for campaigns: how do you draw commercial numbers, can you offer any stats on the success of this use of social media?
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Richard: Depends on the mechanics and campaign you use to generate conversions. Eg. Wriggly gum campaign was successful and supported by traditional media. Points to Forest Media research which looks into this, the key may possibly be a mix of channels, including traditional, non‐digital ones. Jayne: Important to note that a given channel is not so important, as long as they’re using one of the two channels to get your messages. Ensure they go away from Facebook with everything you want them to know. Also, it is crucial to have a core communications strategy for your entire organisation. Important getting around some of the problems you might face early in on implementing your campaign. Use the strategy as a road map but also your proof and evidence for why you’re doing things the way you are. Richard: Also, communities may already exist that deal with the issues/objectives of your organisation. Listen to what is already out there, and add value/content, interact. This means you become an active participant in these communities, investing time and contributing content. Prue: Creative and clever means are out there to drive people to your website, just need to come up with them. Joe – Fred Hollows Regarding the mention of media being lazy and/or too busy to create their own content... Is there a danger in producing overly polished video content? Neil: Look at what mainstream media is doing – much higher production values. Prue: Be extremely careful about sugar‐coating, sending sanitized images to media outlets as they won’t use them. Submit raw rushes without editing them, even if they’re lengthy. Richard: Content should be suitable for the audience its intended for, fit for specific channels. If it’s for certain online communities, production value need not be so high. Sometimes being too slick is a disadvantage, inauthentic, depending on the community it’s intended for. Neil: Can sense a change in the mood of the private sector, largely driven by CSR. Scope of CSR operations, often at arms length to the corporation that is driving it. Encourage communicators to follow CSR possibilities, don’t shy away from engaging corporates and making the most of this shift. Prue: As media outlets become ever more savvy at spin, audiences are as well. Talkback radio is a good way to gauge public opinion, and from talkback it’s evident that the public are more cynical and savvy than we give them credit for. Christine ‐ AVI How to moderate fears of clients with regards to social media (as being something that is difficult to control)? Prue: Clients need to be made media‐ready, crisis‐ready, from management down to reception. With regards to social media, it’s important to monitor closely, but also participate, address it, get in there and manage it; enter the conversation. Richard: Social media entails relinquishing your brand to an extent, having conversations about the brand and its perceptions; going on a journey with the
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brand, with an undefined destination. It requires bravery – social media can be scary, it can run away from you. But it should be acknowledged that these conversations are happening online regardless, whether you engage them or not. Isn’t it better to be a part of it?
o Good case‐study: try Googling ‘Dell Hell’. Dell admitted that they hadn’t been listening to their customers, hadn’t been engaging or listening to what people were saying, but managed to swing it around and got customers involved in product design, they started engaging and turned their reputation around.
o Eg. Starbucks in Forbidden City, China. A key Chinese blogger wrote that it was culturally inappropriate to have Starbucks in the Forbidden City. Got over 500,000 responses, 30‐40million conversations were had about that issue in 10 days, instantly became the lead story everywhere. Not only does it matter if you have the right idea that connects with your audience, but you need the ability to engage with your issue on a scale that is unprecedented… It can be dangerous, it might not work in your favour, but the point is, again, that these conversations are being had anyway.
AusAID Where does that leave Australian government organisations? Richard: It’s a tricky issue. Eg. Families of soldiers in Afghanistan might want to communicate with those soldiers online, throwing things up into the public domain that are awkward for the government. People are private individuals. However, social media should be addressed by policies in the workplace, through work agreements; and usage of social media with regards to an organisation should be regulated and monitored. Neil: Government departments are now beginning to look at social media. Also, I received a list of 250 Twitter accounts of mainstream journalists in Australia, which I will pass along. Richard: The scale of the social media world is overwhelming, for government, non‐government or the private sphere. The Facebook community is the fifth largest ‘country’ in the world. Who/what to listen to? How to engage? Neil: There’s no escaping this social media world – you just have to embrace it, try to understand it. Nick ‐ Oaktree Foundation Common key message that communicators want to transmit: that aid works, we do make a difference. What are the panel’s thoughts on how to build the faith/belief that this is indeed true? Sector by sector or more generally? Prue: We’re dealing with a sceptical audience. Demonstrate it, prove it. Build a case. Difficulty of competition within the industry. Identify all the inhibitors to people giving money or the media reporting on it, then figure out the right info, images, stats, channels, journalists… Also, partner with companies (CSR) to get support in getting the message out (transmitting that message can be expensive).
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Neil: Try to nail down precise messaging. I recommend a 3/4 day modelling session. Then once that message has been determined, consistency and clarity of message is key. Richard: Addressing sector/general aspects – both means. Tap into personalised stories, more effective. Melany ‐ Anglican Board Mission The other day I attempted to put together the kind of personalised story mentioned earlier. However, two major network executive producers said that if there are no white Australians in there, they’re not interested in using it. Richard: Possibilities of social media to get past this myopia. A cascading model – first engage your core constituents via social media, and get these people to transmit your story further for you. Neil: Ethnic media in Australia is a largely untapped resource, full of possibilities. Closing Jayne: At the heart of every successful campaign, lies a good story. Today we’ve gone over a number of the ingredients of putting together a powerful story. The communications taskforce within your agencies might now sit down to determine this messaging, the key story and strategy.
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Creating World‐Class Communicators at a Development Agency Ellen Yount, Management Systems International/Coffey International Development Questions and Discussion Regarding the victimisation of beneficiaries in campaign images… Does this kind of imagery work with the public? Ellen: An image of one person has more impact than a representation of 10,000 people. People can’t digest those kinds of numbers; they become desensitized and switch off. Eg. Nicholas Kristof, NY Times journalist. Successful and powerful because he personalises the success stories. Jess – Care We carried out some focus groups, asking constituents what they’d be prompted to donate to: a happy story about seeds versus doom and gloom images of suffering. The focus group response was predominately that the seeds story would inspire them to donate. However, in reality, the doom and gloom image campaign brought in much higher donations than the seed story campaign. People aren’t necessarily aware of what pulls their heartstrings. AusAID How high a priority should it be to make the Australian or American public understand where their aid is going, what it is achieving? Ellen: USAID has failed in this regard. They made many mistakes in how they went about making Americans understand where their money was going, what it was achieving. It has in effect backfired on them. Eg. Partners involved in the delivery of aid have at times been shrouded in confidentiality. USAID has been more interested in communicating their work to beneficiary countries, than their own citizens. We haven’t yet figured out quite how to get that message out into the mainstream. AusAID Government aid programs don’t need participation, donations or engagement from citizens, unlike NGOs. We are not asking for donations etc, so this makes it trickier to figure out the messaging required to communicate about a governmental aid program. Ellen: Social media is a great channel for getting messages out; for instance, with programming. Eg. In Morocco: a new social media program was prepared for the embassy. This was used to advertise educational scholarships (on Facebook, for example) and received an unprecedented audience and response. It’s a great means to transmit information on programs.
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What is preferred – generalist or a specialisation of communications skills in professionals? Ellen: It’s moving toward specialisation. This also allows for providing more targeted training. Barbara ‐ World Bank Communications staff in World Bank country offices often have to wear several hats, like in USAID. Is there any medium or activities that you emphasise or concentrate on? Ellen: No, each country is so different, different context. Each office has its own strategies and plan and has to be responsive to the local context. Engagement across the board is vital however. Coordination is key, ‘whole of government’ approach preferred to avoid duplication and allow a unified message.
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Development and the Media Panel Jake Lynch, Director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney (Chair)
Questionable priorities for what story gets run in the media. Priority of the news agenda is on elite people in elite countries with negative stories, as opposed to positive stories concerning non‐elites, especially in non‐elite countries.
Eg. ‘Bonkers mode’ at Sky News in the UK – this meant dropping everything for a crucial breaking story. Bonkers mode happened for the 1998 bombing of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, however, bonkers mode equally took place for the killing of Gianni Versace.
Hamish McDonald, Asia‐Pacific Editor, Sydney Morning Herald
It’s a mystery what makes news items the ‘catch of the day’…
The media is under huge financial pressures. SMH used to make $200 million profit a year, even $100million in a terrible year. Now however, it was just $15 million post‐GFC, without the same income streams as in the past. Newsrooms are shrinking, page sizes are shrinking, and the front page agenda is largely driven by tabloid style news and websites.
Are we more cynical than we used to be? Probably; it’s a much more cynical age. Much more clever marketing is driven at us, both as journalists and members of the public. The spin machine much more powerful, savvy. Spin doctors are everywhere – all people in this room could be called spin‐doctors at some point. However the public is greatly aware of spin. An upside to that is perhaps we can apply better filters to spin these days.
Image of the NGO sector among the media: a huge army of NGOs descending upon any disaster stricken area – Timor, Afghanistan – driving Landcruisers and dressed in bohemian aid‐chic, swapping stories of past disasters, tips on how to get in on the next one. This is a cynical perspective, but a perspective that is nonetheless circulating. However, some positive stories of good work in such situations do sometimes get through.
Disaster reportage. Eg. Yogyakarta earthquake in 2002. SMH didn’t send anyone there, too many disasters happening at one time. No Aussies there, so SMH just waited to see what the other agencies would file.
Certain project reportage is very positive, great stories – it does exist. Eg. A guy in the eastern provinces of Indonesia doing sustainable surfing eco‐tourism, an alternative to the Bali‐style tourism development.
Common element of a good story about an aid project – courage, isolation, self sacrifice, struggle, people trying to overturn a systemic bias (caste, gender etc):
o PNG highlands women trying to end the cycle of payback violence between tribes.
o ABC report (http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/stories/s147123.htm) Tessie Soy in Port Moresby, great work with AIDS victims, quietly confronting big men with HIV who collect young women lovers as perks of their job. Courageous story.
Success is one thing; success linked into broader scale results might be bigger news – transformative accounts are easier to sell to journalists. It always helps to
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offer at least a limited period of exclusivity. Takes time to get travel permits, visas, etc – need to allow a certain amount of time for journalists to get their act together before offering the story to others.
Need to use your imagination. Find stories that represent a microcosm of a bigger program. Having the name of an aid worker involved, the name of one of their beneficiaries will make it real for the audience.
Ian Ferguson, Director of News, Sky News Network [Shows ‘Aid in Action’ video excerpt on Laos from Sky News, funded by AusAID, Phil Lynch contracted to produce them.]
Elements involved in ‘Aid in Action’ pieces that are common to good ‘aid’ news pieces: emotional engagement, subtle mention of Australian perspective or involvement.
Criteria for dealing with input from aid organisations not as strict. Sky News (as a 24 hour news service) is able to look at pieces that are not likely to make it into mainstream 6pm news bulletins.
Consider accessibility and relevance for Australian audience. Questions and Discussion Freya ‐ WaterAid Ian mentioned the importance of a local (Australian) angle in stories, which in most cases of development tend to come from distant, foreign places. Is it mandatory to find a local hook/involvement/face to try to engage the Aussie audience and be picked up by national media? Hamish: No, but it would help. Plus, if you do have an Aussie connection, it might not get picked up by national media but perhaps you could try the more localised media. Ian: An Aussie face not necessary, but an Aussie component definitely helps. It helps to have something human, touching. It is easier to connect to a person rather than to highlight a billion dollar project, but that person should be illustrating, linking to a broader situation. Jake: ‘Achieving winnable outcomes’ is important to focus on. This may mean finding a personal story that can be pitched at a local paper, not necessarily aiming for national press. Diane – World Education Australia What’s the influence of letters to the editor on future stories? Hamish: They definitely have an impact. Letters pages are one of the most closely read sections. Look at it to draw out stimulating and provocative ideas. Letters should be highly edited; regulars get a letter published monthly. Those people have honed it down to a fine and concise art. Roughly 15 letters get published a day.
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Dave Cook ‐ Plan International I have worked at the Age and understand the tensions between stories coming in and which get published… To what extent should a communicator be wary of annoying/pestering the press with incessantly sending releases, but still ensuring our stories are seen by you? Ian: I don’t get easily annoyed by badgering. I receive about 1000 emails a day. Ideally, I need pictures and content ‐ news releases go into the mix and are easier to overlook. Raw footage is good, also inviting a Sky News camera person along to a location is a possibility. Timing is important Eg. 2 elections are coming up so this week is not good timing. Jake: Is it worth people commissioning a story themselves? Ian: It’s worthwhile having a chat about it first. But very possibly yes. With this series funded by AusAID, we actually turned it into a themed week on development issues. Parliament was sitting that week, it has strategic timing for AusAID. So this shows the possibilities. A current example ‐ the cyclone in Fiji this week. There is nothing in the SMH on Fiji today. How is it decided whether to cover something like that? Hamish: SMH has been looking for stories on Fiji the last 2 days but there’s not much coming out. Just enough to give the bare bones of a story. But we wait to see the extent of the catastrophe, and gauge how readily we can get there to cover it. We don’t have the funds that we had in the past. We’re really holding back to see if we need to go now. But I’m surprised there wasn’t more wire coverage coming out of Suva, giving us an update from Reuters and AAP. How many people does Sky News reach? Ian: We are not free‐to‐air so we don’t measure it the same way, but we reach about several hundred thousand a day. Sky News tends to be on in every radio newsroom in the country and politicians know this. People who can come into the studio for an interview are very welcomed (we have bureaus in every capital city in the country); someone who has perhaps been to a given country, knows about a situation (ie like Haiti). Melany – Anglican Board of Mission I appreciate that the media has to make money. Do you do audience testing or are your subscriptions the only way to gauge what’s out there and what people want to hear about? Ian: From the Sky News perspective, journalism news value is the priority; audience preference is not the only or even the defining factor. Editorial and commercial sales are quite separate. Hamish: Our marketing people do try to find out what people want – celebrities, sports stars, maybe reluctantly they’ll say they want some world news or something. Mostly, it goes on the gut instinct of the editor at the time.
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Jake: One way to gauge the appetites of the audience is to ask them which category of news they want to watch. Another is to show them. Get them to watch them and see what they say then. People might want to be interested in something that in reality bores them. In this setting, people might often choose the world news piece as something that was most interesting for them, for having been more interesting, unusual and requiring more creativity from the camera person, etc. For this, I regret the stranglehold that marketing departments have on what journalists produce. Diane ‐ AVI Did you receive letters to Sky News in response to the Aid in Action series? Ian: Amongst all the dross there are some good ones. From them we could see that people were pleased to get positive stories. It motivates me to go down a similar path again. Kathy Reid ‐ Crawford Fund Regarding the footage/photos to help our stories get picked up. What kind of quality do you need? Ian: As good as you can give us, really. It has to be a good story for us to show lesser quality footage. However home video cameras you can buy these days can make near broadcast quality material. The reason it looks how it does on YouTube is because of encoding, converting, etc. Joe ‐ Fred Hollows Any suggestions on lifting public opinion on aid and increasing support of aid? Hamish: I don’t know, Fred Hollows is one of the organisations that has done the most to lift the profile of aid in Australia, one of the more successful organisations also at getting public and private contributions. Ian: Choose your timing carefully. Aid fatigue is a problem, after a run of disasters or whatever. When you launch a campaign, try to do it when there isn’t a disaster going on. Which isn’t easy, I know. Jake: There is unexplored scope in the kind of organisations you represent for becoming more media‐savvy. It can be conceptualised as a niche market of news, and there are general precepts to being media‐savvy, setting winnable outcomes in terms of media engagements, seeing this as a transaction where both you and the media get something out of it. The remarks that Hamish made about scarce resources and the possibilities of provision of your own material… Clare ‐ Marie Stopes While there are a limited numbers of journalists writing about aid and development, what are the possibilities of sponsoring a journalist to go into a country to report on a story? To get a hit it seems that we increasingly need to pay for a journalist to go in and cover a story to get them to engage with us.
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Hamish: It’s acceptable and sometimes the aid agency might be the best way to get into an area. At the Herald we had a no‐freebie (‘sponsored travel’) policy that was quietly dropped about 5 years ago. As long as it’s acknowledged somewhere in the story it is acceptable. In the US they are stricter on it. Less risk to get foreign correspondents involved – like in Delhi and Jakarta, who could be patched into your press releases; it would be within their budgets to possibly go and look at your project. When I go somewhere I try to think of any interesting press releases or invitations I was sent on/around that place, I see if I can work it into my trip. 9 times out of 10 your release might not get picked up, but it’s still worthwhile to send them. Jake: The picture that’s emerging here is that it’s going to be harder to sustain full global coverage by commercial agents. The trick is to find a way for non‐commercial agents to contribute to that coverage…‘push on that door’. Joe ‐ Fred Hollows Fairfax in particular – when we send pictures/stories in, is it possible to get those pictures into a general Fairfax pool so it could get picked up elsewhere in the country? Is there competition between the papers in this regard? Hamish: The Age and SMH are closely linked but others are in the rural press network and I imagine they’d have their own news circulation system, and I’d suspect it’d be out of their old headquarters at Richmond. I could ask around, if you email me later. Jake: It’s easy to buy a fairly cheap subscription to the AAP and then you can send out pictures through that. Dave – Plan International I could access the SMH photo stream while working at the Age. However, competition is an issue, the media is concerned about whether they have an exclusive on a story. It’s important to weigh up whether it is worthwhile to send to all, or to offer it exclusively to a specific publication. If they don’t use it, offer the exclusive to another. Jake: How can we better communicate climate change, to get the public to understand that this has crucial human dimensions, and is not just a matter of science? Ian: Like aid fatigue, there is climate change fatigue. What we did at APAC (our public affairs channel) is we staged a media stunt at UNSW with Lord Monkton and a UNSW professor, moderated by Alan Jones. What this did achieve was force some debate, got the issue out there and debunked some of the myths circulating. Climate change has been hijacked by AM talkback radio, which isn’t a good way to deal with it. Entertaining debate is a good way to get the issues out there, and cover the different sides to the story. It can be informative and entertaining, possibly a way to engage the climate change issue. Hamish: To communicate the human dimensions of climate change: make it vivid – people who will be at the margins, who will be affected by it. What do the people of Bangladesh, Kiribati, feel about climate change? Even the people of Shanghai, what will climate change mean for them?
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Civil Society Panel Joel Negin, Lecturer in International Public Health, University of Sydney (Chair) Worked under Jeffrey Sachs at the Earth Institute. However you feel about him, Sachs is a great communicator. Lena Aahlby, Campaign Director, ActionAid Introduction to ActionAid; large presence in the UK. ActionAid is an anti‐poverty organisation, working in 40+ countries. Launched in Australia in June last year.
Who is ActionAid? Strong base in the south. Many African countries, also Asia and Latin America. Lesser presence in the north. 7‐8 European countries, US. Not as strong a base in Australia yet compared to other similar organisations.
A political organisation. No religious or political links, but acknowledge that poverty is political and structural.
What do we do? o Help poor communities to help themselves out of poverty.
Eg in Kenya, not enough young people accessing schools. Instead of paying school fees, ActionAid targeted the government to abolish school fees, resulting in over 1million more students in schools.
o Lets communities decide what they need. Eg in Gaza. Work with women who have lost their homes through
conflict, providing some cash assistance to start up businesses and provide for their families.
o Emergency relief. o Rights based approach. o Advocacy + campaign work.
Eg Vedanta in India. Mining company plans that will displace people from their homelands. Major lobbying campaign: email, shareholder engagement, celebrity spokespeople. Church of England publicly withdrew as shareholder on ethical grounds.
Priorities for 2010‐11: food security. Following on from this: funding for agriculture, climate change and land use.
ActionAid seeks carbon cuts ‐ 40% by 2020, 80% end of century. Looking to COP16 in Cancun for results.
Inoke Fotu Huakau, President, Tongan Association of Australia
Communicators very important – in gaining assistance with disasters, etc
We live in an age of communication. With all the technology available, capacity to use it is key. Without this access, it’s of no use.
Aid agencies: 5% of their work comprises disaster relief; in terms of the other 95% local civil society often doesn’t have a clear understanding of the type of work being carried out.
The government in the countries where aid agencies are operating are the main ‘competitor’ for credit/recognition and public association with any given project:
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the government is there before non‐government aid agencies and will remain after the international non‐government sector departs.
In Tonga, all projects are portrayed/viewed to be governmental initiatives.
Problem is possibly not a communication issue. It might be a problem of long term understanding and learning. The modes of thinking of the target community/society (a Pacific island community for instance) need to be incorporated into communication activities. We need to examine the culture, examine social groupings. Examine these before formulating our communication strategies. Mode of learning is experiential. People in the Pacific islands internalise knowledge after experiencing it – it takes time. These are long‐term issues; short‐term projects will not impact the understanding of locals. The flow of information needs to be understood in order to determine communications strategy.
EF Schumacher, ‘Small is Beautiful’. Observation on disasters – countries that emerge faster from disasters have education, organisation and discipline.
In the past, rights and responsibilities went hand in hand within a Tongan community. Now with the arrival of the ill‐understood notion of ‘human rights’, there’s been a breakdown in the old notion of social responsibilities. In the face of the breakdown of social responsibilities, it is more difficult to maintain communication efforts.
Questions and Discussion Kicking off ActionAid’s presence in Australia, you’ve adopted a strong online media approach. Did you do much research before you adopted those strategies (Archie’s blog, Twitter, viewer competitions, etc)? Lena: Some ActionAid offices already had quite a few of these underway. We did some research but not in a very organised manner. We didn’t have a lot of money, so the traditional PR approach was out. So we launched our idea, I went to Tanzania with a guest blogger. We learned a lot through this. When we got to Tanzania, we would train the staff there to be bloggers, but they didn’t know what a blogger was. It was a good example of failed communication; we spoke different languages. In the end it hasn’t worked as smoothly as we’d hoped. We also faced many other barriers, it was a strong sense of authority, the director was supportive but the staff were nervous about writing a blog, they wanted sign‐off, which took longer. The organisation is very committed but clearly, with the different cultures and the different familiarity with the technology, it will take longer. The guest blogger was from Crikey, his readership is generally more techno‐focused, possibly not the typical follower of ActionAid. So his blogging of this trip did drive some readers to our site but perhaps not as many as it might have given a different blogger with a different readership. Barbara – World Bank Inoke, I’m interested in what you said about competing with governments. The World Bank works closely with governments, not in competition. Do people in Tonga feel that we’re competing with governments? And if so, why do you think that is?
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Inoke: At the ground level it is your project, but the government appears to take the credit for it in the eyes of the people. There is not enough long‐term engagement with beneficiary communities so they can understand who brought them the project. That link needs to be maintained. Sally – Asian Development Bank Does ActionAid have any programs underway in Timor Leste, PNG, the Pacific islands? Any plans for such? Lena: Austcare was active at least in Timor Leste but ActionAid is not yet. We’re currently just thinking in terms of babysteps. Not wanting to spread ourselves too thin. Begin with research in the coming year. Suggestions, ideas are very welcome. Oaktree Any suggestions on being better communicators, lifting public opinion on aid, supporting aid? Suggestions of joint messages across agencies? Inoke: There seems to be no media coverage of aid projects in Tonga currently. A regular feature or column following aid projects would be ideal, though not easy to get. Lena: Possibility for agreeing on some platform between agencies on key messages, would be beneficial. However, as a small agency it could be a concern to be drowned out by bigger groups. Joel: Critiques of aid tend to be well published and cohesive. On the other hand, positive accounts on the aid industry are not so cohesive. It is problematic. Dave Cook – Plan International Make Poverty History is often perceived as an NGO, which confuses the issue somewhat. Is there any value in an unbranded coalition against poverty? AusAID Additional funding for others apart from the ‘big five’ for communications. However, applications received tended to be ‘more of the same’, uncompelling. Why don’t NGOs get together and put together a joint aid campaign? The government can’t do so, but NGOs are at liberty to apply for the funding, pool it and create united messaging. ACFID could run this on behalf of its members… General Discussion Suggestion that this kind of joint campaign wouldn’t have equitable effects for the lack of visibility of the non‐Big 5 agencies. Australians cynical about aid and one negative story in the press affects everyone in the industry.
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Joel: Does anyone have suggestions for possible channels to use for collaboration within the sector? Alice – CARE: Example: the Disasters Emergency Committee in the UK – a general pool (non‐organisation specific) for fundraising in disasters. AusAID: Would love a similar pooling of money because it is difficult to direct people wanting to donate in emergency situations. Diane – AVI: ACFID doesn’t have a communications person. They should be lobbied for a communications point person. Suggestion: an ACFID‐led group collaboration on communications. Lena: I have lived in Australia since 2006, and I have to say that I think you’re getting too internal now. I only found out who ACFID are last year. We need to look at who we’re wanting to talk to. I think the development sector here is very inward looking. The sector needs to be more challenging, more fun. It is dangerous trying to get too focused on trying to collaborate around ACFID. Inoke: Specific reporting on aid projects should be an in‐built part of all aid projects to engage with the media. Press releases are not enough, there should be a comprehensive brief to be pushed upon the media to understand the project and engage with it. To go onto this level of collective approach to promote aid you are discussing, it’s very complicated. I was thinking of something more simple. Newsprint coverage primarily, not radio, though radio can be ok too. There’s been a change of mentality, lack of resourcefulness with a new culture of awaiting aid, expecting aid. Disempowering them instead of empowering them. Joel: This discussion has thrown up many challenges communicators face both in‐country with beneficiaries and also in Australia on a macro‐level.
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Crisis Communications Fiona McLean, AusAID Issues management: not ‘crises’ because cyclones and earthquakes are real crises…issues are different. Recently with ACFID, AusAID organised for about 12 agencies to discuss issues management. Picked big and small organisations looking after different segments within the aid community. Results of this session will be shared with everyone shortly. Some of the points that came out of the day:
Message consensus: how quickly we call came to the same opinion on just about any issue i.e. corruption, etc. No arguments – showing we’re all on the same page. Shows we can come together as an industry to face the same problem. As we’ve mentioned throughout today, when something happens to one of us it can affect us all as an industry.
Critical success factors in responding to an issue: o Putting people first. Governments perhaps aren’t as good as NGOs at doing
this. o Don’t say things you aren’t 100% certain about. o Focusing on values and integrity. o Keeping all stakeholders informed.
Preparing for the different type of issues that may arise: people issues, critical, technical, economic, environmental, emergency issues.
Group Activity – Compiling Key Messages Issue A: It’s reported that a volunteer has been charged with paedophilia, who has been working on one of your projects.
We’ve just been informed about this situation. We’re obviously working with the relevant authorities to investigate it further. We take these sorts of allegations very seriously as we are deeply committed to child protection as is outlined in all of our organisational policies.
We’re taking this matter very seriously. All our volunteers have police checks and working with children checks. We are working with the relevant authorities to find out as much information as possible.
Any allegations relating to the welfare of children with whom we are working are taken extremely seriously. We’ve referred the issue to the relevant local
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authorities and we’re committed to ensuring the protection of children in our care.
We are taking the allegation very seriously. We’ll be using our established protocols to guide our response to this issue. We will be providing every assistance to the child, their family and their community as the matter progresses. A staff member will be suspended pending the outcome of this investigation. There will be full cooperation with the authorities with this matter and if the allegation proves true we will be reviewing our screening and recruiting processes accordingly. Our priority in these matters and in all things we do is the welfare of the children we work with.
Our primary concern at this stage is for the children involved. Obviously we are taking this matter very seriously, although it is only an allegation at this stage.
We are very concerned by these allegations. Obviously our first priority is the children and their welfare. We take these allegations very seriously and are trying to verify their authenticity. Our regulations with regards to volunteers will ensure this will not happen again.
Issue B: A contract has been leaked to the media of a $500,000 a year contract for a technical consultant working on your project. The media is widely reporting that aid workers are ‘lords of poverty’.
We have a longstanding commitment to transparency and accountability and ensuring maximum returns on investment on people we work with. Outline the employment policy.
We are dedicated to the humanitarian response needed in country X. We’ve deployed staff with the most appropriate technical skills to ensure the best outcomes.
This position is paid for through contractual arrangements which are rigorously scrutinised. In post‐conflict environments, addressing safety and security concerns is particularly costly. We continue to source the most skilled staff to carry out these roles and will continue to scrutinise all terms of their contract.
It is important to understand that contracts make up only a small part of the overall aid program. Most development workers are not on such packages. Work being done by aid organisations is diverse and requires staff from volunteers through to technical experts working to provide expertise in certain areas, for example in a post‐conflict environment, reforming the legal system. It’s difficult to find the right people with the skills and experience to do the job in this context and who are also willing to work there. The contract provides much more than a salary. It incorporates providing for the
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needs of working in their unique situation, health, security, accommodation and other resources needed to do their job well in a post‐conflict context.
We’re committed to the development of X country. We have, for instance, built 500 km of roads over the last 3 years, providing access to market for X people. We will continue to ensure we have all the skills and knowledge required to serve this country.
Issue C: The leader of the Opposition has come out and said that aid is wasteful and isn’t achieving anything. He says we need to look after our own backyard first.
We live in one of the most volatile regions of the world, it is critical Australia continues to invest in the development of our neighbours. The amount being spent is only a fraction of Australia’s budget. Surely 99.3% is enough for us.
The people of Australia are very caring; this has been shown in times of need. The Opposition Leader is out of step with the Australian people. It is important we are good neighbours within the region and remain to be friends to those in need. On top of that we run a very tight ship.
It is completely untrue to suggest that aid achieves nothing. While it is a moral and ethical imperative to help our neighbours, it is also in our national interest. South Korea being a perfect example, a country that has received a wealth of foreign development aid is now a country that gives other nations aid. Vietnam is another country about to make that transition. These are countries that are now critical trading partners with Australia, helping to contribute to Australia’s national wealth. Investing in developing countries is part of Australia’s aid program but also helps Australia’s security environment in our region which is also in Australia’s national interest.
Our organisation sees the Asia/Pacific as our own backyard and that our contributions to their development make a real difference and will help build positive relations with the other countries in our region.
We live in a lucky country and we have a responsibility to support our neighbouring countries. It is in our best interests as a nation to invest in the development of our neighbours.
As Leader of the Opposition would agree, we’re lucky to live in a country where the values of mateship and being good neighbours are critical. As part of our responsibility as neighbours, we have to look after those in our own country but also our regional neighbours as well. One of the beautiful things about aid is that it creates countries that are sustainable.
Issue D: It has been reported that the government of Mars has stolen $200,000 of project funds from your school project in the country.
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Corruption is often a cause of poverty. Of course we are doing everything we can to recover the funds.
We are aware of the reports and we’d like to reassure the Australian public that we are committed to fighting corruption. We are carrying out our own investigations into finding out if these allegations are true. We enter into agreements with governments in good faith and are hopeful that we can continue our work knowing this agreement is being upheld in Mars. Every dollar lost to corruption is one less child going to school, and education is key to ending the cycle of poverty on Mars. If the allegations prove to be true we will not desert the people of Mars, but will continue to work for the good of the people of Mars through trusted partners, whilst continuing to take this matter to the highest levels of the Martian government.
Our concern here is for the children. These are very serious allegations and we’ll be looking into it. In the meantime we’ll be getting on with the job of helping Martians.
We do not tolerate corruption. We will ensure the full weight of the law is brought to bear on the perpetrators and that every attempt is made to recover the funds.
Every dollar not reaching the children of Mars is like an arrow through the heart. The values of trust and good relationships are critical in the fight against corruption. We are working to investigate this matter with the local authorities and are currently reviewing our checks and measures for establishing our chosen partners.
Our priority is the children we educate through these school funds. We are taking these allegations very seriously.
