Page updated:
Friday, 7 September 2007

SPECIAL REPORT - Part 3

COMMUNICATING DEVELOPMENT...

THE SECTION, What Are we Communicating? included input from Mehr Khan, Warwick Olsen and Fiona Douglas.

What message are we communicating?

Mehr Khan, UNICEF...

Ms Khan made a number of points:

• the term 'Third World' is now largely a misnomer
• there are now more people living in poverty than previously
• 1.3 billion live on less than US$1 a day.

Poverty is increasing in the developed countries where the gap between rich and poor is widening and leading to conflict. The cost of ignoring poverty now will be greater cost in the future.

This is taking place at a time when we have all the knowledge we need to eradicate poverty.

Observations on aid

• the UN recommends countries allocate 0.7 per cent of their GDP to overseas aid, yet the international aid budget is shrinking and is now smaller than it was 20 years ago; projections are for further decline
• an increasing amount of the overseas aid budget is being diverted from development into relief and refugees and into Eastern Europe
• taxpayers have become ambivalent about aid although they give verbal support based on humanitarian and moral motivation
• the lack of a strong donor aid constituency has reduced the pressure on governments to act on aid; they see little support for aid budgets.

These trends are abetted by perceptions held by the public:

• the aid allocation is poorly spent
• funds are siphoned off by corrupt officials and aid agencies
• there is little knowledge of where aid funds go.

The public perception that aid spending is high combines with these factors to support reductions in government expenditure on overseas aid, with little opposition from the public.

Agencies themselves responsible for declining aid budget

Mehr said that aid agencies themselves must accept some responsibility for reduced aid expenditure because of miscommunication about aid:

• there is a lack of a clear view of the achievements of aid
• accentuating this is a lack of knowledge about the size of the aid constituency; Mehr estimates it as something like two per cent to four per cent of the population of the industrialised world
• politicians believe the constituency is small and aid can therefore be cut back without great risk of electoral damage.

A 1996 OECD report identified a lack of knowledge about the aid constituency among aid agencies and governments in donor countries.

Information and perceptions

Mehr says that television is the source of information about developing countries for most people. Secondary sources of information include other media and aid agencies, The agencies produce both good and bad work.

The reliance on television is problematic, says Mehr, as it is " ...primarily a source of entertainment: and because of the focus on Western media on ...the eccentric, the negative".

Viewers know that, in their own countries, bad news is not the norm, yet they have no knowledge of lesser developed countries which they see as places of " ...unmitigated disaster".

It is bad news that leads to inaction and, then, to confusion. People lack understanding but not willingness to act, yet the lack of understanding " ...leads people to switch off".

Mehr recognises that emotions are frequently targeted by aid agencies to raise funds, however a simple focus on human needs results in " ...gross oversimplification".

Needed - better communication

According to Mehr, we need to focus on better communication:

• taking a long term perspective
• involvement and ownership by communities concerned
• recognition that community participation is critical to success
• personal actions make a difference
• techniques used to promote consumer products will not work with development assistance because of the public's unfamiliarity with the situation of people and communities in need of assistance
• a more interactive approach that establishes a dialogue is needed.

Mehr said that the school systems of most countries have failed in regard to aid due to underfunding and overload and because of content and learning factors. We could all learn from Scandanavia and Holland where development education in schools has contributed to public support for aid.

The media, Mehr said, are essential partners in development education and we must collaborate with them. We should be honest and talk about our mistakes and failures as well as our successes if we are to maintain credibility.

We need to ask ourselves:

• are the messages we put out clear?
• are they too simplistic?
• do they say that aid alone will not solve global problems, that aid should be integrated with international moves such as multilateral activities?

Organisations must work together

Warwick Olsen, Pilgrim International Communications...

Warwick Olsen has been responsible for emotionally charged television advertisements produced for fundraising purposes for World Vision Australia.

Defending emotional appeal

Olsen defends the use of emotional content in fundraising media products because it triggers a direct response among viewers. Emotional images portray human needs and donors respond to need, he said, explaining that his messages are needs-driven and focus on children.

It is necessary to stir emotion into communication to communicate and educate successfully. Olsen says that his promotions contain educational content although " ... they are not educational in the conventional sense".

"We depict need to gain attention", said Olsen in acknowledging that some people consider his images simplistic.

He explained that his media products shock the average person and generate emotionally-charged decisions that further information can develop as an education in aid.

Olsen blames government for leaving NGOs to go it alone on development education. He advocate that government fund the development education activity of NGOs because NGOs find it difficult to do it all themselves.

Action for better communication

Olsen suggests a number of actions to improve the communication of aid:

• communication starts with crisis such as Rwanda or Zaire; crisis is the time to act and is an opportunity for development education
• emotion and experience are necessary to development education
• giving a donation can be the start of a journey with the NGO towards further support and advocacy.

Refining the message

Fiona Douglas, Community Aid Abroad (CAA)...

Fiona Douglas commented on the use of emotional imagery in aid media products. She explained that she had no problem with emotion but that: "We should use emotion, such as the positive emotion of hope".

Douglas wonders about perceptions created in the community by the use of negative, stereotypes images. She suggests the images are wearing thin and the results of their use are in decline. People expect sophisticated answers.

"Are we ready as an industry to risk life outside the stereotypes image?".

Aid and development organisations now work within a social context influenced by a reactive mentality - the 'Pauline Hanson factor'. How have NGO communications have contributed to these views?, she asked.

Douglas said that aid agencies are tempted to talk only about their good news, but they must tell the whole story including the 'warts'. We need increased accuracy in stories, she asserted, and reinforced Hugh Mackay's statement that people are yearning for a sense of purpose. Douglas proposes that we offer hope as a means of achieving behavioural change.

African situation oversimplified

While in Africa in the days prior to the seminar, Douglas spoke with CAA Africa partners and asked them for their views on the way Africa was portrayed in aid media products.

Their comments included the observations that:

• the African situation is oversimplified; a false impression exists about the complexity of the problems and their solutions
• there is extensive use of images of children but the work is more complex
• NGOs may be selling Africa to pay their overhead costs.

Education and advocacy

Douglas said that there exists a need to discuss issues such as international debt and its impact.

She recognises that, in some agencies, these is a division between campaigners and marketers, between educators and fundraisers. The difference in development education material given out by educators and fundraisers is the greater complexity of that distributed by educators. Development educators, Douglas said, need to have a greater knowledge of where people are coming from.

Her suggestions for improved agency communication:

• people portrayed in aid media products want some input
• communications represent a challenge to NGO personnel with the move from a project to programme focus
• it is easier to explain something practical
• explain simply but do not oversimplify
• use different language for different audiences.

Discussion

Questions and discussion following the presenters included the following:

Mehr Khan

• there is a need for dialogue with journalists to provide the context needed for stories
• a focus on emotional images and stories may, in the longer term, produce more harm than good
• a focus on emotional images and stories may " ...have a strong effect in turning people off"; the response may be that donating was " ...just one good thing we need to make ourselves feel good at the moment"
• " ...people don't know how to put a negative image into any context".

Warwick Olsen

• negative images are real life
• there is a need to link negative images with positive
• "I think NGOs are very bad at taking people on long term journeys; some of them are better than others"
• "I don't think we lie; I think we take part of the message"
• "I believe NGOs will be more successful at communicating than the government".

Janet Hunt (director, ACFOA)

"We have to start talking to the welfare sector in Australia and get our story together on social expenditure and aid as part of the welfare expenditure".

"We have to get a lot more sophisticated in our messages. I don't see that coming through in how we do things at the moment".