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Public communication strategies of international humanitarian organizations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2005

Dennis Dijkzeul  and
Markus Moke
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Abstract

The article studies the public communication strategies of large humanitarian NGOs as well as UN organizations with regard to the humanitarian principles. It shows that different strategies concerning impartiality vs. solidarity and independence vs. subcontracting cause a wide diversity of humanitarian positions, which lead to different types of public communication strategies. It also discusses several recent trends and three scenarios concerning humanitarian public communication, focusing on interaction with donors and the military, as well as the security situation on the ground. The article concludes that it is essential for humanitarian organizations to understand the different interpretations of the humanitarian principles and that this will help in establishing a strategic approach toward public communication at headquarters, as well as in the field.

Type
Communication
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 87 , Issue 860: Communication , December 2005 , pp. 673 - 691
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 2005

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References

1 Information used for this article has been collected from internal papers and selected public documents of the organizations and interviews with their staff members.

2 Public communication is defined as communication strategies and activities towards targeted audiences. Its main objective is to provide information to these audiences and to raise awareness and influence attitudes or even behaviour.

3 Similarly, public relations can still be professionalized further. Pearson defines public relations as the “management function of an organization that helps that organization get and maintain good relations with all the public that it depends upon for survival.” See Pearson, Ron, “Beyond ethical relativism in public relations: Coorientation, rules and the idea of communication symmetry,” Public Relations Research Annual, Vol. 1, 1989, p. 71CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Generally, public relations are seen as a part of public communication. For more information with regard to public relations, see Dyer, Sam et al. ., “Managing public relations in nonprofit organizations,” Public Relations Quarterly, Winter 2002, pp. 13–17Google Scholar.

4 See Williamson, Hugh, “Under attack: Development and cooperation,” April 2005Google Scholar, at <http://www.inwent.org/E+Z/content/archive-eng/04–2005/tribune_artl.html>, (last visited on 22 September 2005).

5 The authors would like to thank Steve O'Malley, who formulated many of the initial ideas presented in this section.

6 Slim, Hugo, “Relief agencies and moral standing in war: Principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and solidarity,” Development in Practice Vol. 4, 1997, pp. 344–345Google Scholar.

7 Ibid.

8 See, for example, Donini, Antonio, The Policies of Mercy: UN Coordination in Afghanistan, Mozambique and Rwanda, Occasional Paper No. 22, Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies, Brown UniversityGoogle Scholar, Providence, RI, 1996; and Sommers, Marc, The Dynamics of Coordination, Occasional Paper No. 22, Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI, 2000.Google Scholar

9 See, for example, Fiona, Terry, Condemned to Repeat: The Paradox of Humanitarian Action, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 2002Google Scholar.

10 Slim, op. cit. (note 6), p. 349.

11 Of course, if the authority makes principled humanitarian work impossible, organizations may choose to withdraw or refuse to start programs.

12 The bilateral organizations that provide aid to populations in need fall outside the scope of this article.

13 Communication is furthermore systemically included in its other operational activities. Nowadays, the ICRC as an organization wants to go beyond one-way communication and step up efforts to listen to and engage in dialogue with its priority audiences. To this end, the ICRC uses mass communication tools, such as its website, electronic media, radio, television and printed media, that enable it to reach vast audiences.

14 “Public communication: Policy, guiding principles and priority audiences” (internal document), ICRC, Geneva, 2005.

15 Ibid.

16 Kellenberger, Jakob, “Speaking out or remaining silent in humanitarian work,” International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 86, No. 855, September 2004, pp. 593–609CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

17 In this respect, MSF protests more openly against the violation of human rights. Occasionally, it publicly criticizes the behaviour of other agencies. It did so, for instance, when the UN signed a memorandum of understanding in May 1998 with the Taliban regime. See MSF press release, 21 July 1998.

18 Lindenberg, Marc & Bryant, Coralie, Going Global: Transforming Relief and Development NGOs, Kumarian Press, Bloomfield, 2001, pp. 185–186Google Scholar.

19 Stoddard, Abby, “Humanitarian NGOs: Challenges and Trends,” Humanitarian Policy Group Briefing, July 2002, pp. 1–4Google Scholar.

20 Oxfam, “Towards global equity: Strategic Plan 2001–2004”. Available at: <http://www.oxfam.org/eng/pdfs/strat_plan.pdf> (last visited on 21 August 2005).

21 Lindenberg & Bryant, op. cit. (note 18), p. 165.

22 Jörg Kalinski, personal communication, 2005.

23 Oxfam International, “How and why Oxfam campaigns,” available at: <http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_ you_can_do/campaign/whyoxfamcampaigns.htm>, (last visited on 17 September 2005).

24 Oxfam International, “Oxfam International Annual Report,” available at: <http://www.oxfam.org/eng/pdfs/annuaLreport_2004.pdf>, (last visited on 11 August 2005).

25 Kalinski, op. cit. (note 22).

26 Lindenberg & Bryant, op. cit. (note 18), p. 182.

27 This service was offered, for example, to Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcasting station, and to the German newspapers Die Zeit and Frankfurter Rundschau.

28 Lindenberg & Bryant, op. cit. (note 18).

29 Save the Children, “Protecting children in emergencies,” available at: <http://www.savethechildren.org/advocacy/images/policy_brief_final.pdf>, (last visited on 12 August 2005).

30 Stoddard, Abby, “Humanitarian NGOs: Challenges and Trends” in Macrae, Joanna (ed.), Humanitarian Action and the Global War on Terror, Humanitarian Policy Group Report 30, 2002, pp. 25–35Google Scholar.

31 CARE, “Starbucks and CARE”. Available at: <http://www.careusa.org/partnerships/starbucks/projects.asp>, (last visited on 21 August 2005).

32 CARE, op. cit. (note 31).

33 World Vision International, “World Vision International Annual Review 2004,” available at: <http://www.wvi.org/wvi/pdf/2004%20Annual%20Review.pdf>, (last visited on 11 October 2005).

34 Ibid.

35 The media team creates tools for journalists, including web videos, regular videos, news feeds, audio resources (e.g., radio programs, pod casts), downloadable photos of UNICEF spokespersons, calendar of upcoming events, publications and speeches. See for example <http://www.unicef.org>, (last visited on 20 January 2006).

36 See <http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/issues/newround/doha_da/prl31205_en.htm>, (las t visited on 25 January 2006).

37 See for example Bellion-Jourdan, Jérôme, “Helping the ‘brothers’: The medic, the militant and the fighter,” in Benthall, Jonathan and Bellion-Jourdan, Jérôme, The Charitable Crescent, I.B Tauris, New York, 2003Google Scholar, and Ghandour, Abdel-Rahman, Jihad humanitaire: Enquête sur les ONG islamiques, Flammarion, Paris, 2002Google Scholar.

38 In addition, the US military is relying increasingly on security firms that carry out tasks normally assigned to military or peacekeeping forces. See David Barstow, “Security companies: Shadow soldiers in Iraq,” New York Times, available at: <http://www.nyt.com>, (last visited on 19 April 2004).

39 Jim Igoe & Tim Kelsall, “Introduction,” p. 5, in Jim Igoe & Tim Kelsall (eds), Between a Rock and a Hard Place: African NGOs, Donors and the State, Carolina Academic Press, Durham, N.C.

40 See Diskett, Patricia M. et al. , “Civil military relations in humanitarian assistance: Where next in the aftermath of 11 September?” in Dijkzeul, Dennis (ed.), Between Force and Mercy: Military Action and Humanitarian Aid (Bochumer Schriften zur Friedenssicherung und zum Humanitären Völkerrecht), Berliner Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin, 2004, pp. 323–326Google Scholar.

41 Lindenberg & Bryant, op. cit. (note 18), p. 35.

42 Kalinski, op. cit. (note 22).

43 Lindenberg & Bryant, op. cit. (note 18), p. 39.

44 Ibid., pp. 11–12.

45 Nevertheless, private funding can also be volatile. Stoddard notes that “after 11 September, private donations to US NGOs dramatically declined as Americans focused on domestic recovery and support for the victims of the attacks. At the same time, however, other factors, notably recession and the plummeting stock market, appear to have been more important in the long run. Thus, in 2000–2001 direct mail was generating half as much revenue for many NGOs than in the previous year.” Stoddard, op. cit, (note 30), p. 29.

46 See Dijkzeul, op. cit. (note 40).

47 See Chris Johnson, “Afghanistan and the war on terror,” in Joanna Macrae and Adele Harmer (eds.), Humanitarian Policy Group Report, No. 14, July 2003, pp. 49–62, and Minear, Larry, The Humanitarian Enterprise, Kumarian, Bloomfield, CT, 2002, pp. 189 ffGoogle Scholar. (on terrorism and humanitarian action).

48 On the integration of politics and humanitarian action see in particular de Torrente, Nicolas, “Humanitarian action under attack: Reflections on the Iraq war,” Harvard Human Rights Journal, Vol. 17, 2004, pp. 1–29Google Scholar (warning of the dangers of co-opting humanitarian action by States), and O'Brian, Paul, “Politicized humanitarianism: A response to Nicolas de Torrente,” Harvard Human Rights Journal, Vol. 17, 2004, pp. 31–37Google Scholar, who has doubts about the apolitical character of humanitarian action.

49 Olga Bornemisza & Tim Poletti, “The war in Iraq: Challenges to neutrality, impartiality and independence,” in Dijkzeul, op. cit. (note 40), pp. 363–379.

50 Antonio Donini, “The future of humanitarian action. Implications of Iraq and other recent crises (report of an international mapping exercise),” Paper by Feinstein International Famine Center, Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy, Tufts University, Curtis St. Medford, January 2004, p. 9.

51 Yet a full military withdrawal from Iraq would probably embolden terrorists and other extremists elsewhere to carry out acts of violence against humanitarian organizations and their staff. The withdrawal of American troops from Somalia after the killing of American soldiers gave the Rwandan génocidaires an incentive to kill Belgian UN soldiers in order to make the Belgian contingent leave.