Copyright 2006 The Public Relations Strategist. Reprinted with permission by the Public Relations Society of America (www.prsa.org).
By John Paluszek, Senior Counsel, Ketchum
From June 26-28, the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management brought together several hundred PR and communications professionals to Brasilia, Brazil, for its annual World Public Relations Festival to address global, regional and national issues affecting and affected by public relations. Founded in 2000, the Alliance comprises 62 national and regional PR societies, including PRSA, representing some 160,000 professionals around the world.
Among the speakers at this year's World Public Relations Festival was John Paluszek, APR, Fellow PRSA, and Senior Counsel, Ketchum. As Global Alliance ambassador-at-large and a member of the Alliance's executive board, Paluszek has represented both Ketchum and PRSA, a founding member of the Alliance, at all three World Public Relations Festivals held since 2003.
In his account of his presentation that follows, Paluszek discusses the complex but vital opportunity for PR professionals to apply their talents to the critical task of improving the standard of living in underdeveloped countries.
Of the many exciting global opportunities for public relations in the years immediately ahead, one perhaps rises above the others as the most paramount. And that is the opportunity to help address the tragic gap between the world's affluent and the poor. What we are trained to do -- what we are experienced at -- is now more vital than it has ever been to the well-being of people around the world. In a word, it is communications.
One way to begin doing this is to recall the concept of public relations' role in society that was offered many years ago by a pioneer educator in our profession, the late Scott Cutlip. He reminded us that a profession must have a profound mission in society. Medicine has health as its mission. Law has justice and order. And, he suggested, public relations has harmony as its ultimate mission.
In the long-term pursuit of global harmony, PR practitioners -- who represent some of the most informed and articulate communications professionals the world over -- can use their talents to improve the standard of living and quality of life in underdeveloped countries.
I would therefore like to set a realistic agenda for what PR practitioners can accomplish in promoting global development and offer two distinct, but related, forms of commitment. The first is developing our own awareness, understanding the importance as well as the breadth and depth of the global development challenge. The second, growing out of that awareness, is a commitment to do something about it on three levels: as individuals, as members of the diverse institutions we serve as employees, and as members of professional societies.
Successful leadership is based not only on vision and courage but also on wisdom derived from knowledge. So when we speak of the potential leadership of public relations in global development, we must start with our recognition of some basic facts about the world today, particularly the gap that exists between developed and less-developed countries. Some facts that illustrate this startling contrast:
Least-Developed Countries
World Average
Annual GDP Per Capita
$298
$5,174
Life Expectancy at Birth
50.6 years
66.9 years
Infant Mortality (per 1,000 live births)
99
56
Annual Per Capita Health Spending
$11
$1,900*
*Developed nations only
Sources: United Nations Development Program, 2002-2003
Population Reference Bureau
In an interview when he was still president of the World Bank, James D. Wolfensohn framed the discussion of global development in terms of the indisputable link between the developed and under-developed world.
Wolfensohn also pointed out that projected population growth could well exacerbate the problems of development. Population in underdeveloped countries, now estimated at 5 billion people, is expected to grow by an additional 2 billion in the years ahead; whereas population in developed countries, now about 1 billion, is expected to grow by about only 50 million in the same period. Significantly, he contended that global government spending is, tragically, way out of balance, as some figures show. Given the interrelationship between developed and under-developed countries, those of us blessed with abundance must address these critical global disparities, if for no other reason than self-interest.
What's wrong with this picture? I need not say, but there has been some recent progress. The agreement on substantial debt relief for developing countries is surely a seminal development. The insistence on more transparency both in the implementation of aid programs and in governments' management of proceeds from business investments such as oil exploration rights will also help. The reduced prices on medicines for AIDS, malaria and other devastating diseases in less-developed countries is encouraging. Even the clumsy progress on international trade agreements represents a degree of progress.
This brings us to the second part of the formula offered at the outset -- a proposed initial action program for PR practitioners. I say initial because I believe that once engaged, PR professionals will discover opportunities that may be unforeseeable today. However, there are several such initiatives that we can identify even now. Our opportunities exist on three basic levels: as individuals, or as citizens of our respective countries; as employees who serve at the interface between our organizations and society; and as members of our professional societies.
Within the first level, each of us must make personal choices. We can be effective by being active members of civil society, petitioning our governments to give greater attention and increased support to global development. There are many worthy multilateral organizations that labor in this field -- for example, Oxfam, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations Development Programme.
The second level of our possible involvement raises the critical concept of partnering, especially between the private sector and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), as well as with governments, in bilateral or trilateral programs. Multilateral organizations that can facilitate such partnering include the U.N. Global Compact, Business for Social Responsibility and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Finally, a brief comment on the third level of relevant potential action for PR practitioners and our professional societies. In a promising Global Alliance activity, we are helping develop a cooperative relationship with the World Bank for its soon-to-be-launched program called "Communication for Development." The focus will be on demonstrating that communication for development is an essential ingredient for meeting today's most pressing development challenges and, as such, should be more fully integrated into development policy and practice.
While governments, global organizations like the United Nations and philanthropic organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have made great progress in combating poverty, disease and malnutrition in underdeveloped countries, much more remains to be done to enhance the world's standard of living. So I believe that, in addition to becoming aware of the dimensions of the global development challenge, we as PR professionals must be creative and bold enough to play a role in this vital enterprise.
John Paluszek, APR, Fellow PRSA, Senior Counsel at Ketchum, is also PRSA's liaison to the United Nations and co-chair of the Commission on Public Relations Education.
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