International Public Relations Festival
Delhi, India
John Paluszek, Senior Counsel, Ketchum
Dec. 2, 2005
Friends and colleagues, we meet here in Delhi at a time of great possibilities – great potential -- for our public relations profession.
Of the many exciting opportunities for public relations in the years immediately ahead, I’d like to address the one which, to mind, is the most significant. And that is nothing less than the opportunity to help address the tragic gap between the world’s affluent and poor people.
Admittedly, suggesting such a leadership role for public relations may sound grandiose, perhaps even naïve. I hope to prove that it is neither.
Parenthetically, I should it make clear at the outset that these remarks are meant to be heard not only here in India, where so much progress is being made, but, somehow, among our colleagues around the world.
So I hope that all who encounter these sentiments will suspend disbelief as I suggest that now, more than ever, what we are trained to do -- what we are experienced at -- is more vital than it has ever been to the well-being of people around the world.
And what is this great capability that public relations professionals have to offer?
In a word, it is communications.
Of course, in this context, that simple word – communications -- has to be parsed, examined and, perhaps, extended.
One way to begin doing that is to recall the concept of public relations’ role in society that was offered many years ago by a pioneer educator in our field, 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 public relations, he suggested, has harmony as its ultimate mission.
In the long-term pursuit of global harmony, where is it written that public relations practitioners, some of the most informed – and, yes, articulate – communications professionals the world over, cannot, or should not, apply their talents to such a critically important task?
Where is that stone tablet that forbids our undertaking the complex but vital job of helping to improve the standard of living and quality of life in less developed countries – and undertaking this task on both humanitarian and pragmatic grounds?
Now, lest anyone think that this is a fool’s errand, an attempt “to boil the ocean,” I suggest that we spend the next few minutes in establishing a realistic agenda, as it were, a perimeter, for what public relations professionals can accomplish in promoting global development.
So I’ll 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 – do something on three levels – individually; as members of the diverse institutions we serve as employees; and through our professional societies.
This venue, the International Public Relations Festival at Delhi, organized by the Public Relations Society of India, is particularly appropriate for a discussion of how professional communicators can advance development in Less Developed Countries. As an American, I have been greatly impressed by the economic, social and political progress achieved in India, “the world’s largest democracy.”
I congratulate the Public Relations Society of India for its work in addressing the issues of social importance to this country. And I commend each of you for coming to this seminal conference on the “Quest for Leadership – Role of Public Relations.”
I’m sure that you will agree that successful leadership is based not only on vision and courage, but also on the wisdom that is 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.
Let me remind you of that startling contrast:
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Least Developed Countries
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World Average
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Annual GDP Per Capita
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$298
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$5174
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Life Expectancy at Birth
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50.6 years
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66.9 years
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Infant Mortality (per 1,000 live births)
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99
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56
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Annual Per Capita Health Spending
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$11
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$1900*
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*Developed nations only
Sources: United Nations Development Program, 2002-2003
Population Reference Bureau
For the skeptics on the kind of proposed public relations leadership we are discussing – surely, no one in this grand room today – there is compelling data to illustrate the pragmatic motivation, the matter of self-interest, for those of us blessed with abundance to address these critical global disparities. (The formidable array of humanitarian arguments would require another full conference, or several, or many.)
In a recent interview, when he was still the president of The World Bank, James D. Wolfensohn, a career financier, framed the discussion of global development in terms of the indisputable linkage between the developed and less developed world.
Linking Developed and Less Developed Countries
Trade Disease
Capital Flows Illegal drug traffic
Foreign Aid Crime
Tourism Terrorism
Immigration War
You’ve no doubt noted that “environment” is not listed. It is so vast an element of global linkage – ranging from macro issues such as global warming to regional issues such as the recent petroleum products spillage into a northern China river flowing into Russia – that it would itself take several slides, and more time than we have – to more fully explore the environment as an element of international linkage.
Mr. Wolfensohn also pointed out that projected population growth could well exacerbate the problems of development. Population in less developed countries, now estimated at five billion people, is expected to grow by an additional two billion in the next several years; whereas as population in developed countries, now about one billion, is expected to grow by about fifty million in the same period.
Significantly, he contended that global government spending is, tragically, way out of balance.
Annual Government Global Spending
Weapons $900 billion
Agricultural Subsidies $300 billion
Development Assistance to the Poor $56 billion
J. Wolfensohn in a New York Times interview, April 22, 2004
What’s wrong with this picture?
I need not say.
Of course, there’s 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 LDC governments’ management of proceeds from business investments such as oil exploration rights – these, too will help. The reduced prices on medicines for AIDS, malaria and other devastating diseases in LDCs is encouraging. And even the clumsy progress on international trade agreements – a step forward, a half-step back – represents progress; still, just yesterday, India’s Commerce Secretary, S.N. Menon, decried what he feels is inadequate progress on development in the current Hong Kong round of World Trade Organization ministerial deliberations.
Another vital stimulant for our awareness comes from the United Nations.
Mr. Toni Muzi Falconi and I have the honor of representing the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management at the U.N. As a result, we have become quite aware of the critical importance of the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals. Let me remind you briefly of how relevant these goals are to the improvement of conditions in less developed countries:
United Nations Millennium Development Goals
By the year 2015, there will be significant, measurable progress in:
- Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger
- Achieving universal primary education
- Promoting gender equality and empowering women
- Reducing child mortality
- Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- Ensuring environmental sustainability
- Establishing a global partnership for development
Here too, there has been genuine progress against these very ambitious goals. But so much more needs to be done in the MDG program and in other significant development initiatives as well.
So I suggest that in addition to becoming aware of the dimensions of the global development challenge -- and the current state of global development progress -- we, as public relations professionals, must be creative enough -- and bold enough -- to play a role in this vital, world-changing enterprise.
This, of course, brings us to the second part of the formula offered at the outset – a proposed initial action program for public relations professionals. I say “initial” because I believe that once engaged, public relations people will see opportunities -- create opportunities -- that may be unforeseeable here at the outset today.
However, there are several such initiatives that we can identify even now. As noted earlier, our opportunities exist on three basic levels: as individuals -- that is, 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 – such as the Public Relations Society of India and the Global Alliance.
On the first level, the individual 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 U.N. Development Programme.
However, I would commend to your special attention a fledgling multilateral organization with a mission that not only zeros in on the U.N. Millennium Goals but also emphasizes the importance of communications in achieving those goals.
The Millennium Development Goals
Global Watch
Mission: “… assurance that every country on the globe meets U.N. Millennium Development Goals.”
“… works on assisting, linking, monitoring … through activity development, project participation, networking … regular publicity campaigns … including an annual global progress report.”
The second level of our possible involvement raises the critical concept of partnering, especially between the private sector and non-governmental-organizations (NGOs), as well as with governments, in bilateral or trilateral programs.
Toni Muzi Falconi and I received a quick education on such partnerships during a recent three-day conference on the subject at U.N. headquarters in New York. The conference was called “Business and the Millennium Goals: An Active Role for Globally Responsible Companies.” It recounted development partnerships involving a host of international companies including Nestle, Bayer and The Tata Group.
The partnership-program that impressed me most is one that is being conducted here in India by Hindustan Lever Limited.
This company, like many others at the U.N. conference, believes that “developmental initiatives from the private sector will be sustainable and scalable only if they make business sense.”
Hindustan Lever therefore created the very successful “Shakti Entrepreneur” program, a microfinance initiative that is empowering some 13,000 rural women in 12 states in India to engage in what the company calls its “brand-led communications program that covers health and hygiene” – and, not incidentally, introduces the company’s products in these developing markets.
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.
In this connection, I should also note an upcoming Delhi conference, the “Delhi Sustainable Development Summit” to be held here in early February.
Finally (and I’m sure you agree it’s time for finally”), just a few comments on the third level of relevant potential action for public relations professionals:
As you know, as I speak to you today, I “wear the hat” of the Public Relations Society of America’s representative to the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management.
I would remind you of a few essential facts about the Global Alliance:
Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management
Composed of 62 public relations associations
Representing 160,000 professionals on every continent
Toni Muzi Falconi (Italy) – Chair, 2001/2003
Jean Valin (Canada) – Chair, 2003/2005
Sej Motau (South Africa) – Chair, 2006/2007
In a very promising Global Alliance activity – again with our colleague, Toni Muzi Falconi – we are developing a cooperative relationship with The World Bank for its soon-to-be launched program called “Communication for Development.” Here’s what is in the offing:
Global Alliance and The World Bank
“Communication For Development”
Cooperative Steps:
September 2005: Exploratory meeting in Washington, D.C
December 2005: Introduction to International Public Relations Festival, Delhi
June 2006: Planning at 3rd GA/World Public Relations Festival, Brasilia
June 2007: Planning at 4th GA/World Public Relations Festival, Cape Town
Global Alliance and The World Bank
“Communications For Development”
World Congress on Communication For Development
Rome, November 2006
“Focus 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 in development policy and practice.”
World Congress on Communication For Development
Rome, November 2006
500 communicators, academicians, policy makers
Case histories (What works, what doesn’t)
Recommendations (How communication aids better development effectiveness)
As Toni has put it so succinctly, “The World Bank knows development, The Global Alliance knows communications. An admirable partnership.”
My friends and colleagues, I have now exhausted my time allotment but I’ll certainly be happy to chat with you later if you have interest in any of these important matters.
So I leave you with one final, overarching thought.
Although your professional societies here in India now include members in the thousands – and, indeed, the Global Alliance represents more than 160,000 of our colleagues around the world – taking action is very often a decision by an individual or a small group.
So I offer a parting observation from the world-renowned anthropologist, Margaret Mead, an observation that I believe is quite relevant: to our “Quest for Leadership”:
“Never doubt the ability of a small group of dedicated people to change the world. In fact, that’s the only way that vast change has occurred.”
-- Margaret Mead
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