Responsible Communications Needed in Development Arena Too

Source Oxfam

We hear a lot about responsible and credible communications in the environment and sustainability sectors but development organisations need to work on their communications credibility too, according to a new report by the LSE. 

Brownwashing is to human rights what greenwashing is to the environment.  The Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief says publicity and advertising should recognise disaster victims as “dignified human beings, not hopeless objects. 

Many NGOs are rethinking their communications plans to be more responsible as long as there is a demand for actual results and try to reach new target audiences for donors, including small donors and young people. 

The LSE report sets out questions about how to communicate on suffering, particularly distant suffering taking place in far-flung parts of the world and challenges the perception that if people are informed, they will act.  Knowledge alone is not enough to make people act.  The challenge is to move audiences from awareness to engagement.  The report calls this ‘from attention to action’.

Packed full of quotes from NGO communicators, this research on the marketing and media coverage of disasters, human rights and development follows a public debate held at the London School of Economics in November 2011.  The launch event is taking place in London on 27 July.

Blog by Aris Koutentakis