The 2nd PR summit; a general overview
Years of Public Relations (PR) practice, clouded by unrecognition, has phased out, giving room for a new era that seeks to completely reshape the work of practitioners across the public sector space, to enhance proper and efficient information dissemination for National Development.
The Institute of Public Relations (IPR) defines Public Relations as the decision-making management practice, tasked with building relationships and interest between organizations and their publics, based on the delivery of information, employing trusted and ethical communication methods.
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The age-old practice, over the years, has evolved, while impacting global development year-in and year-out. This has happened through trade, direct and indirect foreign investment, social networking, among other areas, driven mainly by information flow, communication and social networking.
Could we have referred to our world today as a “global village” without the magic touch of Public Relations?
As a Public Relations Partitioner, the second PR summit held recently and championed by the Ministry of Information(MOI), the Information Service department (ISD) and supported by the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) aimed at sharpening the skills of practitioners to execute vigorous communication strategies on government business, provided a platform for open discussions on challenges faced by practitioners, getting management of various institutions to appreciate and give free space for Public Relations Officers (PRO) to function more efficiently to facilitate effective information flow on government activities and programmes.
According to the Deputy Director of the Public Relations Coordinating Division (PRCD), ISD, Mrs. Ethel Codjoe Amissah, the summit was opportune and appropriate, considering the problems impeding the development of communication and PR practice across the Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA’s). A move, she said, would streamline the PR agenda to ensure that the public is not left out on government’s plans and development journey.
Some of the challenges that bedeviled the practice include: Lack of trust and commitment by politicians to engage the services of the Government PR persons, partly because they served party A and party B thus not trusting to have such a practitioner do a good work in projecting government agenda. Consequently, party communicators perform PR functions, leaving the professional PR staff redundant.
Also, PROs are not given the necessary support to carry out their functions. These instances include exclusion from management consultations and ongoing activities, logistical constrains among others, making it difficult, if not impossible, for them to function. These, alongside other important problems, were raised at the Summit.
The beauty of the summit was the solution driven posture of the Hon. Information Minister, ensuring that such hurdles are surmounted. Here, practitioners will adequately function, to help walk Ghanaians through the programmes and activities of government.
This is aimed at improving livelihoods of the citizenry as well as functioning of government agencies, through proper and consistent two-way information flow. The move by the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, to on-board CEOs, Ministers of state and heads of the various government MDA’s in the PR Agenda bring to the fore, concerns raised and how to get them to rectify and facilitate the efficient functioning of the PR practitioner, was a very welcomed development that tickled participant as it would create the required room and environment for proper and proactive Public Relations practice, devoid of information gaps, assumptions, hearsays and predictions.
To the stakeholders of Government institutions, including the media, the possibility of knowing the various frontline information personnel would be made easier, as the Information Minister promise to publish the contacts of all PR persons to speed up enquiries and information dissemination.
The citizenry must also understand that, PR practitioners in government agencies are not politicians. Over the years, they have served several governments without any political lenses, hence, the need to trust that such professionals are independent-minded workers seeking to protect and project the national good, devoid of hidden motives and agenda.
We are confident that the summit which was the second in a row, will yield visible results, break the walls, create the space for seamless communication flow to engender understanding, deepen governance, promote and project national development.
We can be trusted to serve the people right, not with biases and propaganda, but with accurate and authentic information required.
The writer is a staff of the Information Services Department (ISD)