noVeMber 2008 47189 About the Author Why use an nGo Partner for Your Public Denis obArcAnin Awareness campaign instead of a Pr is Project Manager for Access to Finance Products and recycling Linkages in Agency? experience of the recycling Linkages southeast europe. Prior to joining iFc, he worked as a Program in bosnia and herzegovina business and information technology Project Manager and Projects engineer in southeast Asia for leading This paper focuses on a very familiar and important aspect of many engineering companies such advisory services projects - "raising awareness." There are many as Vinci and boygues. reasons for undertaking this activity; some of the most common include marketing (e.g., attracting personnel from small and medium enterprises - SMEs - to attend learning events), while others may relate to educating the wider public on the availability of a new public good or service - e.g., Alternative Dispute Resolution, household recycling, etc. The question posed in the title of this paper is of particular significance for those operating in challenging environments where the marketing and advertising industry is still in its infancy. recycling Linkages is a 3-year program launched marketing FmCGs (fast-moving consumer in 2005 and financed by IFC and the austrian goods) or politically motivated messages. by ministry of Finance. the program, managed by contrast, bosnia and Herzegovina has a very IFC advisory Services Southern europe, supports strong, thriving nongovernmental organization the financing, capacity building, and consulting (nGo) sector that employs some very capable needs of the recycled waste materials market. and highly educated/motivated individuals as a the program covers albania, bosnia and result of the grant/aid money channeled to the Herzegovina, macedonia, and Serbia. country in the 12-year period since the end of the war. IFChasconductedaPublicawarenessCampaign to promote recycling. a number of activities have been organized with the aim of raising the interest of all stakeholders (Smes, government, households, consultants) in the regional recycling industry to conserve energy and resources through the recovery and reuse of scrap and the general improvement of environmental practices. When considering public relations (Pr), the first thing that came to mind was a Pr firm. We discovered, however, that most our Pr/ marketing firms do not have the background to come to grips with developmental issues. the Pr/marketing industry in a post-conflict, post- We therefore opted to use an nGo for the socialist country like bosnia and Herzegovina is public awareness component of our project. in its infancy. there is no set tradition for these Using an environmental nGo for a public skills, as the industry at present is focused on awareness and education campaign has served IFC SmartLeSSonS -- november 2008 1 as a good inroad to gaining momentum and this topic is now covered as part of their edu- acceptance on the topic of recycling in local cation curriculum. communities. Lessons Learned Public Awareness & Education Cam- paign ­ Implementation in Practice 1) Credibility within the target audience City: Sarajevo; People are far more likely to believe in an NGO: Ekotim Sarajevo; "honest message" coming from a trustworthy The World Development Report; local organization in tune with community IFC Contribution: $15,500; needs, rather than from commercial Pr/ Sponsor Contribution: $5,000; and marketing agencies that in many cases have Timing: April ­ June 2007. vested interests and group sponsorships. Communities coming out of conflict are even over 70 educational workshops for raising more suspicious of ulterior motives. awareness on recycling and environmental issues were delivered to around 1,300 2) Knowledge/expertise on subject matter schoolchildren in Sarajevo. the children were in primary schools in districts where household It is very important that nGos have a good track waste separation recycling containers were record where they have implemented tangible, being introduced. successful, and visible community projects, and importantly are not "tree-hugging idealists" the awareness raising included a creative who more often than not lack the diplomatic competition on the theme of recycling, and at skills in dealing with situations that have least 300 schoolchildren submitted their multiple stakeholders. artwork. a poster advertising the "recycling theme"creativecompetitionforschoolchildren our partner, environmental nGo ekotim, had is shown below: previous experience in delivering recycling themed workshops. they demonstrated that they had the ability to add value to the topic over and above what the IFC Project manager and team may require. 3) Ability to reach the target audience I also need to stress that the nGos in question will need to have a well-established and nurtured relationship/profile with the media, as well as an excellent knowledge of local conditions and issues. this will ensure that the message delivered is appropriate and well targeted. the Project manager established that ekotim met these criteria before the company was engaged. there were 12 winners in three categories 4) Filling the gaps in the NGOs' capacity DiscLAiMer promoted at a closing ceremony that coincided iFc smartLessons is an awards with World environment Day. Some 50 posters, Having pitched the idea of nGo involvement, I program to share lessons learned 12,000 flyers, and 200 stickers were also also recognize that there are limits to their in development-oriented advisory distributed as part of the campaign. capacity. the skill to deliver a clear and concise services and investment operations. the findings, message for a targeted audience is still the interpretations, and conclusions educated children helped to influence their domain of professionals. to offset this expressed in this paper are those parents' behavior. With the help of this Pr limitation, we employed an individual Pr of the author(s) and do not campaign, a total of 160 tonnes of waste was expert on a limited basis (very specific terms of necessarily reflect the views of iFc collected from 250 recycling bins in a 12-month reference) to assist with fine-tuning the or its partner organizations, the executive Directors of the World period. Prior to this there had been no house- message and delivering it to the audience bank or the governments they hold waste separation in the city. Household previously identified by the nGo. IFC created represent. iFc does not assume waste separation is now a familiar practice in an implementation schedule together with any responsibility for the four residential city districts, and there are this newly created team, and all partners completeness or accuracy of the information contained in this plans for further expansion. agreed upon the activities. document. Please see the terms and conditions at www.ifc.org/ Schools are now actively supporting recycling smartlessons or contact the education and household waste separation; program at smartlessons@ifc.org. 2 IFC SmartLeSSonS -- november 2008