Publication: With the Support of Multitudes : Using Strategic Communication to Fight Poverty through PRSPs
Date
2005
ISSN
Published
2005
Author(s)
Odugbemi, Sina
Mozammel, Masud
Abstract
This publication intends to improve the
chances of success of Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSs) in
two ways: 1. To show policymakers how strategic
communication can help them achieve some of their objectives
in formulating and executing effective Poverty Reduction
Strategies. 2. To give technocrats and officials, actively
engaged in the execution of Poverty Reduction Strategy
Papers (PRSPs), guidance on best practice, as well as
lessons from a community of practice spread around the
world. One of the main lessons of this study is that PRSPs
are not implemented in green houses, but in very specific
national contexts. Depending on the situation in each
country, the following structural factors are critical to
whether or not you can have genuine citizen participation
in, and ownership of PRSPs: the underlying political culture
can be decisive; the state of the mass media in the specific
country is also a crucial factor; access to official
information is the third structural impediment; the fourth
is the density and capacity of civil society organizations
(CSOs) in each country; and, finally, there is the vexed
question of communication capacity within government. The
skilled management of public opinion is an essential skill
for all governments, yet the information ministry in many
countries is a backwater of low skill, low pay, and low
morale. This affects the implementation of Poverty Reduction
Strategies in quite significant ways. This publication
offers policymakers and their technical staff four important
forms of support: 1. Case studies from a variety of
countries on the use of communication to enhance the
effectiveness of Poverty Reduction Strategies; 2. Best
practice guidance on which methods are known to have been
effective and which have been less so; 3. An analysis of the
structural impediments to participation and country
ownership; and, 4. A detailed list of further sources of
information and guidance.
Citation
“Odugbemi, Sina; Mozammel, Masud. 2005. With the Support of Multitudes : Using Strategic Communication to Fight Poverty through PRSPs. © London: Department for International Development. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/14830 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”