ACVFA Releases Report on Public Outreach
FrontLines - March 2009
USAID and its partners in the development community must use effective media and other communications tools to overcome public ignorance and ambivalence regarding U.S. foreign assistance, says a recent report by aid experts.
Lack of knowledge about U.S. foreign aid is an obstacle to advancing development around the world, said the report from the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid (ACVFA).
Public opinion polling shows that Americans have scant knowledge of U.S. foreign
assistance. Typically, they vastly overestimate its budget, which affects whether or not Americans want to increase or decrease aid.
Moreover, unless the word is spread about the results achieved by many U.S. aid programs, public support is likely to remain weak and ambivalent.
“Aid does
not magically communicate itself,” said the report, which
was published
in November 2008. |
Polling and focus groups reveal that recipient country citizens also have distorted views of U.S. foreign assistance. For example, only 40 percent of Egyptians knew their country received foreign assistance from the United States, and just 10 percent to 20 percent were aware of specific
programs for health, education,
and business. The result of this ignorance is a falsified image of the United States and lingering resentment
on the part of recipient-country audiences that their own countries are being neglected.
ACVFA, an advisory body appointed by the USAID administrator to provide information
on aid policy and link the government to NGOs, produced
the report on public perception
of foreign aid to suggest
how USAID might better “tell its story” to domestic and foreign audiences.
The report, “From the American People: Why the Story That U.S. Foreign Assistance Is Working Must Be Told,” concludes with 10 recommendations.
Among them: USAID should increase its commitment
to public outreach through increased resources, including the hiring of professional
communication specialists.
The report also recommends that informing domestic audiences be a central part of communications outreach. The communications effort should have consistent budgetary and institutional support,
the report says.
For international audiences, the report praises USAID’s “Branding” initiative as well as its Development Outreach Communication program that has placed more than 100 full- and part-time communications professionals in the field. The report recommends expansion of overseas media campaigns that have worked well in Lebanon, the West Bank, Indonesia, and other places.
“Aid does not magically communicate itself,” said the report, which was published in November 2008.
The report coincides with increased discussion of the “smart power” aspects of American foreign policy, and a growing governmental awareness
of the importance of foreign
assistance to U.S. national security. The report also comes at a time of bipartisan congressional
backing for increased foreign aid budgets. In addition, the Obama Administration has repeatedly called for an ambitious
development agenda.
Read the report at http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/acvfa/pub_outreach_final.pdf (pdf, 446kb).
★ – J.W.
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