Beyond the good news: Why strategic communications in development matters
By Lisa Ritchie, Communications Strategist and Founder of EngagingDev
Whether you're leading a development program, designing a future program, are part of a program team, or perhaps you are a development communications specialist in your own right, this article explores what’s possible when communications is treated as an embedded strategic function and not merely an output.
Above: Josie Yos from the Australia-Papua New Guinea Economic Partnership worked closely with the communications team to ensure an internal gender equality and inclusion tool was written and designed with the user in mind, encouraging the team to consider gender and inclusion when designing program activities.
In the world of overseas development assistance, strategic communications remains an under-utilised asset – one with the potential to significantly enhance program outcomes when applied with intent and purpose.
When designed with purpose, strategic communications does not just support a development program – it becomes part of it. Strategic communications helps create shared understanding, foster accountability, enable participation and amplify impact. Strategic communications can elevate visibility, deepen relationships, shift behaviours and align efforts between governments, partners and communities across the life of a program.
Yet in many programs, strategic communications continues to be seen as a content output rather than an essential development input. Or, put more simply, as an ‘add-on’ – something you do after the ‘work’ has been done. But strategic communications has more to offer than designing infographics, content creation, press releases or photography. While these tools have their place in a communications strategy, they barely hint at what communications can truly achieve for a program when integrated from the start.
The strategic use of communications has the power to reflect the complexity of a development program, not just the ‘good news’. It can make room for nuance, for progress and regress, for the real-world messiness that is ‘development’ and the pursuit of a more equitable, inclusive and just world. Strategic communications specialists are hard-wired to manage risk and reputation while building partnerships and engagement.
When done well, strategic communications builds trust between partners, with donors and, most importantly, with the people development programs aim to serve.
The role of strategic communications
Across more than two decades, I have witnessed the way strategic communications support programs to do what they are designed to do better. It brings clarity to complex reforms, helps navigate political economies, provides platforms for dialogue and feedback, and builds the kind of engagement that sustains change long after a program ends.
Programs that are strategic in their communications from the outset are better able to:
Align stakeholders around shared goals.
Manage expectations in politically-sensitive reforms.
Amplify partner voices and priorities.
Explain complexity clearly and confidently.
Show impact beyond the headline numbers.
Build trust through shared and credible, honest accounts of challenges, progress and attribution.
Public diplomacy versus strategic communications
While public diplomacy and strategic communications often overlap in international development, they serve different purposes:
Public diplomacy focuses on building a country’s image and fostering goodwill with foreign publics. It showcases and builds awareness of a donor government’s reputation and values.
Strategic communications is deeply embedded in the delivery of a program and is designed to help achieve development outcomes by facilitating understanding, trust, behaviour change and collaboration among all stakeholders.
While public diplomacy is outward-facing and often promotional, strategic communications is both inward- and outward-facing, tailored to context, grounded in program logic, and integral to how change is supported, sustained and communicated.
Strategic communications contribute to program outcomes
In my own work with bilateral, regional and multi-country development programs, I have witnessed and come to deeply understand how strategic communications can unlock momentum, build trust and convey complex issues and activities:
Working on market systems development programs, I saw strategic communications focused on explaining the approach, fostering engagement and facilitating knowledge, including open discussions about what did and did not work. These efforts enhanced influence with business partners, donors and regulatory institutions.
On an education program in Papua New Guinea, strategic communications was used to support advocacy efforts and influence and communicate policy change. Strategic communications efforts were also applied to reflect the importance and impact of robust policy frameworks on education outcomes back to education officials, increasing awareness and uptake.
Also in Papua New Guinea, strategic communications was so embedded in a program that one of the end-of-program outcomes was that government and communities were aware of the program’s development outcomes.
A Southeast Asia and Australia government partnership program sought to embed consistent communications across upwards of 30 Australian government agencies working with Southeast Asian government partners. The program goal is to broaden and deepen Australia’s partnerships across Southeast Asia and strategic communications has a critical role to play.
Content and events contribute to public diplomacy
Public diplomacy has significantly evolved, particularly with the rise of social media and resultant transformation in how donor countries engage foreign audiences. In my experience – particularly working across the Pacific, Southeast Asia and South Asia – public diplomacy often centres on communicating the strength of a donor country’s relationship with a partner country, and the sharing of good news stories that communicate its contributions to development outcomes.
While public diplomacy is, broadly, understood as the communication of a country’s values, culture and international contributions to foreign publics, its application in development programs often centres on communicating a donor country’s investment, support and what happened as a result. It aims to inform and influence perceptions and contribute to local and international audiences’ understanding of the donor’s role, priorities and commitment. In practice, this includes social media content and media coverage that showcases program achievements, ministerial visits and public-facing events with representation from both governments.
This kind of visibility is valuable and can build trust, reinforce strategic relationships and help sustain public support for donor contributions and bilateral partnerships. However, public diplomacy is not a substitute for a robust communications strategy: one that also addresses the program’s internal and external needs, facilitates the flow of information, ensures reform processes are understood, and partner voices are part of, or tell, the story.
In short, public diplomacy can be part of a program’s communications strategy, but strategic communications ensures programs achieve more than ‘feel good’ visibility – they deliver development outcomes.
Balancing strategic communications and public diplomacy
In my work in designing and implementing communication strategies for development programs, I have found that the key is to treat strategic communications and public diplomacy as distinct but connected streams: both are important, but they serve different purposes and require their own objectives, audiences and tactics.
I approach this by designing communication strategies that explicitly separate the 2: one stream focused on supporting the program’s development outcomes by engaging stakeholders, enabling participation and facilitating behaviour change; the other focused on advancing the donor’s public-facing diplomatic goals through enhanced visibility, media and public engagement, and messaging aligned with a donor government’s strategic and diplomatic priorities.
By doing this, the risk of one overwhelming the other is avoided. Strategic communications remains grounded in the program logic and embedded in delivery, whereas public diplomacy retains its role in showcasing values, fostering goodwill and sustaining public and political support. When both are planned intentionally and delivered in parallel, they reinforce one another and build relationships, trust and understanding across all levels of a development partnership.
Central to devising and establishing this dual-stream approach is ensuring that donors, implementation teams and partners have a shared understanding of what strategic communications and public diplomacy are, and what they are not. Importantly, this understanding should never be assumed. Without it, communications specialists or teams may face challenges in maintaining alignment with program objectives, managing resources and delivering on strategic communications objectives.
It is also important that communications specialists are the ‘communicators’ of their strategy, clearly articulating what is in scope, what is not, and why. This can mean saying ‘no’ to program team requests in order to maintain the strategic focus, uphold integrity and ensure that a program’s communications remain focused on program outcomes and public diplomacy objectives.
A strategic asset for the future
As global development challenges become more complex – including climate change, geopolitical uncertainty and shifting citizen expectations – the need for clear, credible and connected communications grows. It is not about spin. It is about strategy and systems. About listening, not just sharing. About building relationships, not just delivering messages.
Strategic communications help programs to not only deliver more effectively but also be better understood. And when development is better understood, it is more likely to be trusted, supported and sustained.
Are you, your organisation or your program ready to more strategic with your communications? Let’s talk.
