Staying ahead of the curve: How programs can contribute to donor strategic communications

By Lisa Ritchie, Communications Strategist and Founder of EngagingDev

If you work within or alongside a donor-funded development program, you have likely noticed a stronger emphasis on strategic communications.

Programs are increasingly expected to apply communications as a strategic tool to advance their donor government’s foreign policy objectives and build influence through credible partnerships.

While this is not entirely new — I have been working with programs to integrate strategic communications principles for a number of years — the expectation from donors for programs to deliver against these higher-order objectives is growing.

The increased focus can be seen across several donor agencies. For example, in EngagingDev’s primary regions of focus — the Pacific and Southeast Asia — there has been a notable call from both Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for more strategic communications.

This changes expectations around the sometimes invisible work that is strategic communications and the focus of public-facing content. It also means supporting donors to aggregate program-level communications to support a cohesive donor narrative, geostrategic positioning and, ultimately, influence.

What this means for program teams

Programs have always played a role in donor visibility and public diplomacy. What is changing is the strategic intent behind that role.

Donor governments are signalling that communications should:

• Strengthen understanding of where investments are made and why.

• Build credibility for how donor governments work.

• Reinforce their reputation as trusted, capable partners who listen, learn and act collaboratively.

For communications specialists and program leadership, that means thinking of communications as more than content outputs and considering how communications can strategically contribute to program and donor positioning, influence and trust.

Three connected layers

It helps to see development program communication priorities as 3 connected but distinct layers:

1. Strategic communications (donor government–wide): Messaging that links development investments to broader foreign policy and national-interest objectives while demonstrating aid effectiveness and building donor credibility and influence.

2. Public diplomacy: Building goodwill and understanding through visibility, people-to-people engagement and cultural connection.

3. Program strategic communications: Embedded in delivery to support reforms, partnerships and outcomes.

As explored in a recent issue, Donor and program communications: Getting the balance right, when these layers work together, programs become part of a coherent system of influence. The key is alignment, not duplication.

Strategic communications can be used to support a cohesive donor narrative, geostrategic positioning and influence. Image: @canva.

Getting on the front foot

A good program communications strategy will hold even as donor shifts in focus and strategic intent occur. What is important is that program leadership and communications teams remain intentional in their communications objectives while anticipating and responding to these shifts.

Here are 5 ways to ensure your communications strategy can respond to program and donor demands:

1. Integrate: When developing your program communications strategy and during regular strategy reviews, consider how your activities and messages support the donor government’s broader priorities. Review key policy and strategy documents, ministerial statements and media messaging for context, and collaborate with your donor counterparts.

2. Map your intersections: Identify where your program contributes to donor objectives — for example, by supporting trade and economic goals or regional climate cooperation. Incorporate those intersections into your messaging.

3. Share insights and evidence: Strategic communications rely on authentic examples. Package stories, quotes and visuals that help illustrate the donor’s role and contribution through credible, evidence-based results.

4. Balance authenticity with alignment: Support the broader narrative, but do not lose your program’s voice. Authenticity builds credibility, and credibility is the foundation of influence.

5. Time it well: Offer content that aligns with diplomatic moments such as ministerial visits, strategy launches or partnership announcements. Coordinated timing amplifies impact and visibility.

These steps help programs move from being content suppliers to becoming strategic partners in their donor’s communications ecosystem.

The takeaway

Supporting donor governments’ strategic communications does not mean turning program messaging into foreign-policy statements. It means recognising the overlap and working thoughtfully within it.

Success looks like this:

• The program gains credibility and partner trust.

• The donor gains authentic examples that demonstrate shared values and effectiveness.

• Program partners see themselves represented, not sidelined.

Good program public diplomacy and strategic communications are the inputs that contribute to a donor’s credible strategic communications efforts.