The key to success in peacebuilding, as it is in many endeavors, is communication. During the last three days, it was fascinating to learn about the peacebuilding field's communication triumphs and challenges during the Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP) annual conference in Washington, D.C.
AfP conference attendees all had some connection to
peacebuilding, yet were diverse in their missions. Attendees included Search
for Common Ground, IREX, Seeds of Peace, Friends Committee, State Department,
Safer World, the UN, Peace is Loud, and the Center for Global Peace Journalism
at Park University, which I direct. Participants came from the U.S., Ireland,
Somalia, China, Jordan, Canada, UK, among others.
At AfP conference, Washington, D.C |
Over and over at the AfP conference, participants talked
about the need for improved, clearer branding for peacebuilding efforts—the kind
of branding and self-promotion that, ironically, has been elevated to an art by
the war industry. To demonstrate this, we saw a slick, effective promotional
video produced by defense contractor Northrup Grumman.
The need for more effective engagement of media was also
repeatedly articulated. This is difficult, panelists said, because of the very
nature of peacebuilding—it’s slow, under the radar, and hard to quantify. One
panelist astutely pointed out that there’s no drama in what doesn’t happen,
thus making peacebuilding a hard sell to the media.
However, Spectrum Media, the International Storytelling Center,
and others like the Center for Global Peace Journalism demonstrate that there
are compelling peacebuilding stories to be told, like an excellent video we saw
(“Naija Girls”) about Christian-Muslim cooperation in Nigeria. The key for
peacebuilders and NGO’s in general is to tell their own stories in a targeted,
strategic way, but also to engage local media where they work in a way that
encourages journalists to help them tell their stories and, in the process, to
help create an atmosphere that is more conducive to peace. This kind of reporting is fundamentally peace
journalism, which gives a proportionate voice to peacemakers and to the
voiceless.
As we sat in the AfP sessions and chatted over coffee, it
became apparent that peace journalism offers many tools to peacebuilders
seeking to enhance how they communicate with their publics. The Center for
Global Peace Journalism looks forward to collaborating with peacebuilding
organizations as they work to improve their branding, storytelling, and media
relations.
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