By Bolaji Okusaga

Public Relations in Policy Evaluation and Implementation

Content

• Concepts and Contexts

1. Public Policy and Public Relations

• The Role of Public Relations

2. Moving a Policy Agenda to Legislation

• Where is the Convergence?

3. Conclusions

1. Public Policy and Public Relations

CONCEPTS AND CONTEXTS

Politics and Public Policy

PUBLIC POLICY DEFINED• A course of action adopted and pursued

by a government ruler, political party, etc. (Webster’s Dictionary)

• Public Policy is an attempt at solving a problem as well as attain objectives

POLICY AND POLITICS• Public policy, as a discipline, is rooted in

the study of politics• Politics is as ancient as Man….

EXPANSIVE SCOPE

The scope of public relation is wide and it include political and policy fields.

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Public Relations provides relevant

information on planning and

developments.

Forging a Link Between Public Relations and Public Policy

Why Discuss Public Relations within the Context of Public Policy?

PUBLIC POLICY• Issues• Solutions

CATERING TO PUBLIC INTEREST• Stakeholders• Management of

Expectations

Competition for Scare Resources

Conflicts of Interest

Contexts of Public Policy

CULTURAL CONTEXTNorms Customs History

GOVERNING CONTEXTRules and institutions

POLITICAL CONTEXTPartisan dynamics Political system

ECONOMIC CONTEXTBudget Taxes Inflation Unemployment

SOCIAL CONTEXTDemographics Socialization and Social Setting

Policy Cycle and Public Relations

PROCESS ENGAGEMENTIdentify objectives What problem are we trying to solve?Identify alternative courses of action for achieving objectives

In which ways can the problem be solved?

Predict the possible consequences of each alternative What are the likely negative impacts of each solution?Evaluate the possible consequences of each alternative

What are the likely options of picking one solution over the other

Select the alternative that maximizes the attainment of objectives.

How do we pick the best solution while mitigating any negative consequence

The objective of every Public Relations activity is to influence public opinion.

Public Policy aims to solve a public problem

The ultimate goal is to get people to take positive action for a cause.

Approaches to Governance

There are four approaches to governance:

The market efficiency approach

The performance

efficiency approach

The stakeholder

relations approach

The people’s influence approach

Themes of Public Policy

Scarcity:• Trade-offs

Diversity:• Ideas and

OpinionsChange

Costs and Benefits

Unintended Consequences Crisis

Identifying the Impacted Public

Problem Identification• Affects• Objectives / Goals• Information Gathering

Stakeholder Analysis• Allies• Assets / Constraints• Opponents

Stakeholder Management Process• Strategy• Managing Expectations• Action Plan

Rationality and the Policy Process

VALUES AND WORLD VIEW

• In the policy making process, rational analysis is usually in context: within the interplay of evidence, value and belief systems of the participants, the structure of the process, and the distribution of power.

GAME OF INTERESTS

• Most policy analysis are not value neutral.• There are always interests at play.

MANAGEMENT OF EXPECTATIONS

• This calls for engagement with stakeholders• That is Public Relations at play

Evolution of Lobbying

LEGEND ONE:

• The term is believed to have originated in British Parliament, and referred to the lobbies outside the chambers where wheeling and dealing took place. Oxford English Dictionary, believes the term was used as early as 1640 in England to describe the lobbies that were open to constituents to interact with their representatives.

LEGEND TWO

• The word Lobbying was coined at Willard Hotel

• President Ulysses S. Grant was in office (1869-1877). Apparently President Grant would frequent the Willard Hotel to enjoy brandy and a cigar, and while he was there, he’d be hounded by petitioners asking for legislative favors or jobs. It is said that President Grant coined the term by referring to the petitioners as “those damn lobbyists.”

Definition of Lobbying and Lobbyist

LOBBYING:

To promote or secure the passage of (legislation) by influencing public

officials

To attempt to influence (a public official) toward a desired action (Merriam-

Webster)

LOBBYIST: Any individual who is either employed or retained by a client for financial or other compensation whose services

include more than one lobbying contract; and whose lobbying activities

constitute 20% or more of his or her services’ time on behalf of that client during any three-month period (LDA)

Public Affairs/Government Relations

Public Affairs is “the management function responsible for monitoring and managing a corporation’s external environment.”

It always includes government relations, and sometimes community relations and communications.

Lobbying and advocacy are government relations sub-functions. Source: Public Affairs Council

“Lobbying is Democracy in Action”

Lobbying is modern marketing: trying to transform a group’s narrow interest into something perceived, rightly or wrongly, as serving the broad public interest.”

Robert SamuelsonNewsweek ColumnistDecember 22, 2008

The Organisatio

n

Opinion

Leaders

Partners

Trade and

Industry

Government

Professional Groups

Local Communit

y

Competition

The Lobbying Environment

Case-Study 1

Management of Expectations on the Petroleum Industry Bill

Changing the Way Business is Done in the Oil Industry

The Nigerian economy is mainly

driven by activities in the Oil

and Gas sector

Over the years, there has been clamour for a

revision of legislation guiding

the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry

A series of activities have

been carried out since 2000 and

this has culminated in the

Petroleum Industry Bill,

which has been revised several times without

passage

Enter the Petroleum Industry Bill

Issues and Possible Outcomes

Critical Areas of Conflict

The Demand for Stakes by

Local Communities

Unbundling of the NNPC Tax Issues

Possible divestment

of IOCs

Case-Study 2

Addressing the issue of Policy reversals in the Agriculture Industry – The EEG Debate…

The Issues

The Suspension of the Export Expansion Grant

EEG is a post-shipped export incentive scheme designed to encourage

non-oil exporters – especially in the Agric

Sector

The federal government has suspended the EEG

scheme on suspicion that there could be some

irregularity or abuse by few exporters

Possible Consequences

Effects of the Suspension of the Policy

Delay and uncertainty in proper implementation of existing EEG policy is putting the investments in the non-oil export sector into peril

Employment of thousands of workers in the non – oil sector is at risk

Strong negative signal for any potential investors

The business environment in Nigeria is being impacted negatively by government not matching words with action

2. Moving a Policy Agenda to Legislation

THE ROLE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

Managing Stakeholder Expectations Around a Public Policy

•What should the promoters of Public Policy do to get the policy agenda on the table and get a Bill passed enforcing the policy?

Agenda Setting

THE CONTEXT

Agenda-setting refers to the power of the media in defining the focus of its target as to what is important in the public domainAgenda-setting is the creation of public awareness and concern on an issue by the news media.

THE FOCUS

The theory of agenda-setting is based on two assumptions:• The press and the media do not

reflect reality; they filter and shape it• Media concentration on a few issues

and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues.

THE REASON

To influence a thought processTo shape opinionTo gain empathyTo compel action

The Conceptual Model for Agenda Setting

Personal Experience and Interpersonal Communication

Media Agenda Public Agenda Policy Agenda

Real World Indicators of the Importance of an Agenda, Issue or Event

Intensifying the Agenda

Interactive Session

Invite Concerned Parties to an interactive session

Intimate them with the details of policy intentions enable them

become advocates

Rationale

Give a face to policy

Keep stakeholders as friends

Enable them make inputs to the bill

Get their buy in

Taking a Position

Interview by Promoters of the Policy• To give credence to the initiatives as well as

profile the provisions of the Policy

Rationale:• This is to project issues raised by the policy in

the public domain• It will be an avenue of creating buzz around the

policy and thereby arouse the interest of the market.

Reaching Out

Courtesy VisitsReaching Out to Critical

Stakeholders within the Policy Community

The Senate

The House of Representative

Key Opinion Leaders

Rationale• The visits will give the policy

promoters an opportunity to explain the rationale for the policy and seek buy-in• The import of these visits is

to generate PR capital, extract endorsement and also confer credibility on the policy

Case-Study 3

Influencing Public Policy Decisions: The National Tobacco Control Bill Issue

Introduction

THE PROTAGONIST

• Tobacco Companies seek to carry-on business without punitive laws

THE ANTAGONIST

• Anti-Tobacco Groups and pro-health lobby groups primary role is to protect ‘public’ safety, health and welfare and they usually have the backing of global donor Agencies such as Bloomberg and the Bill and Melinda Foundation who fund their operations and are supported on the policy side by the World Health Organisation

THE CLASH OF INTERESTS

• Given the fact that both parties usually clash on policy-making platforms, for sometime now, the issue of Tobacco Control has been a irrational, messy and emotional subject

The Setting

PRO-BUSINESS

Tobacco Companies are seeking to prevent the

de-normalisation of their operating

environment by Anti-Tobacco Groups

PRO-HEALTH

The Bill was largely championed by Anti

Tobacco Groups working with Pro-Health

Legislators

The Dynamics

Anti-Tobacco Group Pressure

Pressure by Anti-Tobacco Group in the Media and at Tobacco

Control Bill Public Hearing Sessions advancing the need for Nigeria to adopt the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Political Lobby

Lobby by Tobacco Companies essentially centred on the need

for balanced regulation that looks at all sides to the argument and

considers the economic implications of stifling business

Political Rationality

Policy Paradox, Deborah Stone (2002)

Politics – sphere of emotion, passion, self-interest and raw power

Policy-making – an activity that includes rational analysis, objectivity,

allegiance to truth, and pursuit of the well-being of

the society as a whole

Value based Best solutions are often balanced trade-offs

STRATEGY TYPE INDIVIDUAL STRATEGIES1. Relationships Coalitions, enlisting support of others, cooperation, information

communication, consultation, use of media, and going public

2. Rational Analysis Health hazards, rational persuasion (informed reasoning), use of evidence/data, cost-risk assessment, risk analysis, probability/statistics, etc.

3. Language Create interest in issue, create need, storytelling

4. Power Rules/laws, ambiguity, trade-offs, ingratiation (compliments)

5. Emotion Exploiting focusing events, images to affect feelings about issue, create schema (schematic) of desired conditions, inspirational appeal, and emotional appeal

6. Values Equity, citizen rights, health and liberty

Influencing Strategies Discovered

Significance/Implications

Model of

SocietyModel of Reasonin

g

Policy Decisio

n

Model of Policy Making

Model of Business Reasonin

g

Model of Cause

Reasoning

Public Relations

3. Conclusion

WHERE IS THE CONVERGENCE?

The Meat of the Matter…

Public policy in Action

Principally, public policy is about decision-

making

And the process through which these decisions

get made, implemented and evaluated.

Some Policy Actors…

• Policy Promoters – Executive Arm or Private Citizens• The Parliament• Interest groups• Courts• Consultants• Opinion Leaders• Bureaucracies

• Policy Networks and Think tanks• Bureaucracies• Public administrators• Local Communities• Business• Media

The Role of Public Relations in Public Policy Evolution and Implementation

Public Relations plays in Public Policy Process:

Reducing Uncertainty

Managing expectations

Demonstrating concerns

Building networks

Building trust and commitment

Encouraging involvement through feedback and two-way communication

Prompting task oriented behaviour - ‘walking the talk’

40

Lessons Learnt: How to Better Manage Public Policy Interventions Using PR Strategies

Assess the Policy Environment

Audit the Prevailing Issues

Establish Communications

Protocol.

Identify the most crucial Stakeholders.

Anticipate issues likely to arise from

Policy Position .

Gauge the strength of the alternate

position and Conflicting interest

Develop cogent proactive, reactive and counteractive

positions

Obtain feed-back

Be ready to negotiate

Be open to compromises

Fine-tune strategy based on feed-back

and compromise position adopted

Act to resolve the contending issues

Thank you.