'A culture of communication.' (report from the Task Force on the Reorientation of United Nations Public Information Activities)

In his letter dated 17 March 1997 addressed to the President of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General had identified as a principal challenge the need for a strengthened communications and information operation, which would help increase global support for the United Nations. In pursuit of that goal, the Secretary-General convened the Task Force on the Reorientation of United Nations Public Information Activities, composed of communications experts from both within and outside the United Nations system.

The report of the Task Force, entitled "Global Vision, Local Voice: A strategic communications programme for the United Nations Nations" has been issued. The Secretary-General has occurred with the report's principal recommendations, which include:

* Placing the communications function at the heart of the strategic management of the Organization and consolidating all communications activities under a strong senior official, who would be part of his immediate team, in order to turn the United Nations into an effective modern communications-oriented organization.

* Strengthening the Organization's capacity to communicate at the\country level, so that the United Nations global messages, activities and information both reflect and are tailored to meaningful local contexts. ms will entail establishing imaginative local partnerships, in close cooperation with Governments.

* Completing the process of integrating United Nations information centers into the offices of United Nations Resident Coordinators, but with a much stronger system of feedback and accountability. To ensure effective delivery of communications and information programmes, the Resident Coordinators should work closely with and report to the senior official in charge of United Nations communications activities.

* Creating a culture of communications throughout the Organization, with responsibility for public diplomacy being borne by all senior officials, ambassadors and the larger United Nations family.

* Recognizing the role of the General Assembly in providing strategic guidance and direction for the communications and information function, while giving the Secretariat much greater responsibility for determining the methods with which mandated goals will be met.

In line with his occurrence with the conceptual approach and thrust of the Task Force's recommendations, the Secretary-General has proposed that the post for the communications and information function be at the Under-Secretary-General level, reflecting the importance of the role of communications, not as a support function but as an integral part of the substantive programme of the United Nations. The new entity will be called the Office for Communications and Public Information. This dual change, and the leadership role which the Secretary-General envisages for communications and information, is intended to ensure that a communications dimension is effectively integrated into the work of all the Organization's departments.

A comprehensive review of this field network will incorporate the complex, ongoing process of integrating information centers in developing countries. Integration entails a unified approach in the field, with one premises and one flag, also envisaging enhanced partnerships with members of the United Nations system and UN-oriented groups such as United Nations associations, depending on their capacity.

In its report, the Task Force observed that "the United Nations is principally a forum for the exchange of ideas. We argue that in some senses the United Nations can be thought of as a global communications agency. A culture of communications must therefore pervade the entire Organization, with responsibility for public diplomacy borne by all senior officials, ambassadors and the larger UN family. The issues to which Member States are committed must be framed by communicators in terms that have relevance to their audiences; an emphasis on abstract principles has contributed to the UN's weakened impact on public perceptions. Campaigns should draw in the global United Nations system as, in many cases, rather than the Secretariat, which can catch public attention more effectively.

"The institutional image of the United Nations must delineate the two separate functions that give it its stature; as the unique global forum for debate, contention and ultimate consensus among Member States; and as spokesman, advocate and implementer of that consensus, through the Secretary-General, the Secretariat and the entire United Nations system."

Members of the Task Force were: Mark Malloch Brown (Chairman), Vice President, External Affairs/United Nations Affairs, World Bank; Peter Arnett, Foreign Correspondent, CNN; Joan Ganz Cooney, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Children's Television Workshop; Raghida Dergham, Senior Diplomatic Correspondent, Al-Hayat, and President, UN Correspondents Association; Djibril Diallo, Director of Public Affairs, UN Development Programme, Lelei Lelaulu (Secretary), Officer of the Executive Coordinator for United Nations Reform, and Editor, Secretariat News; Salim Lone (Rapporteur), Chief of Publications, United Nations Department of Public Information; Hironobu Shibuya, President of Pacific Basin Partners, Inc., and Juan Somavia, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations. Ms. Kathleen Newland, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace was subsequently engaged by the Task Force as Advisor.