Times of Zambia | Importance of community relations to an organisation

Published On February 14, 2015 » 2451 Views» By Davies M.M Chanda » Features

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THE way an organisation relates with local communities can positively or negatively affect smooth operations, profitability and sustainability of that organisation.
And organisations interact with members of local communities in so many ways that one cannot know which interaction betrayed or betrays that organisation in a community.
While such a topic is interesting to read, let’s first get feedback from some of our esteemed readers.
A Ndola resident, Alinjita Siwingwa, 28, said he is a keen reader of Sunday Times of Zambia’s ‘Public Relations Forum’. Mr Siwingwa said ‘Embracing key players, building their capacities’ which appeared in last Sunday Times of Zambia was informative, educative and inspiring to most individuals and organisations.
The Ndola resident, who is also a Public Relations Officer in a certain firm said it is from such a background that every Sunday, he ensures that he buys Sunday Times of Zambia to read such articles which he finds inspiring to all employees regardless of one’s position in an organisation’s hierarchy.
Mr Siwingwa advised many other workers and top management officials to develop keen interest in reading such articles to effectively contribute to their organisation’s profitability and sustainable growth.
And former Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) radio and television newscaster, Doris Mulenga said she enjoys reading PR articles every Sunday in Sunday Times of Zambia. The former broadcaster said she finds the stated articles educative and interesting.
A Copperbelt’s Lufwanyama district resident, Bruce Kalumbi said he is a keen reader of Sunday Times of Zambia Public Relations’ Forum articles. Mr Kalumbi who is also a teacher at Mubenga School said he uses most of the PR articles to relate with others both personally and officially.
Coming back to our topic on importance of community relations to an organisation, community relations is one of the most complex and difficult area of Public Relations as local communities’ needs and expectations from an organisation can be dynamic; and that the same community members interact with an organisation in many ways.
According to Frank Jefkins and Daniel Yadin (1992), Public Relations’, a normal organisation has at least eight (8) public relations’ publics or stakeholders.
Such stakeholders include employees, customers, investors, suppliers, local community, government, legislators, etc.
Therefore, most workers of an organisation are expected to come from the local community. If an organisation employs workers from far afield areas; and not from the local community within which it operates, such a community and its members will feel that such an organisation doesn’t serve the interests of that community in addressing high unemployment and high poverty levels in that community.
Situations where some organisations don’t employ their workers from local communities; are not paying their workers economic wages and salaries; are not involved in corporate social responsibility related works, or offer poor quality products to the public and or are negatively affecting the ecological system through destruction and or pollution of the environment of that community constitute poor community relations.
From this background, community relations is basically how an organisation relates with the community in which it operates.
Not carrying out some social responsibility programmes such as addressing some of the concerns in the community might be perceived being irresponsible to that community.
For instance, poor community relations forced a certain chief in a far afield chiefdom to tell a certain parastatal organisation’s branch manager to remove his organisation from that chiefdom; and take it where they accept such attitude against a community.
Speaking in his native language, that chief told the branch manager of the known parastatal firm in that chiefdom that he (the branch manager) should uproot the buildings of his organisation in the chiefdom; and go and transplant such buildings wherever they accept such unacceptable attitude and behaviour.
Nothing wrong that this parastatal branch manager did; except that he went slightly against what the chief and his subjects expected from such a parastatal organisation.
In short, good community relations wants an organisation to take a position of a good corporate citizen or that of a good neighbor in that community. A good citizen or a good neighbor doesn’t hurt his or her neighbours in any way.
Therefore, effective community relations promotes love, honesty, fairness, sharing and caring between an organisation and members of that community.
But what is also interesting in discussing community relations these days is how some government departments and some civil society organisations (CSOs) don’t involve local communities in project identification and planning.
Such an approach to development process can be perceived as poor community relations!
A good case study in community relations is projects relating to climate change adaptation (CCA). Most recent research findings reveal that most government departments and most CSOs implementing CCA related projects in local communities rarely involve community members in project identification and planning. Community members are just told that such a project is coming for such benefits for you.
As a result, the only time communities are involved is when such projects are at implementation stage.
During a Caritas Zambia in conjunction with Oxfam workshop on ‘Enhancing accountability in Climate Change Adaptation Finances’ conducted recently, it was revealed that little do most local communities in almost, if not all districts of Zambia know about climate change adaptation related projects. Although many such projects are being implemented throughout the country, even the phrase ‘Climate Change Adaptation’ is not known in local communities vocabulary; not because it is a technical phrase; but because no one tells them that some projects being implemented relate to such a thing.
To make matters worse in understanding CCA related issues, CCA related budgets and projects are reported to be mainstreamed into other programmes such as agriculture, environment, forestry, etc. It was also revealed that in CCA related projects, nothing is labelled CCA project. As a result, most communities might feel that nothing is happening to alleviate climate change negative effects.
But Ministry of Finance (MoF) Interim Climate Change Secretariat (ICCS) environmental and social inclusion manager, Carol Mwape Zulu said her organisation involves local communities from project identification up to implementation in CCA related projects. She said community propose their priority needs; and technocrats at district level conduct field appraisal of such proposed projects; and facilitate implementation of such a project if they meet the required criteria for funding.
While MoF ICCS, Caritas Zambia, Oxfam and few other organisations are effective in community relations, hardly do most other organisations realize the need for effective community relations in whatever they do directly or indirectly with the communities.
It appears some organisations don’t even know that local communities are part of their stakeholders; and that communities can positively or negatively affect an organisation’s performance.
It was from such a background that CSOs involved in CCA resolved to enhance community participation in all CCA related projects not only to make CCA programmes benefit more communities but also for the same communities to be involved in enhancing accountability and transparency in CCA related finances and other resources.
Some faith-based organisations (FBOs) such as the Catholic Church through Caritas Zambia and its other departments, the Anglican Church, the Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ), United Church in Zambia (UCZ), Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church and many others are highly involved in various social work programmes in local communities as part of their effective community relations.
Similarly, if all commercial and non-commercial organisations including political parties have many activities in local communities, such organisations can have high members and support from communities. Satisfied communities can help an organisation in advocacy and lobbying in favour of an organisation concerned.
Effective community relations is also helpful during a time of a crisis. When an organisation is in a crisis with some other stakeholders, most community members; including influential ones might help to mitigate the extent and impact of such a crisis through speaking good of the organisation concerned. This is possible only when an organisation has effective community relations.
Analyzing the importance of community relations, one can also think of how most political parties go into hiding after elections; and are never involved in different developmental activities in local communities where they seek votes from.
Instead, some party cadres harass some local community members; and are involved in political violence. Considering how political violence negatively affect political party relations with local communities, most political party leaders; including the republican president, His Excellence, President Edgar Chagwa Lungu have condemned political violence of any sort; and have urged the police to arrest political cadres promoting political violence.
President Lungu knows that political violence and cadres harassing citizens negatively affect political party relations with the electorate.
While effective community relations might not show immediate benefits, in the long-run, it pays dividends. Invest in it.
Therefore, each organisation should formulate strategies for effective community relations; starting with starting with good relations with workers from the same community, traditional and civic leaders.
And if workers and the local community support your organisation, the rest of the PR publics just fall in place to the benefit of your organisation.