Baird's CMC | A Unique Global Communications Management Consultancy

Media Trends Report 2021

Tel: +44 (0) 1495 828300
Email: team@bairdscmc.com
  • E-mail
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
Menu
  • Home
    • Sexual and Reproductive Health
    • Stakeholder Mapping & Strategy
    • Training & Skills
    • Qualitative & Policy
    • Communications and Management Consultancy
    • Close
  • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Our specialist areas
    • Case studies
      • EDCTP sub-Saharan Africa policy research
      • Emerging Democracies and Green Issues
      • Gauging Attitudes Toward an HIV Vaccine
      • Increasing Immunization Coverage in Central India
      • Close
    • Close
  • Network
    • Network map
    • Associates
      • Michael Acott
      • Ashoek Adhikari
      • Francois Baird
      • Gerhard Butschi
      • Steve Bowers
      • Mark Chataway
      • Lenore Cooney
      • Paul Dillon
      • Marta Dourado
      • Martina Dörmann
      • Dirk Van Eeden
      • Alexandra Fullem
      • Frederick Fussi
      • Ingrid Gavshon MBA
      • Denise Gee
      • Denise Gray-Felder
      • Bert Griesel
      • Aman Gupta
      • Darren Jones
      • Danie Kok
      • Andrzej Kropiwnicki
      • Angelle Kwemo
      • Nikolay Kudryashov
      • Mari Lee
      • Simba Makoni
      • Steve Mallach
      • Terry Mandel
      • Matshidiso Masire
      • Valeria McFarren
      • Hugh McKinney
      • Chris Opperman
      • Ken Rabin
      • Mark Rittenberg
      • Simon Russell
      • Jacob Sesinyi
      • Melinda Shaw
      • Cormac Smith
      • James Snodgrass
      • Hema Viswanathan
      • Mina Volovitch
      • Gillian Waddell
      • Joseph Makwata Wambia
      • Chris Ward
      • Gysbert J Wessels
      • Marion Zibelli
      • Close
    • Senior consultants
      • Simon Hardie
      • Close
    • Close
  • Services
    • New Services
      • Media Training
      • Presentation Skills
      • Staff Engagement
      • Reputation Management
      • Close
    • Services
      • Communications counsel
      • New media strategy
      • Advocacy and coalition building
      • Crisis management
      • Market research
      • Strategic planning
      • Staff training and development
      • Risk management and mitigation
      • Close
    • Close
  • Sectors
    • Vaccine Hesitancy
    • Pharma in top 15 markets
    • Pharma in emerging markets
    • Pharma in underdeveloped markets
    • Pharma headquarters planning teams on market assessment
    • Global Development: Health Issues
    • Global Development: Environmental Issues
    • Health equity and access to care
    • Reproductive health and population
    • Vaccines
    • International Donors
    • Government Relations
    • Political Consulting
    • Telecom Sector
    • Financial Services
    • Close
  • News
  • ShopTalk
  • Get in Touch

Know the rules

By James Snodgrass

imagesThe other day, I was reading a poem by Seamus Heaney about a line of aid workers passing along sacks of grain when I was reminded about an incident from my own childhood. I was born in South Africa, and spent my later years in Rwanda, Burundi, Congo-Brazza and Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as East Africa and Zimbabwe.

This particular memory is from the western shore of Lake Kivu in the eastern highlands of Zaire. When we dropped down in the Cessna onto the airstrip, we saw a line of workers passing bunches of bananas and crates of citrus fruit, papayas and mangoes.

“Where are these going?” we asked.

“It is an aid project where we are supplying Kinshasa [the other side of the country] with our fruit,” came the answer.

We came back to get on the Cessna four days later. The fruit was still by the runway, beginning to rot.

It turned out that the then President Mobutu’s uncle Litho controlled the import of fresh fruit – particularly citrus fruit, which could not be grown in the Congo basin – from South Africa to Kinshasa, so the promised (apparently donor-funded) DC-3 never arrived.

In Africa, effective aid also requires knowing the local rules.  Choose your battle carefully.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: News, ShopTalk Tagged With: Africa, Baird's CMC, communications consultancy, communications management, James Snodgrass, South Africa

Contact Us

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Subject

    Your Message

    Please enter the letters below and press Send
    captcha

    Latest Blog Posts

    An astonishing decline in child immunisation numbers in Africa amid the rage of COVID-19, yet another victim of the pandemic

    Global Elite are Bored with Health, Just When It’s Getting Really Exciting

    Using Fewer Antibiotics Isn’t Always the Best Way to Curb Resistance

    Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. Sitemap