The current communication transformation shift

In the set text for this PR internship unit, “Career FAQS: Public Relations” written by Melanie James, it states that-

 “Communication channels are changing and targeting audiences is becoming more complex”.

Upon reading this, I felt a rush of relief. Thank goodness it’s not just me finding it hard to change the ways of an organisation which has been running for many years prior to my involvement.

I attended my first executive meeting the other day, and it was interesting to see everybody from the UNAAWA executive team (about 16 people in total but only around 10 were there) come together to discuss and report their concerns and monthly news updates. As it was pointed out to me before hand, the team is made up of quite an eclectic group of people who come from all walks of life and who are volunteering at this organisation for their own individual purposes.

For example, there is a politician, a geologist, an IT whiz, a South American, a law graduate…

It seems my intern experience with the UNAAWA has opened my eyes to the current transformation shift the area of communications is in, and though this has come up previously in my studies, I was never truly aware of the consequences.

Conversations with various executive members have also provided me with some background to the issues. For instance, because there are a number of different separate organisations which come under the UNAAWA, such as the UN women, UN youth, and UN young professionals’ network, it makes it harder for the UNAAWA as a parent body, to identify who they are communicating to. They have also lost a lot of their school sponsorships due to the establishment of the UN youth, and have noticed that their membership portfolio is ageing- there are far more senior members then there are young.

All of this has great impact on how the organisation should communicate and in what ways. Hopefully my communication audit will shed some light on what can be done to change this, and make clear to all members that something needs to be done in order for the organisation to prosper.