Time To Say Goodbye: PR 393 Internship

They say we meet to part and part to meet. Until when you have bonded so much with an environment and suddenly have to leave, you don't know the true meaning behind that say.

Hi fellow interns!

After a short lived month, I finally had to come to the end of my enjoyed and educative journey. Time to say good bye to my fellow work mates at Office of The President arrived before I knew it.

It has been a very good experience putting theories I learnt in class in practice. I salute Curtin University for giving us this opportunity to prepare us for the harsh and tough world out there before we can actually face it all. Job hunting wont be easy but at least we all know what to expect.

Back to business though, the last of my days where more focused on planning upcoming events, in which one was going to be held on March 1st. I was asigned to help draft a media plan for that day which I did and later on my bosses went through it and told me it was indeed impressive and that they will make a few corrections before sending it in.

In that whole month, I realized PR was not only based on theory but it was in the  heart of an individual practitioner. If it feels right, then it definitely is right but if you feel its wrong then it is wrong on the next person as well. So it is basically the values and morals of an individual practitioner guiding them to do right by their stakeholders.

One more thing I came to uncover true is that the public are the ones who build an organization or company and they have the power to break it into pieces, that is to say, one good word that spreads around about a certain organization paints it 'good' but if one bad word spreads, the organization is doomed. That cleared, I realize it is good to communicate, keep the public in the loop and not darkness because once they start assuming, nothing goes right.

Am glad I had the chance to do this placement because then I saw Public Relations in different eyes and it was a great experience.

I should really say, I enjoyed my time with everyone and I do hope we meet again soon. 

It was indeed nice to share what I went through, done and learnt with you guys and I hope you have rather enjoyed my posts.

Neo here, thank you all.

I SAY ITS ETHICAL, WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Hie everyone!

It has been a little too long since my last post but worry not, am here now to share once again with you my experiences as an intern.

As I have said in my first post, Office of the President (OP), where I was doing my internship is dedicated to serving the nation hence the nation of Botswana its first priority. That having being said, the PR department in OP also follow suit, it's main key publics are the communities of Botswana. Their objectives include making the people of Botswana a happy nation, listening to their cries and helping wipe the tears off.

During my days at OP as I watched the way we treated the nation and how much the office was dedicated to giving out to them, I started wondering off back to school but specifically on the ETHICS topic. Ethics as I understood are a set of principles that govern the behavior of a person or a group of people. The question that popped in my head was, is what OP is doing ethical or not? Are they buying the people off or just doing what is good for their publics?

But as days went by, I started to realize that we were only doing our job, it is the dedication of the office and that is how we archive our goals. I say 'we' because for some time there I was part of the team and I still like to think of myself as one. All that the PR department does in OP, for the nation and for the President himself, is support their mission and vision. If they were undergoing any crisis, I would think they were trying to buy someone off but they do all those community service events any other time, they listen to what the public is in need of and help where they can. That is not morally wrong, in fact, it is morally right to stand by what you do for the good of long term outcomes.

We all know that somehow in the lines of being ethical, the organization is building a good name for itself and even though some people may consider that using key publics, I don't think there is any better way of doing that and there is no day a random person will not go out of their way to think negatively. I once asked my boss why they pamper the nation of Botswana so much and he told me that the PR department in OP is not like PR in other organizations or PR consultants because unlike those, what they leave the office having in mind might be changed when they get back in the office the next morning depending on communities all over Botswana, they serve them and they do right by them.

In a nut shell, i do not think OP is unethical to stand by what they do best. But your opinion matters so WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Untill next time, Neo signing out.

Responsibilities that comes with PR: Community Service Day

Whoever said it was easy must have been on the wrong side of Public Relations but again, who said it wouldn't be quite an experience.

During the period I was an intern, I was reminded a lot of almost everything that is PR related that  I have learnt in class. In my placement journey, we dealt so much with corporate social responsibility (CSR). According to (European Commission, 2011) corporate social responsibility is the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society. And  to fully meet their social responsibility, enterprises should have in place a process to integrate social, environmental, ethical human rights and consumer concerns into their business operations and core strategy in close collaboration with their stakeholders.

In any organisation, key publics matter and should be made to feel so. Since the Government of Botswana is entitled to take care of the nation in support of their vision and mission, Office of the President has a responsibility to the nation and are doing their level best to show they care. This organisation serves the nation hence socially responsible. 

It is not just a matter of good deeds for the nation, but OP also gets feedback through interviews which are normally carried out in a variety of events as a way of finding out how the people of Botswana feel about certain things hence a two-way communication. 

During my fantastic experience, as a PR intern in OP, I have learnt that in every two months there is a community service day event, held in random parts of Botswana as a way to extend a helping hand to different communities. It is with great pleasure to mention that i was fortunate enough to have been involved in the planning of the February 1st 2013 event. The target audience for this event was the President, members of the parliament and communities at large. 

For two weeks I joined two PRO's as we went to different villages in the outskirt of Gaborone (The capital city of Botswana). During these trips we went to Village Kgotlas (traditional law court), Government owned schools, post offices, shelters, charity homes and local clinics. The point was to check if the buildings were in good condition or if workers had any complaints of their working conditions. 

I had the opportunity to see the sufferings and joy of my fellow country men.All this made me realise that being a government employee especially in the PR department could not be easy. Somehow we did not have enough time on our hands so we had to utilize the time we had, so trust me when I tell you time management is one important aspect of Public Relations. 

Since we did not have much time to come up with something big, and two weeks down the drain, we settled for the best option, a park (Tsholofelo park) in Gaborone. The park is where an African of Tswana origin who died in 1830, El Negro, was buried (El Negro's body was stolen and has been displayed for 170years in a museum in Spain before it was discovered and sent back to Botswana for a proper burial). 

Activities of the day were, tree planting, foundation laying, slashing of grass E.T.C. while ministers and the president took part in doing all those. 

Community farmers were encouraged to come and sell their fruits and vegetables as a way of helping themselves. At the end of the day, the job was well done and the event was a success. It was indeed an eye opening experience on the PR industry. I felt honored though to have interacted with ministers but mostly the President himself. 

Until next time, keep reading and enjoying my experiences with me. 

Below are pictures from the community service day: 

                  

                

            Minister of Education, Hon. Mrs. Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi Trimming a tree at Tsholofelo Park

Right: His Excellency the president of Botswana Lt. Genereal Seretse Khama Ian Khama with one of the elders at Tsholofelo Park

                

Some of the Community members slashing the grass at Tsholofelo Park during the community service day

                                      

                                              H.E with some ministers slashing grass at Tsholofelo park

  

         Ministers at work with the foundation mixture during the community service day

                                                                                                                                                             

Baby Steps: The Journey Begins

Greetings everyone.

I welcome you all fellow interns to the beginning of my long awaited journey as this is my first post. My name is Neo and i am very excited to say i did my internship at Ministry of State President in Botswana in Office of The President (OP).

I can tell you though that being an intern was quite scary at the beginning for me, i felt a little under pressure as i was working mostly with elders of the country. As a Public Relations intern, at times i did not know what to do or say and if it was right or wrong but nevertheless, i can assure u it turned out to be the greatest experience of my life.

First of all, finding a placement was not easy, i had to run up and down but that gave me an insight of how stressful job hunting can be. I was lucky in the end my CV impressed not only one but two organizations; the second largest newspaper in Botswana, Mmegi Monitor and Office of the President. I had to make a choice and it was rather not a difficult one because i figured i should go for something different and OP was just that.

Office of the President is not just any organization, it is not just government owned but i prefer to say it is the government of Botswana because that is were final decisions of the country are made before being passed out to the people. Public Relations is a department amongst many in this organization. When i started, everything was still slow since it was the beginning of the year and mostly time to make plans of the year. There was not heavy loads of work but there was always something. As u can figure, we were serving the nation so everyday was a day to look forward to.

PR is still growing in Botswana hence not much of it is found and often times it is misunderstood but as we all know there is a beginning to everything, i still think we shall live to see the day that PR will be taken for what it really is.

It was amazing how much i was made to feel comfortable and welcome in OP. It made me feel like an employee who was there to stay and with that support, i did my job just fine. For sometime there i was a PR officer (PRO) and it felt great.

To find out more about the Botswana Office of the President, you can visit:

http://www.gov.bw/en/Ministries--Authorities/Ministries/State-President/Office-of-the-President/

Until next time, please feel free to read through and leave a comment.