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When the inner core values are sound, a positive African narrative will emerge by itself

When the inner core values are sound, a positive African narrative will emerge by itself

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa is widely viewed as the continent’s most reputable and ethical person, according to a top-level survey done on behalf of the African Public Relations Association. The results of the survey were launched this week Wednesday in Gaborone.

In other categories, the NGO, Gift of the Givers, and Botswana as a sovereign, were both rated highest for reputation and ethics. The survey was conducted by public opinion researchers, Reputation Matters.

The President of the public relations association, Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, said “Many lessons have been learnt from the research and great opportunities present themselves to take ethics and reputation of African countries to the next level.”

An overview of the survey was presented at the public relations association’s 30th annual conference in Gaborone, by Regine le Roux, the Managing Director of Reputation Matters.

The survey provided valuable insights from the almost 120 respondents, identified as chief and senior executives in the communication, PR and marketing industry. These insights will be used to support the partnership between public relations association and the African Union (AU) to help build a prosperous and authentic image for Africa. Respondents are from South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Namibia and Angola.

The AU theme for 2018 is “Combatting corruption – a sustainable path to Africa’s transformation”. This resonates well with the data on country level where respondents indicated that the meaning of ethics mainly refers to anti-corruption in government. Respondents felt that behaviour and core values such as honesty, transparency and credibility are the most important elements of a reputation. On an organisational level, respondents felt that their brand’s reputation is actively managed, communicated and prioritised by their leaders.

“The first steps to re-PResenting a positive African narrative is to go back to the basics and get the internal narrative right. We need to make sure that core values are in place and reflected in daily behaviour. This will then be authentic to our communication initiatives,” said le Roux.

“As public relations and communication professionals, we should strive for a code of ethics which resonates with the real and positive story we tell about Africa to the world,” she said.


Caption
Managing Director of Reputation Matters, Regine le Roux, earlier this week provided an overview of a reputation survey done across Africa, to the 30th Annual Conference of the African Public Relations Association, held in Gaborone.


 

 

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SADC Correspondent

SADC correspondents are independent contributors whose work covers regional issues of southern Africa outside the immediate Namibian ambit. Ed.