Polish aid

In 2019 the evaluation study encompassed information and promotional activities implemented under the 2016-2020 Multiannual Development Cooperation Programme (MDCP). Information, education, and promotion increase public awareness of Poland’s development assistance programme, its goals and priorities. They help to maintain a high social support for implemented initiatives, as well as increasing awareness and understanding of problems and interdependency in the modern world.

The assessment of communication activities related to Polish development initiatives was conducted on the basis of a wide scope of quality and quantity studies as well as expert analyses. The conclusions of the evaluation will be used to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of information and promotional activities undertaken after 2020.

Study results

The institutional system for implementing communication activities related to Polish development cooperation (PDC) is designed in a coherent and adequate manner. However, to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of information and promotion even more, it is necessary to introduce modifications that will further facilitate these activities.

According to the organizational structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the department responsible for carrying out information, promotional, and educational activities related to Polish development assistance is the Department of Development Cooperation (DDC), which comprises the Social Communication Unit (SCU). The SCU’s tasks include contacts with the media, issuing publications, organizing promotional events and photo exhibitions, running the website and social media profiles, as well as an overall management of projects in the area of global education. During the evaluation study, two main barriers that considerably affect the effectiveness and efficiency of the unit’s work were identified: engaging the unit’s team in tasks that go beyond those related to communication activities, and using social media in communication activities – though with the exception of Facebook, a platform that is vital for communication with most target groups of Polish Aid. Administering, running and animating a Facebook profile would require at least reorganizing the SCU’s tasks (focusing the activity of part of the team on social media).

Polish development cooperation is conducted on the basis of the Development Cooperation Act. However, the legislator did not define the recipients of information and promotional initiatives. Therefore, they could be divided into two categories: domestic recipients (public opinion and information intermediaries – non-governmental organisations, schools, universities, public administration, volunteers, the media, which at the same time are recipients of the information) and foreign recipients (directs recipients of project activities in countries where the projects are implemented, the countries’ societies, government and local administration units, the media).

The main information channel about PDC is the website www.polskapomoc.gov.pl. It includes the most important information and documents on development assistance. However, the information on project activities that are currently carried out is insufficient or is difficult to. An analysis of the website usability showed that its limited technical capacity poses an obstacle to successful communication with recipients.

The communication system is in line with documents of domestic as well as ‘a higher’ level (European and international) that set the framework for development cooperation. Relatively many partners are involved in information and promotional activities (public administration bodies, NGOs, etc.). The MFA remains the main sender of messages, but other entities often have their own communication policy related to PDC. Lack of coordination of various initiatives in this respect may lead to information noise.

The Polish Aid logo is simple to use. It has positive connotations among Polish people as well as foreigners; it is identified as ‘the Polish smile’. All organisations and institutions that carry out projects with PDC funds are obliged to use the logo. However, the results of a survey conducted among the residents of Poland have shown that the recognition of the logo is relatively low.

The analysis of the society’s knowledge and perception of development cooperation has shown that in 2019 more than two thirds of the respondents admitted that at some point in their life they came across some information about the assistance Poland provides to other countries. The percentage of such respondents increases with their age, thus usually these are adults (aged 50 years and older). Most respondents (almost 50%) stated that the information they came across referred to African countries (including Ethiopia, Kenia, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Tunisia). The majority of the respondents (78%) believe that Poland should provide assistance to developing countries. However, the percentage of those who believed that an individual person can have an impact on the fight against poverty in other countries was much lower (48%). As many as 80% of Polish people admitted that they do not get personally involved in such actions in our country (2018).

Main recommendations presented by evaluators

• It is recommended that PDC’s communication strategy be developed that uses the results of the study (regarding the target groups, the effectiveness of communication channels and tools, social awareness, etc.) and, most of all, the experience to date in implementing information, promotional, and educational activities. The strategy should involve all aspects of Polish development cooperation and be in line with the MDCP assumptions and objectives. Its coordination should fall within the remit of the SCU. Additionally, it is necessary to increase the importance of the DDC communication policy on development cooperation. 
• Increasing the coordination of communication activities by creating an expert working group – comprised of representatives of ministries participating in the implementation of PDC (the group could possibly be expanded to include other stakeholders). The aim of the group should be operational coordination of information and promotional policy on Polish development initiatives. The group should be chaired by the MFA. The frequency of consultations should depend upon the need to conduct information, promotional, and educational activities.
• It is recommended that the PDC website – the main information channel – be rebuilt. It should be modernized and adapted to mobile devices, the content displayed should be of better quality and more attractive, while technical errors should be eliminated (for example errors related to navigating at lower navigation levels).
• It is vital that social media be used to carry out the communication strategy – taking into consideration the fact that they are a source of information and a way to spend leisure time for many people, including recipients of information about development cooperation (in terms of the number of users, Facebook remains the most popular social networking site).
• It is necessary to strive to simplify the language of communication about PDC. A good practice of formulating a message is transparency, which is closely connected with an easy access to information (for example about the scale of PDC funding). A desirable principle of creating messages about Polish assistance is to formulate them in terms of benefits – both for the recipient country and Poland.
• It is essential to conduct in-depth studies of issues related to global education and its implementation for overall PDC goals that go beyond communication. At this stage it was established that it is necessary to integrate global education activities into the process of formal education (for example in the core curriculum in schools), but also to involve new groups of stakeholders (e.g. libraries, parents, culture centres) in undertaken initiatives, which will help to better promote PDC.