Chair's review of 2006
Sej Motau, Chair Global Alliance

As the year 2006 draws to a close, I look back with a sense of partial fulfillment at what the Global Alliance has been able to accomplish. While nagged by a feeling that “we could have done much more,” I am cognizant of the constraints under which members of the executive board and our council have to work. I would like to thank all of them for the hard work during the year and for flying the GA and Public Relations flags high at every opportunity.

The “Letter for Brazil” which came out of the deliberations at the successful 3rd World Public Relations Festival in Brasilia, Brazil, last June was a milestone of note. In the Letter, the Global Alliance recommitted itself to uphold the fundamental values of Public Relations, including support for free expression, free will and free flow of information.

Later in the year, in addition to taking care of official business during the event, several members of the executive board lent stature to the conference of the GA partner in Dorado Del Mar, Puerto Rico, in October. By all accounts, the event was highly successful. Later in the same month, our former chairman, Toni Muzi Falconi; John Paluszek, our ambassador at large and myself took part in the inaugural World Congress on Communication for Development in Rome. I believe that taking part in the congress enhanced our efforts to forge closer working ties with the World Bank and organs of the United Nations. These relationships could be useful to our lobbying efforts down the line.

Ethics Protocol

On the down side, we were not able to be present at other conferences and events organized by GA partners and I would like to apologize on behalf of the executive board. On this note, may I appeal to our members to send invitations early to facilitate planning. Short notice invitations seldom evoke the desired response. Members of the executive board remain committed to assist our members as speakers or in other ways, subject to time constraints and timeous notification.

This leads me to another point on which I wish we could have done better. The deadline for ratification of the World Standard on Ethics in Public Relations (GA Ethics Protocol) is 31 December 2006 and, according to our records, only 25 of the 60 national associations/GA partners have formally confirmed that they have either adopted the GA Protocol in full or that their national codes of conduct were consistent with the protocol.

This is unsatisfactory and I urge our members to attend to this matter urgently as failure to do so will affect their status as GA members in good standing after the deadline.

I have no doubt that you want to help us build the credibility of the profession by joining other members who have already taken this important step to support the mission of the GA and to advance the profession. A copy of the code that was adopted as a minimum standard can be found here. Please send your reply to our secretariat: fabriziof@cipr.co.uk.

Life-blood

This is probably a good moment to thank all those partners who have been diligent with the payment of their annual membership fees during the year and remind all of us that we should strive to remit our subscriptions in good time. These fees are the life-blood of the GA; without them your organization cannot function.


In the coming year, we will continue to work on projects that are already under way: PR Landscapes, curriculum standards, credentials and various pressing governance and administration issues. We also look forward to taking part in public relations activities, including the 4th World PR Festival in Cape Town, South Africa in May. Our partners in the United States of America and India are also working on events to take place during the year. And already planning is afoot at CIPR for the 5th World PR Festival in London in 2008. You will hear more about these events in due course.

As you can see, lots of work lies ahead for all of us in the coming years as we strive to build the GA and our national associations into the kind of professional organizations that we would like them to be. We also have to keep working on our professional conduct to give Public Relations the profile and face that we know it deserves.

I wish you a happy and restful Christmas and New Year season.


Sejamothopo Motau. FPRISA
Chairman, Global Alliance.