QUESTION ONE
The statement may be well meant but the chairman might not understand its implications.
v Firstly, although the company may really mean to complement current efforts in the country to improve Zambians’ lives, it may imply that Zambians are poor and lazy people who cannot do anything to improve their standards of living on their own. This is because the statement can be misinterpreted by some people. The unemployed publics for example may have their hopes raised as they will expect more jobs to be created for them which will improve their living standards even when there are other determinants to that, which the company may not meet alone.
v In PR, statements should be made within reason that presents the company well to its publics for it to be understood or accepted and win good will. The company should be able to account for its statements and back them up with works. The company seems to have set for itself standards as implied in the chairman’s statement. Therefore, the publics expect the organization to live up to those standards. If it fails to meet these expectations, people may lose confidence and trust in it. Thus, the company will lose the goodwill of the public on whom any organization depends for its success.
v Additionally, the statement may imply that the government has failed to meet its responsibility of raising the standard of living for Zambians. If government views the statement in this way, it will create a bad relationship between the two of them. Government is their biggest investment partner, a regulator of investment policies and laws and helps create an enabling environment for smooth operations of investors. Therefore, a negative relationship between government and the company would put the company at a disadvantage.
v Another implication of the statement is that the chairman thinks that all Zambians are poor and desperate for foreign investors to bring development for them. This statement shows that the chairman came with a wrong perception of Zambia and therefore does not understand the actual situation in Zambia. Zambians are becoming suspicious of foreign investors due to past trends of promising things they could not deliver. Local investors also argue that they can do better than some foreign investors, and may thus have a ground to convince people that foreign investors are giving alienating statements they cannot live by. This may result into poor relations with potential local shareholders who may feel belittled.
v Another thing to take into consideration is that, there is no guarantee that oil will be found in the quantities that will raise the standards of living of the people as portrayed by the company chairperson. The company chairperson will be viewed as a liar.
QUESTION TWO
v As a PR manager of the company, I would say something pertaining to the company’s intentions in its investment in the oil industry. I would start with thanking the people of Zambia and government for allowing the company to operate in the country and explain that the company will try what it can to improve people’s lives in different ways. We hope to work well with other companies as we contribute to the country’s tax base.
v I would also explain to the public that the company has the duty to supplement government efforts in improving people’s lives by providing jobs. Our coming in the country will add on the number of jobs in the country. We give respect to the local authority and their efforts in ensuring that people’s living standards are improved will be supplemented in the best way possible.
v I would be obliged to clarify certain things from the chairperson’s statement that I feel would be misinterpreted. The chairperson may mean well, but the way he phrased the statement; “…and raise the standards of living for you Zambians,” may be discrediting to the company. Zambians are getting fed-up with investors’ statements that portray them (investors) as more concerned with the welfare of the people rather than the primary profit motive which drives them to which they often fail to live by (never come to reality).
QUESTION THREE
I would approach the chairperson and:
v I would tell him my view of the possibility that his statement might be offending to some Zambians because their experience with investors has made (many of) them to believe investors are not concerned with their welfare only profit. I will tell him that I will prepare a press release to clarify on your earlier statement so that people do not get a wrong impression about the company. I will tell him that clarifying things now may be less costly than at a later time. This (clarifying) will show that we treat people with the respect and maturity they deserve, and they will in turn cooperate with the company and support its programmes.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
practising public relations among young people
Having been appointed as Public Relations Director of Get Well hospital, below is what I would do during the first year of my appointment divided into three periods of four months each.
FIRST PERIOD
In the first period, I will venture into research work on the perceptions and attitudes of the general public, which is the hospital’s target audience towards the institution. For public relations to be an effective process, research should always be the starting point. This is so, because every course of action calls for substantiation of facts and opinion assessment among others. Research also helps us to avoid spending on issues that do not exist.
Although Mr. Jack Mwansa, the chief hospital administrator, has attributed the unproductivity of Get Well to its location in a high crime area, there is a possibility that the problem may be due to other factors which may, among others, include high user fees and poor services. If the research indicates that for sure people are shunning the hospital due to crime in the area, I would suggest to management that security measures are put in place both at the hospital premises and possibly in the entire township to reduce crime.
Since the hospital is located in a high crime area, the next programme would be to protect the hospital premises. And below is an outline of specific tasks:
1) Improve security within and outside the hospital by:
Engaging a security firm such as Pre-Secure or Mint Master to secure the hospital. Additionally, management will be advised on the need for the installation of security alarms as well as an electric fence around the hospital premises.
2) Putting measures to reduce crime in the whole township by:
Encouraging members of the community to form a neighbourhood watch to be making patrols in the area. This would make the community become more security conscious.
The hospital would also collaborate with the police force and build capacity for patrols. Because transport is usually one of the major setbacks for community police in the country, I would therefore ask management to avail one of the hospital vehicles to help in police patrols in and around Matero. In the same way, Get Well Hospital would ask the residents through their neighbourhood watch to lend their vehicles to their neighbourhood watch for the benefit of everyone in the township.
I would also embark on a massive use of a public address system and staged events to sensitise the community on being security conscious. Messages would be those informing the community to report to the police or neighbourhood watch of any suspicious behaviour.
Furthermore, members of the community would be encouraged to give tip-offs to relevant authorities about crime to help track down criminals.
My public relations department would also encourage business houses in the community to be rewarding those who supply tip-offs leading to the arrest of suspected criminals. This would encourage people not to conceal information on the whereabouts of suspected criminals.
The department would also initiate staged events in the community as a campaign to improve security in Matero. During such events, members of the community would also be encouraged to participate in plays that depict the benefits of them coming together to curb crime in the area.
3) Security for employees
In order to ensure security for employees, transport would be provided to ferry members of staff to and from work.
Senior members of staff like doctors would be given car loans to help them purchase vehicles to transport them as they move from their residences to the hospital and vice versa. For those who would not want car loans, they would be provided with separate transportation from the junior and general members of staff. Apart from being a security measure, it can be a way of attracting more physicians to the hospital.
SECOND PERIOD
The second period will focus on evaluating the effectiveness of the security measures put in place in the first period. This period would also use the findings of the previous research in order to come up with appropriate measures to improve the business ventures and image of the hospital.
Getting the hospital known to the public through positive publicity would be the other aspect that the second period will carter. For example, offering free services on particular days like World Breast Cancer Day in order to attract the media. Such opportunities can be utilised in selling the kind of services the hospital offers.
In an event that crime does not seem to have gone down in the township, my department would seek other methods aimed at reducing crime levels. Since crime in the community is the most likely cause of fear in people seeking health services at Get Well Hospital, there would be need to intensify security within and outside the hospital premises continuously.
And if our evaluation shows that the crime levels in the community have gone down, my department would be engaged in vigorous publicity to inform the public of the development. Everything possible would also be done to build a reputable image of the hospital contrary to past perceptions people may have about the township in general and the hospital in particular. For effective publicity, the following measures would be embarked on:
Television Documentary
The documentary would among others show the security measures that have been put in place at the hospital premises. For example, the electric fence and alarm systems installed and even guards by the entrance into the hospital grounds and elsewhere.
Interviews with doctors and nurses satisfied with high quality services offered at the hospital would also be shown.
Patients impressed with both security and health services would also be included.
Apart from that, I and other workers at the hospital such as doctors and nurses would also be featured in the documentary. In this case they would be talking about why the hospital decided to engage in fighting crime in the area. The emphasis would be that the hospital is not only concerned about the health but also the general welfare of the community.
The vehicle/s used for patrolling the area would also be shown in the documentary.
Interviews with Matero residents appreciating the measures put in place by the hospital in response to the problem of crime would also be part of the documentary.
Get Well Hospital’s outstanding speech clinic would be highlighted in the documentary. Parents with children who have speech problems would be encouraged to bring their children to the clinic to be attended to by the best speech therapists that the hospital has.
The only teen alcoholism programme in the country would be another prominent feature in the documentary. This would be one of the ways of selling out this exceptional service to the public. Reformed alcoholics would be featured testifying about their previous and current social lives and how Get Well has helped them change their lives for the better.
The scenery view of the location and actual structures of the newly built high-rise building would not be left out. This has the benefit of attracting prospective physicians as management is willing to give them office suites on the top floors of the tower for rent.
Press Releases
As a way of free publicity, the public relations department would strategically structure press releases that will show trends on how the hospital has achieved the handling of alcoholism related issues and statistics of people attended to. Not least, new developments and periodical free medical check-ups would also be publicised with the help of such releases.
Advertisements
These would be used on television, radio, and newspapers to directly sell to the public the health services offered by the hospital. Television advertisements would be considered ideal to advertise locations and services due to the audio-visual aspect involved and makes the adverts more appealing to the potential clients.
Feature articles
Another publicity strategy would be the use of feature stories. These feature stories would specifically show the decline of crime in Matero. This would be likely to be attributed to the efforts put in place by Get Well Hospital management in conjunction with police and the community. Details of previous crime rates compared with current ones in terms of percentages would make interesting and educative readership. Quotes from neighbourhood watch representatives, patients at the hospital, a doctor or nurse, public relations personnel and so on would be stressed to highlight the benefits of the security measures both within and outside the hospital premises as a matter of health concern as well as having resulted in reduced crime rates in the entire township.
Live television presentations.
Here, the hospital would sponsor a radio programme, for example a ‘Health Line’ where one of our doctors would be featured to answer some questions relating to health problems from listeners. And because the public would associate the doctor to Get Well Hospital, patients will most likely go to our hospital for their health problems. Talk shows would also be used to reinforce the publicity efforts of documentaries, press releases and advertisements. And during breaks, we would slot in commercials about Get Well Hospital.
THIRD PERIOD
After employing the above various publicity efforts, my department would evaluate whether the public would have changed their attitudes towards the hospital and its services. That would mean observing the customer database or number of patients coming to the hospital and compare these with previous trends to see if there are any significant changes. I would also ascertain if health personnel have started applying or have been employed at Get Well, a hospital whose patients’ and physician’s low turn out seem to have worried the Chief Administrator just when I was appointed over half a year ago.
If there have been positive responses and positive change of attitudes towards the hospital in the areas highlighted, the next step would be to:
Do more in terms of social responsibility for the community
i. One way is by periodically offering free medical check-ups to the residents of Matero and others on days like the world tuberculosis day.
ii. Free medical treatment for one selected orphanage once every month throughout the year.
iii. Subsidising medical fees to children below the age of 7 and elderly people over 70 years.
iv. Offering incentives such as over-time allowances to doctors as well as offering annual awards for best performing physicians.
v. Assisting the local council in garbage collection as it poses a health hazard both to the environment and human settlement.
vi. A proposed budget for these suggested social responsibility activities will be presented to management for consideration. Once and if approved the programme will be rolled out and be implemented diligently to win public goodwill and favour, a factor which will increase the hospital’s clientele.
A tabulation of the proposed budget is given below.
BUDGET
FIRST PERIOD
Research
FIRST PERIOD
In the first period, I will venture into research work on the perceptions and attitudes of the general public, which is the hospital’s target audience towards the institution. For public relations to be an effective process, research should always be the starting point. This is so, because every course of action calls for substantiation of facts and opinion assessment among others. Research also helps us to avoid spending on issues that do not exist.
Although Mr. Jack Mwansa, the chief hospital administrator, has attributed the unproductivity of Get Well to its location in a high crime area, there is a possibility that the problem may be due to other factors which may, among others, include high user fees and poor services. If the research indicates that for sure people are shunning the hospital due to crime in the area, I would suggest to management that security measures are put in place both at the hospital premises and possibly in the entire township to reduce crime.
Since the hospital is located in a high crime area, the next programme would be to protect the hospital premises. And below is an outline of specific tasks:
1) Improve security within and outside the hospital by:
Engaging a security firm such as Pre-Secure or Mint Master to secure the hospital. Additionally, management will be advised on the need for the installation of security alarms as well as an electric fence around the hospital premises.
2) Putting measures to reduce crime in the whole township by:
Encouraging members of the community to form a neighbourhood watch to be making patrols in the area. This would make the community become more security conscious.
The hospital would also collaborate with the police force and build capacity for patrols. Because transport is usually one of the major setbacks for community police in the country, I would therefore ask management to avail one of the hospital vehicles to help in police patrols in and around Matero. In the same way, Get Well Hospital would ask the residents through their neighbourhood watch to lend their vehicles to their neighbourhood watch for the benefit of everyone in the township.
I would also embark on a massive use of a public address system and staged events to sensitise the community on being security conscious. Messages would be those informing the community to report to the police or neighbourhood watch of any suspicious behaviour.
Furthermore, members of the community would be encouraged to give tip-offs to relevant authorities about crime to help track down criminals.
My public relations department would also encourage business houses in the community to be rewarding those who supply tip-offs leading to the arrest of suspected criminals. This would encourage people not to conceal information on the whereabouts of suspected criminals.
The department would also initiate staged events in the community as a campaign to improve security in Matero. During such events, members of the community would also be encouraged to participate in plays that depict the benefits of them coming together to curb crime in the area.
3) Security for employees
In order to ensure security for employees, transport would be provided to ferry members of staff to and from work.
Senior members of staff like doctors would be given car loans to help them purchase vehicles to transport them as they move from their residences to the hospital and vice versa. For those who would not want car loans, they would be provided with separate transportation from the junior and general members of staff. Apart from being a security measure, it can be a way of attracting more physicians to the hospital.
SECOND PERIOD
The second period will focus on evaluating the effectiveness of the security measures put in place in the first period. This period would also use the findings of the previous research in order to come up with appropriate measures to improve the business ventures and image of the hospital.
Getting the hospital known to the public through positive publicity would be the other aspect that the second period will carter. For example, offering free services on particular days like World Breast Cancer Day in order to attract the media. Such opportunities can be utilised in selling the kind of services the hospital offers.
In an event that crime does not seem to have gone down in the township, my department would seek other methods aimed at reducing crime levels. Since crime in the community is the most likely cause of fear in people seeking health services at Get Well Hospital, there would be need to intensify security within and outside the hospital premises continuously.
And if our evaluation shows that the crime levels in the community have gone down, my department would be engaged in vigorous publicity to inform the public of the development. Everything possible would also be done to build a reputable image of the hospital contrary to past perceptions people may have about the township in general and the hospital in particular. For effective publicity, the following measures would be embarked on:
Television Documentary
The documentary would among others show the security measures that have been put in place at the hospital premises. For example, the electric fence and alarm systems installed and even guards by the entrance into the hospital grounds and elsewhere.
Interviews with doctors and nurses satisfied with high quality services offered at the hospital would also be shown.
Patients impressed with both security and health services would also be included.
Apart from that, I and other workers at the hospital such as doctors and nurses would also be featured in the documentary. In this case they would be talking about why the hospital decided to engage in fighting crime in the area. The emphasis would be that the hospital is not only concerned about the health but also the general welfare of the community.
The vehicle/s used for patrolling the area would also be shown in the documentary.
Interviews with Matero residents appreciating the measures put in place by the hospital in response to the problem of crime would also be part of the documentary.
Get Well Hospital’s outstanding speech clinic would be highlighted in the documentary. Parents with children who have speech problems would be encouraged to bring their children to the clinic to be attended to by the best speech therapists that the hospital has.
The only teen alcoholism programme in the country would be another prominent feature in the documentary. This would be one of the ways of selling out this exceptional service to the public. Reformed alcoholics would be featured testifying about their previous and current social lives and how Get Well has helped them change their lives for the better.
The scenery view of the location and actual structures of the newly built high-rise building would not be left out. This has the benefit of attracting prospective physicians as management is willing to give them office suites on the top floors of the tower for rent.
Press Releases
As a way of free publicity, the public relations department would strategically structure press releases that will show trends on how the hospital has achieved the handling of alcoholism related issues and statistics of people attended to. Not least, new developments and periodical free medical check-ups would also be publicised with the help of such releases.
Advertisements
These would be used on television, radio, and newspapers to directly sell to the public the health services offered by the hospital. Television advertisements would be considered ideal to advertise locations and services due to the audio-visual aspect involved and makes the adverts more appealing to the potential clients.
Feature articles
Another publicity strategy would be the use of feature stories. These feature stories would specifically show the decline of crime in Matero. This would be likely to be attributed to the efforts put in place by Get Well Hospital management in conjunction with police and the community. Details of previous crime rates compared with current ones in terms of percentages would make interesting and educative readership. Quotes from neighbourhood watch representatives, patients at the hospital, a doctor or nurse, public relations personnel and so on would be stressed to highlight the benefits of the security measures both within and outside the hospital premises as a matter of health concern as well as having resulted in reduced crime rates in the entire township.
Live television presentations.
Here, the hospital would sponsor a radio programme, for example a ‘Health Line’ where one of our doctors would be featured to answer some questions relating to health problems from listeners. And because the public would associate the doctor to Get Well Hospital, patients will most likely go to our hospital for their health problems. Talk shows would also be used to reinforce the publicity efforts of documentaries, press releases and advertisements. And during breaks, we would slot in commercials about Get Well Hospital.
THIRD PERIOD
After employing the above various publicity efforts, my department would evaluate whether the public would have changed their attitudes towards the hospital and its services. That would mean observing the customer database or number of patients coming to the hospital and compare these with previous trends to see if there are any significant changes. I would also ascertain if health personnel have started applying or have been employed at Get Well, a hospital whose patients’ and physician’s low turn out seem to have worried the Chief Administrator just when I was appointed over half a year ago.
If there have been positive responses and positive change of attitudes towards the hospital in the areas highlighted, the next step would be to:
Do more in terms of social responsibility for the community
i. One way is by periodically offering free medical check-ups to the residents of Matero and others on days like the world tuberculosis day.
ii. Free medical treatment for one selected orphanage once every month throughout the year.
iii. Subsidising medical fees to children below the age of 7 and elderly people over 70 years.
iv. Offering incentives such as over-time allowances to doctors as well as offering annual awards for best performing physicians.
v. Assisting the local council in garbage collection as it poses a health hazard both to the environment and human settlement.
vi. A proposed budget for these suggested social responsibility activities will be presented to management for consideration. Once and if approved the programme will be rolled out and be implemented diligently to win public goodwill and favour, a factor which will increase the hospital’s clientele.
A tabulation of the proposed budget is given below.
BUDGET
FIRST PERIOD
Research
-formal -8 million Kwacha
-informal- 1 million Kwacha
total-9 million Kwacha
total-9 million Kwacha
SECOND PERIOD
Documentary- 7 million Kwacha
TV shows - 15 million Kwacha
Features - 3 million Kwacha
Advertising 25 million Kwacha
Documentary- 7 million Kwacha
TV shows - 15 million Kwacha
Features - 3 million Kwacha
Advertising 25 million Kwacha
total 50 million kwacha
29 Million Kwacha
THIRD PERIOD
Evaluation
11 Million Kwacha
TOTAL
70 Million Kwacha
29 Million Kwacha
THIRD PERIOD
Evaluation
11 Million Kwacha
TOTAL
70 Million Kwacha
MNCs: whose interests; the youths or the old burgeiosie?
INTRODUCTION
The growing environmental problems in the 1980s caused a re-think in the approach of development as people became concerned at the rate at which environmental resources were being used. Therefore, as an alternative world view of development, ‘sustainability’, which is sometimes referred to ‘Green Vision,’ emerged in 1987 during the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Report). Proponents of this paradigm shift argued that there was need for a new vision of development, new forms of thinking, a different focus and a challenge to the old dominant approaches which were inappropriate and exploitative.
Premised on the above views, this essay expounds on the meaning of sustainability and how relevant the concept is to the development of developing countries (LDCs).
DEFINITIONS\MAIN BODY
Sustainability has been defined differently by various scholars. According to Jarzombek (2003: 09), “it is simply sustainable development, a concept which was coined by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1980, which refers to the development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising future generations’ ability to meet their own needs.” Jaiyebo (2003: 111-112) defines it as “the development that is manageable, irreversible and interdependent; and that which takes on board environmental concerns into account.”
Additionally, Agrawal (1992: 34) claims that sustainability concerns the use of resources for economic growth with the conscious of integrating social, economical and environmental factors that are cardinal to national development. It is about striking a balance between environmental, social and economical considerations. That is, improving the quality of life whilst living within the ecosystem’s carrying capacity. It entails limits, checks and balances between human and environmental needs and between the present and future generations, (ibid). It is about stakeholders’ participation in decision-making and implementation, for instance, disadvantaged groups such as women, youths and indigenous people. In other words, it is about localised actions that are considerate of environmental aspects in all developmental programmes.
The concept encompasses economic, environmental and social aspects as three general policy areas. The three were however broken into seven strategic imperatives for sustainable development in the Brundtland report. These are: reviving growth; changing the quality of growth; meeting essential needs for jobs, food, energy, water and sanitation; ensuring a sustainable level of population; conserving and enhancing the resource base; reorientation of technology and managing risks; merging environment and economics in decision-making (op. city.). This entails that sustainability is basically about preserving the ecosystem in the context that the poor are able to improve their material condition without those wealthy suffering adverse effects in the long run. According to the World Bank (2002: 12), “sustainability is about achieving millennium goals in a way that is supportive of the ecosystems.” Additionally, the Brundtland report emphasized that the state of technology and social organisation, lack an integrated social planning which limits the world’s ability to meet human needs now and in future.
Sustainability presents various complementary ideas on how development should be conceptualized which have a common theme, appropriate linkages and grounded in local (grass-root) situations and realities. It brings to the core of development thinking and conceptualization, the poor who are neglected, and portrays them as active and creative human beings who lack the chances and choices to determine the kind of development that makes sense to them, (ibid. p.45). The view also deals directly with issues such as gender, the environment, peace, the household, community and religion, human rights and democracy. Proponents of the view propagate for the kind of development which shifts attention away from growth and economic processes to more meaningful forms which put people and especially the poor first and the environment.
According to Seabrook (1993: 233), “sustainability is simply ecological sustainable development, which refers to using, conserving and enhancing community’s resources so that the ecological process on which life depends are maintained, and the total quality of life, now and in future can be increased.” And the IUCN quoted in Shiva (1992: 197) further states that, “sustainable development means achieving a quality of life\ standard of living that can be maintained for many generations because it is; socially desirable (as it fulfills people’s cultural, material and spiritual needs in equitable ways), economically viable (self-reliant, with costs not exceeding income) and ecologically sustainable (maintaining the long term viability of supporting ecosystems).” This entails balancing these objectives since none should be pursued at the expense of other, but should be integrated as development can only be sustainable when all the three objectives are met.
Principally, sustainable development involves the integration of developmental and environmental aspirations at all levels of decision making. It encompasses the concepts of inter and intra-generational: that is, ‘equitable’ access to environmental resources both within the present and future generations; application of precautionary principles; and the maintenance of biological diversity and integrity, both of which are important for continued existence of ecosystems. Inter-generational equity refers to the use of resources by present generations without degrading the environment to the extent that future generations fail to meet their needs, (ibid). However, it is not clear on how far into future the present generation should be considerate. Assuming the needs of the future generations is not clear also. The concept is also not explicit on which future generation it is talking about; human or ecosystem, thus making it more problematic to determine how these generations will be appropriately considered in the design and implementation of current policies.
According to Shiva (1992: 198), “Intra-generation equity refers to the view that present generations have the right to benefit equally from the exploitation of resources, and have equal rights to clean and healthy environment both at national and international levels.” At national level it implies fairness in accessing common natural resources between ethnic groups in society. It also looks at how government can restrict the use of resources through environmental laws. Paradoxically, at international level it means fairness between countries in accessing international resources. That is, low income people should at least meet their basic needs, such as healthy, environment, food, shelter, cultural and spiritual needs. This can be achieved by transfers of wealth from higher to lower income countries and within poor countries between the wealth elites and the poor.
RELEVANCY OF SUSTAINABILITY TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF LDCs
The relevancy to sustainability to the developing of LDCs is questionable considering the unprecedented challenges they are faced with in balancing economic growth and environmental concerns. According to Hugh-Jones (1989: 89), “constraints of LDCs to sustainability result from laws of nature, physical environment, raw material resource stocks for exploitation, carrying capacity, human actors due to high poverty, cultures, ethics and values, technology, and available spectrum of diversity.” These constraints reduce the total range of future possibilities and consequently leave only a limited, potentially accessible set of options. Different from the situations at early development stage of developed countries, developing countries have to pay more attention to current challenges of poverty, debt, balance of payment problems, budget deficit among others, in order to realize the same level of economic growth.
Critics argue that major causes of ecological destruction in LDCs and the world over are commercial extractions of raw materials from naturally endowed countries to meet the high demand for them by the expanding agricultural and industrial activities. This situation is worsened by the encouragement of free (but unfair) trade, at the expense of the environment. Deteriorating terms of trade has worsened environmental negligence especially by LDCs that have to allow more extraction of raw materials that they have specialised in exporting on the international market. The prices for these commodities have often reduced further because these countries produce same types of commodities that flood the world market thus further reducing the prices of LDCs’ exports. For example, those exporting timber cut more timber and those producing cotton, copper, and the like produce more both to meet the needs of their economies and servicing the debt.
Failure by LDCs to pay their debts for instance forced creditors to push for their money through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB). This puts more pressure on LDC governments that have to produce more foreign exchange in order to meet certain benchmarks, thus a serious oversight on environmental matters. Many multinational corporations (MNCs) are often attracted to invest in these countries even in environmentally sensitive areas with fewer regulations to ensure that basic environmental standards are met. According to (2004: 209), “MNCs have taken advantage of the weak environmental laws in LDCs, thus have caused devastating and almost irreversible environmental problems in these countries.” Additionally, people have been displaced to marginal lands, water reserviours have been polluted, soils are eroded, floods have been enhanced, and droughts are common due to disturbed rainfall patterns. MNCs have mainly targeted mining, agriculture, forestry and ranching sectors of LDCs, which have proved to be serious contributors of environmental degradation.
Worse still, the desperation by LDCs to provide basic needs for their people and that coupled with the surmounting pressure to wipe out their debts has compromised their little attention towards the environment. According to Ellis (2000: 212), “the pressure of paying the debts have forced LDCs to engage MNCs at different levels in the exploitation of their natural resources in the bid to increase their exports, but the burden has continued to accumulate.” In addition, most LDCs are struggling to meet certain benchmarks set by those they owe money through the IMF and the WB, thus diverting most of the funding towards those benchmarks at the expense of the economy, environment and the social sector which are the general concerns of sustainable development. The heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) completion point can be one example where to reach the benchmark; Zambia diverted a lot of resources to programmes under its auspices at the expense of key areas of the sustainability concern.
Further more, LDCs lack the technological capacity required to handle environmental degradation like recycling non-biogradables such as plastics. According to Akufo (2005: 10), “today world’s demands for products and services with high technological content and recycling of non-biogradables that are a serious threat to the environment, but against this backdrop, LDCs only spend less than 2% on Research and Development, which excludes them from the global economy.” LDCs cannot the ability to reduce environmental degradation. In Zambia for example, Konkola Copper Mines failed to meet the Environmental Council of Zambia’s (ECZ) statutory standards regarding sulphur dioxide pollution from its Smeltaco Plant in Kitwe (ibid). ECZ recommended the use of converter modified technology, which enables the capture of more sulphur dioxide that can in turn be used to manufacture sulphuric acid for mineral processing. This is in line with the environmental concept of cleaner production, which promotes the continuous use of industrial processes and products in order to reduce pollution and thus minimise the risks to humans and the environment.
CONCLUSION
The concept of sustainability poses a crucial challenge to methods of development pursued so far as they are deemed harmful to the environment and have adverse effects on the quality of life and livelihoods on both humans and the ecosystem. The concept’s core thesis is premised on the use of resources for economic growth with the conscious of integrating social, economical and environmental factors that are cardinal for balanced development. It is concerned with the reconciliation of development and the environment in order to enhance socio-environmental sustainability for the benefit of future generations. Ironically, the applicability of the concept in LDCs can be a costly move due to high poverty levels, indebtedness among other challenges. People in LDCs depend more on the environment for livelihood resources because they have few options for survival. These countries also have huge debts to wipe out. These socio-economic challenges of LDCs have resulted into the commercialization of most economic activities for more returns in terms of foreign exchange. Additionally, it has weakened the use of environmental friendly developmental methods, because new economic and cultural aspirations of the new socio-economic cleavages have alienated local control of resources, which has led to the emergence of ‘anarchic’ charcoal, fuel-wood and timber businesses to sustain global markets. These coupled with rapid population increases have led to over exploitation of the already shrinking natural resource bases in LDCs, which MNCs have largely fueled.
The growing environmental problems in the 1980s caused a re-think in the approach of development as people became concerned at the rate at which environmental resources were being used. Therefore, as an alternative world view of development, ‘sustainability’, which is sometimes referred to ‘Green Vision,’ emerged in 1987 during the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Report). Proponents of this paradigm shift argued that there was need for a new vision of development, new forms of thinking, a different focus and a challenge to the old dominant approaches which were inappropriate and exploitative.
Premised on the above views, this essay expounds on the meaning of sustainability and how relevant the concept is to the development of developing countries (LDCs).
DEFINITIONS\MAIN BODY
Sustainability has been defined differently by various scholars. According to Jarzombek (2003: 09), “it is simply sustainable development, a concept which was coined by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1980, which refers to the development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising future generations’ ability to meet their own needs.” Jaiyebo (2003: 111-112) defines it as “the development that is manageable, irreversible and interdependent; and that which takes on board environmental concerns into account.”
Additionally, Agrawal (1992: 34) claims that sustainability concerns the use of resources for economic growth with the conscious of integrating social, economical and environmental factors that are cardinal to national development. It is about striking a balance between environmental, social and economical considerations. That is, improving the quality of life whilst living within the ecosystem’s carrying capacity. It entails limits, checks and balances between human and environmental needs and between the present and future generations, (ibid). It is about stakeholders’ participation in decision-making and implementation, for instance, disadvantaged groups such as women, youths and indigenous people. In other words, it is about localised actions that are considerate of environmental aspects in all developmental programmes.
The concept encompasses economic, environmental and social aspects as three general policy areas. The three were however broken into seven strategic imperatives for sustainable development in the Brundtland report. These are: reviving growth; changing the quality of growth; meeting essential needs for jobs, food, energy, water and sanitation; ensuring a sustainable level of population; conserving and enhancing the resource base; reorientation of technology and managing risks; merging environment and economics in decision-making (op. city.). This entails that sustainability is basically about preserving the ecosystem in the context that the poor are able to improve their material condition without those wealthy suffering adverse effects in the long run. According to the World Bank (2002: 12), “sustainability is about achieving millennium goals in a way that is supportive of the ecosystems.” Additionally, the Brundtland report emphasized that the state of technology and social organisation, lack an integrated social planning which limits the world’s ability to meet human needs now and in future.
Sustainability presents various complementary ideas on how development should be conceptualized which have a common theme, appropriate linkages and grounded in local (grass-root) situations and realities. It brings to the core of development thinking and conceptualization, the poor who are neglected, and portrays them as active and creative human beings who lack the chances and choices to determine the kind of development that makes sense to them, (ibid. p.45). The view also deals directly with issues such as gender, the environment, peace, the household, community and religion, human rights and democracy. Proponents of the view propagate for the kind of development which shifts attention away from growth and economic processes to more meaningful forms which put people and especially the poor first and the environment.
According to Seabrook (1993: 233), “sustainability is simply ecological sustainable development, which refers to using, conserving and enhancing community’s resources so that the ecological process on which life depends are maintained, and the total quality of life, now and in future can be increased.” And the IUCN quoted in Shiva (1992: 197) further states that, “sustainable development means achieving a quality of life\ standard of living that can be maintained for many generations because it is; socially desirable (as it fulfills people’s cultural, material and spiritual needs in equitable ways), economically viable (self-reliant, with costs not exceeding income) and ecologically sustainable (maintaining the long term viability of supporting ecosystems).” This entails balancing these objectives since none should be pursued at the expense of other, but should be integrated as development can only be sustainable when all the three objectives are met.
Principally, sustainable development involves the integration of developmental and environmental aspirations at all levels of decision making. It encompasses the concepts of inter and intra-generational: that is, ‘equitable’ access to environmental resources both within the present and future generations; application of precautionary principles; and the maintenance of biological diversity and integrity, both of which are important for continued existence of ecosystems. Inter-generational equity refers to the use of resources by present generations without degrading the environment to the extent that future generations fail to meet their needs, (ibid). However, it is not clear on how far into future the present generation should be considerate. Assuming the needs of the future generations is not clear also. The concept is also not explicit on which future generation it is talking about; human or ecosystem, thus making it more problematic to determine how these generations will be appropriately considered in the design and implementation of current policies.
According to Shiva (1992: 198), “Intra-generation equity refers to the view that present generations have the right to benefit equally from the exploitation of resources, and have equal rights to clean and healthy environment both at national and international levels.” At national level it implies fairness in accessing common natural resources between ethnic groups in society. It also looks at how government can restrict the use of resources through environmental laws. Paradoxically, at international level it means fairness between countries in accessing international resources. That is, low income people should at least meet their basic needs, such as healthy, environment, food, shelter, cultural and spiritual needs. This can be achieved by transfers of wealth from higher to lower income countries and within poor countries between the wealth elites and the poor.
RELEVANCY OF SUSTAINABILITY TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF LDCs
The relevancy to sustainability to the developing of LDCs is questionable considering the unprecedented challenges they are faced with in balancing economic growth and environmental concerns. According to Hugh-Jones (1989: 89), “constraints of LDCs to sustainability result from laws of nature, physical environment, raw material resource stocks for exploitation, carrying capacity, human actors due to high poverty, cultures, ethics and values, technology, and available spectrum of diversity.” These constraints reduce the total range of future possibilities and consequently leave only a limited, potentially accessible set of options. Different from the situations at early development stage of developed countries, developing countries have to pay more attention to current challenges of poverty, debt, balance of payment problems, budget deficit among others, in order to realize the same level of economic growth.
Critics argue that major causes of ecological destruction in LDCs and the world over are commercial extractions of raw materials from naturally endowed countries to meet the high demand for them by the expanding agricultural and industrial activities. This situation is worsened by the encouragement of free (but unfair) trade, at the expense of the environment. Deteriorating terms of trade has worsened environmental negligence especially by LDCs that have to allow more extraction of raw materials that they have specialised in exporting on the international market. The prices for these commodities have often reduced further because these countries produce same types of commodities that flood the world market thus further reducing the prices of LDCs’ exports. For example, those exporting timber cut more timber and those producing cotton, copper, and the like produce more both to meet the needs of their economies and servicing the debt.
Failure by LDCs to pay their debts for instance forced creditors to push for their money through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB). This puts more pressure on LDC governments that have to produce more foreign exchange in order to meet certain benchmarks, thus a serious oversight on environmental matters. Many multinational corporations (MNCs) are often attracted to invest in these countries even in environmentally sensitive areas with fewer regulations to ensure that basic environmental standards are met. According to (2004: 209), “MNCs have taken advantage of the weak environmental laws in LDCs, thus have caused devastating and almost irreversible environmental problems in these countries.” Additionally, people have been displaced to marginal lands, water reserviours have been polluted, soils are eroded, floods have been enhanced, and droughts are common due to disturbed rainfall patterns. MNCs have mainly targeted mining, agriculture, forestry and ranching sectors of LDCs, which have proved to be serious contributors of environmental degradation.
Worse still, the desperation by LDCs to provide basic needs for their people and that coupled with the surmounting pressure to wipe out their debts has compromised their little attention towards the environment. According to Ellis (2000: 212), “the pressure of paying the debts have forced LDCs to engage MNCs at different levels in the exploitation of their natural resources in the bid to increase their exports, but the burden has continued to accumulate.” In addition, most LDCs are struggling to meet certain benchmarks set by those they owe money through the IMF and the WB, thus diverting most of the funding towards those benchmarks at the expense of the economy, environment and the social sector which are the general concerns of sustainable development. The heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) completion point can be one example where to reach the benchmark; Zambia diverted a lot of resources to programmes under its auspices at the expense of key areas of the sustainability concern.
Further more, LDCs lack the technological capacity required to handle environmental degradation like recycling non-biogradables such as plastics. According to Akufo (2005: 10), “today world’s demands for products and services with high technological content and recycling of non-biogradables that are a serious threat to the environment, but against this backdrop, LDCs only spend less than 2% on Research and Development, which excludes them from the global economy.” LDCs cannot the ability to reduce environmental degradation. In Zambia for example, Konkola Copper Mines failed to meet the Environmental Council of Zambia’s (ECZ) statutory standards regarding sulphur dioxide pollution from its Smeltaco Plant in Kitwe (ibid). ECZ recommended the use of converter modified technology, which enables the capture of more sulphur dioxide that can in turn be used to manufacture sulphuric acid for mineral processing. This is in line with the environmental concept of cleaner production, which promotes the continuous use of industrial processes and products in order to reduce pollution and thus minimise the risks to humans and the environment.
CONCLUSION
The concept of sustainability poses a crucial challenge to methods of development pursued so far as they are deemed harmful to the environment and have adverse effects on the quality of life and livelihoods on both humans and the ecosystem. The concept’s core thesis is premised on the use of resources for economic growth with the conscious of integrating social, economical and environmental factors that are cardinal for balanced development. It is concerned with the reconciliation of development and the environment in order to enhance socio-environmental sustainability for the benefit of future generations. Ironically, the applicability of the concept in LDCs can be a costly move due to high poverty levels, indebtedness among other challenges. People in LDCs depend more on the environment for livelihood resources because they have few options for survival. These countries also have huge debts to wipe out. These socio-economic challenges of LDCs have resulted into the commercialization of most economic activities for more returns in terms of foreign exchange. Additionally, it has weakened the use of environmental friendly developmental methods, because new economic and cultural aspirations of the new socio-economic cleavages have alienated local control of resources, which has led to the emergence of ‘anarchic’ charcoal, fuel-wood and timber businesses to sustain global markets. These coupled with rapid population increases have led to over exploitation of the already shrinking natural resource bases in LDCs, which MNCs have largely fueled.
public relations understanding among the youths
Public relations is a complex field, not only because it demands the mastery of a diversity of skills, but also because it requires a considerable amount of brainpower for problem solving, counseling, planning and creativity in approaching situations. Adding to the mental stimulation is the high competition in public relations, which is usually matched by corresponding high paybacks. The profession takes a specific type of person who can campaign, plan or appeal effectively to an organisation’s publics. This is because there is nothing more indivisible in an organisation than its reputation and the cordial climate in which it operates. Therefore, it is imperative that an institution’s public relations is unified as the antenna, the conscience and voice of the whole establishment.
Additionally, public relations helps to develop an outward-looking managerial philosophy which should be translated into actions that prove the organisation’s concern to the public interest. This can be accomplished by listening and responding to the public needs effectively. It entails working to interpret the needs of the public to the organisation and plan responsive actions by the institution in relation to those needs. Listening and responding effectively go together, and when they do, the conscience of management takes a new perspective as inconsistent institutional policies cannot be made effective by any public relations effort.
Based on the above arguments, the core thesis of this essay is to compare and contrast public relations in business, non-profit organisations and in government, bearing in mind the principles and theories of the profession’s practice. Furthermore, the question on which one adheres more to the principles and ethics of the profession will be expounded on. The essay will be logically divided into three parts, the first consisting of definitions of key terms. The second part will be the main body, while the last will be the conclusion. Only few similarities and differences in business, government and non-profit organisations public relations will be expounded on in this essay as they are too numerous to exhaust.
Public relations is a multidimensional concept without a universally agreed definition to it. William (1963: 987) for example, defines it as activities and policies devoted to build public interest in an idea, person, product, institution or business establishment, with the ultimate goal of creating an advantageous “image” for any kind of an establishment in order to enhance good public will in the most favourable light. The focal point of the profession is to help entities develop a mutually satisfactory two-way communication system which helps them win the cooperation of the groups of people they are dealing with at different levels by taking their interests on board. This can be accomplished by listening and responding to those interests effectively.
Principally, public relations is a public service oriented profession, with public interest (not personal remunerations), as the primary consideration in its practice. This principal is supposed to be universal to the profession, in whatever atmosphere it is being practiced, be it in business, government or non-profit institution. This also can be a truism under democratic governments, where those who govern are chosen by the people as their representatives in decision making and formulation of laws that protect electorates’ interests and needs. According to www.wadsworth.com, “governments today, (unlike dictatorships and monarchs) are generally expected to provide various welfare services to the public, which give the public relations personnel very challenging duties of explaining new policies, conducting campaigns for set goals, attend to gender issues, human rights, youth empowerment, sensitisation of the public on safety, interpretation of national public opinion to assist in domestic policy formulation, defending controversial expenditures of tax payers’ money, among others.” This means governments take on board interests of different publics they deal with, like the ordinary people, tax payers’ who contribute to governance financially, opposition political parties, and even interest of the governors, among others.
This is because government touches every aspect of society and virtually every part of government is closely tied to and reliant upon public relations. The purpose of democracy itself closely matches the purpose of public relations as the philosophy promotes public service or rule of the people, by the people or representative leadership. Therefore, government public relations personnel commonly known as public information officers must help government officials undertake programmes that address public needs with the urgency they require in order to gain public good will and confidence. All institutions strive to attain this. They employ different public relations techniques that they aim to get credit for. They all communicate their policies and acts to people’s needs so that people understand and appreciate what an institution is doing for their welfare.
Businesses have collapsed, governments have fallen and non-profit organisations have folded, because of poor or lack of public support. Thus, all institutions have realised the role of public relations for their survival. They therefore explain and justify their actions in the best way possible to the public so that the public knows what the entities are doing to satisfy their (people) interest.
Image building is another aspect that public relations has struggled to accomplish either in business, government or non-profit organisations. This involves presenting and building good will for the establishment by demonstrating to the public that the firm is an effective provider of goods or services, an equitable employer and or\ responsible community neighbour. The responsibility of the public relations people here is to tell the entity’s story well when controversy arises. According to Day (2000: 231), “public relations personnel have the duty to design policies and help management in administering various responsive programmes to public needs in relation to those needs’ scope and complexity in all spheres of their operations.” In short, they must initiate programmes that explain their establishment’s goals and objectives towards the welfare of all the publics the establishment is dealing with at different levels.
The most prominent ways in which public relations people accomplish image building or enhancement are through research, communication, publicity, planning and counseling. Research is used to increase understanding of the audience attitudes towards an organisation so that it can structure appropriate messages to address pertinent issues that can enhance relationships between the institution and its publics. It provides feedback since two-way communication is inevitable for the institution to make necessary adjustments to its policies and practices. For example, the government of Zambia wanted to put in place legislation that would regulate non-governmental organisations due to some observations from certain quarters of society on the organisations’ active participation in national matters, which was seen as one way of trying to control government. But after a strong resistance and criticisms from various publics, the decision was rescinded. Government tried to fine tune messages to the public to sugar coat the reasons for such a move, but the public never bent down.
Research generally helps in determining attitudes and behaviours of the public for ease planning of public relations strategies for persuading publics and influences them in order to generate mutual understanding. Non-profit organisations often use research to ascertain acceptability of their programmes or services by the public. Different methods are used in ascertaining people’s attitude towards an establishment’s policies or practices. They can be formal or informal. Many of them use suggestion boxes or open letters to the organisation by the public.
According to Young (1996: 124), “there can be no public relations without communication because surveillance of the ‘market’ and what it offers through feedback will not be accomplished as ascertaining public attitude will be impossible.” Every public relations person looks at the best way of reaching their organisation’s publics with information well tailored to meet their concerns. These professions seek to gain public acceptance of their institutions. As information managers, public relations people use communication to inform, persuade, and building mutual relations between an establishment and is publics. The messages are thus designed in a way that they appeal to people’s tastes and needs in the best way possible.
It is further argued that in government-as in any other organisation-public relations is a management function that helps to define objectives and philosophies while also helps the organisation adapt to the demand of its constituencies and environment. Public relations practitioners whether referred to as public information officers, press secretaries or just plain administrative aides, still communicate with all relevant internal and external publics to make organisational goals and societal expectations consistent. Public relations people in all sectors develop, execute and evaluate programmes that promote the exchange of influential ideas and understanding an organisation’s constituent parts and publics.
In addition, planning in any kind of public relations is said to be essential not only to know where the message or campaign is headed, but also to win top management support. For example, as governments become more complex and everywhere, the challenge of maintaining citizen involvement in national matters and ensuring that governments are responsive to societal needs become more difficult. In such instances, there is need to employ public relations techniques in convincing citizens to have confident in their leaders and understand that government is committed to meet their concerns. In the process of planning, the organisation’s objectives and goals, among other aspects are considered. The broad environment in which an establishment operates dictates its overall objectives, which in turn dictate specific public relations objectives and strategies. This requires quick thinking and creativity to achieve recognition by the public that the institution is doing something concerning their welfare.
Planning is cardinal for the success of any programme. Therefore, public relations people in any setting should specify a series of things to be done and how they will be done. Planning starts with acquiring background information to the problem or issue, and then make an outline of strategies to tackle it. For instance, in ascertaining economic activities in Zambia, especially the level of local people’s participation in these activities, the problems they face among other concerns, the country embarked on an economic census. It is expected that a plan of action will thus be taken to empower local people in one way or the other after identifying how they are fairing. This gives people the view that their government cares about their well being, and they are likely to support it in different ways when need arises.
The plan is implemented after doing all the house work. Public relations tactics are often used here to convince the public that the plan of action is meant to benefit them. Organisations often claim credit for their public welfare concern and for their ability to keep a finger on the pulse of what they promise to do for their community neighbour, (ibid: 126). Success of the plan is known by evaluation.
Counseling is the other pertinent aspect of public relations in any institution. It is argued that public relations is the ear and conscious of any institution, with one foot in the institution and the other outside. Its practitioners therefore dart ahead of other professionals, survey the public attitudes, tastes, needs and the like, and then provide advice to management concerning an entity’s policies, relationships with the publics and effective communication (op.city: 127-8). Through counseling, public relations people advise management and other key publics on the importance of maintaining a good relationship for mutual benefits of co-existing.
The other aspect of public relations in all organisations or establishments is achieving visibility through publicity. Although it is argued that performance should precede publicity, many institutions use a lot of marketing strategies to present a positive image of their entity before the public in order to gain good will. Good publicity can be earned by doing right things to the community the institution serves. It also involves using appropriate medium and having positive media relations to gain it. Planned messages should therefore be disseminated through the right selected media in order to further an entity’s interests. Good public relations is vital in the achievement of good publicity.
However, regardless of many similarities which exist in public relations in business, non-profit organisations and government, the way the profession is practiced differs in one or the other. According to Cutlip at el (2000: 457), “the main objective of employing public relations in profit making organisations is to gain public acceptance which might reciprocate in increased profitability of the organisation’s activities as people tend to buy more of a company’s product when they accept its policies and practices.” This is slightly different from the core objective of engaging public relations strategies in government and non-profit organisations. Under the auspices of government and non-profit organisations, the main motive of employing public relations in whatever form is to gain public acceptance of their public service missions and objectives. A variety of challenges face these institutions in public service, such as high demand for the services (like medical or education services), high costs and even access to these services by the least advantaged members of society; some of which providers face surmounting criticism and pressure. Therefore, public relations is often called upon to provide positioning statements and respond to critics. In short, government and non-profit organisations are mainly in public service, while the businesses are after increasing their profitability.
The other difference between businesses and government and non-profit organisations is on what happens to monies that are not spent on overhead and operating expenses. In a business, this money is called ‘profit,’ and it is distributed on a proportional basis to those who own the company. Thus, someone who owns more shares of the company gets more from that profit than those with less. However, when it comes to a non-profit organisation or government, the excess monies are called ‘surplus’ and they are often re-invested in the organisation or government sectors to strengthen and expand the scope of their objectives and goals. Governments strive to attain equity on the provision of services to the public regardless of how much they contributed to the country’s tax base. Non-profit organisations equally aim at supplementing governments in the provision of the much needed services by the public on an equitable basis. But this is not the case when it comes to businesses. Therefore, the kind of public relations employed by these institutions should reciprocate into the achievement of the mission of the entity’s establishment.
Additionally, businesses employ public relations strategies for the ultimate benefit of increasing returns for the owners of the money that have been injected in the running of such businesses. According to Lucas (2001: 89), “business organisations use public relations to create a favourable image that would in return result in increased buying of their products or services in order to make more money for the owners of the businesses, as a way of financially rewarding them for their investment in the company or organisation.” On the other hand, a non-profit organisation focuses on fulfilling an educational or charitable mission, with recognition that all organisations must maintain positive bottom lines to exist. The same philosophy applies in governments as they aim at meeting their ordained functions vested on them by the public. Governments that have failed to live to the public’s expectations have fallen, as the people rose against them. The best example is the assignation of President Mobutu Tsetseko of Zaire (by then) due to the failure of his administration to provide basic needs to the public. It lost public trust.
Furthermore, non-profit organisations especially social welfare agencies and governments often rely on inexperienced public relations practitioners or even unprofessional volunteers or appointees to conduct their public relations programmes. They often argue that they do not have resources to engage the depth of public relations expertise necessary to mount sophisticated public relations or marketing efforts. But when it comes to business, public relations practitioners are employed and maintained in the organisation on the basis on their performance. The practitioners are research based strategic planners with considerably higher funding and support from management.
Government public relations is said to be coupled with propaganda in different faces as a way of winning public support especially during crises rather than performance. The public is sometimes given misleading information as a way of cushion hostility. For example, church leaders are sometimes used as a device to achieve credibility on policies or decisions that society does not promote. Other strategies which present the decision or idea as having “overwhelming support” are used to gain public support. The public often does not get the concealed truth in whichever way because governments use laws like State Security laws as a way of shutting the media and the public up on issues that may need urgent attention. For example, President Mwanawasa once warned those who were daring the National Constitution Conference (NCC) that they risked committing a treasonable case whose penalty was either death or life imprisonment. Many people thus conceded with the NCC idea as a mode of enacting the new constitution in fear of the ‘law.’ Bribery of opinion leaders is also used sometimes to win public support.
But when it comes to businesses and non-profit organisations, state inquiries through state agencies are in most cases used to get the truth, and when organisations are found faulting, they are penalized in one way or the other. In turn, customers may shun such institutions’ products or services. That means those who entrusted their capital in such ventures lose their money. As a result, open communication to a large extent characterises the business fraternity and non-profit organisations.
Government public relations professionals also face more hostility and suspicion than do other practitioners, which stem from the continuing struggle between the press fighting for the ‘right of the people to know’ and officials of government who insist upon discretion of certain sensitive areas of the public sphere. In addition, the hostility also stems from protests by industries, institutions and other vested interests when threatened by proposed legislation or government regulation. According to Bjornland (1993: 234), “government public relations is the most frustrating profession as practitioners are often dealing with an apathetic and poorly educated citizenry who do not understand the issue, the problem or the reasons behinds unpopular decision.” Worse still, this is often coupled with the popular perception of government as a gridlock, a maze of red tape, full of special interests, corruption, ineptitude and partisan politics. This is not the case to practitioners in non-profit organisations and business fraternity where the administration is considerably small and less bureaucratic.
Taking the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) code of conduct as a measure of levels of adherence to the public relations principles and ethics by business, government and non-profit organisation public relations, the business fraternity to a large extent adheres more to the public relations principles and ethics than the rest. According to the PRSA code of conduct, public relations practitioners should base their professional principles and ethics on the fundamental value and dignity of an individual and serving the interests of the clients, employers and other publics. They must be dedicated to the goals of better communication, understanding and cooperation among the diverse individual groups and institutions of society and conduct themselves professionally with the truth, accuracy, fairness and responsibility to their publics.
In line with the guidelines above among others, the efforts of public relations in business are often designed to improve public attitude towards the business. According to Hayden (1975: 14-18), “to operate effectively in business, public relations professionals must be aware of the principles and practices in the profession thoroughly, understand the communication process, importance of research, instincts of planning and implementation of the plan, and even the profession’s publics.” To accomplish this, public relations in business has been characterised by a high professional management level in an organisation which follows a research based strategic planning system with considerable funding and management support and outside consultancy when need arises. Such result oriented public relations does not take root in most non-profit organisations and governments for various reasons among them lack of funds.
Public relations practitioners in business are compelled to follow prescribed professional codes of conduct as businesses often operate under the surveillance of government agencies and other organisations concerned with consumer interests. These regulations are somehow relaxed when it comes to non-profit organisations as they are considered ‘good guys of society’ because they are perceived to be more concerned with the welfare of the people. For example, there are those non-profit organisations that supplement government efforts in areas of education or health, which many governments are striving to address due to the high demand by the public for those services. People exalt such organisations, for example, community schools run by churches and other organisations in Zambia, which target low income populations.
Contrary, business public relations practitioners must aim at enhancing their organisation’s credibility by building a firm foundation of honest performance, open communication, remove inconsistencies between performance and communication, commitment to problem solving and avoidance of creating expectations that cannot be met. According to www.wadsworth.com, “many non-profit organisations have taken advantage of relaxed government regulations on their operations in essence of ‘supplementing’ government efforts in improving standards of living of the people; and have ventured into buying debts on the secondary global market at a discount in line with Debt Swaps arrangements and later demand high pay from debtors without repercussions.” A recent example could be the case of Zambia over the voucher fund, where Donegal International bought Zambia’s US$2.3 million debt in the 1970s at US$200 thousand in pretence that the organisation had citizen empowerment programmes to carry out in the country using the price differential, but later demanded for US$15 million from the Zambian government. The organisation was not scrunitised or monitored to ensure that its claims were met. But when it comes to businesses, they are always under the ‘camera’ thus the public relations practiced under them is more sensitive to the environments the entities operate under.
Although there are no universally agreed upon principles or ethical codes of conduct in public relations being that what could be ethically right to someone may not be with the other, there is need to strike a considerable balance of interests of an organisation’s publics. This is because every profession must operate under some professional codes of conduct which separate it from other occupations. To this effect, the PRSA have clauses that oblige public relations practitioners to conduct their professional life in accordance to public interest and should exercise high standards of honesty and integrity and to deal fairly with the public. (But the practice differs due to certain advantages other entities enjoy.) To businesses, all publics counts as money for their sustenance comes from people, whom without they cannot survive. This is slightly different in case of non-profit organisations or governments whose funding is often from abroad or from tax payers’ who are obliged to pay tax by law.
Equally, when it comes to government, there are a lot of laws that are used to protect the leadership from being ousted for failure to meet public demands. For example, in Zambia, no one can sue the state for failure to meet their social and economic rights like education. The state is protected by law. It is on this basis that some scholars have argued that government public relations is more of propaganda and waste of public funds. For instances, in the United States, there is a law which allows certain things to remain secrets for twenty years even when what has happened is worthy the removal of the government in power. Governments are in such cases painted in the favourable light they do not deserve merely to hold on to power.
In conclusion, public relations’ major responsibility in all institutions is to present those institutions in the most favourable light that ‘meets’ diverse publics’ interests. But due to variations in environments of operation, there have been differences in carrying out these responsibilities. This has been worsened by the fact that there are no universally agreed upon principles or ethics under which all public relations practitioners should operate under. What could be ethically right to one practitioner may be wrong to the other based on the differences in ideological alignments, beliefs, attitudes and or\ commitment to professional code of conduct and personal values among other elicits of human or professional preferences. This indicates that the complex aspects of institutions public relations practitioners work for and intellectual honesty and integrity in all features of public relations requires proper understanding of the professional principles and ethics and how an individual practitioner is expected to conduct oneself by the public they serve in order to improve on the professional efficacy. It is therefore the duty of public relations practitioners to safeguard diligently their profession, the image of their institutions and interests of their publics on a balanced scale.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Day A. (2000), Ethics in Media Communication: Cases and Controversies (3rd Ed). Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press.
Hayden R. (1975), The Reality of PR. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Inc.
Lucas S.E. (2001), The Art of Public Speaking (7th Ed). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
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www.wadswrth.com
Additionally, public relations helps to develop an outward-looking managerial philosophy which should be translated into actions that prove the organisation’s concern to the public interest. This can be accomplished by listening and responding to the public needs effectively. It entails working to interpret the needs of the public to the organisation and plan responsive actions by the institution in relation to those needs. Listening and responding effectively go together, and when they do, the conscience of management takes a new perspective as inconsistent institutional policies cannot be made effective by any public relations effort.
Based on the above arguments, the core thesis of this essay is to compare and contrast public relations in business, non-profit organisations and in government, bearing in mind the principles and theories of the profession’s practice. Furthermore, the question on which one adheres more to the principles and ethics of the profession will be expounded on. The essay will be logically divided into three parts, the first consisting of definitions of key terms. The second part will be the main body, while the last will be the conclusion. Only few similarities and differences in business, government and non-profit organisations public relations will be expounded on in this essay as they are too numerous to exhaust.
Public relations is a multidimensional concept without a universally agreed definition to it. William (1963: 987) for example, defines it as activities and policies devoted to build public interest in an idea, person, product, institution or business establishment, with the ultimate goal of creating an advantageous “image” for any kind of an establishment in order to enhance good public will in the most favourable light. The focal point of the profession is to help entities develop a mutually satisfactory two-way communication system which helps them win the cooperation of the groups of people they are dealing with at different levels by taking their interests on board. This can be accomplished by listening and responding to those interests effectively.
Principally, public relations is a public service oriented profession, with public interest (not personal remunerations), as the primary consideration in its practice. This principal is supposed to be universal to the profession, in whatever atmosphere it is being practiced, be it in business, government or non-profit institution. This also can be a truism under democratic governments, where those who govern are chosen by the people as their representatives in decision making and formulation of laws that protect electorates’ interests and needs. According to www.wadsworth.com, “governments today, (unlike dictatorships and monarchs) are generally expected to provide various welfare services to the public, which give the public relations personnel very challenging duties of explaining new policies, conducting campaigns for set goals, attend to gender issues, human rights, youth empowerment, sensitisation of the public on safety, interpretation of national public opinion to assist in domestic policy formulation, defending controversial expenditures of tax payers’ money, among others.” This means governments take on board interests of different publics they deal with, like the ordinary people, tax payers’ who contribute to governance financially, opposition political parties, and even interest of the governors, among others.
This is because government touches every aspect of society and virtually every part of government is closely tied to and reliant upon public relations. The purpose of democracy itself closely matches the purpose of public relations as the philosophy promotes public service or rule of the people, by the people or representative leadership. Therefore, government public relations personnel commonly known as public information officers must help government officials undertake programmes that address public needs with the urgency they require in order to gain public good will and confidence. All institutions strive to attain this. They employ different public relations techniques that they aim to get credit for. They all communicate their policies and acts to people’s needs so that people understand and appreciate what an institution is doing for their welfare.
Businesses have collapsed, governments have fallen and non-profit organisations have folded, because of poor or lack of public support. Thus, all institutions have realised the role of public relations for their survival. They therefore explain and justify their actions in the best way possible to the public so that the public knows what the entities are doing to satisfy their (people) interest.
Image building is another aspect that public relations has struggled to accomplish either in business, government or non-profit organisations. This involves presenting and building good will for the establishment by demonstrating to the public that the firm is an effective provider of goods or services, an equitable employer and or\ responsible community neighbour. The responsibility of the public relations people here is to tell the entity’s story well when controversy arises. According to Day (2000: 231), “public relations personnel have the duty to design policies and help management in administering various responsive programmes to public needs in relation to those needs’ scope and complexity in all spheres of their operations.” In short, they must initiate programmes that explain their establishment’s goals and objectives towards the welfare of all the publics the establishment is dealing with at different levels.
The most prominent ways in which public relations people accomplish image building or enhancement are through research, communication, publicity, planning and counseling. Research is used to increase understanding of the audience attitudes towards an organisation so that it can structure appropriate messages to address pertinent issues that can enhance relationships between the institution and its publics. It provides feedback since two-way communication is inevitable for the institution to make necessary adjustments to its policies and practices. For example, the government of Zambia wanted to put in place legislation that would regulate non-governmental organisations due to some observations from certain quarters of society on the organisations’ active participation in national matters, which was seen as one way of trying to control government. But after a strong resistance and criticisms from various publics, the decision was rescinded. Government tried to fine tune messages to the public to sugar coat the reasons for such a move, but the public never bent down.
Research generally helps in determining attitudes and behaviours of the public for ease planning of public relations strategies for persuading publics and influences them in order to generate mutual understanding. Non-profit organisations often use research to ascertain acceptability of their programmes or services by the public. Different methods are used in ascertaining people’s attitude towards an establishment’s policies or practices. They can be formal or informal. Many of them use suggestion boxes or open letters to the organisation by the public.
According to Young (1996: 124), “there can be no public relations without communication because surveillance of the ‘market’ and what it offers through feedback will not be accomplished as ascertaining public attitude will be impossible.” Every public relations person looks at the best way of reaching their organisation’s publics with information well tailored to meet their concerns. These professions seek to gain public acceptance of their institutions. As information managers, public relations people use communication to inform, persuade, and building mutual relations between an establishment and is publics. The messages are thus designed in a way that they appeal to people’s tastes and needs in the best way possible.
It is further argued that in government-as in any other organisation-public relations is a management function that helps to define objectives and philosophies while also helps the organisation adapt to the demand of its constituencies and environment. Public relations practitioners whether referred to as public information officers, press secretaries or just plain administrative aides, still communicate with all relevant internal and external publics to make organisational goals and societal expectations consistent. Public relations people in all sectors develop, execute and evaluate programmes that promote the exchange of influential ideas and understanding an organisation’s constituent parts and publics.
In addition, planning in any kind of public relations is said to be essential not only to know where the message or campaign is headed, but also to win top management support. For example, as governments become more complex and everywhere, the challenge of maintaining citizen involvement in national matters and ensuring that governments are responsive to societal needs become more difficult. In such instances, there is need to employ public relations techniques in convincing citizens to have confident in their leaders and understand that government is committed to meet their concerns. In the process of planning, the organisation’s objectives and goals, among other aspects are considered. The broad environment in which an establishment operates dictates its overall objectives, which in turn dictate specific public relations objectives and strategies. This requires quick thinking and creativity to achieve recognition by the public that the institution is doing something concerning their welfare.
Planning is cardinal for the success of any programme. Therefore, public relations people in any setting should specify a series of things to be done and how they will be done. Planning starts with acquiring background information to the problem or issue, and then make an outline of strategies to tackle it. For instance, in ascertaining economic activities in Zambia, especially the level of local people’s participation in these activities, the problems they face among other concerns, the country embarked on an economic census. It is expected that a plan of action will thus be taken to empower local people in one way or the other after identifying how they are fairing. This gives people the view that their government cares about their well being, and they are likely to support it in different ways when need arises.
The plan is implemented after doing all the house work. Public relations tactics are often used here to convince the public that the plan of action is meant to benefit them. Organisations often claim credit for their public welfare concern and for their ability to keep a finger on the pulse of what they promise to do for their community neighbour, (ibid: 126). Success of the plan is known by evaluation.
Counseling is the other pertinent aspect of public relations in any institution. It is argued that public relations is the ear and conscious of any institution, with one foot in the institution and the other outside. Its practitioners therefore dart ahead of other professionals, survey the public attitudes, tastes, needs and the like, and then provide advice to management concerning an entity’s policies, relationships with the publics and effective communication (op.city: 127-8). Through counseling, public relations people advise management and other key publics on the importance of maintaining a good relationship for mutual benefits of co-existing.
The other aspect of public relations in all organisations or establishments is achieving visibility through publicity. Although it is argued that performance should precede publicity, many institutions use a lot of marketing strategies to present a positive image of their entity before the public in order to gain good will. Good publicity can be earned by doing right things to the community the institution serves. It also involves using appropriate medium and having positive media relations to gain it. Planned messages should therefore be disseminated through the right selected media in order to further an entity’s interests. Good public relations is vital in the achievement of good publicity.
However, regardless of many similarities which exist in public relations in business, non-profit organisations and government, the way the profession is practiced differs in one or the other. According to Cutlip at el (2000: 457), “the main objective of employing public relations in profit making organisations is to gain public acceptance which might reciprocate in increased profitability of the organisation’s activities as people tend to buy more of a company’s product when they accept its policies and practices.” This is slightly different from the core objective of engaging public relations strategies in government and non-profit organisations. Under the auspices of government and non-profit organisations, the main motive of employing public relations in whatever form is to gain public acceptance of their public service missions and objectives. A variety of challenges face these institutions in public service, such as high demand for the services (like medical or education services), high costs and even access to these services by the least advantaged members of society; some of which providers face surmounting criticism and pressure. Therefore, public relations is often called upon to provide positioning statements and respond to critics. In short, government and non-profit organisations are mainly in public service, while the businesses are after increasing their profitability.
The other difference between businesses and government and non-profit organisations is on what happens to monies that are not spent on overhead and operating expenses. In a business, this money is called ‘profit,’ and it is distributed on a proportional basis to those who own the company. Thus, someone who owns more shares of the company gets more from that profit than those with less. However, when it comes to a non-profit organisation or government, the excess monies are called ‘surplus’ and they are often re-invested in the organisation or government sectors to strengthen and expand the scope of their objectives and goals. Governments strive to attain equity on the provision of services to the public regardless of how much they contributed to the country’s tax base. Non-profit organisations equally aim at supplementing governments in the provision of the much needed services by the public on an equitable basis. But this is not the case when it comes to businesses. Therefore, the kind of public relations employed by these institutions should reciprocate into the achievement of the mission of the entity’s establishment.
Additionally, businesses employ public relations strategies for the ultimate benefit of increasing returns for the owners of the money that have been injected in the running of such businesses. According to Lucas (2001: 89), “business organisations use public relations to create a favourable image that would in return result in increased buying of their products or services in order to make more money for the owners of the businesses, as a way of financially rewarding them for their investment in the company or organisation.” On the other hand, a non-profit organisation focuses on fulfilling an educational or charitable mission, with recognition that all organisations must maintain positive bottom lines to exist. The same philosophy applies in governments as they aim at meeting their ordained functions vested on them by the public. Governments that have failed to live to the public’s expectations have fallen, as the people rose against them. The best example is the assignation of President Mobutu Tsetseko of Zaire (by then) due to the failure of his administration to provide basic needs to the public. It lost public trust.
Furthermore, non-profit organisations especially social welfare agencies and governments often rely on inexperienced public relations practitioners or even unprofessional volunteers or appointees to conduct their public relations programmes. They often argue that they do not have resources to engage the depth of public relations expertise necessary to mount sophisticated public relations or marketing efforts. But when it comes to business, public relations practitioners are employed and maintained in the organisation on the basis on their performance. The practitioners are research based strategic planners with considerably higher funding and support from management.
Government public relations is said to be coupled with propaganda in different faces as a way of winning public support especially during crises rather than performance. The public is sometimes given misleading information as a way of cushion hostility. For example, church leaders are sometimes used as a device to achieve credibility on policies or decisions that society does not promote. Other strategies which present the decision or idea as having “overwhelming support” are used to gain public support. The public often does not get the concealed truth in whichever way because governments use laws like State Security laws as a way of shutting the media and the public up on issues that may need urgent attention. For example, President Mwanawasa once warned those who were daring the National Constitution Conference (NCC) that they risked committing a treasonable case whose penalty was either death or life imprisonment. Many people thus conceded with the NCC idea as a mode of enacting the new constitution in fear of the ‘law.’ Bribery of opinion leaders is also used sometimes to win public support.
But when it comes to businesses and non-profit organisations, state inquiries through state agencies are in most cases used to get the truth, and when organisations are found faulting, they are penalized in one way or the other. In turn, customers may shun such institutions’ products or services. That means those who entrusted their capital in such ventures lose their money. As a result, open communication to a large extent characterises the business fraternity and non-profit organisations.
Government public relations professionals also face more hostility and suspicion than do other practitioners, which stem from the continuing struggle between the press fighting for the ‘right of the people to know’ and officials of government who insist upon discretion of certain sensitive areas of the public sphere. In addition, the hostility also stems from protests by industries, institutions and other vested interests when threatened by proposed legislation or government regulation. According to Bjornland (1993: 234), “government public relations is the most frustrating profession as practitioners are often dealing with an apathetic and poorly educated citizenry who do not understand the issue, the problem or the reasons behinds unpopular decision.” Worse still, this is often coupled with the popular perception of government as a gridlock, a maze of red tape, full of special interests, corruption, ineptitude and partisan politics. This is not the case to practitioners in non-profit organisations and business fraternity where the administration is considerably small and less bureaucratic.
Taking the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) code of conduct as a measure of levels of adherence to the public relations principles and ethics by business, government and non-profit organisation public relations, the business fraternity to a large extent adheres more to the public relations principles and ethics than the rest. According to the PRSA code of conduct, public relations practitioners should base their professional principles and ethics on the fundamental value and dignity of an individual and serving the interests of the clients, employers and other publics. They must be dedicated to the goals of better communication, understanding and cooperation among the diverse individual groups and institutions of society and conduct themselves professionally with the truth, accuracy, fairness and responsibility to their publics.
In line with the guidelines above among others, the efforts of public relations in business are often designed to improve public attitude towards the business. According to Hayden (1975: 14-18), “to operate effectively in business, public relations professionals must be aware of the principles and practices in the profession thoroughly, understand the communication process, importance of research, instincts of planning and implementation of the plan, and even the profession’s publics.” To accomplish this, public relations in business has been characterised by a high professional management level in an organisation which follows a research based strategic planning system with considerable funding and management support and outside consultancy when need arises. Such result oriented public relations does not take root in most non-profit organisations and governments for various reasons among them lack of funds.
Public relations practitioners in business are compelled to follow prescribed professional codes of conduct as businesses often operate under the surveillance of government agencies and other organisations concerned with consumer interests. These regulations are somehow relaxed when it comes to non-profit organisations as they are considered ‘good guys of society’ because they are perceived to be more concerned with the welfare of the people. For example, there are those non-profit organisations that supplement government efforts in areas of education or health, which many governments are striving to address due to the high demand by the public for those services. People exalt such organisations, for example, community schools run by churches and other organisations in Zambia, which target low income populations.
Contrary, business public relations practitioners must aim at enhancing their organisation’s credibility by building a firm foundation of honest performance, open communication, remove inconsistencies between performance and communication, commitment to problem solving and avoidance of creating expectations that cannot be met. According to www.wadsworth.com, “many non-profit organisations have taken advantage of relaxed government regulations on their operations in essence of ‘supplementing’ government efforts in improving standards of living of the people; and have ventured into buying debts on the secondary global market at a discount in line with Debt Swaps arrangements and later demand high pay from debtors without repercussions.” A recent example could be the case of Zambia over the voucher fund, where Donegal International bought Zambia’s US$2.3 million debt in the 1970s at US$200 thousand in pretence that the organisation had citizen empowerment programmes to carry out in the country using the price differential, but later demanded for US$15 million from the Zambian government. The organisation was not scrunitised or monitored to ensure that its claims were met. But when it comes to businesses, they are always under the ‘camera’ thus the public relations practiced under them is more sensitive to the environments the entities operate under.
Although there are no universally agreed upon principles or ethical codes of conduct in public relations being that what could be ethically right to someone may not be with the other, there is need to strike a considerable balance of interests of an organisation’s publics. This is because every profession must operate under some professional codes of conduct which separate it from other occupations. To this effect, the PRSA have clauses that oblige public relations practitioners to conduct their professional life in accordance to public interest and should exercise high standards of honesty and integrity and to deal fairly with the public. (But the practice differs due to certain advantages other entities enjoy.) To businesses, all publics counts as money for their sustenance comes from people, whom without they cannot survive. This is slightly different in case of non-profit organisations or governments whose funding is often from abroad or from tax payers’ who are obliged to pay tax by law.
Equally, when it comes to government, there are a lot of laws that are used to protect the leadership from being ousted for failure to meet public demands. For example, in Zambia, no one can sue the state for failure to meet their social and economic rights like education. The state is protected by law. It is on this basis that some scholars have argued that government public relations is more of propaganda and waste of public funds. For instances, in the United States, there is a law which allows certain things to remain secrets for twenty years even when what has happened is worthy the removal of the government in power. Governments are in such cases painted in the favourable light they do not deserve merely to hold on to power.
In conclusion, public relations’ major responsibility in all institutions is to present those institutions in the most favourable light that ‘meets’ diverse publics’ interests. But due to variations in environments of operation, there have been differences in carrying out these responsibilities. This has been worsened by the fact that there are no universally agreed upon principles or ethics under which all public relations practitioners should operate under. What could be ethically right to one practitioner may be wrong to the other based on the differences in ideological alignments, beliefs, attitudes and or\ commitment to professional code of conduct and personal values among other elicits of human or professional preferences. This indicates that the complex aspects of institutions public relations practitioners work for and intellectual honesty and integrity in all features of public relations requires proper understanding of the professional principles and ethics and how an individual practitioner is expected to conduct oneself by the public they serve in order to improve on the professional efficacy. It is therefore the duty of public relations practitioners to safeguard diligently their profession, the image of their institutions and interests of their publics on a balanced scale.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bjornland L. (1993), PR Case Studies Book: 100 PR Case Studies. Gale Research Centre. New York.
Cutlip at el (2000), Effective PR (8th Ed). Delhi: Pearson Education Inc.
Day A. (2000), Ethics in Media Communication: Cases and Controversies (3rd Ed). Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press.
Hayden R. (1975), The Reality of PR. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Inc.
Lucas S.E. (2001), The Art of Public Speaking (7th Ed). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Young D. (1996), Building your Company’s Good Will. New York: AMA Press.
William B. (1963), The Columbia Encyclopedia (3rd Ed). New York: Columbia University Press.
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gender and young people
INTRODUCTION
Incidences of gender inequality between men and women have been a serious source of public and private concern in Zambia and other parts of the world in regard to the prospects of good governance, national and global development at large. Therefore, there has been great emphasis from the world governments and non governmental organisations to close the gap between the two sexes by promoting women empowerment as women have been marginalised in many spheres of life. It was considered important for women to be given equal opportunities so that they could compete with their men folk in developmental issues and other areas of living. This is because women have been rated as inferior as compared to men in almost all sectors of life.
Campaigns and sensitisation programmes have been going on to promote women empowerment so that there are no gender imbalances between women and men. In the view of these cross-cutting gender imbalances in the country, the Zambian government formulated and adopted a holistic National Gender Policy in relation to the Beijing 1995 United Nations Fourth Conference on Gender Equality. The Policy stressed the need to fully integrate women in economic growth and ensure that both men and women participate fully and equitably benefit from the development process of the country.
Based on the above concerns, the core thesis of this essay is to discuss how gender mainstreaming has been implemented in Zambia. The fact that gender mainstreaming involves putting in place measures that promote gender equality and empowerment of women and men in various sectors will be taken into account in the handling of the discussion. Additionally, possible weaknesses and strengthens of the measures that have been put in place will be identified. The essay comprises four parts. The first part is the introduction, the second consists defines of key concepts, while the third is the main body. The last part is a personal conclusion as way of wrapping up the task.
DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS
According to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (1997: 35), “gender mainstreaming is a strategy for making women and men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the policies and programmes on all political, economic and social spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated.” This entails that gender mainstreaming does not only involve restricting efforts to promote equality to the implementation of specific measures that are meant to empower women, but mobilising general policies and measures specifically for the purpose of achieving equality. It is argued that equality can be achieved by actively and openly taking into account possible effects of the policies on the equality of men and women, their experiences and background from the planning stage. This means examining the measures and policies of empowerment and gender equality systematically, taking into account possible hindrances or challenges that affect a particular gender when defining and implementing them.
Additionally, Chiluba (2000: vi) defines gender equality as a situation where men and women have equal conditions for realising their full human rights and potential to contribute to and benefit from socio-economic, cultural and political development of a nation taking into consideration their similarities, differences and varying roles that they play. In a similar but parallel vein, empowerment refers to the process of gaining access to resources and developing one’s capacities with the view to participating actively in shaping one’s own life and that of one’s community in economic, socio-cultural, political and religious terms, (ibid: v).
MAIN BODY
Zambia experienced a positive economic performance in the immediate post-independence period. Economic growth rates were relatively high, and social and economic infrastructure were rapidly expanding mainly in health, education, transport and manufacturing sectors. Employment opportunities equally increased significantly. Consequently, Zambians made substantial gains in income levels, life expectancy and school enrollment, as well as reduction in morbidity and mortality levels.
Despite the gains that were made by the country, participation and benefits from these socio-economic developments were not equitably shared among Zambians because no policies were put in place to ensure equity, especially taking into consideration the disadvantaged position of women and girls. In a culture that favoured men and treated women as minors, both in pre and post independence period, women were marginalised in terms of access to education, employment and other social services. For instance, education and training were culturally considered men’s domain resulting in less women receiving the service. The net effect of this has been high levels of illiteracy among women as compared to men. Similarly, in employment, women were treated as minors who could not do certain jobs or own certain assets without the consent of fathers, husbands or uncles. Employment opportunities were limited for women given their lack of education background and the lack of supportive legislation and gender sensitive policies.
According to the Economic Commission for Africa (2005: 11), “all over the world, education for girls and women is currently recognised as a strategy of achieving gender equality and empowering women.” It is widely accepted that an educated woman is more likely to marry later, to space her pregnancies, to have fewer children, to seek medical care for herself and her children and to adopt good hygiene in her household. In line with this view, the Zambian government adopted a vision and mission that capture gender in its 1996 National Policy on Education. The mission is dubbed, “Education Our Future,” and it states that: “…to guide the provision of education for all Zambians so that they are able to pursue knowledge and skills, manifest excellence in performance and moral uprightness, defend democratic ideals, and accept and value other persons on the basis of their personal worthy and dignity irrespective of gender, religion, ethnic origin or any other discriminatory characteristic,” (GIDD 2002: 12).
The recognition of the importance of education in a person’s life prompted Zambia to make education a right to every person. Therefore, since independence, Zambia incorporated education in the country’s socio-economic development plans. Thus, the post independence era was characterised by rapid expansion of primary and secondary education facilities in all the administrative provinces available at the time. Both basic and high school enrollments showed dramatic increase especially with the introduction of basic schools. This increase however did not record serious performance and participation of girls in education as it mainly put the boy child on the upper hand. According to Central Statistical Office (1996: 34), “at high school level, the proportion of girls in school has been below 40% for a long time regardless of the measures that have been put in place to bring about gender equality.”
Additionally, lack of qualified female role models have attributed to the detrimental motivation and advancement of the girl child education. Some scholars argue that there is need for female role models that the girl child would look up to as she conceptualise her ambitions in education. Civil societies took a leading role in advocating for the empowerment of women and the girl child in Zambia. For example, gender issues in education have been addressed through the Programme for the Advancement of Girls’ Education (PAGE), which starting in 2003, which was mainstreamed into the school system. The Forum for African Women Educationist in Zambia (FAWEZA) is also influential in this area among other organisations. These organisations advocated for ‘back to school’ programmes for girls who fell pregnant while in school, scholarships to vulnerable girls, among other incentives that are meant to encourage the girl child go to school.
Health was another area which due to the decline in the provision of quality health care, impacted negatively on women and children as they are the major users of the health services. A number of strategies have been adopted to lead to equitable access of health care by all Zambians, to enable them to lead socially and economically productive lives. Gender mainstreaming has been identified as one of the strategies, which became a new concept in the health programming. These imbalances in terms of accessing health services between men and women have been perpetuated by the failure to recognise the vital role gender plays in planning and health development. This has been one of the deterrent factors in achieving success in the area of equality in accessing health care despite having health reforms in place.
In the Health Reforms, the mission statement for gender and health is on the creation of necessary conditions for every person, male or female, young and old, to be able to live a healthy life. However, some of the factors that affect the utilisation of health services in Zambia by men and women are enshrined in socialisation and beliefs. For example, Family Planning Services still target females only leaving out men who are actually the decision makers with regard to participation in sexual and reproductive health service activities. Long distances, poor road networks, and women’s poor attitudes towards their health have been some of the other barriers to effective access to health facilities especially by women. Besides the barriers above, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV\AIDS infections have proven to be another health challenge, which mainly affect women more than men due to both biological and social factors. Biologically, women are prone to abrasion and lacerations during sexual intercourse and are more likely to engage into risky sexual activities due to their socio-economic status since the economy is more of a patriarchy nature.
Therefore, the National Gender Policy has contributed towards achieving gender equality in accessing healthy services in that it has decentralised the health system to district level. This was meant to help government medical centres to provide services adequately and to bring the centres closer to the people. In rural areas, Community Based Health Service providers have been introduced who are trained on basic healthy issues and provided with some drugs to administer to community members sick of manageable diseases at that level. In addition, because of the policy, family planning matters which were in the past seen to be a concern of women alone are being discussed with men in various clinics in the country. Men are educated on the ways of family planning. Furthermore; there are now a lot of counseling centres where young people can go for counsel and guidance on sexuality and other HIV\AIDS issues to both males and females that they might not understand well. As a way of reducing infant mortality and maternal deaths, Healthy Reforms have led to free medical services for children under the age of five and expectant mothers. Mothers therefore go for regular post natal check-ups at the clinic or hospital free of charge.
Water and sanitation is the other area of concern that the National Gender Policy had to address. The water infrastructure was largely dilapidated in the 1990s leading to a situation where the quality of water supplied to the public in rural and peri-urban areas was inadequate and of poor quality. This subjected women to walk long distances as they are traditionally considered haulers and providers of water for domestic consumption. This had cut-off women from other productive areas in the economy. In an effort to reverse this situation, the government embarked on a major Sector Reform Programme by adopting and implementing the National Water Policy, whose overall objective is to achieve universal access to clean, safe adequate and reliable water supply and sanitation services. This policy promotes sustainable water resources development and facilitates the equitable provision of quality water for all users at acceptable costs while ensuring security of supply. The policy seeks to support measures aimed at increasing accessibility to safe and clean water and sanitation facilities and the sharing of costs.
Women have also been disadvantaged in the areas of labour, employment and social security, which the National Gender Policy tried to address when it came into effect. According to Mbula (2001: 43-44), “women were seriously discriminated in all avenues of employment during the implementation of structural adjustment policies, which entailed considerable retrenchment from the formal sector, and women were the first ones to be retrenched as they were concentrated in less skilled occupations.” Furthermore, the demand for women’s labour has been weakened by their additional function of reproduction as a result they tend to be less favoured when it comes to recruitment and usually the first to be let out when retrenching. To this effect, the National Gender Policy has a variety of labour laws that seek to regulate and fight gender inequality in workplaces. The Policy acknowledges the fact that men are more conversant with their rights and freedom in the world of work than women; as such women are usually discriminated against. Thus, the Policy made any form of discrimination illegal under the labour laws.
Lack of equitable distribution of resources between males and females was also rife in the acquisition and ownership of land in the 1980s and 1990s. According to Siachiyako (2006: 32), “in the 1980s most of the land in Zambia was dominantly under mutative communal system, whose tenure systems were either patriarchal or matrilineal in nature, which denied women access to land unless through their brothers, husbands, fathers or sons.” This has however continued to be a major hindrance to women’s effective participation in national development. To liberalise Land Acquisition and its usage, the government passed the Land Act, Cap.184 of the Laws of Zambia in 1996 to provide women the possibility of being land owners with security of tenure for 99 years.
In addition to land acquisition challenges, the ownership of houses by the Local Authorities discriminated women against owning houses through housing policies since independence. For example, these policies only allowed married women to own a house after they obtained a written prior consent from their spouses. In trying to address these problems, government adopted a National Housing Policy in 1995, which saw the sell of government houses to sitting tenants at cheaper prices regardless of their sex or economic status.
Furthermore, agriculture was another area that gender mainstreaming aspects have been implemented in Zambia. The majority Zambians earn their livelihood from small scale farming with women contributing 70% agricultural labour. Women participate in both cash and food crop production. According to Nyanga (2006: 07), “women bear the primary responsibilities of household food security, health and nutrition of their families despite being disadvantaged in accessing agricultural inputs, credit, land, and technology and making decisions on agrarian efficacy.” Therefore, the agriculture policy and planning systems have taken into account the central role of women in agricultural production and natural resource management. The Policy argues that sustainable household food security and poverty alleviation would only be achieved through integration and mainstreaming of gender at all levels. Successful integration and mainstreaming of the gender approach into institutional setting require the operationalisation of gender into specific goals, objective and action plans (ibid).
The National Gender Policy also made great strives in eliminating the stereotype portrayal of women in images and presentation in the media. The media was dominated by men who in turn dominated positions of decision making in the fraternity. The government redressed this by adopting the Information and Media Policy with a vision of promoting an efficient and self-motivated media industry, capable of delivering objective and timely information buffer-zone to all by the year 2000. The Policy also intended to promote and safeguard freedom of the press and expression, people’s right to information and encourages private sector participation in the print and electronic media. This was aimed at providing women with information which they have been deprived of especially those in rural areas.
The National Gender Policy also promoted equitable gender representation at all levels of decision making positions through affirmative action, the empowerment and improvement of women’s social, economic and political status. Women have been under-represented at all levels of decision making especially in government, parliament and the private sector over time, which the Policy meant to address. This has been perpetuated by low education attainment, traditional gender attitudes and prejudices among men and women and women’s weak economic status.
STRENGTHS OF THE GENDER EQUALITY MEASURES
The National Gender Policy has formulated a holistic approach to gender inequality challenges that discriminate women against full participation in many activities in the nation and equitably benefit from the development process attained in the country. The Policy puts forward gender mainstreaming issues and concerns that needed to be addressed for gender equality in the social, economic, political and other spheres of society to be attained in Zambia. The Policy entails the mobilisation of all general policies and resources for the purpose of achieving equality by actively and openly taking into account women and men’s concerns at the planning stage.
It provides terms of reference on strategies that can be used in all areas to address women and men’s concerns and experiences. The terms of reference are a ‘conscious’ which aims at integrating both men and women in all political, economical and social avenues. The Policy has impacted positively on gender mainstreaming in that it ensures there are actions that promote equality in the country with an ambitious approach which presupposes identifying men and women’s capacities to contribute to national development or in the areas of decision making. The Policy promotes the enhancement of long term changes in parental roles, family structures, institutional practices and other avenues that have perpetuated gender inequality. For example, in education, the Policy brought forward the implementation of programmes that have provided women opportunities to access education even after getting pregnant. Additionally, community schools have been opened in many parts of the country to supplement on government and private schools’ carrying capacities.
The Policy has also promoted the formulation of legislation that addresses gender violence issues. This has led to the setting up of departments like the Victim Support Unit (VSU) where all forms of harassment and violence especially on women and children are reported and redressed. Furthermore, drop centres and shelter for victims of these abuses have been introduced in some parts on the country. These victims are also counseled and perpetrators of the violence have been punished.
Additionally, the National Gender Policy brought into focus different perspectives and aspects that have perpetuated gender inequality between men and women and proposed ways in which they would be addressed. From that bigger picture, policy designers and implementers came up with strategies that could be used to empower the lower ranked sex. According SADC to (1998: 15), “the gender policy in Zambia was designed in a way that it blended several gender equality matters in response to socio-economic, legal, cultural and psychological obstacles to women and men’s opportunities and self-development due to differences in life experiences.” It resulted into proposals from various sectors of society on how inequality between men and women could be eliminated. Global and regional policies that were meant to empower women and promote gender equality were adopted. Such clauses became part of the national objectives and goals within specified periods. For example, the United Nations’ theme for 30 percent women presentation in decision making positions, which became part of the national targets of development. This resulted into improvements in terms of holding decision making positions by women like in Parliament, Cabinet, ministerial levels, media houses and other sectors of the Zambian society.
WEAKNESSES OF THE GENDER EQUALITY MEASURES
However, despite the positive contributions that the National Gender Policy has made towards the realisation of gender equality, there is a lot that has to be done to address the existing gender disparities in different avenues of life, be it economic, social, and political or decision making positions. For example, measures on water and sanitation that the National Water Policy is trying to address have not gone far due to insufficient funding and cultural practices which place the burden of water collection on women without their involvement in decision making. Although the trend is changing due to education, it is still rife in rural areas and homes of least educated couples. These cultural and customary factors have also perpetuated stereotype when it comes to jobs to be given to women. Some employers therefore, expect that women will have lower responsibilities and tend to confine them to particular job ladders. For instance, in the Zambia Army, women cannot rise to certain ranks like a General, as such ranks are considered to be for men.
According to Byrne (1994: 12), “gender imbalances in Zambia have been perpetuated by the factor that women’s legal status is determined by two separate laws: customary and statutory laws, which conflict each other in many ways.” Whereas government is striving to put laws in place that empower women in terms of property ownership or land acquisition, the customary law treats women as dependants, who cannot own personal property. This law states that whatever a woman produces belongs to the husband. Inheritance laws also leave uneducated women destitute to relatives of their husbands (when they die) who may descend on the family property and leave the widow without possessions. Such things have been very common in the country due to high levels of illiteracy among many Zambian women. Worse still, cultural factors are more dominant in the minds of many Zambians than modern approaches to life that try to empower women in various ways. Additionally, the Zambian legislation prohibits women from working underground in the mines, where their menfolk earn a lot of money.
Furthermore, very little has been to address the imbalances that exist in terms access to media coverage as well as holding positions by women in decision making positions in the media. According www.fullstop.com, “the media covered men more than women in 2005 on different programmes like profiling them in newspapers, featuring them on debates like assessing the country’s fighting against corruption, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and Vision 2030 among others, with percentage differentials of 88 percent against 12 percent respectively.” Women are often covered in the media mainly when something negative happened to them like rape or battery. Women also hold few influential decision making positions in the media. For example, no woman had ever held the position of the director of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC). This trend is common even among private media houses.
CONCLUSION
In the final analysis, it is clear that even though issues of gender mainstreaming have been blend in the country’s National Gender Policy, which has facilitated in addressing gender inequality in national programmes, a lot still has to be done. Taking gender disparities that have characterised the implementation of the national gender policy as a yardstick of the policy’s effectiveness in cushioning the disparities, it is true that most of the policies in it are only good on paper and not in implementation. There are numerous imbalances in many areas of life like education, the media, decision making and employment among others. The media have continued to marginalise women in both coverage and positions. The inequalities have also continued manifesting in land acquisition as well as science and technology issues where women are still the minority. Certain positions have remained “suitable” for men only not women. As a result, poverty has been higher among females than males to the extent that it is taken as feminine phenomenon.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Byrne B (1994), Gender Profile of Zambia Report No. 29. Briton: University of Sussex.
Chiluba F (2000), National Gender Policy. Lusaka: Cabinet Office.
ECA (2005), Promoting Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment in Africa: Questioning the Achievements and Confrontation the Challenges Ten Years after Beijing. Addis Ababa: Economic Commission for Africa.
GIDD (2002), Strategic Plan of Action for the National Gender Policy (2004-2008). Lusaka: Gender in Development Division.
Mbula L (2001), Guidelines and Check lists for Mainstreaming Gender in the Public Sector. Lusaka: Cabinet Office.
Nyanga P (2006), Impact of Agricultural Policy Changes on Household Food Security among Small Scale Farmers in Southern Zambia. Oslo: Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
SADC (2003), Report for the Needs Assessment Study for Capacity Building of the National Machineries for Gender Equality in SADC member States: the Case of Zambia. Lusaka: SADC.
Siachiyako G (2006), Women Poverty in Zambia, Incidences and Causes: A Case Study of Small Scale Rural Agricultural Women of Kalomo District in Zambia. Oslo: University of Oslo.
www.fullstop.com: United Nations Economic and Social Council (1997)
Incidences of gender inequality between men and women have been a serious source of public and private concern in Zambia and other parts of the world in regard to the prospects of good governance, national and global development at large. Therefore, there has been great emphasis from the world governments and non governmental organisations to close the gap between the two sexes by promoting women empowerment as women have been marginalised in many spheres of life. It was considered important for women to be given equal opportunities so that they could compete with their men folk in developmental issues and other areas of living. This is because women have been rated as inferior as compared to men in almost all sectors of life.
Campaigns and sensitisation programmes have been going on to promote women empowerment so that there are no gender imbalances between women and men. In the view of these cross-cutting gender imbalances in the country, the Zambian government formulated and adopted a holistic National Gender Policy in relation to the Beijing 1995 United Nations Fourth Conference on Gender Equality. The Policy stressed the need to fully integrate women in economic growth and ensure that both men and women participate fully and equitably benefit from the development process of the country.
Based on the above concerns, the core thesis of this essay is to discuss how gender mainstreaming has been implemented in Zambia. The fact that gender mainstreaming involves putting in place measures that promote gender equality and empowerment of women and men in various sectors will be taken into account in the handling of the discussion. Additionally, possible weaknesses and strengthens of the measures that have been put in place will be identified. The essay comprises four parts. The first part is the introduction, the second consists defines of key concepts, while the third is the main body. The last part is a personal conclusion as way of wrapping up the task.
DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS
According to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (1997: 35), “gender mainstreaming is a strategy for making women and men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the policies and programmes on all political, economic and social spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated.” This entails that gender mainstreaming does not only involve restricting efforts to promote equality to the implementation of specific measures that are meant to empower women, but mobilising general policies and measures specifically for the purpose of achieving equality. It is argued that equality can be achieved by actively and openly taking into account possible effects of the policies on the equality of men and women, their experiences and background from the planning stage. This means examining the measures and policies of empowerment and gender equality systematically, taking into account possible hindrances or challenges that affect a particular gender when defining and implementing them.
Additionally, Chiluba (2000: vi) defines gender equality as a situation where men and women have equal conditions for realising their full human rights and potential to contribute to and benefit from socio-economic, cultural and political development of a nation taking into consideration their similarities, differences and varying roles that they play. In a similar but parallel vein, empowerment refers to the process of gaining access to resources and developing one’s capacities with the view to participating actively in shaping one’s own life and that of one’s community in economic, socio-cultural, political and religious terms, (ibid: v).
MAIN BODY
Zambia experienced a positive economic performance in the immediate post-independence period. Economic growth rates were relatively high, and social and economic infrastructure were rapidly expanding mainly in health, education, transport and manufacturing sectors. Employment opportunities equally increased significantly. Consequently, Zambians made substantial gains in income levels, life expectancy and school enrollment, as well as reduction in morbidity and mortality levels.
Despite the gains that were made by the country, participation and benefits from these socio-economic developments were not equitably shared among Zambians because no policies were put in place to ensure equity, especially taking into consideration the disadvantaged position of women and girls. In a culture that favoured men and treated women as minors, both in pre and post independence period, women were marginalised in terms of access to education, employment and other social services. For instance, education and training were culturally considered men’s domain resulting in less women receiving the service. The net effect of this has been high levels of illiteracy among women as compared to men. Similarly, in employment, women were treated as minors who could not do certain jobs or own certain assets without the consent of fathers, husbands or uncles. Employment opportunities were limited for women given their lack of education background and the lack of supportive legislation and gender sensitive policies.
According to the Economic Commission for Africa (2005: 11), “all over the world, education for girls and women is currently recognised as a strategy of achieving gender equality and empowering women.” It is widely accepted that an educated woman is more likely to marry later, to space her pregnancies, to have fewer children, to seek medical care for herself and her children and to adopt good hygiene in her household. In line with this view, the Zambian government adopted a vision and mission that capture gender in its 1996 National Policy on Education. The mission is dubbed, “Education Our Future,” and it states that: “…to guide the provision of education for all Zambians so that they are able to pursue knowledge and skills, manifest excellence in performance and moral uprightness, defend democratic ideals, and accept and value other persons on the basis of their personal worthy and dignity irrespective of gender, religion, ethnic origin or any other discriminatory characteristic,” (GIDD 2002: 12).
The recognition of the importance of education in a person’s life prompted Zambia to make education a right to every person. Therefore, since independence, Zambia incorporated education in the country’s socio-economic development plans. Thus, the post independence era was characterised by rapid expansion of primary and secondary education facilities in all the administrative provinces available at the time. Both basic and high school enrollments showed dramatic increase especially with the introduction of basic schools. This increase however did not record serious performance and participation of girls in education as it mainly put the boy child on the upper hand. According to Central Statistical Office (1996: 34), “at high school level, the proportion of girls in school has been below 40% for a long time regardless of the measures that have been put in place to bring about gender equality.”
Additionally, lack of qualified female role models have attributed to the detrimental motivation and advancement of the girl child education. Some scholars argue that there is need for female role models that the girl child would look up to as she conceptualise her ambitions in education. Civil societies took a leading role in advocating for the empowerment of women and the girl child in Zambia. For example, gender issues in education have been addressed through the Programme for the Advancement of Girls’ Education (PAGE), which starting in 2003, which was mainstreamed into the school system. The Forum for African Women Educationist in Zambia (FAWEZA) is also influential in this area among other organisations. These organisations advocated for ‘back to school’ programmes for girls who fell pregnant while in school, scholarships to vulnerable girls, among other incentives that are meant to encourage the girl child go to school.
Health was another area which due to the decline in the provision of quality health care, impacted negatively on women and children as they are the major users of the health services. A number of strategies have been adopted to lead to equitable access of health care by all Zambians, to enable them to lead socially and economically productive lives. Gender mainstreaming has been identified as one of the strategies, which became a new concept in the health programming. These imbalances in terms of accessing health services between men and women have been perpetuated by the failure to recognise the vital role gender plays in planning and health development. This has been one of the deterrent factors in achieving success in the area of equality in accessing health care despite having health reforms in place.
In the Health Reforms, the mission statement for gender and health is on the creation of necessary conditions for every person, male or female, young and old, to be able to live a healthy life. However, some of the factors that affect the utilisation of health services in Zambia by men and women are enshrined in socialisation and beliefs. For example, Family Planning Services still target females only leaving out men who are actually the decision makers with regard to participation in sexual and reproductive health service activities. Long distances, poor road networks, and women’s poor attitudes towards their health have been some of the other barriers to effective access to health facilities especially by women. Besides the barriers above, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV\AIDS infections have proven to be another health challenge, which mainly affect women more than men due to both biological and social factors. Biologically, women are prone to abrasion and lacerations during sexual intercourse and are more likely to engage into risky sexual activities due to their socio-economic status since the economy is more of a patriarchy nature.
Therefore, the National Gender Policy has contributed towards achieving gender equality in accessing healthy services in that it has decentralised the health system to district level. This was meant to help government medical centres to provide services adequately and to bring the centres closer to the people. In rural areas, Community Based Health Service providers have been introduced who are trained on basic healthy issues and provided with some drugs to administer to community members sick of manageable diseases at that level. In addition, because of the policy, family planning matters which were in the past seen to be a concern of women alone are being discussed with men in various clinics in the country. Men are educated on the ways of family planning. Furthermore; there are now a lot of counseling centres where young people can go for counsel and guidance on sexuality and other HIV\AIDS issues to both males and females that they might not understand well. As a way of reducing infant mortality and maternal deaths, Healthy Reforms have led to free medical services for children under the age of five and expectant mothers. Mothers therefore go for regular post natal check-ups at the clinic or hospital free of charge.
Water and sanitation is the other area of concern that the National Gender Policy had to address. The water infrastructure was largely dilapidated in the 1990s leading to a situation where the quality of water supplied to the public in rural and peri-urban areas was inadequate and of poor quality. This subjected women to walk long distances as they are traditionally considered haulers and providers of water for domestic consumption. This had cut-off women from other productive areas in the economy. In an effort to reverse this situation, the government embarked on a major Sector Reform Programme by adopting and implementing the National Water Policy, whose overall objective is to achieve universal access to clean, safe adequate and reliable water supply and sanitation services. This policy promotes sustainable water resources development and facilitates the equitable provision of quality water for all users at acceptable costs while ensuring security of supply. The policy seeks to support measures aimed at increasing accessibility to safe and clean water and sanitation facilities and the sharing of costs.
Women have also been disadvantaged in the areas of labour, employment and social security, which the National Gender Policy tried to address when it came into effect. According to Mbula (2001: 43-44), “women were seriously discriminated in all avenues of employment during the implementation of structural adjustment policies, which entailed considerable retrenchment from the formal sector, and women were the first ones to be retrenched as they were concentrated in less skilled occupations.” Furthermore, the demand for women’s labour has been weakened by their additional function of reproduction as a result they tend to be less favoured when it comes to recruitment and usually the first to be let out when retrenching. To this effect, the National Gender Policy has a variety of labour laws that seek to regulate and fight gender inequality in workplaces. The Policy acknowledges the fact that men are more conversant with their rights and freedom in the world of work than women; as such women are usually discriminated against. Thus, the Policy made any form of discrimination illegal under the labour laws.
Lack of equitable distribution of resources between males and females was also rife in the acquisition and ownership of land in the 1980s and 1990s. According to Siachiyako (2006: 32), “in the 1980s most of the land in Zambia was dominantly under mutative communal system, whose tenure systems were either patriarchal or matrilineal in nature, which denied women access to land unless through their brothers, husbands, fathers or sons.” This has however continued to be a major hindrance to women’s effective participation in national development. To liberalise Land Acquisition and its usage, the government passed the Land Act, Cap.184 of the Laws of Zambia in 1996 to provide women the possibility of being land owners with security of tenure for 99 years.
In addition to land acquisition challenges, the ownership of houses by the Local Authorities discriminated women against owning houses through housing policies since independence. For example, these policies only allowed married women to own a house after they obtained a written prior consent from their spouses. In trying to address these problems, government adopted a National Housing Policy in 1995, which saw the sell of government houses to sitting tenants at cheaper prices regardless of their sex or economic status.
Furthermore, agriculture was another area that gender mainstreaming aspects have been implemented in Zambia. The majority Zambians earn their livelihood from small scale farming with women contributing 70% agricultural labour. Women participate in both cash and food crop production. According to Nyanga (2006: 07), “women bear the primary responsibilities of household food security, health and nutrition of their families despite being disadvantaged in accessing agricultural inputs, credit, land, and technology and making decisions on agrarian efficacy.” Therefore, the agriculture policy and planning systems have taken into account the central role of women in agricultural production and natural resource management. The Policy argues that sustainable household food security and poverty alleviation would only be achieved through integration and mainstreaming of gender at all levels. Successful integration and mainstreaming of the gender approach into institutional setting require the operationalisation of gender into specific goals, objective and action plans (ibid).
The National Gender Policy also made great strives in eliminating the stereotype portrayal of women in images and presentation in the media. The media was dominated by men who in turn dominated positions of decision making in the fraternity. The government redressed this by adopting the Information and Media Policy with a vision of promoting an efficient and self-motivated media industry, capable of delivering objective and timely information buffer-zone to all by the year 2000. The Policy also intended to promote and safeguard freedom of the press and expression, people’s right to information and encourages private sector participation in the print and electronic media. This was aimed at providing women with information which they have been deprived of especially those in rural areas.
The National Gender Policy also promoted equitable gender representation at all levels of decision making positions through affirmative action, the empowerment and improvement of women’s social, economic and political status. Women have been under-represented at all levels of decision making especially in government, parliament and the private sector over time, which the Policy meant to address. This has been perpetuated by low education attainment, traditional gender attitudes and prejudices among men and women and women’s weak economic status.
STRENGTHS OF THE GENDER EQUALITY MEASURES
The National Gender Policy has formulated a holistic approach to gender inequality challenges that discriminate women against full participation in many activities in the nation and equitably benefit from the development process attained in the country. The Policy puts forward gender mainstreaming issues and concerns that needed to be addressed for gender equality in the social, economic, political and other spheres of society to be attained in Zambia. The Policy entails the mobilisation of all general policies and resources for the purpose of achieving equality by actively and openly taking into account women and men’s concerns at the planning stage.
It provides terms of reference on strategies that can be used in all areas to address women and men’s concerns and experiences. The terms of reference are a ‘conscious’ which aims at integrating both men and women in all political, economical and social avenues. The Policy has impacted positively on gender mainstreaming in that it ensures there are actions that promote equality in the country with an ambitious approach which presupposes identifying men and women’s capacities to contribute to national development or in the areas of decision making. The Policy promotes the enhancement of long term changes in parental roles, family structures, institutional practices and other avenues that have perpetuated gender inequality. For example, in education, the Policy brought forward the implementation of programmes that have provided women opportunities to access education even after getting pregnant. Additionally, community schools have been opened in many parts of the country to supplement on government and private schools’ carrying capacities.
The Policy has also promoted the formulation of legislation that addresses gender violence issues. This has led to the setting up of departments like the Victim Support Unit (VSU) where all forms of harassment and violence especially on women and children are reported and redressed. Furthermore, drop centres and shelter for victims of these abuses have been introduced in some parts on the country. These victims are also counseled and perpetrators of the violence have been punished.
Additionally, the National Gender Policy brought into focus different perspectives and aspects that have perpetuated gender inequality between men and women and proposed ways in which they would be addressed. From that bigger picture, policy designers and implementers came up with strategies that could be used to empower the lower ranked sex. According SADC to (1998: 15), “the gender policy in Zambia was designed in a way that it blended several gender equality matters in response to socio-economic, legal, cultural and psychological obstacles to women and men’s opportunities and self-development due to differences in life experiences.” It resulted into proposals from various sectors of society on how inequality between men and women could be eliminated. Global and regional policies that were meant to empower women and promote gender equality were adopted. Such clauses became part of the national objectives and goals within specified periods. For example, the United Nations’ theme for 30 percent women presentation in decision making positions, which became part of the national targets of development. This resulted into improvements in terms of holding decision making positions by women like in Parliament, Cabinet, ministerial levels, media houses and other sectors of the Zambian society.
WEAKNESSES OF THE GENDER EQUALITY MEASURES
However, despite the positive contributions that the National Gender Policy has made towards the realisation of gender equality, there is a lot that has to be done to address the existing gender disparities in different avenues of life, be it economic, social, and political or decision making positions. For example, measures on water and sanitation that the National Water Policy is trying to address have not gone far due to insufficient funding and cultural practices which place the burden of water collection on women without their involvement in decision making. Although the trend is changing due to education, it is still rife in rural areas and homes of least educated couples. These cultural and customary factors have also perpetuated stereotype when it comes to jobs to be given to women. Some employers therefore, expect that women will have lower responsibilities and tend to confine them to particular job ladders. For instance, in the Zambia Army, women cannot rise to certain ranks like a General, as such ranks are considered to be for men.
According to Byrne (1994: 12), “gender imbalances in Zambia have been perpetuated by the factor that women’s legal status is determined by two separate laws: customary and statutory laws, which conflict each other in many ways.” Whereas government is striving to put laws in place that empower women in terms of property ownership or land acquisition, the customary law treats women as dependants, who cannot own personal property. This law states that whatever a woman produces belongs to the husband. Inheritance laws also leave uneducated women destitute to relatives of their husbands (when they die) who may descend on the family property and leave the widow without possessions. Such things have been very common in the country due to high levels of illiteracy among many Zambian women. Worse still, cultural factors are more dominant in the minds of many Zambians than modern approaches to life that try to empower women in various ways. Additionally, the Zambian legislation prohibits women from working underground in the mines, where their menfolk earn a lot of money.
Furthermore, very little has been to address the imbalances that exist in terms access to media coverage as well as holding positions by women in decision making positions in the media. According www.fullstop.com, “the media covered men more than women in 2005 on different programmes like profiling them in newspapers, featuring them on debates like assessing the country’s fighting against corruption, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and Vision 2030 among others, with percentage differentials of 88 percent against 12 percent respectively.” Women are often covered in the media mainly when something negative happened to them like rape or battery. Women also hold few influential decision making positions in the media. For example, no woman had ever held the position of the director of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC). This trend is common even among private media houses.
CONCLUSION
In the final analysis, it is clear that even though issues of gender mainstreaming have been blend in the country’s National Gender Policy, which has facilitated in addressing gender inequality in national programmes, a lot still has to be done. Taking gender disparities that have characterised the implementation of the national gender policy as a yardstick of the policy’s effectiveness in cushioning the disparities, it is true that most of the policies in it are only good on paper and not in implementation. There are numerous imbalances in many areas of life like education, the media, decision making and employment among others. The media have continued to marginalise women in both coverage and positions. The inequalities have also continued manifesting in land acquisition as well as science and technology issues where women are still the minority. Certain positions have remained “suitable” for men only not women. As a result, poverty has been higher among females than males to the extent that it is taken as feminine phenomenon.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Byrne B (1994), Gender Profile of Zambia Report No. 29. Briton: University of Sussex.
Chiluba F (2000), National Gender Policy. Lusaka: Cabinet Office.
ECA (2005), Promoting Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment in Africa: Questioning the Achievements and Confrontation the Challenges Ten Years after Beijing. Addis Ababa: Economic Commission for Africa.
GIDD (2002), Strategic Plan of Action for the National Gender Policy (2004-2008). Lusaka: Gender in Development Division.
Mbula L (2001), Guidelines and Check lists for Mainstreaming Gender in the Public Sector. Lusaka: Cabinet Office.
Nyanga P (2006), Impact of Agricultural Policy Changes on Household Food Security among Small Scale Farmers in Southern Zambia. Oslo: Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
SADC (2003), Report for the Needs Assessment Study for Capacity Building of the National Machineries for Gender Equality in SADC member States: the Case of Zambia. Lusaka: SADC.
Siachiyako G (2006), Women Poverty in Zambia, Incidences and Causes: A Case Study of Small Scale Rural Agricultural Women of Kalomo District in Zambia. Oslo: University of Oslo.
www.fullstop.com: United Nations Economic and Social Council (1997)
youths and school work
INTRODUCTION
Trade is one of the engines of economic growth which in the 19th century propelled the development of the now economically advanced nations. As a stimulant, trade encourages countries to specialise in areas of their comparative advantage in order to increase productivity. It also enables countries to have access to world markets for increased profitability, and access to foreign exchange, and the technology and skills which usually accompany it. However, most of the economic activities that were provoked by trade benefits took place with little care on the environment.
Based on the above concerns, the core thesis of this essay is to discuss how international trade contributes to environmental degradation and to show how multinational corporations (MNCs) have also contributed to the effect using Zambia as a case study.
MAIN BODY
Advantaged with natural resources and favourable climate for agricultural activities, Zambia engaged in international trade at different levels. The country utilised its raw materials like copper, timber and or \ cash crops and others in smaller quantities to penetrate the international market. Under the auspices of arable farming, the growing of tobacco and sugar cane in Choma and Mazabuka respectively became part of income injectors into the domestic economy. Pastoral farming also supplied the market with different animal products, let alone the aspect of value addition for more returns. Many MNCs such as Anglo American Corporation got attracted to Zambia’s comparative advantage in minerals and they invested heavily in the mining sector.
The desire by the MNCs to increase the rate of extracting raw materials from Zambia to meet their high demand by industries in their host countries led to un-precautious exploitation of natural resources at the expense of the environment. Worse still, Zambia embraced most of the investment activities in any nature as a way of alleviating extreme poverty. According to Ellis (2000: 118), “in the 21st century, poverty and environmental degradation are intimately connected, and poverty is seen as a cause and an effect of natural resource depletion in a downward spiral of complicated in-built potential for escalation.” Such negligence in Zambia’s Copperbelt area led increased biodiversity loss, ozone depletion, and the destruction of fauna and flora.
According to Singh (1994: 234), “Zambia accommodated MNCs’ investments in any form as these conglomerates are the key agents of international trade, controlling about 70% of it while investing more than US$40 billion in FI.” And proponents of MNCs investment argued that such FDIs better-off host countries’ economic stature through jobs, tax-base expansion, new technologies, and diverse ancillary businesses like banking or insurance, among others. Additionally, MNCs are considered to offer training and education to employees in R&D, thus creating a higher skilled workforce, and the skills that can be transferred to other areas of the host economy for better management of resources.
Paradoxically, MNCs are merely driven by the profit motive, rather than developing host economies. And LDCs have been the destination of MNCs’ investment because they are: a source of cheap labour and raw materials; have low taxation rates; and have relaxed labour and environmental laws. Due to their financial and political influence, MNCs dominate market possessions, manipulate prices and profits, and or\ generally strict the entry of potential competition by means of their dominating influences over new technologies, special skills and product differentiation, (ibid).
Taking advantage of the weak environmental laws in Zambia, these conglomerates have caused devastating or irreversible environmental problems in the country. People have been displaced to marginal lands, water reserviours have been polluted, soils are eroded, floods have been enhanced, droughts are common due to disturbed rainfall patterns, and some towns like Kabwe are declared the most polluted in the sub-region. Some examples of environmental problems caused by some MNCs activities are given below:
Trade is one of the engines of economic growth which in the 19th century propelled the development of the now economically advanced nations. As a stimulant, trade encourages countries to specialise in areas of their comparative advantage in order to increase productivity. It also enables countries to have access to world markets for increased profitability, and access to foreign exchange, and the technology and skills which usually accompany it. However, most of the economic activities that were provoked by trade benefits took place with little care on the environment.
Based on the above concerns, the core thesis of this essay is to discuss how international trade contributes to environmental degradation and to show how multinational corporations (MNCs) have also contributed to the effect using Zambia as a case study.
MAIN BODY
Advantaged with natural resources and favourable climate for agricultural activities, Zambia engaged in international trade at different levels. The country utilised its raw materials like copper, timber and or \ cash crops and others in smaller quantities to penetrate the international market. Under the auspices of arable farming, the growing of tobacco and sugar cane in Choma and Mazabuka respectively became part of income injectors into the domestic economy. Pastoral farming also supplied the market with different animal products, let alone the aspect of value addition for more returns. Many MNCs such as Anglo American Corporation got attracted to Zambia’s comparative advantage in minerals and they invested heavily in the mining sector.
The desire by the MNCs to increase the rate of extracting raw materials from Zambia to meet their high demand by industries in their host countries led to un-precautious exploitation of natural resources at the expense of the environment. Worse still, Zambia embraced most of the investment activities in any nature as a way of alleviating extreme poverty. According to Ellis (2000: 118), “in the 21st century, poverty and environmental degradation are intimately connected, and poverty is seen as a cause and an effect of natural resource depletion in a downward spiral of complicated in-built potential for escalation.” Such negligence in Zambia’s Copperbelt area led increased biodiversity loss, ozone depletion, and the destruction of fauna and flora.
According to Singh (1994: 234), “Zambia accommodated MNCs’ investments in any form as these conglomerates are the key agents of international trade, controlling about 70% of it while investing more than US$40 billion in FI.” And proponents of MNCs investment argued that such FDIs better-off host countries’ economic stature through jobs, tax-base expansion, new technologies, and diverse ancillary businesses like banking or insurance, among others. Additionally, MNCs are considered to offer training and education to employees in R&D, thus creating a higher skilled workforce, and the skills that can be transferred to other areas of the host economy for better management of resources.
Paradoxically, MNCs are merely driven by the profit motive, rather than developing host economies. And LDCs have been the destination of MNCs’ investment because they are: a source of cheap labour and raw materials; have low taxation rates; and have relaxed labour and environmental laws. Due to their financial and political influence, MNCs dominate market possessions, manipulate prices and profits, and or\ generally strict the entry of potential competition by means of their dominating influences over new technologies, special skills and product differentiation, (ibid).
Taking advantage of the weak environmental laws in Zambia, these conglomerates have caused devastating or irreversible environmental problems in the country. People have been displaced to marginal lands, water reserviours have been polluted, soils are eroded, floods have been enhanced, droughts are common due to disturbed rainfall patterns, and some towns like Kabwe are declared the most polluted in the sub-region. Some examples of environmental problems caused by some MNCs activities are given below:
EXAMPLES OF CAUSES OF ENVIROMNEMNTAL DEGRADATION OR PROBLEMS IN ZAMBIA
Mining
Although mining on the Copperbelt has been the mainstay of the Zambian economy for years, it has complex environmental impacts which include water pollution, air pollution and dust, siltation and sedimentation. Geographically, it has led to landscape disfigurement and displacement of existing land users particularly in agriculture and human settlements. A clear example of this is the land degradation in Chingola due to open pit mining. According to CSO Report (2004: 87), “all the mining companies cause environmental damage of one form or the other, for instance KCM admitted that it is facing environmental challenges due to the cumulative effect of mining and smelting for over 70 years.” The report indicates that KCM mining activities have primarily impacted on water by discharging high suspended solids into the Kafue river” (ibid).
Apart from the problem of siltation and sedimentation in the Kafue river, this has also increased costs of water supply and sanitation as supplying companies spend huge amounts of money on water treatment to control the turbidity and be able to supply clear and palatable water that conforms to the WHO specifications. According to the NWASCO (2006: 34), “the water on the Copperbelt is not conducive for human consumption due to high levels of affluent into the Kafue river by the mining and other industries, which have also disturbed the growth of vegetation.” Mining companies, for example KCM has failed to meet the ECZ statutory standards regarding sulphur dioxide pollution from its Smeltaco plant in Kitwe. ECZ recommended the use of converter modified technology, which enables the capture of more sulphur dioxide that can in turn be used to manufacture sulphuric acid for mineral processing. This is in line with the environmental concept of cleaner production, which promotes the continuous use of industrial processes and products in order to reduce pollution and thus minimise the risks to humans and the environment.
Secondly, Spirit of the River Company Ltd in Western Province is the recent example of a profit driven company which exposed the aquatic life in the Zambezi river to danger. According to Chakwe (2006:03), “the company polluted the water in the river by using a poisonous chemical to kill a large number of fish for the extraction of diamond and other precious minerals that they swallow from their bellies.” A lot of fish and other forms of life that live in water died in the river and government have since banned the consumption of the fish from the river.
The third example under mining could be the opening of Abidon Mine in Mazabuka which has seen the displacement of local people from their land to far flung areas. The people were settled on smaller plots of land that may not produce them enough food. The area may have poor water system or poor soil fertility as compared to where they were displaced thus perpetual hunger. According to Mukosa (2007: 01), “the ECZ had rejected the application by the company to set a plant there on the basis that it would be dangerous to human life.” This entails that the company did not meet the EIA standards. The argument by ECZ was that the company’s laboratory was not up to standard in handling the uranium and nickel it was embarking on digging.
Agriculture
In the agriculture sector, much of the land in the country has been acquired and cleared for commercial production. Tobacco farming in Choma in Southern province can be a vivid example. Huge areas of land have been cleared to increase the number of fields to meet the market demand, which is mainly international. Heavy duty machinery like the caterpillar is used in the clearing of the land to quicken the process. The machinery grinds the soil with its metallic wheel system, thus destroying the soil. The net effect of this is soil erosion. To improve the legume’s growth rate and quality, high technology is applied such as the use of hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Chemicals like fertilizer produce nitrate oxide, which is well known for causing acidification.
Worse still, processing tobacco requires a lot of fire wood. This has led to large scale cutting of trees to supply tobacco growers with the much needed fuel wood. People in the nearby villages are often contracted to supply fire wood to these profit-motivated agro-businesses. This has both disturbed the rain patterns and caused desertification. Specialised humid tropical ecosystems in nutrient recycling are destroyed in the process. Local communities have also lost their farming lands that they depended on for survival. This worsens poverty levels in the country as these communities cannot access basic needs of life. They also fail to take their children to school as the land they are pushed to cannot provide them with enough produce to meet their needs after selling the surplus.
Secondly, the expansion of Nakambala Sugar Estate in Mazabuka has also seen the displacement of local people around the area to the marginal lands. The people have equally lost the farming land. They are also cut off from certain services like education and medical due to long distances. Additionally, there was no EIA which was done to approve the project. The chemicals used to enhance the plants’ growth rate have serious environmental impacts. Further more, the expansion will add on the emission of smoke to the air from the production plant, hence more carbon monoxide (CO) in the air. The combination of CO and nitrate oxide (from the chemical fertilizers used to plant) forms smog. The net effects of this are eye problems, risks of asthma and poor distribution of oxygen in the red blood cells.
Farmers are also requested to rent out their fields to the company for increased sugar cane growing. The net effect of this will be perpetual hunger in the area as the peasants spend more of their time growing the cane sugars at the expense food production. Government will be then forced to ask for food assistance in times of poor harvests to off-set the shortfall. Food aid, especially genetically modified foods (GMOs) which are unfriendly to the environment due to the chemicals used in their growth may come in the country. The GMOs often disturb the pollination system of local crops due to the chemicals applied to them when preserving them.
Timber processing
The large-scale forest clearance for timber production for export for example in areas like Mwekela or Dora Hill in Copperbelt has led to the destabilization of the humid tropical ecosystems that are specialised in nutrient recycling. The destruction of these forests therefore results in loss of the important biodiversity and disturbs stable ecological cycles. According to Lungu and Silengo (1997: 56), “the indiscriminate logging also leads to deforestation, which further leads to siltation of reserviours, damaging to hydro-electric plants, increase in floods, which consequently damage property, crops and animals.” And that coupled with mining emissions has worsened the environmental destruction in the area to the extent that vegetables and other greens do not grow to normal texture and taste in most towns in Copperbelt.
These conglomerates however do not contribute much to the Zambian economy in terms of revenue as they enter into logging concessions. And during the signing of these concessions, there are either no clauses of law on the protection of the forestry or MNCs disobey them deliberately. When these laws are abrogated, they often use corrupt officials to escape it.
Conclusion
Although free international trade is said to have a crucial role in national development, its domain greatly contradicts that of the environment. This is because most practices of free global trade tend to be incompatible with environmental conservation. In many instances, this trade has been built on unacceptable levels of resource exploitation, which destroys the environment often with no regard to future generations. This has mainly exerted greater threat to the health and well being of the environment in LDCs, whose major foreign exchange source is the export of raw materials like timber, minerals, fish and cash crops. The timber trade demonstrates the pit-falls of natural resource-based exports as it is among the factors underlying deforestation in many LDCs. This is because the need for foreign exchange encourages LDCs to cut timber faster than forests can be regenerated. And the over-cutting has both caused the depletion of the resources that underpins the timber trade and loss of forest based livelihoods, soil erosion and down-stream flooding.
Mining
Although mining on the Copperbelt has been the mainstay of the Zambian economy for years, it has complex environmental impacts which include water pollution, air pollution and dust, siltation and sedimentation. Geographically, it has led to landscape disfigurement and displacement of existing land users particularly in agriculture and human settlements. A clear example of this is the land degradation in Chingola due to open pit mining. According to CSO Report (2004: 87), “all the mining companies cause environmental damage of one form or the other, for instance KCM admitted that it is facing environmental challenges due to the cumulative effect of mining and smelting for over 70 years.” The report indicates that KCM mining activities have primarily impacted on water by discharging high suspended solids into the Kafue river” (ibid).
Apart from the problem of siltation and sedimentation in the Kafue river, this has also increased costs of water supply and sanitation as supplying companies spend huge amounts of money on water treatment to control the turbidity and be able to supply clear and palatable water that conforms to the WHO specifications. According to the NWASCO (2006: 34), “the water on the Copperbelt is not conducive for human consumption due to high levels of affluent into the Kafue river by the mining and other industries, which have also disturbed the growth of vegetation.” Mining companies, for example KCM has failed to meet the ECZ statutory standards regarding sulphur dioxide pollution from its Smeltaco plant in Kitwe. ECZ recommended the use of converter modified technology, which enables the capture of more sulphur dioxide that can in turn be used to manufacture sulphuric acid for mineral processing. This is in line with the environmental concept of cleaner production, which promotes the continuous use of industrial processes and products in order to reduce pollution and thus minimise the risks to humans and the environment.
Secondly, Spirit of the River Company Ltd in Western Province is the recent example of a profit driven company which exposed the aquatic life in the Zambezi river to danger. According to Chakwe (2006:03), “the company polluted the water in the river by using a poisonous chemical to kill a large number of fish for the extraction of diamond and other precious minerals that they swallow from their bellies.” A lot of fish and other forms of life that live in water died in the river and government have since banned the consumption of the fish from the river.
The third example under mining could be the opening of Abidon Mine in Mazabuka which has seen the displacement of local people from their land to far flung areas. The people were settled on smaller plots of land that may not produce them enough food. The area may have poor water system or poor soil fertility as compared to where they were displaced thus perpetual hunger. According to Mukosa (2007: 01), “the ECZ had rejected the application by the company to set a plant there on the basis that it would be dangerous to human life.” This entails that the company did not meet the EIA standards. The argument by ECZ was that the company’s laboratory was not up to standard in handling the uranium and nickel it was embarking on digging.
Agriculture
In the agriculture sector, much of the land in the country has been acquired and cleared for commercial production. Tobacco farming in Choma in Southern province can be a vivid example. Huge areas of land have been cleared to increase the number of fields to meet the market demand, which is mainly international. Heavy duty machinery like the caterpillar is used in the clearing of the land to quicken the process. The machinery grinds the soil with its metallic wheel system, thus destroying the soil. The net effect of this is soil erosion. To improve the legume’s growth rate and quality, high technology is applied such as the use of hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Chemicals like fertilizer produce nitrate oxide, which is well known for causing acidification.
Worse still, processing tobacco requires a lot of fire wood. This has led to large scale cutting of trees to supply tobacco growers with the much needed fuel wood. People in the nearby villages are often contracted to supply fire wood to these profit-motivated agro-businesses. This has both disturbed the rain patterns and caused desertification. Specialised humid tropical ecosystems in nutrient recycling are destroyed in the process. Local communities have also lost their farming lands that they depended on for survival. This worsens poverty levels in the country as these communities cannot access basic needs of life. They also fail to take their children to school as the land they are pushed to cannot provide them with enough produce to meet their needs after selling the surplus.
Secondly, the expansion of Nakambala Sugar Estate in Mazabuka has also seen the displacement of local people around the area to the marginal lands. The people have equally lost the farming land. They are also cut off from certain services like education and medical due to long distances. Additionally, there was no EIA which was done to approve the project. The chemicals used to enhance the plants’ growth rate have serious environmental impacts. Further more, the expansion will add on the emission of smoke to the air from the production plant, hence more carbon monoxide (CO) in the air. The combination of CO and nitrate oxide (from the chemical fertilizers used to plant) forms smog. The net effects of this are eye problems, risks of asthma and poor distribution of oxygen in the red blood cells.
Farmers are also requested to rent out their fields to the company for increased sugar cane growing. The net effect of this will be perpetual hunger in the area as the peasants spend more of their time growing the cane sugars at the expense food production. Government will be then forced to ask for food assistance in times of poor harvests to off-set the shortfall. Food aid, especially genetically modified foods (GMOs) which are unfriendly to the environment due to the chemicals used in their growth may come in the country. The GMOs often disturb the pollination system of local crops due to the chemicals applied to them when preserving them.
Timber processing
The large-scale forest clearance for timber production for export for example in areas like Mwekela or Dora Hill in Copperbelt has led to the destabilization of the humid tropical ecosystems that are specialised in nutrient recycling. The destruction of these forests therefore results in loss of the important biodiversity and disturbs stable ecological cycles. According to Lungu and Silengo (1997: 56), “the indiscriminate logging also leads to deforestation, which further leads to siltation of reserviours, damaging to hydro-electric plants, increase in floods, which consequently damage property, crops and animals.” And that coupled with mining emissions has worsened the environmental destruction in the area to the extent that vegetables and other greens do not grow to normal texture and taste in most towns in Copperbelt.
These conglomerates however do not contribute much to the Zambian economy in terms of revenue as they enter into logging concessions. And during the signing of these concessions, there are either no clauses of law on the protection of the forestry or MNCs disobey them deliberately. When these laws are abrogated, they often use corrupt officials to escape it.
Conclusion
Although free international trade is said to have a crucial role in national development, its domain greatly contradicts that of the environment. This is because most practices of free global trade tend to be incompatible with environmental conservation. In many instances, this trade has been built on unacceptable levels of resource exploitation, which destroys the environment often with no regard to future generations. This has mainly exerted greater threat to the health and well being of the environment in LDCs, whose major foreign exchange source is the export of raw materials like timber, minerals, fish and cash crops. The timber trade demonstrates the pit-falls of natural resource-based exports as it is among the factors underlying deforestation in many LDCs. This is because the need for foreign exchange encourages LDCs to cut timber faster than forests can be regenerated. And the over-cutting has both caused the depletion of the resources that underpins the timber trade and loss of forest based livelihoods, soil erosion and down-stream flooding.
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