33

ISSUE

Communication
Reform Today

Issue 3, January - February 2016

It is amazing what can be achieved when like minded

professionals come together with a common aim.
Today the goal of the CRG is to design a new
government communications office that will deliver
world class public sector communication that
will improve the lives of people and communities
in Ukraine, assist with the effective operation
of public services by continuously delivering
responsive and informative communications and
help the peoples of other nations understand the
realities and achievements of Ukraine today.

On the 20th of January, after nearly 6 months of

very intense work by the Communications Reform
Group working in partnership with colleagues at
the office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of

CABINET

GOVERNMENT
COMMUNICATIONS
REFORM

APPROVES
Information Policy and the National Security and
Defence Council of Ukraine, the Cabinet formally
endorsed and approved the concept of government
communication reform. The Cabinet recognised
that the existing communication system is simply
not set up to handle the pressures of modern
society and that fundamental reform is the only
solution. CRG has passed the first stages of what
is a long and complex road to reform as it is now
essential to develop the appropriate legislation,
launch and test the new system and develop the
training modules.
After extensive research through a highly detailed
audit of current ministerial communication
resources and a study of the experience of
communications departments of a number of

European governments a system was

recommended that is based on the
highly successful British and Dutch
models. In the current system the
primary focus is political agendas of
state officials with the press teams
spending an inordinate amount of
time on fire fighting and satisfying
short term objectives. The new
system foresees a marked expansion
of the role of communications in the
process of government with a clear
division between political and public
communications.
The political news section will be
handled by the Ministers press

Comminication Reform Today, Issue 3, January - February 2016 | 2

secretarial team whilst the work on public issues and the management
of long term communication campaigns will be handled by a new civil
service based Government Communications Office in conjunction
with the communication departments in Ministries. Under
the old system there was no system of continuity between
governments; under the new system both the Government
Communications Office and the communication
departments in ministries will act as a service to
whichever government is in power.
The highest positions in the new service will be
Director of Government Communications, Director
of Ministerial Communications and Special
Communications Advisor to a Minister and
the salary levels will be commensurate
with both their status and market value.
No longer will a career in government
communications be a lowly paid
existence as the service will need
equitably paid professionals.
This conversion process
however is going to take time
and a great deal of patience
and understanding
will be needed in the
interim.

Comminication Reform Today, Issue 3, January - February 2016 | 3

NEED

for

LEGISLATIVE

CONTROL

Setting up the system has also meant a new set of changes to the
legislation to formalise communication as a strategic role within the
governmental system and enable it to be properly funded.
The following key elements need to be reflected on a systemic level with
in the legislation:

Enshrine communication and key related definitions in the law as the

absence of the notion in law results in no responsibilities or budgeting;

Improve the system of subordination of people employed in

government communication;
Introduce professional standards into the system of evaluation of
state officials employed in government communications;
Divide responsibilities of the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil
Service and newly created Government Communication Office in the
evaluation of professional level and employment of specialists in
government communication.

The legal team at CRG have done a first class job in not only writing the
detailed recommendations on the new legislation but also in creating the
legal glossary of terminology effectively starting from a blank sheet of paper.
A main challenge in the future execution of the project is going to be the
implementation of the recommendations and the creation of conditions
for the implementation of entire concept.

Comminication Reform Today, Issue 3, January - February 2016 | 4

Professional
Growth

The audit also pointed out that there are no common

standards of the skills and knowledge of government
communication specialists within the existing system. For
any system to work effectively there needs to be a common
standard of understanding and common practices that meet

governmental requirements particularly when the entire

communications machine will, in the distant future, employ a
couple of thousand people.
Here the team recruited Sue Wolstenholme, the former
President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations
in London and one of the worlds leading experts in
communications training. As a result of their work they have
organised the training of 25 top professionals
from the Ukrainian PR industry in teaching
communications as a subject. These trainers
will deliver a standard course in communication
as part of the new career development system
for government communications officers.
One of the challenges of the project will be to
implement the designed training programme in
higher educational establishments specialising
in training public officers and organise the
training system for all current government
communication officers.
A separate important task is to create a new
basic qualification of state communications officials as a
mandatory requirement for any government communications
officer in the future.

Comminication Reform Today, Issue 3, January - February 2016 | 5

LEARNING

FROM

In December a group of eight

senior staff from The Cabinet of
Ministers, the NSDC and the CRG
went to London as guests of the UK
Cabinet office to see government
communications in action. It was
a three day intensive emersion
into how the UK government
communication system works and
why. Their entire system is based
on having extremely well trained
staff following clear and logical
systems that deliver outcomes. In
any one year the UK GCS handles
approximately 150 public information
campaigns on behalf of Ministries
(thats almost 3 new campaigns a
week) ranging from health issues
such as obesity and clean water to
safe driving and pocket knives.
Their role is to ensure that the public
is properly informed and as such
they are an instrument of change.
Their tracking system enables them
to understand almost on a day by
day basis how the public are reacting
to the campaign and whether it is
affecting the desired social change.
The political news emanates from all
the Ministries under the direction of
the No 10 Downing Street who set
the political agenda and define the
political strategy.

THE BEST
international practices

At the Foreign and Commonwealth office we were shown one

of three crisis monitoring centres that track situations on a
national, international and military perspective in real time so
that if there is a threat to British nationals or British interests
anywhere in the world the government is able to react at a
few hours notice.
The visit, funded by the OSCE was a source of inspiration for
further work on the development and implementation of a new
concept of government communication system in Ukraine.
As with all reforms it is going to take time to fine tune the
model but the end result should be one of the most effective
government communications systems in Europe enabling Ukraine
to communicate effectively both internally and externally.