OVERCOMING EU LEVEL PUBLIC DIPLOMACY CHALLENGES BY FOREIGN MISSIONS

The task of directing a Foreign Mission’s communications programme and public policy efforts is usually entrusted to the Public Affairs Office. The section informs and engages European audiences in discussions about the country’s policies, society, and cooperation with the EU on a global agenda. Typical  duties include: planning and organizing press and cultural events with senior government officials; setting up events for outreach to the EU institutions; preparing daily news briefs; monitoring media for breaking news and developments; writing media analyses; researching topics related to the country-EU relationship; participating in internal and external meetings; keeping informed on developments across a wide range of policy areas; and updating the Mission’s contact database.

Typically, the Head of Mission provides a vision for public diplomacy at EU level. Foreign Missions that have an Head of Mission who explicitly embrace programmes as tools for achieving the Embassy's objectives are often recognized for their strengths in these areas. The leadership provided by public and cultural affairs Counsellors is also crucial.

Integrated and multi-year public diplomacy strategies have the potential to be most far-reaching . These integrated strategies usually draw on

• all of the potential resources of the Foreign Mission (Embassy, Consulates, others),
• the different sections in the Foreign Mission (political, public affairs and culture, trade, for example), and
• the various tools of public diplomacy (communications, arts and culture, public affairs/outreach, academic relations, youth exchanges, etc.).

However, a whole-of-mission approach is a challenge to implement in practice, given tendencies for Foreign Missions and their different Sections to work on their own. In many cases, there is still much to be done at the EU level in taking the whole-of-mission approach from paper to practice.

Appropriate staffing (levels and expertise) can make a difference in efforts to do public diplomacy at the EU level. Most of the Foreign Missions in Brussels have a number of locally engaged staff involved in public diplomacy. There are some benefits to this. Locally-engaged staff who have strong expertise in political and public affairs can bring personal networks into the Embassy's folds. This can facilitate the development of long-term relationships with partners.

Even the strongest foreign missions (in terms of overall capacity to drive public diplomacy strategies), in general lack the resources to follow-up on public diplomacy initiatives and systematically monitor progress over time. Monitoring and reporting is important not only for accountability, but also from the perspective of learning and corporate memory. Due to staff rotation, the successes, failures, and lessons learned must be readily available.

Funding is the other key factor in a Foreign Mission’s capacity to implement public diplomacy initiatives. However, to be of worth, financial resources must be provided in a consistent manner over time. The importance of time cannot be underestimated since it takes several years to build up a presence with external audiences and to develop a team approach in-house. In order to develop multi-year strategies, there must be some security in the availability of funding.

Public diplomacy initiatives at EU level can leverage additional resources through partnership. The ability to develop and sustain relationships over time is a critical capacity at Foreign Missions.

The allocation of new funds for public diplomacy should respond to an overall policy framework, with clear results and accountabilities. This requires boosting the Foreign Mission's  capacities in some cases and streamlining management and reporting systems so that these are more manageable for the Foreign Mission. For Foreign Missions, it is important to reduce the "little pots of money" to be managed and be able to work and plan within a multi-year framework. It is also crucial that financial resources are accompanied with the necessary staffing. Foreign Missions should drive the public diplomacy agenda at EU level, but also be accountable for results that link to a broader policy framework.

Public diplomacy programming needs to use networks and partnerships, both domestically and internationally. Partnerships and networks will continue to be necessary for public diplomacy at EU level.

Final Notes 

Public diplomacy must based on the honest and objective dissemination of information and values. In other words: it must have credibility. Besides, public diplomacy to be successful needs to be viewed in a long-term perspective that requires working through the exchange of people and ideas in order to build trust, understanding and lasting relationships.

In reality, public diplomacy is also about building relationships: understanding the needs of other countries, cultures and peoples; correcting misperceptions; looking for areas of common cause; and communicating points of view. Trust is essential for effective public diplomacy and trust usually can only be built on the basis of long and trusted relationships. Besides, this is the most effective way of communicating positive messages and fostering good relations with other countries.

In what concerns “nation branding” it is, simply put, the use of branding techniques by countries in an effort (a) to improve and enhance their overall image and (b) to position themselves in terms of their investment potential, credit worthiness, export opportunities, tourism potential and relations with other states. It is also a sort of image management.

One of the great achievements of nation branding has been to revitalise the promotion of countries and to make public diplomacy more strategic. Many countries have been able to prove their relevance by using nation branding together with public diplomacy. Other benefits of adopting a branding-oriented approach to public diplomacy have been:

• To better visualise public diplomacy;
• To bring creativity in reaching out to foreign publics;
• To increase the competitiveness of nations in a globalised world;
• To improve communication skills of nations aimed at foreign audiences;
• As nation branding targets a wider audience than public diplomacy, it widens the number of people it can reach;
• And as nation branding is more results-oriented than public diplomacy alone, it generally translates into more dynamism and more tangible results .