PROFILE RAISING

Profile raising means helping an organization to build or improve its relationships with government officials. It means supporting organizations wanting to be better known and understood by political stakeholders as they engage with government, parliament or other decision makers.

A profile is the way an organization is perceived by others, whether through face-to-face contact, or through something people have seen or read. This perception depends on how well the organization plans to make contact with people, how it presents itself when it does and how it maintains a good impression in subsequent contacts.

Sometimes certain public perceptions about an organization may be outdated and inaccurate These perceptions may not represent the work that an organization actually does and the successful results it gets. The objective of profile raising is to let people know who you are and what you do.

Raising an organization’s profile usually entail the following activities:

• Mapping and developing relationships with key decision-makers and stakeholders;
• The development and dissemination of policy positions and papers;
• The identification of policy priorities;
• Extensive programmes of meetings to develop strong relationships with key government officials, parliamentarians and third party stakeholders;
• Establishing the organization as a trusted authority.

In order to achieve success, an organization needs good governance processes and  to build  efficient relationships with key stakeholders and policymakers. Through the delivery of an integrated communications strategy, it is possible to raise the profile of an organization and improve its influence on public policy matters. Increasing media profile can be achieved by leveraging research, events, consultation responses and presidential activity. In order to inform the debate, it is necessary to develop a proactive stakeholder engagement programme, targeting government, politicians, special interest groups, peer organisations and the media. Finally it is critical for any organization to improve the quality, timeliness and impact of  its inputs into public policy consultations.