DM2009 Finalists and Other NGOs Must Tell Their Story

With global warming heating up, will non-governmental organizations be major players in forging and implementing climate adaptation as developing countries struggle to cope with the adverse effects of climate change on their people, resources, and economies?

The answer should be a no-brainer yes.  Many NGOs -- pre-eminently those that populate the DM2009 finalist roster -- have strong local roots.  Community connections are an essential ingredient of effective climate adaptation action.  But many DM2009 finalists express frustrations in their attempts to collaborate with governments in their countries.  Those frustrations have been detailed in this blog -- here, here, here, and here, among other places.

What to do?  NGOs have to tell their story to the media, which then tells the story to the public, which can then influence government.  Climate adaptation will be around for a long time -- for the rest of the 21st century -- so this is a story that has "legs."  But the story doesn't unfold by itself.  It has to be prompted.  NGOs have to engage and help educate the media, especially on the local level.

The World Bank blog People, Spaces, Deliberation has published a very interesting two-part article on media and public opinion -- here and here.  Every DM2009 finalist, and every NGO, should read, and heed, what the author, Anne-Katrin Arnold, has to say.