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Building bridges & navigating polarisation: A PR professional’s call to tell the stories that matter
By Bridget MENSAH
As we celebrate World PR Day 2025 with its theme ‘Building Bridges & Navigating Polarisation’, I find myself reflecting on a hard truth: we have become experts at building bridges between brands and consumers, but we have forgotten how to build bridges between human beings.
I am a PR professional. I am also an advocate and as a Ghanaian woman, an African storyteller. I have watched our continent’s media landscape abandon some of the most important stories of our time.
Today, I am choosing to dedicate my storytelling to the women of Congo; because where there is conflict, polarisation thrives, and to navigate that, we need to talk about it, no matter how difficult.
Right now, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we are witnessing one of the world’s most devastating humanitarian crises. Nearly 7 million people are displaced from their homes. Over 38,000 cases of sexual violence were reported in just one province in three months. Women are being attacked while searching for firewood to cook their children’s meals.
Yet where is the crisis communication? Where are the media relations campaigns? Where are the African PR professionals using their skills to navigate this polarisation and build bridges of understanding? The silence is deafening and as someone who understands the power of strategic communication, I know this silence is a choice. Here’s what’s particularly heartbreaking: African media outlets have largely abandoned the Congo story. We have allowed international press to control the narrative about our own continent. We have let political alignments determine which African lives deserve our attention.
As PR professionals, we know what happens when you lose control of your narrative. We counsel our clients about the dangers of letting others tell their story. Yet we’ve done exactly that with Congo and with so many other African conflicts. The result? Polarisation deepens. Communities become more isolated. The very divisions that fuel conflict are reinforced by our silence.
The skills we have, the bridges we could build
Let me be clear about what we do well in PR:
- Crisis management: We help organisations navigate their worst moments, manage stakeholder relationships and find paths forward. These same skills could help communities in crisis communicate their needs and rebuild trust.
- Media relations: We know how to craft messages that resonate across different audiences, secure coverage for important stories and build relationships with journalists. We could be using these skills to ensure African conflicts get the nuanced coverage they deserve.
- Stakeholder engagement: We excel at bringing different groups together, finding common ground and facilitating difficult conversations. These are exactly the skills needed to navigate polarisation in conflict zones.
- Strategic communication: We understand how to make complex information accessible, build emotional connections and create movements that matter.
The question is: why aren’t we using these skills where they are needed most?
Conflicts like that of Congo present unique challenges for communication professionals. Every message risks being weaponised. Every story risks oversimplification. Every campaign risks reinforcing existing divisions. But this is exactly why PR professionals are needed. We are trained to navigate complex stakeholder environments. We understand how to communicate in polarised situations. We know how to build bridges even when audiences seem irreconcilably divided.
The women in Congo aren’t asking us to solve their political situation. They are asking us to help tell their stories in ways that create genuine human connection across the polarisation. Most communication around forgotten conflicts follows the same tired playbook: show suffering, ask for money, move on. This approach creates emotional distance rather than genuine connection. It reinforces the very polarisation we should be working to overcome.
What if, instead, we applied real PR principles:
- Audience segmentation: Understanding that different communities need different messages
- Stakeholder mapping: Identifying who has influence and how to reach them
- Long–term relationship building: Creating sustained engagement rather than one-off campaigns
- Reputation management: Helping communities control their own narratives
As an African woman in PR, I carry stories that need to be told. I understand the power of representation, the importance of authentic voices, and the responsibility that comes with communication skills. That is why in celebrating World PR Day 2025, I am making a commitment: to use my storytelling abilities to build bridges of understanding around the conflicts our continent faces. To navigate the polarisation that keeps us divided. To amplify the voices of women like those in Congo who are rebuilding communities in the aftermath of unimaginable trauma.
This isn’t charity communications. This is strategic communication applied to what matters most. African media outlets have a unique opportunity to change this narrative. We understand the cultural context in ways international media never will. We share languages, histories and experiences that create natural bridges of understanding.
Yet we have largely ceded this responsibility to foreign press. We have allowed political considerations to override our professional duty to tell important stories. We have let the artificial boundaries created by colonialism determine which African lives deserve coverage. As PR professionals, we know this is a strategic mistake. When you don’t control your narrative, someone else will. When you don’t tell your stories, someone else will tell them for you.
The theme of World PR Day 2025 calls us to build bridges and navigate polarisation. Here’s what that could look like in practice:
- For crisis communicators: Apply your skills to community crises, not just corporate ones. Help organisations working in conflict zones communicate more effectively.
- For media relations professionals: Build relationships with journalists covering African conflicts. Pitch stories that go beyond surface-level coverage to show the complexity and humanity of these situations.
- For strategic communicators: Develop campaigns that create genuine connection between communities facing similar challenges across different countries.
- For all PR professionals: Remember that our skills are tools for building human connection, not just commercial success.
The women in Congo are not just statistics. They are entrepreneurs rebuilding markets in displacement camps. They are mothers creating schools for their children. They are community leaders facilitating reconciliation between divided groups.
These are stories of resilience, innovation and hope. They are stories that could inspire people anywhere. They are stories that build bridges of understanding rather than walls of division. They are also stories that aren’t being told because we’ve decided they’re not our job.
So here is my challenge to my fellow PR professionals as we celebrate World PR Day 2025: What bridges are you building? What polarisation are you helping to navigate? Are you using your skills only for commercial purposes, or are you applying them to the human challenges that matter most?
The women of Congo are waiting for us to choose them. They are waiting for us to use our storytelling abilities to build bridges of understanding. They are waiting for us to navigate the polarisation that keeps their suffering invisible.
As African communicators, we have a special responsibility. These are our stories to tell. These are our bridges to build. The question isn’t whether we can make a difference. The question is whether we will.
Because right now, while we are busy building brands, there are women building communities in the aftermath of unimaginable trauma. Their stories deserve to be told as skillfully as any corporate campaign.
This World PR Day, let’s remember that before we were PR professionals, we were storytellers. And storytellers have always had the power to build bridges between divided worlds. It is time we started using that power for the stories that matter most.
>>The writer is Head of PR, Brands, Marketing and Events at Global Media Alliance Broadcasting Company (GMABC).\xa0She is also a women’s empowerment advocate. She can be reached at\xa0mbridget634@gmail.com\xa0
Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).Thus the article Building bridges & navigating polarisation: A PR professional’s call to tell the stories that matter
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