| If you walk down the streets of Beirut on any given day, chances are you will hear a passer-by cursing the sub-par quality of Lebanon’s mobile networks and services and the “exorbitant” prices levied on consumers by the two GSM providers. Yet when you ask many members of the public if they support privatizing the same network, they will adamantly disagree. |
This dichotomy epitomizes the problem with obtaining the buy-in for privatization: its benefits are concrete, but they have to be clearly communicated to be understood by the public.
Lebanon is just one side of the privatization spectrum, where political quarrels and a skeptical public have slowed down the process to the detriment of citizens, who have been facing deteriorating mobile and electricity services among others.
On the other side of the spectrum, however, there are numerous case studies in countries where privatization has been a success, in large part due to the communication behind the initiative that drew citizens’ attention to “what’s in it for them” and helped gain their backing for this alternative way of running the economy.
Margaret Thatcher’s reforms in England during the 1980s and 1990s, for example, have become an international benchmark of successful privatization for their effectiveness in transforming the debilitated electricity, postal and railway systems in the country. The ‘secret’ behind this achievement was the British people’s endorsement of the project once they understood that it would lead to greater efficiency, higher quality, lower prices and more service offerings.
Thatcher’s success is even more striking when contrasted with the failure of Communist governments, during the same period, because of their attempt to force a system on their people by claiming that citizens must accept it for the ‘good of the state,’ at the expense of individual rights and benefits. This is where governments must understand that instead of drowning in a sea of rhetoric, they can build a bridge through communication that reaches across the gap between what’s good for the state and what’s good for the citizen.
Failure in securing public support for privatization will also persist as long as the misconception that privatization is equal to handing public property over to private corporations is perpetuated. Instead, communication needs to position privatization as a deeply-rooted partnership between the public and private sectors that is ultimately in the benefit of the citizen. In fact, “public-private partnership” is the new word for privatization — a genuine partnership where the public sector safeguards the sovereignty of public services and upholds the public interest and where the private sector brings in its dynamism, business sense and innovation to ensure viable, quality services and competitive prices.
Regionally, we only have to look as far as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan to witness citizens reaping the benefits of privatization, in the form of lower mobile prices and a more reliable phone network. As these countries and others expand privatization to touch other sectors, such as utilities and transport, it is important that they ride the wave of popular momentum by pointing to the jobs created and the overall efficiency of operations that answer to consumers instead of being artificially propped up by citizens’ tax dollars.
Weak or inappropriate communication, on the other hand, most often backfires and destroys campaigns of economic reform. Just take the example of Bangladesh. In the 1990s, the Bangladeshi government decided to resist popular discontent with its plans to privatize a coastal warehouse, by undertaking the project in secret. Sure enough, a potential investor came to visit the warehouse site only to be threatened to be killed by a guard, reflecting the public’s fear of privatization and leading to several years of delay in the process.
Cloak-and-dagger secrecy and messages that do not effectively target stakeholders, can make governments look like they have something to hide, as well as failing to shed light on how this partnership will touch their lives and bring a solution to their every day problems. This adds fuel to the fire of local hostility and misconceptions about private interests wanting to take advantage of state wealth and public goods, rather than highlighting how such a reform would contribute to improving their quality of life.
Yet, while secrecy leads to disaster, highlighting the transparency of the privatization process, in terms of each step of the bidding process and the clear-cut rules and regulations, is not the proper remedy. Authorities have spent too much time and effort on taking the public step-by-step through the nitty-gritty of privatization, when these explanations are far too technical and removed from the population’s deepest concerns and needs.
To avoid such pitfalls, a communication strategy must be carefully balanced between relaying the long-term vision behind economic reform and managing people’s expectations, which involves an explanation that for every job lost more will be created. That privatization actually bolsters and catalyzes economic growth and that competition in any sector means more variety and better prices for consumers. In fact, privatization not only creates jobs, it also fosters better working conditions and benefits for employees and promotes a higher level of productivity and innovation. What’s more, many privatized sectors lead to IPOs that consumers can literally be a part of and profit from as an investment.
Communicating these messages begins with highlighting the transparency of the process and reaching out to the different stakeholders, from regulatory bodies to members of the public. But the key to successful communication in this case is to focus on a two-way dialogue with the public, based on understanding their needs and expectations and tailoring the messages to each and everybody’s question: “What’s in it for me?”
After all, who is more convincing: a dietician who lists each and every food you’ll be deprived from on your diet or one that tells you that by following the diet, you can go back to wearing your favorite outfit or a sexy swimsuit on the beach? Of course, the crucial element in effective communication is not just being heard, but saying something that people will listen and respond to — in this case that they will benefit from privatization.
Ramsay G. Najjar, chairman of S2C
