Navigating communication across cultures

Annelies Van Erp now combines her two main areas of interest in one job: as press officer at the NGO Search for Common Ground, she works at the intersection of media and international cooperation. In 2016, she took the plunge from journalist at Knack online to a position at Vétérinaires Sans Frontières, via the Junior Programme. A choice she has never regretted.

When Annelies (36) moved to Burkina Faso for two years at the age of 28, she already had a solid foundation as a journalist. “Before I started my job in Burkina, I worked as a journalist for the Knack website, focusing on foreign news,” she says. That experience came in handy when she started as a communications officer at Vétérinaires Sans Frontières.

Annelies’ role was twofold: on the one hand, reporting on the organisations’ activities to the Belgian public, and on the other, setting up a sustainable communication strategy for the local team. “There was no permanent communication function on site; we didn’t have the budget for it, so it was important that I left something behind that my colleagues could continue with after I left,’” she explains.

Her background in journalism gave her an edge in conducting interviews and conveying messages clearly. However, she soon noticed that communication in an international development context involves different sensitivities. “As a white woman from Belgium asking questions to people from Burkina Faso, you have to be aware of power relations and the perceptions that surround them. That’s why I chose to mainly observe at first: how do people work here, how do my colleagues approach things, what are the unwritten rules?”

Conscious handling of power relations

Dealing consciously with these relationships became an important lesson for her. “I always tried to leave room for questions from our partners. And at the end of each conversation, I deliberately asked if they had anything else they wanted to say. If I asked them to tell their story, it was only logical that they got something in return. That’s why we shared the final results of the interviews with the people I spoke to. We printed out photos and stories and hung them up in the offices of our Burkinabe partners in rural areas. That way, they could see what was happening with their contribution.”

After her assignment in Burkina Faso, Annelies worked for Memisa for another four years, again as a communications officer. “I have become more independent and have learned to put things into perspective. In Burkina, you can have the best plan in the world, but if the roads are impassable during the rainy season, you just have to replan. You can’t control everything, and you have to be able to accept that.”

She also has fond memories of her time in Burkina Faso on a personal level. “I made a very good friend during my time with Vétérinaires Sans Frontières. I visited her again later, and she also came to visit me in Belgium.”

Contact with journalists & international exchange

Today, Annelies works at Search for Common Ground, an organisation committed to peacebuilding through dialogue and conflict mediation. “My journalistic experience comes in handy here. I am now a press officer and have a lot of contact with journalists. At the same time, I manage a colleague in Brussels and am part of a network of communication officers in different countries. The international exchange between colleagues is very enriching.”

Would she do it again? “Without a doubt! I had the opportunity to find out whether international cooperation was really for me. The answer is a resounding yes.”

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copyright all photos: Veterinarians Without Borders