PRCA backs landmark Africa Declaration to strengthen communications across the continent

The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) has endorsed a landmark new initiative designed to strengthen professional standards, ethical accountability and responsible communication across Africa.

Announced in connection with World PR Day 2026, the Africa Declaration on the Professionalisation of Public Relations and Responsible Communication brings together leading African professional associations, institutes and international partners behind a shared vision for the future of the profession.

Developed by African institutions and shaped by the continent’s diverse communications and regulatory environments, the Declaration provides a founding charter for greater professional self-governance. It sets out eight principles, six areas of institutional commitment and a ten-point action plan through which signatories will work together to advance professional practice.

A central element of the initiative is the African Responsible Communicator Standard (ARCS), a continental recognition framework intended to make practitioners’ professional standing visible and verifiable.

Under the proposed framework, practitioners who maintain active membership of a participating professional body, meet agreed continuing professional development requirements and commit to a shared code of ethics will be able to carry their professional recognition across signatory markets.

The credential will be portable, renewable and designed to provide employers, clients, governments and other stakeholders with greater confidence in the qualifications and professional accountability of communications practitioners.

Jo Brophy MPRCA, Head of International Membership at the PRCA, said:

“The Declaration reflects many of the principles the PRCA has championed for years around ethics, professional standards and raising the profile of public relations as a recognised profession.“It strikes the right balance between ambition and practicality, setting out a clear vision for ethical, accountable communications across Africa.“By focusing on standards shaped by the realities of the African communications industry, rather than adopting approaches developed elsewhere, it has the potential to become an important milestone in strengthening and advancing the profession across the continent.”

The African Public Relations Association (APRA), the umbrella body for public relations associations across the continent, will play a central coordinating role. APRA will support engagement with professional bodies across Africa, help expand the signatory community and represent the profession’s collective African voice in international forums.

ARCS will operate through a federated model, with enforcement authority remaining with recognised national professional bodies under their existing governance and regulatory arrangements.

In countries where statutory recognition of the profession has already been achieved, eligibility for ARCS recognition will remain subject to the relevant national legal requirements. The Declaration is intended to complement and amplify established frameworks rather than compete with or supersede statutory bodies.

Bradly Howland, Co-Lead of the Africa Declaration and Immediate-Past President of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa, said:

“Africa’s communications landscape is one of the most consequential in the world. It shapes public discourse, influences democratic participation and tells the continent’s story to itself and to the world.“The Africa Declaration changes the absence of a shared professional standard, not by importing a framework from elsewhere, but by building one from within, rooted in African experience and shaped by African institutions.“Africa is not professionalising its communications industry to catch up with the world. It is doing it to lead.”

Dr Omoniyi Ibietan, Secretary General of the African Public Relations Association, said:

“A continent that commits to a developmental programme such as the African Union’s Agenda 2063 cannot operate disparate standards of communication principles and practices.“This pronouncement is an accountable demonstration of commitment to the centrality of responsible communication to human progress, led by those who understand the spectrum and intricacies of the African story.”

The PRCA joins organisations including APRA, the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa, the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, the Zambia Institute of Public Relations and Communication, the Public Relations Society of Kenya, the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management and the International Communications Consultancy Organisation in supporting the initiative.

The Declaration will be formally signed and launched at the World Public Relations Forum in Abuja, Nigeria, in November 2026. Ahead of the launch, participating organisations will establish working groups, broaden engagement with professional bodies across Africa and develop the structures required to activate the initiative.

Professional associations, institutes and institutions interested in supporting or engaging with the Declaration are encouraged to contact APRA or one of the founding signatory organisations.

The initiative is co-led by Bradly Howland, Immediate-Past President of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa, and Irene Lungu Chipili, Chairman of the Africa Regional Council at the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management.