Zainab Salami, Senior Project Manager at MSwitch Global is calling on international non-governmental organisations to fundamentally rethink how they position communications within their operational structures — arguing that treating it as a finishing touch rather than a foundational function is costing organisations their credibility.
Salami says a damaging pattern has taken hold across the INGO landscape: strategy is defined, budgets are approved, pilots are launched — and only then is the communications function brought in to “package” the outcome. By that point, she argues, the most consequential decisions have already been made.
“That sequence is backwards,” Salami said. “When communications is treated as a support service rather than a strategic function, the consequence is not merely weak messaging. It is weakened credibility.”
Her concern centres on what happens when internal teams, partners, and communities only encounter an organisation’s mission after it has been finalised. In her view, that is not alignment-building — it is perception management, and the distinction matters enormously in high-stakes environments.
Salami is particularly pointed about contexts such as Northern Nigeria, where she says communications must sit within governance structures, not outside them. Organisations that fail to do this, she warns, risk eroding stakeholder trust, fragmenting their institutional reputation, and delivering inconsistent impact on the ground.
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“You cannot retrofit meaning onto a completed initiative and expect it to mobilise people,” she said. “A compelling narrative cannot be attached at the end. It must shape decisions from inception.”
To demonstrate the alternative, Salami points to a current pilot she is advising, in which the conventional model has been deliberately restructured. Rather than documenting impact after execution, communications has been embedded from the outset — aligned with programme design, stakeholder mapping, advocacy positioning, and risk management from day one.
She reports that the integrated approach is already yielding measurable results: immediate credibility with stakeholders, stronger coherence across institutional teams, and impact designed to resonate rather than simply be reported after the fact.
For Salami, the message to organisational leaders is unambiguous. “Stop asking communications to polish strategy,” she said. “Invite it to shape it. Communications is not the final layer of paint. It is part of the foundation.”
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