Africa’s leading public relations and communication bodies have unveiled a landmark initiative aimed at raising professional standards and strengthening ethical accountability across the continent.
Announced on World PR Day 2026, The Africa Declaration on the Professionalisation of Public Relations and Responsible Communication brings together professional communication associations, institutes and industry bodies from across Africa, supported by international partners, in a collective commitment to professionalise the sector.
The Declaration establishes a shared framework for responsible communication practice, developed specifically for Africa’s diverse communications landscape rather than adopting international models. It sets out eight founding principles, six institutional commitments and a 10-point action plan to guide the professionalisation of public relations across the continent.
Code of ethics
A key feature of the initiative is the launch of the African Responsible Communicator Standard (ARCS), a continental recognition framework that provides practitioners with a portable professional credential. To qualify, communicators must belong to a participating professional body, meet continuing professional development requirements and commit to a shared code of ethics.
The credential is intended to provide employers, governments and clients with a visible and verifiable indication of professional standing while allowing recognised practitioners to carry their accreditation across participating African markets.
The African Public Relations Association (APRA) will coordinate the initiative, helping expand participation across the continent and representing the collective interests of African communicators in international forums.
Bradly Howland, co-lead of the Africa Declaration initiative and immediate past president of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA), said the Declaration responds to the absence of a shared professional standard for the communications industry.
Responsible communications
“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,” he said.
“Yet for too long, that landscape has had no shared standard for who practises in it or what responsibility they carry. The Africa Declaration changes that – not by importing a framework from elsewhere, but by building one from within, rooted in African experience.”
Dr Omoniyi Ibietan, secretary general of APRA, said responsible communication is essential to achieving the African Union’s Agenda 2063 ambitions.
“This pronouncement is not just auspicious, it is reasoned, it is seminal and indeed an accountable demonstration of commitment to iterating the centrality of responsible communication to human progress, by those who have lived and understand the spectrum and intricacies of the African story,” he said.
Governance model
The Declaration adopts a federated governance model, with national professional bodies retaining responsibility for enforcement under their existing governance structures. In countries where statutory regulation already exists, including Nigeria and Zambia, the new framework will complement rather than replace existing legal and professional requirements.
The initiative will be formally signed and launched at the World PR Forum in Abuja, Nigeria, in November 2026. The period leading up to the launch will allow additional professional bodies across Africa to join the Declaration and establish working groups to implement its commitments.
The initiative is co-led by Bradly Howland, immediate past president of PRISA, and Irene Lungu Chipili, chair of the Africa Regional Council at the Global Alliance.
