Advocacy and Public Outreach
ICAO’s External Communications Strategy in 2019 comprised several key campaigns, notably focusing on:
- ICAO's 75th anniversary and the Future of Flight, its youth innovation contests, and the celebration of States' tributes to ICAO this year;
- A special 40th Session of the ICAO Assembly (A40) Communications Strategy to actively promote awareness of ICAO's environmental protection objectives and achievements within the context of climate change issues raised by Greta Thunberg and framed by the European Flygskam (“flight-shaming”) movement.
- Sustainable aviation development and the UN SDGs, comprising the issuance of carefully crafted messaging on relevant UN commemorative days;
- Gender equality in aviation, drawing on developments in the private and public sectors; and
- Montréal, World Capital of Civil Aviation (to develop awareness of ICAO locally).
Key messages delivered by ICAO through social media were echoed in the traditional media and by other stakeholders.
ICAO also began hitting over 1 million twitter impressions per month, and our LinkedIn base surpassed the
150 000 subscriber metric as more and more aviation professionals are beginning to interact with us. This was one of the major objectives the ICAO Communications Unit (COM) set for the year, and it was achieved through a commitment to valuable and engaging content. The Unit furthermore produced and published two ICAO Journals in the lead-up to A40, one focused on future flight and the second, a special 75th Anniversary issue. The latter was complemented by new 75th Anniversary editions of “ICAO States Today” and the “World Civil Aviation Report”, also released during this period.
Outreach efforts have been increased with the aims of expanding the number of qualified female candidates to Professional and higher categories, and of creating greater awareness and visibility for ICAO as an employer of choice for women.
Throughout 2019, States supported the commemorative activities developed by the Communications Unit and proposed by the Secretariat in regard to the 75th Anniversary of ICAO and the signing of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. Several States proposed airlines for a Mascot Campaign, and a number of others pursued specific initiatives such as the placing of an ICAO75 flag in a geographically noteworthy location in their territories, or developing a local airport exhibit around the ICAO75 theme.
To mitigate several high risk factors the Organization was faced with, ICAO's A40 Communications Strategy saw a much higher volume of news product and other communications issuances developed for A40, targeting both traditional and social media. ICAO's Regional Offices also produced helpful materials surrounding local celebrations of ICAO's 75th Anniversary to support the enhancement of ICAO's image.
It is notable that the September 2019 climate march in Montréal led by Greta Thunberg did not feature any anti-aviation activities. On the contrary, ICAO’s proactive messaging both before and during the climate march was well received by the public, in particular its alignment with remarks regarding the climate strike movement by the UN Secretary-General.
