Developing countries throughout South Asia, the Middle East, and Eurasia are now making the difficult transition to popularly-elected governments, with broad yet often vague mandates for political change, economic reform, and enhanced quality of life across the social spectrum.  In Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen, the ongoing transition is unique to each country's circumstances, but all characterized by varying degrees of civil unrest, from public protests and street violence to terrorism and war. The end objectives, however, are clear: freedom from oppression, the right to speak freely, and the liberty to form political parties and governments. For these countries, almost in every case, democracy can be differently defined, but in each case comes the responsibility by citizens to participate in their own governance -- by making informed decisions, supporting fairness, equality and civil rights across society, and enforcing transparency in government institutions.  

 

Since 1990, DW Turner's staff has worked in developing country environments and understands the economic disparity common in society, inequities in civil rights and freedom of expression, deficiencies in or complete lack of civil society institutions and the impact of widespread poverty on popular support for public agencies. In this often difficult environment, where society's problems have no quick and lasting solutions, the firm has the ability to help agencies manage complex issues with the public, mobilize stakeholders, build issue-based coalitions, and assist in legislative outreach -- all critical to the credibility of public agencies and the establishment of successful self-governance in a developing country environment.   Moreover, our team has the experience to provide strategic guidance to government agencies and NGO’s in the development of outreach, grassroots and capacity building campaigns.

Critical to the firm's success in promoting sustainable self-governance are the following skills:

 

Cultural and Institutional Knowledge- At the height of Sri Lanka's Tamil insurgency, DW Turner's staff successfully mobilized support for improvements to the country's ports and highway infrastructure, which enabled new economic development and opportunities to occur across the entire country.

 

Business to Government Partnerships- Turner staff members influenced the design and structure of the National Highways Authority of India's successful 5,900-km Golden Quadrilateral expressway system, completed with the participation of private firms and global investment of $13.4 billion, and now considered the centerpiece of the country's rapidly growing economy. 

 

Technical and Industry Expertise- In Pakistan, Turner helped the government introduce a new system for operating Lahore's municipal water supply, which greatly expanded metering across the region, minimizing leakage of water supplies and expanding the city's revenue base for the benefit of Lahore's ratepayers. 

 

Economic Development Strategies- Mexico's State of Baja California successfully joined with the U.S. and Mexico federal agencies to introduce a new wastewater collection and treatment system for the capital city of Mexicali, thereby ending sewage contamination of the cross-border New River and opening up new sites for industrial development and employment along the canal. Turner led the campaign for funding of the project by U.S. agencies, and efforts by Baja's government to build local support for user fees. 

 

Transparency and Communication– During Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, Turner was part of a team of international experts brought in to monitor elections through national exit polling, provide international media with accurate and transparent information on political activities in the country and to interface with Victor Yushchenko’s pro-democracy political party of Our Ukraine.

 

Turner's success in assisting its developing country clients in credibility-proving actions with the public is supported by staff with deep experience in public communication campaigns, development of political strategies for officeholders, and message development and media relations for elected officials - all intended to make sure that citizens are informed of government actions on a timely basis, understand the background, benefits, and costs of public actions and services, with the right and opportunity to express themselves, as a key outcome of their participation in the political process.