Ms Hammond receives her award
The Head of Communications of the Bank of Ghana, Esi Hammond, was over the weekend adjudged by the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana, as the PR Personality of the Year during the eighth National PR and Communications Excellence Awards.
The event was held on the theme “Ghana beyond the ordinary: The value of values in our national discourse”.
Ms Hammond was recognised for her important role in the clean-up in the banking sector. She was at the heart of communication success stories that allowed the central bank to effectively communicate and demystify concerns surrounding the clean-up and recapitalisation exercise in the banking sector.
Banking reforms
The central bank has, for the past three years, embarked on vibrant reforms towards positioning the banking sector as the catalyst for accelerated socio-economic growth.
An announcement to clean up the banking sector, which was met some scepticism, and attempts by the banking community to review and/or delay its implementation, gave way to acceptance and eventually strategic efforts to remain in business and also meet a recapitalisation deadline. Based on technical and communication plans, the bank succeeded in carrying out the banking sector reforms and the recapitalisation of banks.
Citation
According to a citation that came with the award, the IPR commended Ms Hammond for her active role in pushing the agenda of actively engaging the publics of the bank and keeping stakeholders informed across the country.
“In strenuous efforts to carry along the public, we saw the bank breaking down its messages through the use of infographics on social media as well as sharing all information materials widely through many communication platforms.
“The otherwise conservative Bank of Ghana has adopted advertising in different local languages to sell its messages as well as grant interviews in local dialects. Talk to the media and you would know that Esi has engendered huge goodwill for the Bank and good media relations are on top of the agenda,” it read.
Support
Receiving her award, Ms Hammond expressed gratitude to her family and management and staff of the BoG, especially the Governor and his deputies, for supporting her to attain the success she had reached in her career.
“You can do PR almost to the extent your management allows you; write all the nice proposals, you can find them in the bin and cry your heart out but if your management supports you there is so much you can do,” she said
Pacesetter
Ms Hammond has been a pacesetter in professional PR practice at the Bank of Ghana, leading the strategy and policy relating to the public affairs functions of the central bank. She is a communications and media practitioner with almost three decades of practice in public service and private consultancy environments.
Ms Hammond was the overall best student in the accreditation examinations of the year 2000. She is a past deputy honorary secretary, having served from 2003 to 2008, and was recognised for her contributions in 2015. She is currently the chairperson of the Member Services Committee.
