Why write for them?

Development workers and researchers often complain that their projects have little or no influence on policy. We often hear of project staff who diligently send off reports and scientific publications (perhaps with a covering letter) to the press, government officials and other stakeholders, in the hope that their wisdom will be heard. They express surprise when the response is just silence.

But is that response surprising?

A document written for one audience is not effective with another, even if your key message is the same. Expectations of each are different. What you may want one set of readers to do will be different from what you want another to do.

Let's look at an example.