ABSTRACT
The defining challenge of international communications teams in international non-governmental organizations. The fact that there is no such place as international differentiates international communications teams from national teams. The chapter focuses on five global trends shaping the work of international communications teams: a new tone set by the Sustainable Development Goals; the growing issue of intra-national inequality; a proliferation of humanitarian crises testing the sector's capacity to respond; compassion fatigue and the decline in trust in institutions; increasingly blurred lines between 'programme' and 'fundraising' countries. A proliferation of humanitarian crises is shaping the sector more than ever. This is largely due to conflict, but also to hunger crises, struggles for the control of natural resources, outbreaks of disease, and environmental degradation. When humanitarian crises occur, a borderless media market demands ever greater co-ordination to ensure consistent messaging, which in turn supports fundraising and delivery of aid.
