We're already planning for Lent 2001

Since 1995 I have been responsible for fundraising, communication and education in our domestic division. I have to ensure that all three sections are working together, coherently. For example, when we fundraise, we fundraise with a message. That message has to be communicated using the media, and we would develop related education materials for schools. All of the above will ultimately relate back to our fundamental concern: raising awareness of the causes of poverty and injustice in the world. We would be very uncomfortable with particular kinds of imagery, images that depict people in the developing world as helpless - what is sometimes known as the "pornography" of developing countries.

Admittedly these images may be very effective in terms of fundraising, but we believe very strongly in promoting the dignity of the people we work with. The Lenten Campaign is our main fundraising event. It is actually an all-year event, with respect to planning and developing the campaign, as well as implementing it. We are already planning next year's campaign! The focus is slavery, and this summer will be spent developing images and looking at the projects we are involved in around the world to decide which to refer to in our campaign literature.

Obviously, the campaign has to be flexible. This year, for example, we focused on land ownership - but during the first week of the campaign the floods in Mozambique happened and became a major news item. We had to amend our radio ads and so on.

We always have to be prepared to merge the media strategy we've devised with any sudden emergency that comes up.

The same situation arose just as the campaign was coming to an end: Ethiopia started to appear in the media. We have been working in Ethiopia on an ongoing basis anyway, but we had to work with what the media was doing. If they highlight an area, the public expect us to be there and we have to communicate what we are doing.

In fact, the impact of the media on our work has become a major issue over the last decade. Our aim is to promote long-term and attitudinal change, but the images frequently used by the media provoke short-term emotional responses.

At the same time, we acknowledge the power of the media to engage people. A particular media focus will give us the spark of communication to work off, and from there we can engage more deeply with the public, raising awareness of the complexity of the issues.

My typical day consists of a lot of meetings. I liaise with the people in each section I'm responsible for, figure out the nitty-gritty planning details of any upcoming events, look at how each initiative is evolving and where we should be going next.

I think the most challenging part of my job is to ensure Trocaire claims its space. There is a growing assumption that Irish people are becoming more selfish, but having been a poor country not so long ago, there is still an affinity with poverty, so in fact we have an openness and a generosity which is quite remarkable. There is a danger of that being swamped by a different Ireland, one which is less caring, and my challenge is to constantly rekindle the caring element, which is actually a strong element of our identity.

I have to look at Ireland and how it is changing, and to devise ways to communicate to people in a context which is relevant to every section of society.

In conversation with Jackie Bourke