The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has emerged the public relations organization of the year in the Public Sector at the just ended 8th National PR and Communications Excellence Awards organised by the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana.
SSNIT was found to have “demonstrated leadership; applied current best PR practice; innovative, and the most effective in Public Sector Communication.”
The Awards Ceremony, which was held under the theme: “Ghana beyond the ordinary: The value of values in our national discourse”, was to recognise the achievements of public relations professionals, teams and agencies.
Commenting on the awards, the Corporate Affairs Manager of SSNIT, Afua Sarkodie, thanked Management and employees of the Trust, for working to change the narrative of the Trust by creatively employing new ways of transacting business with Members and Clients.
She also expressed appreciation to the organisers of the Awards for recognizing and rewarding the Trust’s PR efforts.
“Management of the Trust recognizes the impact of communications on the SSNIT brand and therefore implemented a number of forward looking initiatives to increase public awareness, improve customer service, brand and reputation management.
SSNIT InfoShop, SSNIT Minute, Digital communications, SSNIT Welcome Pack, Media encounters, Engagements with Organised Labour are among some of the initiatives that have been deployed to effectively communicate the message of the Trust.”
“For instance, Stakeholders of the Trust have been clearly mapped and tailored engagements designed for them. Novel presentations and platforms have also been developed to espouse the benefits of the SSNIT Scheme and to clear persistent misconceptions and encourage broader participation in the Scheme. All these have led to enhanced stakeholder relations and improved public image,” she added.
“We believe that this Award will encourage the Trust, especially the Corporate Affairs team to strengthen our PR efforts in telling the evolving SSNIT story,” she mentioned.
The Awards
The Head of Communications of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Esi Hammond, was adjudged the PR Personality of the Year.
MTN Ghana took the PR Organisation of the Year (telecommunication sector), while Stratcom Africa received Best in Non-profit Communication of the Year.
Other awardees were Magna Carta as the Most Outstanding PR Agency (PR Consultancy of the year) and Olivia Mifetu, from MTN as the Internal Communicator of the Year.
Profile of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) is a statutory public Trust charged under the National Pensions Act, 2008 Act 766 with the administration of Ghana’s Basic National Social Security Scheme.
Its mandate is to cater for the First Tier of the Three-Tier Pension Scheme. The Trust is currently the largest non-bank financial institution in Ghana.
The primary responsibility of the Trust is to replace part of lost income of workers in Ghana due to Old Age, Invalidity or Death of a member where dependants receive lump sum payment.
It is also responsible for the payment of Emigration benefit to a non-Ghanaian member who is leaving Ghana permanently.
The Pension Scheme as administered by SSNIT has an active membership of over 1,622,748 million as at December, 2019 with over 208,753 pensioners who regularly receive their monthly pensions from SSNIT.
BY Melvin Tarlue