Somewhere in a boardroom right now, someone is presenting a “holistic, multi-stakeholder framework for catalytic systems-level change that leverages synergies across the MSME ecosystem, aligned to SDG targets and measured through a robust M&E matrix.” The slides are beautiful. The acronyms are plentiful. And at least three people in that room have quietly Googled something under the table.

I have been that person at the front of the room. And if I am honest, I have also been guilty of it.

Working in communications across the development sector, I have come to realise something uncomfortable: we are very good at writing for each other, and not nearly good enough at writing for everyone else — which is where the bulk of the real communications work actually lives. The external campaigns, the public platforms, the community engagements, the speeches. That is where it matters most, and that is exactly where jargon does the most damage.

As communications specialists, we sit at an important seat. We are not always the technical experts in the room — and honestly? Some of these terms make us Google too. Which raises the obvious question: if we have to look it up, why are we putting our audiences through the same exercise?

Part of our job is to be the last line of defence — reviewing presentations before they go out, simplifying speeches before they are delivered, asking the uncomfortable question: will the person receiving this actually understand it?

I have been in this field for over eight years. Jargon-heavy documents still bore me. If they bore me, imagine what they do to the people we are actually trying to reach.

Simplicity is not a shortcut. It is a skill. And in our sector, it might be the most important one we are not teaching.