Designing & Implementing an RPC Communications Strategy Annabelle South 19 th May 2009.
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Transcript of Designing & Implementing an RPC Communications Strategy Annabelle South 19 th May 2009.
Contents• Background - partners• Process of developing the strategy• The communications workshop• Supporting partners to implement the strategy• Communications community of practice• Challenges• Lessons learnt• What next?
Background• Aim to influence policy &
practice• 7 partners – UK, Africa and
Asia• Academic organisations,
research institutes and NGOs• Varying levels of comms
experience and capacity
Developing the strategy
• Initial strategy developed by LSHTM & AIDS Alliance during inception phase
• Comms leads appointed for each partner
• Preparation by partners for workshop
• Comms workshop held
• Strategies finalised by partners
• Overall strategy agreed
The workshop• Purpose:
– Develop country-level strategies
– Strengthen comms capacity
• Attended by comms leads for partners
• External facilitators (ODI) & internal expertise
Workshop contents
• Identifying the audience• Identifying the changes• Forces for & against change• The message & the
messenger• Internal communications• Knowledge & learning• Communities of practice• Writing for impact
Supporting partners to implement the strategy
• Community of practice (Comms CoP)
• Comms manager– Lead & facilitate comms CoP– RPC-wide activities & products– Capacity strengthening– Support partner-specific activities & products
• Capacity strengthening
Comms CoP• Purpose: to improve the comms
performance and capacity of partners
• Regular teleconferences: update on activities, share experience & ideas
• Valued by partner comms leads (& comms manager)
• Formal evaluation to take place next week
Challenges• Workshop costs – travel, facilitators
• Limited time & human resources for carrying out comms activities
• Partner not able to attend main comms workshop less active in Comms CoP
Lessons LearntWorkshop:• Multi-partner workshop worked better in long-
run than single-partner workshop• Workshop was a good way of generating buy-
in & enthusiasm• Timing
Strategies:• Need to fit with partner’s overall priorities
Lessons LearntComms CoP:
• Useful support mechanism
• Important to find the right way for the group to function
• Best for specific, concrete plans rather than conceptual discussions
Lessons LearntComms leads:
• Clearly identified leads facilitated process of strategy development & implementation
• Dual role (research & comms) means time-pressure substantial
Other:
• Need to take account of time needed for internal approval (within partners)