Project Cycle Management for

International Development

Cooperation

Communication

TeacherPietro Celotti

Università degli Studi di Macerata

12 December 2011

Why project communication• It is requested by the agreement

• In cooperation projects, it is often the key activity for the objective’s achievement

• This was, for instance, the case of RIVER and ESSENTIAL projects

Communication plan

• The elements are: (communication) objective, target groups, duration, territory, means, budget

• The cooperation project implies a first analysis of these elements in the formulation phase

Communication plan

• Duration of communication activities regularly corresponds to the project, but with specifications

• In a cooperation project, territorial factors are taken in special consideration

• Without a clear concept of target groups there is no communication plan

Communication is…

• Informing

• Promoting

• Involving

• Educating

Beneficiaries as target groups

• Regularly, beneficiaries are target groups of project communication activities

• How to classify the target groups from a communication point of view?

• What is my communication objective concerning each target group?

• Shall I inform, promote, involve ore educate?

Communication objectives

• Ensure that the beneficiary population is aware of the roles of the partner and of the EU in the activity

• Raise awareness among the host country population or in Europe about the roles of the partner and of the EU in delivering aid in a particular context

Communication objectives

• Raise awareness of how the EU and the partner work together to support education, health, environment, etc

• Source: Communication and visibility manual for EU External Actions (2009)

• I tend to adapt more this kind of objectives to the

specific projects

Stakeholders

• “Individuals or institutions that may – directly or indirectly, positively or negatively – affect or be affected by a project or programme”

• Source: “Project Cycle Management Guidelines” della Commissione Europea (2004)

• They definitely have to be included among the project communication target groups

Target groups’ analysis

• Have I segmented the target groups?

• Do I know the target groups in terms of numbers?

• Do I know their locations, habits, behaviours? Age? Spoken languages?

• These information are crucial in order to take any decision in terms of communication (messages, means etc.)

Dissemination, impact

• Very often a development cooperation project includes:

an experimental component with local beneficiaries

a component hinged on results’ dissemination aiming at generating an impact outside of the project

Dissemination, impact

• If a significant impact is expected, it is necessary that communication goes beyond the project’s beneficiaries (it is not the case of RIVER, it is the case of ESSENTIAL)

• It is necessary to identify other target groups – they are normally bodies potentially interested in the adoption of the experimented model of intervention

• Their analysis must be carried out

Dissemination, impact

• The analysis of this kind of target group is normally easier

• Communicating with this kind of target group is normally easier, as active networks and regular occasions to meet exist

Suggestions

• Communication should be based more on project’s results than on bureaucratic steps

• In case of international cooperation, it is necessary to take into account local traditions

• It is recommended to chose, if possible, the local language (or languages!)

• It is necessary to consider the communication activities from an environmental point of view

Means and solutions

• Press releases

• Leaflets and newsletters

• Catalogues, publications and audiovisual materials

• Web resources

• Banners

• Exhibitions (f.i. photographic exhib.)

• Gifts

• Plates, panels

• Events

Means and solutions

• Attention must be dedicated more to “distribution” than to “production”:

Have I contacted the appropriate newspapers?

Is there any specific distribution plan for the

project’s leaflets (bus stops for immigrants,

pediatrists’ waiting rooms for children, sporting

centres for teenagers etc.)

Means and solutions

Have I dedicated resources to the distribution?

Web is considered as a sort of monument or is

used as a dynamic resource to inform and

involve my target groups?

Are my banners located where my target

groups regularly meet?

Means and solutionsDo the chosen promotional gifts remind my

project? Are they to be normally used by my

target groups?

Did I identify a precise formula for each event?

Or am I just repeating the project contents as

they were described in the application?

Are my target groups ready to participate in the

day and time identified for the event? Is this

place accessible by my target groups?

Means and solutions

Inform

Promote

InvolveTrain

Web-based

“Traditional”

Online tutor

Web 2.o

Website

Mailing list

Workshops

Events, exhibitions

Press coverage

Duration

• Communication covers the project duration

• Do not underevaluate the start-up of the project, which is a positive news

• Intermediate results, such as project meetings, can be transformed into news

• Results must be ready some months before the end of the project, in order to allow an appropriate dissemination phase

Territory

• Remember that target groups are located somewhere, it is too easy to think “I can communicate to anybody in English and through the web”

• Define a specific communication plan for each territory involved

• Graphic design of materials is more effective if centralised

Territory

• Evaluate if production of communication tools and materials should be centralised (think of money, environment, local

development)

• If possible, visit the partners in the occasion of their crucial communication activities

• Request all partners to publish on the project web resources updated information concerning their communication activities

Territory

• If possible define a European or transnational level of communication

• Evaluate the use of videoconferencing systems in the occasion of the main project events

Monitoring

• There is no communication without corresponding monitoring activity

• Case of press is obvious – but think that many organisations lose the news published by newspapers and broadcasted by radio and tv!

Monitoring

• Receipts in case of materials’ distribution, signatures in case of exhibitions, photos in case of events: a number, even if low, is

better than no numbers

• Description of communication results is very useful when you write the project technical report

• Communication results will be evaluated with focused attention by the managing authority

Back to the agreement

• Logo

• Disclaimer

• Remember the aim of your donor: to associate its name to the positive results and effects generated by your development project

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

p.celotti@t33.it