Project Cycle Management for International Development
Cooperation
Communication
Teacher
Pietro Celotti
Università degli Studi di Macerata
4/12/2013
Why project
communication
• It is required by the agreement
• In cooperation projects, it is often the key activity for the objective’s achievement
Communication plan
• Consists of: (communication) objective, target groups, duration, territory, means, budget
• 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
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 suggest to adapt this kind of objectives to the specific projects
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.)
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 choose, if possible, the local language (or languages!)
• It is necessary to consider the
communication activities from an environmental point of view
Means and solutions
• Web
• TV, radio
• Press
• Leaflets and newsletters
• Catalogues, publications and audiovisual materials
• 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?
Am i using the social networks effectively?
Are my banners located where my target groups regularly meet?
Means and solutions
Do 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
Infor m
Promot e
Involve Train
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 (website, social
networks), 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
