DRAFT COMMUNICATION STRATEGY



DRAFT COMMUNICATION STRATEGY[Document subtitle]center850008549640December 1, 2013UNDP LiberiaLiberia1000000December 1, 2013UNDP LiberiaLiberiaTable of Content:(1) Introduction (2) Objectives Enhancing perception of UNDP as a relevant, trusted partner and thought leader in development cooperation Enhancing UNDP - media engagement and strengthening capacities for effective reporting of development resultsStrengthening visibility of UNDP tagline “Empowered lives. Resilient Nations”. (3) Target Audience (4) Message(5) Target Audience(6) Implementation responsibilities (7) Monitoring and evaluation(8) Duration of Strategy INTRODUCTION UNDP over the years has been a key partner supporting the Government of Liberia to recover from years of conflict, and in recent years, to realize its aspiration of transforming the country. The media in Liberia has a long history of growth without development.There has been an increase in the number of print and electronic media over the past 45 years but the quality of those media output has seen little improvements. One of the reasons for this is the lack of ethical standards for entry into the profession among others. The need to enhance the capacity of the media to communicate effectively, foster developmental reporting, and to effectively report on UNDP’s partnership programmes/projects with Government and its development partners is imperative. Some of the challenges confronting the realization of these objectives have been tackled through the provision of training and capacity development opportunities in the past. Nonetheless, the need to institutionalize the support and sustain these efforts have not been realized, resulting in the relatively weak overall quality of journalism in the country. Given this background, for any communication strategy to be effective, it will require a structured attempt at working with the media both as partners and beneficiaries to ensure that visibility and advocacy is carried out appropriately and accurately. Communications in UNDP Liberia has not been targeted at any particular group. Communication has been handled on a “one size fits all” basis and are not developmentally sensitive. For example, most of the population does not have access to formal education. This group of people will need to be given special consideration if they are to be involved in the information sharing and gathering process. The current level at which UNDP communicates is basically for the educated few in Liberia and the wider external audience. With the low reading abilities in the country, project reports, website designs and update have little impact on the local people because they have no access to Internet facilities, neither do they have access to the newspapers. All of these communication tools are powerful, but they are all intended for external sources.This Communication Strategy addresses what information UNDP should communicate, how it will communicate it, to which audiences it should be targeted at and what channels it will use to ensure information delivery. The strategy will form the bedrock towards forging active partnerships with a wide range of national and international development actors. It will place specific emphasis on building a sustainable relationship with the media, proactively identify key stakeholders and address their information needs.?To effectively project a positive image and position of the organization as a reliable and development partner of choice, it needs to communicate its activities, concrete progress and achievements to its partners internally and externally. ObjectiveThe objective of this strategy is to strengthen both internal and external communications of UNDP Liberia to address existing gaps regarding its ability to effectively communicate with its target audience. It is therefore structured to meet the following strategic objectives:Enhance perception of UNDP as a relevant, trusted partner and thought leader in development cooperation in Liberia through improved communication and advocacy of UNDP’s programmes, projects and activities, ensuring that knowledge products and results arising out of project activities reflect gender equality and women’s empowerment.Enhance UNDP - media engagement and strengthen capacities for effective reporting of development results; Strengthen visibility of UNDP tagline “Empowered lives. Resilient Nations” for both internal and external publics through increased advocacy/promotional materials and programmes. Enhancing perception of UNDP as a relevant, trusted partner and thought leader in development munication and advocacy are key elements in development programming. They are the medium through which development concepts are promoted, best practices shared, public thinking shaped towards constructive engagement, and above all consolidation of peace and development promoted. Effective management of communications helps to reflect an organizations’ values, mandate, contribution and its positioning within the development cooperation environment. The bedrock of UNDP in Liberia is its programmes and projects. To ensure that information on programme/project activities are accurately communicated in a timely manner to the appropriate target audience, and ensure sustainability of programme visibility, a programme communications team will be established. The Deputy Country Director/Programme will provide oversight of this group and it will be chaired by the Communications Officer. The Programme /Project Managers will designate communications focal persons from their respective programme pillars. This inter unit programme communications team will be expected to meet fortnightly, and provide information on planned programme activities for necessary preparations to be undertaken. They will also identify potential success stories from their respective units to be further developed by the communications team on a quarterly basis, for subsequent upload unto the UNDP Liberia website.Project/Event-based Communication approachesThe following will be the tools and approaches that will be used to specifically promote UNDP Liberia’s projects and positioning as development partner of choice:Permanent Communication Tools: A set of brochures on UNDP Liberia, Programme leaflets which provides detailed breakdown of the UNDP Programming areas, News bulletins, DVDs on the development results featuring different protagonists/beneficiaries. These packages to be developed will be aimed at both internal and external audience. They will also be disseminated to enhance UNDP Liberia’s contribution during UNDP funded events with partners, conferences, and for high level visiting mission teams including those from HQ, etc.Advocacy Campaigns: Working in conjunction with the relevant programmes unit and the Communications unit, the CO would mount a national advocacy campaign on major topical issues like the achievement of the MDGs lagging behind, post MDGD campaign, Democracy and Good Governance; Human Security - Peace Building and Conflict Resolution, gender equality and women’s empowerment, Local Governance, the Environment, HIV/AIDS, etc.Additionally, the communications team will ensure media coverage on specific projects/events are organized. To do this, media events such as press soirees will be conducted before major UNDP events such as the launch of the Human Development Reports, MDG reports, fiscal space document and other major studies commissioned by UNDP. As and when appropriate, floats will be organized for promotional purposes. Structured and organized press briefings, seminars, public forums and roundtables will be also used as Project/Event-based Communication Tools where applicable. Photo/video materials: A good photo/video collection is a key variable for ensuring high quality publications. Consequently, the Communications team will undertake an exercise to build up a repository of action oriented photos to be used in publications and for the website. External photographers will be commissioned to produce high quality photos for these purposes as necessary. Some of these photographs will be provided to media to support specific information messages. Documentaries: Right images could show the real people behind UNDP’s programmes and add human touch to all that UNDP wants to communicate. In addition to short documentaries to be produced specifically to tell the UNDP story, 1-2minutes You tube version stories will be produced for each of the thematic areas and UNDP/ donor supported projects. Project Launches: Working in collaboration with the appropriate programme units, the Communications team will provide assistance in carrying out media launchings of projects, reports, studies or other related public visibility events at major milestones in the life cycles of the projects. It is expected that these events will provide considerable publicity and visibility for the projects – and the UNDP’s contributions to them ensuring results are provided in a balanced manner including reflecting gender concerns.Enhancing UNDP - media engagement and strengthening capacities for effective reporting of development results; UNDP recognizes the need to further improve coordination of its development programming and enhance the communication of its development results. To ensure that UNDP Liberia’s development results are communicated within the organization and to the external publics, a number of targeted interventions will be undertaken. These initiatives will be aimed at enhancing the capacity of the media to effectively undertake development reporting, support communication for development through the promotion of professionalism and foster a partnership arrangement with the media as a key partner in development.Media Engagement An Integral part of the Advocacy campaign is a comprehensive media engagement process through which the media will be both partners and beneficiaries in development. The following will be undertaken over the next 2-3years:Advocacy Visits: Visits to media houses in Monrovia will provide opportunities for the CO to cultivate the media houses and project its activities and plans. Apart from building relationships, the spin-offs from such visits would include: stories, interviews, photo-ops, and opportunity to successfully focus media attention on important issues. These visits would hold prior to, or following major UN days, events or observances. End of Year Media Breakfast: To ensure maximum effectiveness and impact of this strategy, a list of carefully selected group of editors, leading journalists, including women journalists and media houses will be invited to attend a two hour breakfast Programme in UNDP offices. The selection of the group will be based on the reach of the media outlets, leverage of prominence within the Liberian media landscape and demonstrated commitment to development reportage over the years. This event is expected to provide a semi-formal opportunity to interact with them, appreciate their contributions to development issues, and put them on notice about the activities for the coming year. To ensure wider and balanced coverage and sufficient mileage for UNDP branding and messaging, a combination of print and electronic journalists and media houses will be targeted to participate in this event. Possible results of such an informal interaction include better understanding of the work of UNDP, increased stories and coverage of UNDP in the news.Open house event: An open house event will be organized once in a year for journalists (Print, Electronic) as a way of fraternizing and a basis to form/ sustain engagement. This is expected to achieve the following results:build a strong and lasting partnership with media partners and provide them with Information, Communication and Advocacy materials on UNDP programmes in Liberia i.e. publications, success stories etc..Provide a forum for selected media organizations and journalists to interact with UNDP staff through question and answer sessions. Build a cadre of development oriented journalists with whom UNDP will provide constant training and collaborate closely in the future i.e. develop a press core. Communicate the new UNDP branding tagline: ? empowered lives and resilient nations?? and share promotional materials to reinforce the branding message.Media Briefings: This will provide a more formal opportunity to brief journalists about activities of the CO after the mid-year review meeting, as well as a chance to focus attention on important issues. This will be conducted bi-annually or as a part of preparations for big UNDP events like the UNDP Human Development Report.Media Awards: As a way of focusing media attention on important issues and encouraging a culture of excellence in the media, the CO will revisit its collaboration with the Ministry of Information Culture Affairs and Tourism and Press Union of Liberia to re-institute coverage and awards on Development Reporting. This could be handled directly or indirectly through existing organizations that give awards to the media and report development stories.It is expected that the combination of the above initiatives will serve as a structured approach with the media. Through this approach they will be encouraged to build a network of press corps with whom periodic trainings and capacity building will be provided and ultimately serve as a UNDP press corps with whom UNDP can rely on for dissemination of Programme information.Media Training: A media training aimed at augmenting existing capacity to make informed decisions will be undertaken. Focus will be placed on capacity to comprehend technical issues, to report on them and the capacity to render them in sensitive and accessible ways. This training will focus on areas such as “Development Journalism,” “Investigative Reporting,” “Election Reporting,” “Reporting Corruption,” etc. This initiative will be undertaken within the broader context of Communication for development of UNDP Liberia and will target both men and women journalists.Strengthening visibility of UNDP tagline “Empowered lives. Resilient Nations.” UNDP Website: UNDP’s online presence remains a unique medium for communication to the external audience. This audience includes donors, the government, local and international implementing partners as well as people in the international community. A key aspect of its online presence is the UNDP corporate website which is accessed constantly by a global audience. It is therefore the expectation that the information on the site will be useful, relevant for the intended purpose, informative and above all in compliance with corporate standards. Additionally the CO website has to be updated on a regular basis with inputs from the different Programme and operations units of the country office.Country Office Annual Report: Country Office Annual Reports continue to be used as a medium through which country offices provide a succinct and captivating results based information that captures significant changes in development, though a variety of program interventions. To ensure timely production of Country Office Annual Reports, it is required that the programme Communication Team and Operations Unit submit to the Communications Officer all programme /project reports, financial information, photos etc. by the end of February of the following year to facilitate the writing and printing of the report no later than June 30. UNDP Liberia online presence: contemporary trends in online communications have required of corporate organizations the need to have interactive platforms through which feedback will be sought from the external publics. In line with UNDP corporate communications guidelines, other social media tools will be developed to enhance the productivity of the UNDP Liberia website site as well as increase its relevance to external publics. Consequently, a UNDP Liberia Facebook page and twitter account will be created and managed by the communications officer.To ensure constant update of the website, the communications officer will work closely with the unit communications team mentioned earlier for regular updates. Additional assistance in the form of fully funded Interns and UNV’s (national and International) will be explored to augment existing capacity in the communications office. Visibility materialsAs a part of increase visibility of the UNDP tagline “Empowered Live. Resilient Nations”, a number of visibility materials will be produced in line with UNDP communications guidelines. Key among these will be the following:UNDP informative Diaries: A UNDP CO Diary will be produced in the last quarter of every year for distribution to targeted high level government officials, leaders of the executive, legislature, judiciary, media editors, Implementing partners and other stakeholders. The Diary will be designed to have an up to date executive brief on UNDP activities in Liberia, key results for that particular year as well as a highlight of partnerships achieved during the year. It is expected to serve as a public information and advocacy product.Brand Stands: Different Thematic brand stands featuring key results with high definition photos will be produced and placed at vantage points during all project/Programme functions. These brand stands will feature the tag line and will be accompanied by UNDP designed folders, and promotional pens.Posters: Posters based on the thematic areas of UNDP support in Liberia will be designed and used for targeted promotion campaigns, such as the MDG communications campaign, advocacy for the post 2015 agenda etc. To increase public participation, the communications team will explore the possibility of working in partnerships with the UNV office to undertake an art competition for the design of posters that has an indigenous perspective. Innovative Country Office publications like the “News Board” will be published on a quarterly basis to provide a highlight of key UNDP activities. This clear, crisp, jargon-free publication will be published online to showcase recent successful programmes, provide visibility to donor partners and better position UNDP Liberia among its stakeholders.Finally, good visibility of UNDP programming includes appropriate use of Logos and image products on publications especially with national and development partners. To this extent, efforts will be made to streamline the usage of the UNDP logo in conformity with corporate standards. A training will be organized once a year for national counterparts as part of the National Implementation Modality (NIM) capacity building process, to equip them on the appropriate use of UNDP logos. Similar training will be carried out for country office colleagues and a business flow chart designed to ensure that all publications from the UNDP go through a communications compliance check before publication is approved. Target AudienceThe target audience for this communication strategy is as follows:Donors- Under this strategy, networking and constant engagements through timely and consistent dissemination of information on donor funded projects to increase visibility on results achievedGovernment of Liberia- As a key development partner, the Liberian government will use the information to remain engaged with partners and will monitor changes in the lives of its people as a result of support from UNDP. General Public /Civil Society- Consistent engagement with Civil Society, especially local media outlets, (including Community radios), to effectively relate to the local population, will increase UNDP’s visibility through support to public awareness campaigns/programs, trainings, seminars, workshops etc. Liberians generally, will begin to understand the role of development partners in the stages of the recovery process taking place in their Country.Corporate UNDP- Provide a credible, news worthy presence within UNDP with regards to UNDP Liberia programming. This includes an active online presence using available social media platforms. Implementation responsibilitiesThe Implementation of this strategy will require commitment and support from Senior Management. This will include among others, a dedicated communications annual work plan with a budget. RR- Provide overall vision, guidance and strategic direction on UNDP communications especially within the context of the One UN” (Delivering as One) agenda.CD- Provide managerial oversight on the implementation of the strategy; direction and coherence within the CO business processes. Champion the drive to enhance UNDP image and increase its visibility. DCD/P-Provide advice and oversight of the communications focal persons group and support the implementation of the Communications Strategy. Ensure Programmes/Projects factor communication into their planning and provide oversight of the Programme communications team. Team Leaders- designate from their respective Programme pillars representatives to the inter unit communications team. Ensure that accurate information and deadlines are met in providing and sharing information with local media, RBA, UNDP Global and for the updating of the website. Programme officers and Associates: Provide timely information on planned Programme activities for necessary preparations to be undertaken. Identify potential success stories from their respective units to be further developed by the communications team on a quarterly basis, for subsequent upload unto the UNDP Liberia munications team: Ensure the implementation of the communication strategy Gender Adviser/focal point: ensure that gender mainstreaming results including analytical work are captured, analyzed and reported on across all programs; this will also entail providing technical support to CO on gender mainstreaming.Monitoring & Evaluation A quarterly monitoring process will be initiated to measure the effectiveness of the strategy and the impact it is making. At the end of the year, an evaluation will be conducted to determine the relevant revision to this strategy. Specifically, the Communications office will establish a baseline of its current advocacy and visibility in the media by initiating a daily review and clippings of all media activities including the number of UNDP stories. This will be used as a baseline data against which it will be measured one year after implementing this strategy.Other M&E indicators will be the number of media events, report launches and press releases undertaken within the year. A bi annual meeting with a cross section of the media will be used to evaluate their understanding of UNDP’s activities, during this event a quick qualitative survey will be conducted to find out about UNDP visibility. The M&E plan will include indicators that capture gender trends and disparities. Another measure of the performance of this strategy will be the migration of the UNDP Liberia website onto the new corporate CMS and maintaining ‘green’ status on the corporate dash board for an updated, compliant and fully functional website.Finally, the amount of budgetary allocation and the development of a dedicated Annual Work Plan aimed at implementing this strategy will form the basis for evaluating senior management commitment.Duration of StrategyIt is expected that this strategy will cover the current United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and Country Programme Document (CPD) spanning from 2013-2017. The strategy will draw inspiration from the UNDP strategic plan 2013-2017, ensuring that the key elements of the strategic plan on enhancing partnerships are achieved through effective communications. ................
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