Strasbourg, 10 May 2010 LR-IC(2010)2
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY
(CDLR)
COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS AND CO-OPERATION
(LR-IC)
PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES OF THE LR-IC FOR 2010-2013:
Target groups and check list for development
of communication actions plans
Secretariat Memorandum
prepared by the Directorate General of
Democracy and Political Affairs
Directorate of Democratic Institutions
Introduction
Communication has become an important part of the work of the CDLR. The impetus for its importance derives from Minister Kiviniemi’s report on “How to enhance the work of the Council of Europe in the field of local and regional democracy?” and the declaration by European Ministers responsible for Local and Regional Government, meeting in Utrecht on 16 and 17 November 2009 for the 16th Session of their Conference, that “the work of the Council of Europe in the field of local and regional democracy deserves to be better known and an active communication policy should be developed in order to maximize its impact on member States and civil society” (Utrecht Declaration, II.A, 5.).
At its meeting in March 2010 the CDLR agreed:
- to appoint Mrs Greta Billing as the CDLR Rapporteur on Communication and Mr Paul Rowsell as co-rapporteur on behalf of the Bureau;
- to adopt the checklist for Communication and to send it to the CDLR sub-committees for use when preparing their activities and to invite them to make any proposals for change they might deem desirable;
- to take note and make use of the list of target groups and other aspects established by the informal brainstorming on 26 January 2010 and to instruct the CDLR sub-committees also to do so;
- to instruct the Bureau to develop concrete proposals for the establishment of a communication network for consideration and adoption by the CDLR at its meeting in October 2010.
Action required
In order to communicate effectively about developments in the local and regional government field, ensure the visibility of the results and assess the impact of the activities, it is important to have a clear outline of the communication aspect of each output (outputs are listed in table of the document LR-IC (2010)1) .
The communication aspect should be considered from the two viewpoints:
1. to employ working methods which enable the greatest possible participation by the CDLR members in the phase of the design and implementation of the output; and
2. to develop communication action plans for the phase of achieving the expected impact, once the output is available for use by the members states.
Therefore, the LR-IC members are invited:
1. to take note of the comprehensive list of the target groups clustered in the three categories, the different ways of communicating with them and the suggested communication tools to use (Appendix I); and to propose any change they might deem desirable. The target groups are to be considered when agreeing the LR-IC activities for 2010-2013.
2. to examine the checklist for Communication (Appendix II) when preparing activities for 2010-2013.
3. to propose working methods that will provide active participation and communication of the LR-IC members in development the outputs in the LR-IC (2010)1.
4. to continue actively contributing to the new communication policy in order to enhance the visibility of the Council of Europe’s work on local and regional democracy at national level.
APPENDIX I
Target groups
Category 1 |
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Target group |
Ways to communicate |
Corporate/ Product communication |
Possible tools |
Ministries responsible for Local and Regional Government |
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National policy divisions |
Persuading, Informing and Forming |
Corporate and product |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Debates, Videos, face to face, telephone |
International division |
Persuading, Informing and Forming |
Corporate and product |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Debates, Videos, face to face, telephone, e-forum |
Management of the Ministry |
Persuading, Informing and Forming |
Corporate and product |
Memo’s, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
Ministers |
Persuading, Informing and Forming |
Corporate |
Memo’s, Meetings, Videos, face to face |
External advisory bodies (Quango’s) |
Persuading, Informing and Dialoguing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Debates, Videos, face to face, telephone |
Ministries of Foreign Affairs |
|||
Permanent Representations |
Persuading and Informing |
Corporate and product |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Debates, Videos, face to face, telephone |
MFA desk officers for CoE |
Persuading, Informing and Dialoguing |
Corporate and product |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Debates, Videos, face to face, telephone, e-forum |
Ministers of Foreign Affairs |
Persuading, Informing and Forming |
Corporate |
Memo’s, Meetings, Videos, face to face, |
Internal Council of Europe |
|||
Secretary General |
Persuading and Informing |
Corporate |
Memo’s, face to face, Videos |
Reform decision makers |
Persuading and Informing |
Corporate |
Memo’s, face to face, Videos |
Committee of Ministers |
Persuading and Informing |
Corporate |
Memo’s, face to face, |
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities |
Forming and Informing |
Corporate and product |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Debates, Videos, face to face, telephone, e-forum |
Parliamentary Assembly |
Persuading and Informing |
Corporate and product |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Debates, Videos, face to face, telephone |
Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs |
Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Debates, Videos, face to face, telephone |
Conference of INGO’s |
Informing |
Corporate |
Memo’s, Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
All Steering Committees of the Council of Europe |
Informing |
Corporate |
Memo’s, Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
Directorate General of Administration and Logistics |
Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
Directorate of Political Affairs |
Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
Directorate of Communication |
Dialoguing and Informing |
Corporate and product |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
Directorate of Political Advice and Cooperation |
Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
Venice Commission |
Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
North- South Centre |
Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletters, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
Category 2 |
|||
Target group |
First way to communicate |
Corporate/ Product communication |
Possible tools |
Local and regional government |
|||
Local authorities- Mayors and members of the executive (aldermen) |
Forming and Informing |
Corporate |
Meetings, Videos, Brochures, Website, Study visits, Exchange of experiences |
Local authorities- civil servants |
Persuading, Informing |
Product |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, Videos, e-forum, Study visits, Exchange of experiences |
Local authorities – members of the council/assembly |
Forming, Informing |
Corporate |
Meetings, Videos, Brochures, Website, Study visits, Exchange of experiences |
Regional authorities- governors and delegates |
Forming, Informing |
Corporate |
Meetings, Videos, Brochures, Website, Study visits, Exchange of experiences |
Regional authorities- civil servants |
Persuading, Informing |
Product |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, Videos, e-forum, Study visits, Exchange of experiences |
Regional authorities – members of the council/assembly |
Forming, Informing |
Corporate |
Meetings, Videos, Brochures, Website, Study visits, Exchange of experiences |
National associations of local government- members of the Board |
Forming, Informing |
Corporate |
Meetings, Videos, Brochures, Website, Study visits, Exchange of experiences |
National associations of local government- Director and staff |
Persuading, Informing |
Product |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, Videos, e-forum, Study visits, Exchange of experiences |
National associations of regional government- members of the Board |
Forming, Informing |
Corporate |
Meetings, Videos, Brochures, Website, Study visits, Exchange of experiences |
National associations of regional government- Director and staff |
Persuading, Informing |
Product |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, Videos, e-forum, Study visits, Exchange of experiences |
Category 3 (in random order) |
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Target group |
First way to communicate |
Corporate/ Product communication |
Possible tools |
800 million Europeans |
Informing, Persuading |
Corporate |
Website, Articles, Press releases, Press Conferences, Videos, Social Networking Sites, Campaign, Wiki, Twitter, Second Life, Chat, Podcasting, Weblog, |
Donors & assistance partners |
|||
GTZ |
Forming and Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, face to face, telephone |
VNG international |
Forming and Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, face to face, telephone |
Dexia |
Forming and Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, face to face, telephone |
World Bank |
Forming and Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, face to face, telephone |
UNDP |
Forming and Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, face to face, telephone |
SIDA |
Forming and Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, face to face, telephone |
Media |
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High profile journalists |
Persuading and Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, face to face, telephone, press seminars |
Specialised press |
Persuading and Informing |
Corporate and product |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, face to face, telephone, press seminars |
Civil Society |
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Trade unions |
Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, face to face, telephone |
NGO’s |
Informing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, face to face, telephone |
Academics in the field of |
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Law |
Dialoguing, Informing |
Product |
Website, Newsletter, e-forum |
Public administration |
Dialoguing, Informing |
Product |
Website, Newsletter, e-forum |
Political Science |
Dialoguing, Informing |
Product |
Website, Newsletter, e-forum |
Philosophy |
Dialoguing, Informing |
Product |
Website, Newsletter, e-forum |
Sociology |
Dialoguing, Informing |
Product |
Website, Newsletter, e-forum |
Advisory Bodies to Government |
Dialoguing, Informing |
Product |
Website, Newsletter, e-forum |
Brussels |
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European commission |
Informing, Dialoguing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
Committee of the Regions |
Informing, Dialoguing |
Corporate and Product |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
Other international organisations |
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OECD |
Informing and Dialoguing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
OSCE |
Informing and Dialoguing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
UNhabitat, |
Informing and Dialoguing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
World Bank |
Informing and Dialoguing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
UNESCO |
Informing and Dialoguing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
CEMR |
Informing and Dialoguing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) |
Informing and Dialoguing |
Corporate |
Website, Newsletter, Meetings, Videos, face to face, telephone |
APPENDIX II
This appendix is meant to assist the LR-IC and other sub-committees in reaching the overarching goals listed in the Utrecht Agenda. The different committees have different agendas and the aim of this document is to help identify issues at an early stage that need to be communicated so that the proper measures can be taken.
The LR-GG should discuss the questions below when a new issue or product like a report or evaluation is being discussed. These questions are intended to help identify especially important issues:
Product/issue
- What are the outputs? What do want to get from this?
- How important is this product/ issue, cf. the Utrecht Agenda, the identified challenges and in support of our common objective of delivering good local and regional governance to all citizens?
Target groups
- Who are the target groups for this product/ issue?
o Possible partners?
o Possible opponents?
- Who will this affect?
- Are there any partners in this matter that we need to communicate with?
- Where does this matter go from here? To the CDLR, CM?
Communication goals
- What do we want to achieve?
- What do we want to communicate?
Central message
- What is the central message we want to give out about this product/issue?
Implementation
- What is the form of the product?
o If there is a written product:
§ Is there a summary that could be easily translated?
§ Could it be published online?
- How should we visualize the results of this product/ issue (what tools?)?
- Where should we visualize the results of the work?
- Who should visualize the results of the work (CoE, member states?)?
The following challenges of the Utrecht agenda are of particular common interest:
1. Managing the impact of the current financial/economic crisis
2. Addressing the low level of democratic participation in public life at local and regional level
3. Reducing the complexity and cost of the current system of local and regional government and enhancing its efficiency
4. Enhancing the capacity for and quality of governance in local and regional communities or authorities
5. Addressing the impact of demographic/migration trends
6. Improving access to public services delivered at local and regional level
7. Making it easier for local and regional authorities to co-operate across frontiers