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


This document is public. It will not be distributed at the meeting. Please bring this copy.

Ce document est public. Il ne sera pas distribué en réunion. Prière de vous munir de cet exemplaire.


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 September 2009 the CDLR was presented the “Communication strategy for local and regional democracy work in the Council of Europe” (CDLR(2009)49 Addendum) which includes a “to do” list. Similarly, a summary version of the “To do” list, which includes additional “To do” list items taken from the regular CDLR Communication agenda, has been prepared for ease of reference, enabling CDLR and Secretariat members to identify at a glance action to be carried out during the year. 

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.

Adopted by the CDLR in its new format it became an integral part of the “Action required” section in the twice yearly CDLR working document on communication.


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

Target group

Ways to communicate

Corporate/ Product communication

Possible tools

Ministries responsible for Local and Regional Government

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Check list for Communication

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