Principles and guidelines for elaborating a PR and Communication Plan

1. Principles and guidelines for elaborating a PR and Communication Plan PR and Communication June 2017

2. PR, communication and awareness on waste management issues – legal requirements • The new waste management system and the waste management code bring in new topics and challenges for municipalities and for the PR work • One of the resulting obligations is to include in the Municipal Waste Management Plans a chapter on PR and communication: • Waste management code, Article 13, paragraph 4: “ 4. A municipal waste management plan shall include:…. f) programmes to raise awareness of society on waste management issues;”

3. PR and communication work in municipalities • PR departments have to cover a wide range of topics: • Social issues • Infrastructure, roads etc • Cultural work and activities with children and youth • Economic situation / jobs / unemployed / new investments and business • Environmental protection / environmental problems • Waste / waste collection / waste recycling • Waste, waste collection and waste recycling is just one out of many topics • Therefore:  Waste management issues should be integrated into an overall plan!!

4. Why should you develop a Communiction Plan? • A plan will make it possible to target your communication accurately. It gives you a structure to determine: • Whom you need to reach • What to tell to your target groups • How to reach your target groups • A plan will make it possible to decide better about necessary staff, budget and timing • A plan will make it easier to coordinate with all other departments of the municipality • A plan will be an instrument to coordinate communication with stakeholders and possibly help to mobilise external sources for financing and implementing communication activities

5. How do you develop a Communication Plan? Analyse your past and present communication approach and activities for each of the following topics (chapters of a communication plan): • Objectives - Identify your objectives • Target Groups - Choose your target groups • Messages – Formulate your key messages for each target group • Tools - select your communication tools, products, channels and methods • Human resources / skills and capacities • Financial budget • Timing - Establish your time frame and implement the plan • Monitoring – review and analysethe results and look for ways to improve regulary on annual base

6. Objectives – What do we want to achieve? Example for objectives – Project “Integrated Solid Waste Management Kutaisi" • Objective 1 – Contribute to and facilitate the implementation of the integrated solid waste management system for Imereti and Racha-Lechkhumi and KvemoSvaneti • Objective 2 – Increase awareness of citizens for the need of and the costs of proper waste disposal • Objective 3 – Encourage citizens to avoid waste, compost organic waste, separate waste and support recycling • Objective 4 - Ensure that the beneficiary population is aware of the roles of the involved partners and of the EU in the overall project

7. Target Groups – Whom are we talking to? • Starting point for defining target groups is the ‘general public’. • General information for all citizens • Specific information and activities for special target groups City – huge buildings City – private houses Rural population NGOs, community groups Private sector, business, industry Media Youth, young generation Education, schools, professional schools, kindergarden • Make clear profiles of each target group (how many people, general attitude, special problems, media use, how to reach them best…)

8. Messages – What are we going to tell them? • Why are ‘Key Messages’ important?Key messages are important because they help everyone focus on exactly what is being communicated. All representatives of the municipality are speaking with ‘one voice’ to the public • How should messages be developed and designed?Messages should be clear and written in simple languagethat your target audiences can understand and relate to • How should messages be used?Once you have developed the key messages for a subject, the messages should be used in all communication products, during all events and in all communication channels you are using

9. Tools and activities – How do we reach them? • Use diverse communication channels and tools, taking into account particular target groups/ audiences and possible impact/ an outreach result • Print- Posters; Fliers and brochures; Newsletters; Promotional materials; Reading matter; • Online - website; Facebook; YouTube; news on online news agencies; • Media relations - Press releases and press conferences; Gamgeoba newspaper; agreements and collaboration with TV stations; radio • Events / direct communication - Presentations at local events; local and national conferences, fairs, and other gatherings; Community meetings; Word of mouth;exhibitions; • Ensure that you tailor your tools and activities to the level of time and human and financial resources available.

10. Tools and activities Practical advice: Create an overview table • This table can be the base for planning budget, for the time schedule and for planning human resources

11. Human Resources / Skills and Capacities – How are we going to do the job? • In many cases there is just one PR officer. With just one person only the minimum necessary of PR activities can be covered. • Several municipalities have more staff. There it is important to agree on and write down clear job profiles. Who is responsible for what? • Avoid ‘everybody is doing everything’ – this results in an overall medium performance and not top performance • Observe carefully who is working and performing well in certain areas (photos, online communication (facebook), writing articles, organising events and interacting with people…) • We are all performing best when we enjoy what we do!

12. Budget – How are we going to finance it? • Don’t start thinking about the budget by saying ‘there is no budget’ • Make a detailed list of all activities and products you plan • Get price quotes from service providers. Provide all necessary information. Here an example for a leaflet: • the technical specifications for each product (ex. Leaflet, A4, printed on 2 sides, full color, folded two times, paper 120 g/m) • The number of copies • The price per copy • The overall price • Create a MS Excel file and calculate the overall budget. Simulate several variants if necessary • With a well done calculation you can discuss with the administrative unit / head of Gamgeoba – everybody knows then what the discussion is about

13. Time plan for implementing the activities • Create a table in MS Word and highlight the month(s) in which you will implement each activity • Think through very well all activities in order to roll out your communication plan. The activities might be one-time, periodic or ongoing. • Consider the order in which different target groups will need to know information

14. Monitor, review, analyse and conclude Accountability: Explain and prove what you have achieved. Justify your expenditure of time, energy and funds. Improvement: Find out what worked and what did not. Find mistakes and improve your communication efforts

15. Discussion topics for working groups • Have we formulated clear communication objectives? • Do we know our target groups? • Have we formulated clear messages for the different target groups? • Which communication tools and channels do we / can we use? Are they adequate? • Do we have the necessary staff and skills? • Do we have enough budget? Can we mobilise external sources? •  Think about: You can collaborate with neighbouring municipalities. You can elaborate together leaflets and information brochures that you can be used in several municipalities

16. Communication Matrix – Group work • Each working group should choose one out of the six topics and start doing a review, a short analysis and resume and conclude your insights • Use a flip chart paper and present your results in 3 columns (’Review’, ‘Analysis’, ‘Resume’) in bullet points