Draft Communication Strategy of the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family

1. Draft Communication Strategy of the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family July 7th, 2011

2. I.INTRODUCTION Citizens have the right and must be informed about the Government activities and policies. In a democratic society, the central public authorities must inform the population correctly and on time. The communication between the Government and citizens is a very important factor, especially in the countries passing through transition periods, like the Republic of Moldova, because the major changes that are taking place within the state institutions leave an uncertainty mark on all the members of the society.

3. In order to ensure an efficient functioning of the Ministry, for the interest of citizens, it must communicate with them openly and proactively, by providing necessary information and by reflecting citizens’ needs in the promoted policies. The Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family is the central body of public administration, subordinated to the Government, which is empowered to develop, to promote and to ensure the implementation of state policy in the following areas: labour relations; wages; health and safety at work; human resources development and employment, including guidance and training of population; labour migration; demography; social partnership; social insurance; social assistance; social protection of persons with disabilities; family and child rights protection; promote equal opportunities of women and men; preventing gender based domestic violence; prevent human trafficking; receipt and distribution of humanitarian aid provided to Republic of Moldova.

4. The Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family has a subdivision (press Service) which, according to the Activity Regulation approved by the Minister of Labour, Social Protection and Family on February 2nd, 2010, has the main goal to ensure an efficient communication of the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family with the general public through mass media, in order to reflect the transparent activity of the public authority. There is one person employed in the Press Service department and she is directly subordinated to the Minister of Labour, Social Protection and Family.

5. II. IDENTIFIED COMMUNICATION PROBLEMSThe constructive and well-stated social policies, the efficient public services and the performance of the central authorities will have no value if citizens do not: • understand and support the policies • know the plans, the objectives and the results • have an opportunity to influence the results In order to achieve its objectives, the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family needs to communicate with those who it serves, namely the citizens and other interest groups.

6. III. IMPLEMENTATION PRINCIPLES OF THE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY • The activity of the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family represents a public activity, respectively, the information regarding it should be public • The transparency and openness must be the basic principles of communication. • Unlimited access. • Objective and impartial • Professionalism • Consistent messages

7. IV. COMMUNICATION GOAL AND OBJECTIVES The goal of effective communication of the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family is to contribute to the achievement of objectives and to the implementation of promoted policies, to create a favorable institutional image, to inform citizens about the policies in the field, and enable them to contribute to the policy improvement. Communication objective: • Raising awareness about the importance of paying the social insurance contributions, respectively about legal employment (with employment contract) and the negative impact of undeclared work etc. • Continuously informing the population about social assistance policies and the reforms in the field of labour and social protection which are targeted towards elderly, vulnerable families, families with children, and persons with disabilities (compensations, social benefits, social assistance, social services, rest and sanatorium treatment etc.) • Convincing people to change their attitude, beliefs, priorities and behavior regarding demographic issues, gender equality between women and men, prevention of domestic gender based violence, prevention of human trafficking. • Encourage the Moldovan Diaspora abroad to inform its members about the migration policies, bilateral agreements on social security, return of migrants in country, the impact of migration on the population of Moldova etc.

8. V. INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION Internal communication – all employees of the Ministry represent “one voice presenting the same consistent message”. Thus, a good informed team is more motivated. • Existing internal information media of the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family: a) printed materials (newsletter “Social Protection”) b) electronic means of communication (Intranet), to which all the employees should be connected; c) direct discussions/ operational planning meetings which have the goal to deliver information at all levels ( vertical and horizontal communication); d) posts ( notices, information boards, posters).

9. External communication – represents the relations between the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family with external interest groups and citizens. This kind of communication represents an open dialog which aims to raise continuously the awareness of the social environment and of all interested parties. Target groups on national level: • Beneficiaries ( pensioners, persons with disabilities, families with children, unemployed, families in difficulty etc.) • Civil society; • District departments/ offices of social assistance and family protection; • Public servants and politicians; • Mayors and district boards; • Mass-media; • The youth; • Academic and teaching staff ( professors and students); • Trade unions; • Diplomatic missions accredited in the Republic of Moldova Target groups on international level/external (very important in terms of foreign assistance provided): • International organizations; • International donors; • International NGOs specialized in the field of labour, social protection and family.

10. The Forms of Communication with target groups include the following: • distributing newsletters, publications, books, brochures and other information materials, posting press articles, news and reports on Ministry’s official website www.mmpsf.gov.md, in mass media; • provide answers to different questions and grievances of population; • organizing public audience every Monday of the week with the Minister and Deputy Ministers; • provide prompt answers on Ministry hot line, citizens having the possibility to call and get quick qualitative answers or required information. • placing daily news on the Ministry’s web site, including forums where the citizens can ask questions, can vote online or take note of surveys in the field; • establish/conclude contracts with district social assistance and family protection departments; • cooperate with active NGOs in the field of labour, social protection and family; • collaborate with mass-media and organize monthly press conference on different subjects/thematic; • launch advertising spots and media information campaigns (TV, Radio, written press); • special forms of communication with the central and local public administration authorities; • organizing seminars and trainings for officials, experts from local public administration and for journalists on specific domains So, the basic methods that are used are the following: 1. campaigns (programs)/ analysis of problems that need solving and setting objectives in order to identify implementation activities; 2. media relations (public information)/ knowing the mass-media peculiarities and their interests; 3. direct communication/ meetings, presentations, roundtables, conferences etc.; 4. writing and editing activities/ reports, articles, press releases etc.; 5. organizing special events/ press conferences, celebrations, awards events etc. Lobby in promoting the Ministry image: - NGOs, Cooperation Memorandums signed between the MLSPF and NGOs; - International Donors, the meetings with the Ministry’s administration. - Opinion leaders, to be invited at events; - Important national political leaders etc.

11. VI. MASS-MEDIA – EFICIENT MEAN IN PUBLIC RELATIONS The Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family is very interested in creating and maintaining good relations with the press. In this respect, the main means of working with the press are the following • Press release; • Information release; • Media-kit; • Press conference; • Interview; • Briefing; • Reportage; • Press statement; • Press bulletin; • Nominative articles; • Notices; • Background or context information; • Informal meetings with journalists and editors; • Tournaments for mass-media and field visits; • Web pages and e-mails; • TV talk-shows and radio broadcasts, interactive programs.

12. VII. EVALUATION AND MONITORING The monitoring of the implementation and the evaluation of the communication initiatives play a decisive role. Only by evaluating the performance and measuring the progress it is possible to estimate if the final strategy gave the expected results or if there are necessary any changes and adjustments of the Strategy and/or Action plan. The evaluation and monitoring will be performed annually and the report will be presented in the first quarter of the next year

13. VIII. Implementation periodThe Communication Strategy of the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family will be implemented in the period 2011 – 2014. IX. Conclusions • The next step is the elaboration of the Action Plan, which will specify the activities, dead lines, measuring instruments, the responsible persons and the budget/costs. • The Action Plan will be developed each year and updated/ changed regularly.