Communication Plan Africa RISING WA Afolabi Faith Africa RISING West Africa Project - Bamako, Mali, 3-4 February 2014

Communication as a strategic tool Help achieve project goals Manage partnerships Disseminate knowledge Generate support

 To support information dissemination and awareness building, dialogue exchange and relationship building to influence policy decision making and adoption of knowledge. Communication goal

Communicating for wider influence and impact Translating the program’s outputs into research development and policy outcomes, getting knowledge into use Knowledge sharing and learning Publishing Internal communication Objectives

Africa RISING WA /ESA communication InternalExternal Project management Collaboration Project documentation Communication support Knowledge management Information dissemination Knowledge sharing Capacity development Media/public relations Advocacy (communication to influence)

Levels Internal 1. Enhance information sharing among project partners & key stakeholders 2. Document project progress and activities External 1. Promote knowledge and encourage adoption among beneficiaries 2. Influence decision making and increase policy, donor, and stakeholder support

What are your communication requirements?

Perceived communication needs Internal Audiences: project staff and implementing partners Communication tools, guidelines Info/updates about project Databases, repositories, knowledge bank Communication materials and products

Perceived communication needs External Audiences: farmers/private sector, donors, media, policymakers, etc. Knowledge on technologies on systems intensification News/updates about project Support for partnerships, advocacy, etc. Media-based tools for dissemination, training

Work plan Cross-cutting activities 1.Communication for wider influence and impact 1.1 Organize discussions with policy makers and journalist to understand better the Africa RISING programme and that will lead to policies that would improve farming systems both for live stock and crops IITA, Imgard, Asamoah, Tom & Faith, Agathe 1.2 Come up with press release from major event.Asamoah, Tom, Faith, Agathe 2. Translating the program's output into research, development and policy outcomes, getting knowledge into use 2.1 To distill information from the baseline studies and characterization work into digestible formats that can more easily influence implementing partner organizations and their respective networks. IITA, Irmgard, Tom & Asamoah, Faith, Agathe 2.2 Develop success stories from visit to sites IITA, Imagard, Asamoah, Tom & Faith, Agathe

Work plan Cross-cutting activities 3. Knowledge sharing and learning-Enriching learning, interaction and exchange across the program 3.1 peer to peer exchange with scientists IITA, Imgard, Faith, Asamoah, & Tom, Agathe 3.2 Enrich learning from project-develop fact sheets on technologies on different areas(eg seed, nutrition etc) depending on the need in the different site quarterly IITA, Imgard, Faith, Asamoah, Tom, Agathe 3.3 Identify and translate specific key documents into French language such as brochure, posters for the project countries by end of 1 st quarter. IITA, Imgard, Faith, Asamoah, Tom, Agathe

Work plan Cross cutting activities 4. Publishing- Capturing and dissemination research products and outputs of the program 4.1 Capture everything systematically-at team meetings, with partners, field visits with relevant media tools and produce promotional and informative materials eg. Brochures, documentaries on success stories, Posters, field banners etc IITA, Faith, Asamoah, Agathe & Irmgard 4.2 Systematically update website and other sites, wiki, cg space with key publication as the need arises Faith, Simret, Catherine 4.3 Contribute information to IITA Africa matters arising bulletin and Africa RISING bulletin atleast 2 stories per quarter (Mali and Ghana one story each) IITA, Faith, Asamoah, Agathe, Simret and Catherine 4.5 Publish 2013 technical report, community analysis reports on wiki and cg spaces Faith, Asamoah, Agathe & Irmgard 4.6 Ensure that branding guidelines are adhered to in publishing of communication materials Faith, Agathe

Work plan Cross cutting activities 5. Communication 5.1 Provide communication support to activities and events base d on calendar of event provided by the coordinators in the sties. IITA, Faith, Agathe, Simret 5.2, Devise means to encourage constant use of existing social platforms such as yammer, wiki, flicker, ensure account are managed dailyIITA, Faith, Agathe 5.3 Produce communication materials for media, donors, other stakeholders, eg brochure, posters, fact sheets, essential material flyer on how to make cheese from goat milk. IITA, Faith, Simret, Agathe, Catherine 5.4 Do inventory of training need of comms team for Capacity building of staff on use of existing media tools IITA, Faith, Simret, Catherine

Project level output 2014 Calendar of events Updated publication files on Wiki and web sites Learning event (with Program Communication team) Strengthen relationship with Media for wider publicity Published materials: brochures, fact sheets, flyers, posters, and working papers (as needed) Updated info on WA project on web site

Project level output Success stories on project outputs from Ghana and Mali Project documents: edited technical reports Community analysis reports and other publications for Ghana and Mali Multimedia and extension materials, e.g., videos, posters, info graphics

Challenges Use of existing social platforms (Wiki, Flickr, Yammer) Translation of materials into French Translation of materials into simple language for farmers

Thank you !

Project partners WA

Project partners ESA