1. Designing & Implementing an RPC Communications Strategy Annabelle South 19 th May 2009

2. Contents Background - partners Process of developing the strategy The communications workshop Supporting partners to implement the strategy Communications community of practice Challenges Lessons learnt What next?

3. Background Aim to influence policy & practice 7 partners – UK, Africa and Asia Academic organisations, research institutes and NGOs Varying levels of comms experience and capacity

4. Developing the strategy Initial strategy developed by LSHTM & AIDS Alliance during inception phase Comms leads appointed for each partner Preparation by partners for workshop Comms workshop held Strategies finalised by partners Overall strategy agreed

5. The workshop Purpose: –Develop country-level strategies –Strengthen comms capacity Attended by comms leads for partners External facilitators (ODI) & internal expertise

6. Workshop contents Identifying the audience Identifying the changes Forces for & against change The message & the messenger Internal communications Knowledge & learning Communities of practice Writing for impact

7. Supporting partners to implement the strategy Community of practice (Comms CoP) Comms manager –Lead & facilitate comms CoP –RPC-wide activities & products –Capacity strengthening –Support partner-specific activities & products Capacity strengthening

8. Comms CoP Purpose: to improve the comms performance and capacity of partners Regular teleconferences: update on activities, share experience & ideas Valued by partner comms leads (& comms manager) Formal evaluation to take place next week

9. Challenges Workshop costs – travel, facilitators Limited time & human resources for carrying out comms activities Partner not able to attend main comms workshop less active in Comms CoP

10. Lessons Learnt Workshop: Multi-partner workshop worked better in long-run than single-partner workshop Workshop was a good way of generating buy-in & enthusiasm Timing Strategies: Need to fit with partner’s overall priorities

11. Lessons Learnt Comms CoP: Useful support mechanism Important to find the right way for the group to function Best for specific, concrete plans rather than conceptual discussions

12. Lessons Learnt Comms leads: Clearly identified leads facilitated process of strategy development & implementation Dual role (research & comms) means time-pressure substantial Other: Need to take account of time needed for internal approval (within partners)

13. What next? Updating comms strategy Evaluating comms CoP Capacity building Continuing implementation