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Tool

Quick Guide: Developing Communication Strategies for your Localisation Process

The engagement of different stakeholder groups is crucial for the successful localisation of global agendas and depends on impactful communication. Different actors should be informed about the process, the status of the work and the agendas in general. In order to communicate effectively and to reach your target group, several preliminary considerations and strategic decisions have to be made. The following steps will support you in discussing possible communication strategies and specific activities in a workshop setting. 

Goal

Developing an advocacy and communication strategy for different stakeholders and audiences. Raising awareness of the need for stakeholder-specific communication channels and content.

Tasks

If the aim of the session is to collect different ideas for communication activities, it is possible to split participants into groups which each work on different activities. If the goal is a more general or comprehensive communication strategy, all or part of the steps should be discussed in the group as a whole.  

In any case, you can use the provided templates to record the results of the discussions. 

Step 1: First, you should discuss your vision of success and decide on the desired impact and the message you want to convey. The guiding question should be: What is the desired outcome or effect on your target group?  E.G.: Do you want to inform the public about the Global Agendas? Do you want to inform your colleagues in your municipality about the ongoing localisation processes and encourage them to get involved? Collect ideas. 

Step 2: In a second step, you determine your target audience more specifically. Who do you want to reach with your activities? Keep in mind that there may be sub-target groups such as women, young adults or social minorities that require additional considerations. 

Step 3: Now you need to think – possibly based on the Persona tool you can find in the section on stakeholder engagement – about appropriate communication channels and activities to reach your target group.  

  • Think of formats like action day(s), events, and event series 
  • Think of media (print, radio, internet), social media and work with cultural institutions  
  • Consider unconventional, casual formats 
  • Get inspiration from other cities (Here you can find an overview of possible SDG awareness-raising examples)  

Step 4: After you have decided on your target groups and discussed possible activities, you should brainstorm about possible occasions. You should ask yourself the following question: where and when should these activities take place? You should also consider whether there are existing projects or events that you could link to. 

Step 5: In the following, consider what resources are needed, what funding requirements there are, and which cooperation partners could be considered.  

Step 6: Finally, you should decide on indicators to measure the progress and success of your activities.  

Step 7 (optional): Later in the process, after several activities or events have taken place, you can collect and discuss the results. Together with your team, interactively create a mind map where you accumulate examples, success factors and challenges. 

Note

If you prefer, you can also exchange steps 1 and 2 and start with the target audience.  

Timeframe

1 to 2 hours

Output

Outline of an advocacy and communication strategy, ideas for feasible communication activities

References

Based on CIVICUS, Stakeholder Forum (2015): Advocacy Toolkit: Influencing the post-2015 Development Agenda, P. 25.