program_comms_plan_2014

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 * Program communication plan 2014 (in progress) **

= Strategic directions = The Africa RISING program framework (2012-2016) sets direction (pp. 25s) for 'Communication and Facilitation'. It mentions five activity clusters:
 * 1) Communicating for wider influence and impact – Engaging with and influencing wide audiences;
 * 2) Translating the program’s outputs into research, development and policy outcomes, getting knowledge into use;
 * 3) Knowledge sharing and learning – Enriching learning, interaction and exchange across the program;
 * 4) Publishing – Capturing and disseminating research products and outputs of the program;
 * 5) Internal communication – Linking and connecting project and program teams.

These clusters are helping to structure communication plan activities and priorities every year. In addition, communication ('Comms') work looks at specific engagement and dissemination channels (e.g. traditional media, social media, events, wiki, website etc.) and these are featured under the planned activities.

Planned activities for 2014 (tentative)
=== 1. Communicating for wider influence and impact – Engaging with and influencing wide audiences === Influence and impact, at this middle-stage of the program, is not yet focused on using research outputs to influence decision-makers at various levels (because the research outputs are not yet ready themselves) but consists mainly in developing or strengthening relations with partner organisations that are influential and/or other crucial decision-making agencies. For 2014, this is the main focus and the following activities hopefully will help achieve this objective:

//Feature Africa RISING at USAID events and Agrilinks meetings// The Feed the Future initiative and USAID generally remain strategic for the program as a whole and Africa RISING enjoys quite some visibility. In 2014, Africa RISING will try and contribute more actively to USAID-organized (or supported) events. In addition, USAID has been hosting various Agrilinks online webinars. Whenever applicable and relevant, Africa RISING program staff will try and actively join these and perhaps even present some of the work carried out in Africa RISING.

// Peer to peer visit with government agencies // In 2014 there might be opportunities to bring government agents from different Africa RISING countries together in an exchange visit to tease lessons about the implementation, challenges and opportunities of sustainable intensification in their country.

=== 2. Translating the program’s outputs into research, development and policy outcomes, getting knowledge into use === As is the case with communication for wider engagement, this part of Comms work requires research outputs but those are not yet available and can therefore hardly influence development outcomes. For 2014, the priorities in this area will be to distil information from the baseline studies and characterization work into 'digestible' formats that can more easily influence implementing partner organisations and their respective networks.

// Develop program level 'digital stories' // With a lot of characterization work and baseline studies developed in 2013 in all three project regions, there is potential to offer a more comprehensive picture of the work Africa RISING is hoping to leverage. Digital stories are simple ways to convey messages and to act as a soft monitoring tool by reviewing the situation at different points in time. They are also less time-consuming than videos. If possible, in 2014 the Comms program team will develop

=== 3. Knowledge sharing and learning – Enriching learning, interaction and exchange across the program === Africa RISING is a learning program, putting much emphasis on sharing, learning, interaction and exchange. This will remain a very important area throughout the duration of Africa RISING. In 2014, the most prominent priorities in this respect relate to the learning event and to the (scientist) peer exchanges.

// Prepare the third learning event around the research framework revision // Out of a process that started in 2012, the program framework emerged in 2013, after many exchanges and conversations. Every subsequent event has shown that the program framework is not well known by all and that some aspects might be tightened. For the sake of ensuring that everyone in the team is properly updated about Africa RISING and that the program framework serves its purpose, the learning event of 2014 might focus on revisiting this most important program document. The learning event might be hosted in East and Southern Africa or West Africa and will be prepared by the Communication team.

// Peer to peer exchange with scientists // Integrated farming system analysis is not an easy domain, as has been proven in the last couple of years across Africa RISING teams. The predominance of certain farming systems in the research areas also determines how integrated farming systems looks and the options that farmers have at their disposal. In 2014, scientists from the three program regions need to work together and share ideas about their work across program regions to compare and discuss their approach, results and challenges. Details to add

=== 4. Publishing – Capturing and disseminating research products and outputs of the program === For a learning program like Africa RISING, it is essential to capture information so that it can be mobilized later for spontaneous learning and structured analysis activities. In 2014, Comms efforts will continue to ensure that all relevant information is collected and stored on CG Space, that important information is shared via the (updated) website and Matters A Rising newsletter. In addition, we want to introduce team members on the wiki's who is who page and as portraits on the website, to give a more human face to the project. Finally, each year a photo-journalistic trip is organized in one of the program region. This year it will be in Ethiopia.

//Ensure more updates from East & Southern Africa and from West Africa are shared on the website and in Matters Arising// Since the program's onset, Ethiopian Highlands have been featured heavily on the Africa RISING website. The other two regions improved in 2013, compared with 2012, and the recruitment of a communication officer covering both regions in the last quarter of 2013 gives more reason to hope for more frequent updates from East and Southern Africa and from West Africa on the website - and subsequently also on the newsletter //Rising Matters//.

// Keep collecting all finalized outputs onto CG Space and curate collections // All documents, presentations, pictures, posters, audio files, video files etc. have to be captured by the program for re-use. This effort will continue for all three project regions (and dedicated collections on CG Space). In addition, the comms team will see if there is any opportunity to curate the collections to maximize visibility and use of these outputs, both on the website, wiki and other channels.

//Feature staff / partner profile//s The monitoring and evaluation meeting held in November 2013 showed that a lot of the program staff did not know well enough who is involved in it, doing what etc. External parties may also not be aware of // the people // involved in this program. The Comms team will thus make sure, in 2014, that all teams report 'who is who' on the wiki and that individual interviews of program staff are featured. This will also be the case at program level, with a portrait every two months at least.

// Photo journalism trip in Ethiopia // In 2013, a photo journalistic trip took place in Ghana and led to collecting three blog posts, one digital story and tens of pictures. In 2014, a similar trip will be entertained in Ethiopia to collect more information about sustainable intensification pathways in Ethiopia, particularly with more emphasis on livestock (with respect to the importance of livestock herding in the country, and the leadership of ILRI in this field).

//Develop sustainable intensification (integrated farming systems) pictorial// On request by USAID, the comms team is exploring ways to illustrate integrated farming systems in a way that captures the complexity in a simple, visual manner. Some efforts have started with the IITA comms team in East and Southern Africa in 2013 and in the first quarter of 2014 the program should finalize this work.

=== 5. Internal communication – Linking and connecting project and program teams === Internal communication remains a critical area of communication as it helps connect people to people and to information, to pave the way for internal engagement and learning, and to ensure that all dots in the program are connected. This effort will remain essential through the duration of the entire program. In 2014, more efforts will be put on using the social network platform 'Yammer' (online and/or by email) to connect all program team members, as well as the wiki to collaborate on specific themes and activities. The team will also train the newly recruited comms officer for ESA/WA. Finally, the Comms team will continue supporting the organization of program communication team meetings.

// Encourage more cooperation around the wiki and Yammer (**keep?**) // With nearly 150 daily page views, around 2 daily edits and up to four simultaneous editors on a day, the Africa RISING wiki has proven a useful work space. Not all team members know how to find the wiki or what to expect from it, what information to find on the wiki, how to edit or how to use the wiki to their own benefit. As for the Yammer social network, it was launched 'undercover' in the early months of 2013 and its use of trailing behind, with only 24 members and very few active ones among them. The comms team will encourage use of Yammer by management and key scientists, on the way back from trips and around specific meetings.

// Get regular updates from ESA and WA (and M&E) onto the wiki and Yammer // As much as the public face (the website) of Africa RISING needs to show a balanced mix of information, research outputs and stories from all three project regions, the three program regions should also contribute to collective efforts internally, primarily on the wiki (e.g. updating specific region page and 2014 project comms plan), but also by sharing more updates on Yammer. These efforts also hold for the M&E team which needs to update the wiki section about their part of the program.

// Train the communication officers from East & Southern Africa and from West Africa // To support the above-mentioned activities, the Comms team will organise a refresher course on all comms tools, approaches and channels for the ESA/WA comms officer (team) to achieve collective standards and ensure more regular information exchange.

//Support the organization of the program communication team (PCT) meetings// There have been three PCT meetings in 2013 and another four are planned in 2014. The Comms officer from Ethiopian Highlands/Program will continue running these meetings to ensure they are properly scheduled, organized, documented and acted upon.

Roles and responsibilities
This 2014 communication plan was prepared by the Comms team (Simret Yasabu, Ewen Le Borgne and Peter Ballantyne) and, when completed, will be presented to the PCT.

The Comms team is in charge of implementing this plan and to review/adjust it on a quarterly basis. Different people will be contributing efforts into this comms plan, however:
 * The PCT is expected to:
 * sanction, approve and endorse this plan, and to refer to it as and when in ongoing project activities
 * inform all parties about important developments, preferably by means of Yammer updates or blog posts (and possibly with assistance from the Comms team).


 * Research teams and all project members are expected to:
 * share information about their activities on Yammer and at team meetings,
 * contribute to the collection of website items (and related generation of Matters A//Rising//) by sharing stories and developments of interest for the rest of the project/program,
 * share pictures, presentations, posters and other outputs so that they can be captured and stored with required meta-tagging etc. that makes that information relevant and contextually understandable,


 * The Comms team is expected to:
 * see to the effective implementation of this plan and update this plan on the wiki for ongoing tracking,
 * provide guidance, coaching and training where/when applicable,
 * draw lessons from the implementation of this plan,
 * review this plan properly annually to prepare for the next cycle.

**Capacity development** For 2014, the following capacity development activities are anticipated:
 * Comms training on Yammer and Wiki and all comms tools, approaches and channels for the ESA/WA officers;
 * Regular guidance/coaching on the use of these social media channels for Comms team members and any other program team member;
 * Regular guidance/coaching on the curation of social media and other communication channels for the program Comms team generally.

In relation with this, the following guidelines will be developed:
 * Yammer guidelines (updated from standard ILRI guidelines);
 * Wiki guidelines (updated from standard ILRI guidelines)

Activity schedule

 * || **January** || **February** || **March** || **April** || **May** || **June** || **July** || **August** || **September** || **October** || **November** || **December** ||
 * **Learning event** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   || X ||   ||   ||   ||