There are likely to be four main ways in which you can gain and maintain buy-in to the initiative:

An inclusive process of strategic planning – the development of a strategic plan, as outlined elsewhere in this toolkit, will be a key way of ensuring that the reasons for the international development initiative and its objectives are rooted in your council’s and stakeholder priorities and, in turn, of gaining buy-in. But, to do so, it needs to be truly participatory and inclusive with all relevant parties having the chance to be consulted on and to contribute to the plan.

Leadership backing – the relevance and importance of international development activities to the council should be reflected in the backing and involvement of top leadership at key junctures in the planning and roll-out of the initiative. This is important not just as a signal within the council and the local area but, in some cases, as part of the process of partner dialogue and protocol.

Community and media backing – identify people who are going to be lead spokespeople about the initiative – key officers, senior councillors or local community or business participants – and involve them in pro-active communications to promote the activity. A council’s international activities by a council can be easy prey for journalists looking for negative stories and being pro-active is the best way to ensure the story is reported in a positive light. For more detail, look at the maximising value section of this toolkit.

Reporting back progress and success – as the initiative develops, you should look for appropriate opportunities to relay on the accomplishments of the programme. These can range from fairly small-scale developments, such as an officer changing the way s/he works as a result of mutual learning with a developing country partner, to more major outputs, such as breakthroughs in Millennium Goal progress or major trade wins.