© 2010 Local Government Alliance for International Development
| Communicating your achievements |
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You must also consider the outside media. Don’t fall into the trap of failing to be pro-active and wait for the media to come to you. This is more likely to invite stories that reflect the journalist’s agenda and not the positive reasons why your council is engaging in international activity. Instead, councils should seek to have a robust and positive news and features flow that makes it difficult for journalists to ignore the wider context of the benefits to the council and the local area. |
If you follow the approach outlined in the ‘making a start’ section of this toolkit, you will be well on the way to effective communications with partners, councillors and stakeholders.>>Case studies
York: using local media to garner business support
The City of York and North Yorkshire County Council on the back of links with the Gambia have confirmed York as a pre-games training camp venue for two West African teams. The announcement received good local press and after simply asking local businesses to get in touch if they wanted to be involved, the link has since received support from several local businesses, highlighting the value of the link to both the council and the local economy. An example of their ask in the local press is here which was followed up in meetings and at events.
Bristol City Council assisted with the organisation of the first national conference for Local Authorities and Nicaragua in November 2009 and the Local Authorities Action for Southern Africa (LAACTSA) biennial conference, held in Bristol in February 2010. Both events brought together a variety of local authority representatives from across the UK and international partners to share learning on current UK work in Nicaragua and Southern Africa.
Councils such as Bristol and Spelthorne have used visits from overseas colleagues to support learning in schools with real life examples. Bristol have hosted visits by Fairtrade producers (every Fairtrade Fortnight) to spread the Fairtrade message in schools and around Bristol. Spelthorne have hosted a visitor from Equador, who went to local schools to talk about climate change. Children were able to hear first hand about the impacts of climate change.
In order to ensure that the right messages are getting out, Rotherham Council have worked with the media every step of the way throughout their Fairtrade campaign. They have worked both internally through their communications team and the Rotherham Partnership newspaper (which goes to households throughout the Borough) and externally with local radio stations and newspapers.
In addition through fair trade events (such as dinners and fashion shows), the council have been able to raise money for local and international charities, which has helped to maintain links with these charities as well as ensure that the fair trade message is spreading.
>>Self assessment
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1 Are you making the most of your own media – the council’s website, newsletters etc. – to tell the story about your international development activity that you want to tell? 2 Have you identified someone who is a good communicator that can be the spokeperson and lead communications about international links? 3 Are you joining up with partners in the community, local schools etc. so that the media get a clear understanding of the benefits to them of international development activity? 4 Have you taken the wind out of the sails of any negative media kite-flying, particularly where international visits are involved, by being transparent and having the full facts and context ready and disclosed? 5 Have you taken time to think through and have clear policies on things that are normal practice in some developing world contexts but could be misinterpreted or twisted by the media, such as exchange of gifts? |
>>Tips
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+ Involve your council’s press office. Make sure your press office is aware of your plans right from the start and let them advise you rather than the other way round. Don’t just tell them when you think the time is right. + Be positive and confident. Always seek to focus on the positive benefits of your activity in a way that puts any cynical or negative criticism in the shade. + Be aware and prepare. Anticipate that there will be some journalists searching for negative angles – seeking, for example, to portray an international visit as a junket – and make sure you have concise and convincing rebuttals. + Look out for ‘heroes’. The media want a human interest angle and there may be some real ‘heroes’ in your international development activity, either among overseas partners, local community partners or your own staff. + Make sure people are well prepared. Ask your press office to help ensure anyone who is giving interviews or dealing with the media has some training and advice. Think about the support you need to give to any overseas partners who may not be used the UK media. |
>>Resources
Interaction factsheet
Interaction Factsheet - media and communications - gives an overview of what to consider when working on media communications