Communications and Outreach Strategy City of Rotterdam Rotterdam May 2014
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2 1.1 PURPOSE 2 1.2 SCOPE 2 2. COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY, GOALS, OBJECTIVES 3 2.1 STRATEGY 3 2.2 RATIONALE 3 2.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STRATEGY 3 3. LOCAL PARTNERSHIP PLATFORMS 4 3.1 STAKEHOLDERS 4 4. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 5 4.1 LOCAL PROJECT MANAGER 5 4.2 LOCAL PARTNERSHIP PLATFORM COORDINATOR 5 5. KEY ELEMENTS 6 5.1 CONSISTENCY AND FREQUENCY OF MESSAGES 6 5.1.1 THE PROJECT NARRATIVE 6 5.2. COMMUNICATION MESSAGES 7 5.3 VISIBILITY 7 6. COMMUNICATION TOOLS & ACTIVITIES 8 6.1 DIVERSITY AND ECONOMY ROUND TABLES 8 6.2 PERSONAL INTERACTIONS AND WORKING GROUPS MEETINGS 8 6.3 PRINTED MATERIALS 9 6.4 ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS 9 7. TIMELINE 11 1
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 PURPOSE This document addresses the communications and outreach strategy for the DELI project in the city of Rotterdam. Its purpose is to contribute to the main objectives of the DELI project, which are outlined in the general project document drafted by the Council of Europe and Migration Policy Group. The DELI approach aims at going beyond information dissemination that targets communication at passive audiences, to facilitate active participation and stakeholder dialogue. Emphasis is given to local content to foster dialogue and improve the capacity of local institutions and people to plan and implement project activities. Based on results of socio-economic research and self-assessment review, DELI aims at facilitating access to locally relevant information about migrants, their socioeconomic backgrounds and needs, and opportunities for change and improvement. Access to this information will help to enhance integration of migrants, improve their participation in economic life of cities and foster new entrepreneurship and business opportunities. 1.2 SCOPE The scope of this communications and outreach plan is to: Define the communications and outreach strategy for the local Rotterdam DELI project. Outline the messages to be communicated throughout the project implementation. Identify roles and responsibilities. Define communication mechanisms, engagement tools, and feedback options. 2
2. COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY, GOALS, OBJECTIVES 2.1 STRATEGY The principles of the Communication and Outreach strategy are to: Build trust among internal and eternal stakeholders/partners through open discussions throughout the project implementation process. Provide stakeholders with the relevant information necessary to understand the DELI objectives and desired outcomes. Report progress or delays in progress so that local DELI teams and their local partners can continue to contribute to the success of the project. 2.2 RATIONALE As the DELI local Manager (representative from the municipal department in charge of the DELI implementation) and local Partnership Platform Coordinator develop and eecute overall DELI activities at local level, the Communications and Outreach Strategy aims to meet the following goals: Ensure accurate, consistent, and timely communication with internal (public administration) and eternal stakeholders (NGOs, migrant entrepreneurs, private sector and media). Minimise the number of concerns which internal and eternal stakeholders may naturally develop. Engage internal and eternal stakeholders to participate in the project planning and implementation process. 2.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STRATEGY The objectives of the communication and outreach strategy are to: Build credibility with internal and eternal audiences for the DELI local Manager and local Partnership Platform Coordinator by establishing epectations, eecuting, and reporting on activities and progress. Provide multiple forums and opportunities for local administration leadership and representatives from other relevant departments (integration, procurement, economic development) to offer comments and feedback during the planning and implementation processes. Ensure that representatives from other relevant departments (integration, procurement, and economic development) and eternal stakeholders (NGOs, migrant entrepreneurs, private sector and media) are kept updated regarding the project activities and progress. Ensure that all partners are aware of activities or issues that may affect them and alleviate concerns as best possible. Ensure that all partners are kept apprised and involved in key project activities and opportunities for engagement. Ensure that appropriate media have a defined and authoritative source of information regarding DELI objectives and policy changes that could take place as a project outcome. 3
3. LOCAL PARTNERSHIP PLATFORMS The DELI project requires each partner to set up a local partnership platform. This platform will work to maimise the local ownership of the project and impact of the knowledge echange between local stakeholders. The membership of each LPP will be tailored to suit the specific circumstances, local resources available at the city level and eperience of concrete individuals. 3.1 STAKEHOLDERS The following internal and eternal stakeholders are important for the project and will be taken into consideration for the Communications and Outreach Strategy: Stakeholder Internal Eternal Deputy Mayor in charge of Employment and Economy Deputy Mayor in charge of Urban Development and Integration DELI Local Manager City of Rotterdam, Mayor's Office City of Rotterdam, Department of Social Development City of Rotterdam, Department of Work & Income City of Rotterdam, Department of Economy and Labour Market City of Rotterdam, Communication City of Rotterdam, Service Center Procurement Port of Rotterdam Authority Epertise Center Diversity Epertise Center Anti-Discrimination & Equal Opportunities Chamber of Commerce Platform Rijnmond International Entrepeneurs (PRIO) SME Rotterdam General public Local media (newspapers, TV, radio) These partners have an active role in the DELI project and will be involved in all stages of the project. For the formulation of the communications and outreach strategy, the Local Project Coordinator has had individual consultations with all partners. Following the DELI partners meeting that will take place in Lisbon end May, the Local Partnership Platform will gather to discuss the way forward and formulate a number of concrete activities, with a division of tasks and responsibilities. 4
4. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES The following describes the roles and responsibilities for the members of local DELI teams involved in the Communications and Outreach Strategy. 4.1 LOCAL PROJECT MANAGER The primary roles of the local project manager representative from the municipal department responsible for DELI implementation - are outlined below: Inform Position Communication Goal Description Create awareness of DELI objectives and reasons for action Put in contet of overall local priorities (integration & economic development) Communicate responsibilities Communicate for results (results-based management) Create an etension of the DELI process with a person from partner departments that can become part of the DELI support group inside of the administration Share understanding of epected results and of the implementation process 4.2 LOCAL PARTNERSHIP PLATFORM COORDINATOR Local Partnership Platform Coordinator is the person responsible for the overall coordination of partnership platforms and eternal communication. He/she is responsible for identifying stakeholders, organising activities with key eternal stakeholders, and mapping any resistance. Within DELI, local Partnership Platform Coordinator will be charged with the following responsibilities: Mapping of local partners future members of Local Partnership Platforms; Establishing and facilitating Local Partnership Platform; Establishing local DELI agenda and communicating to partners; Identifying and developing implementation strategy for Communication and Outreach; Preparing and Organising Diversity and Economy Round Tables Implementing Communication and Outreach activities; Developing and ensuring delivery of consistent and accurate messaging to eternal stakeholders; Establishing partnership with media and other public communications agencies and responding to their requests (e.g., business blogs, business associations, etc.) Developing activities and appropriate methods of coordination and communication. 5
5. KEY ELEMENTS For the Communications and Outreach Strategy to be successful, the following key elements will be taken into consideration: Involved leadership The involvement of both political and administrative leadership will demonstrate support of DELI, reinforce credibility and authority of messages, and provide contet and background for forthcoming activities and actions. For this reason, the Vice Mayors in charge of the topics addressed by DELI will be actively involved in the progress of the project. In addition, senior officials representing the various administrative municipal departments will also be included in the core group working on DELI. Deliverer and receiver alignment As already outlined under 3.1 a wide variety of internal and stakeholders will be included in the development of the DELI project. The city of Rotterdam recognises the unique characteristics, needs, and motivations of DELI partners in this process, in particular business and migrant entrepreneurs. Ownership of DELI communications In consultation with top level management, the Local Project Manager is responsible for overseeing all DELI communications. In this task, he will be supported by communication specialists from within the Rotterdam administration. Effective feedback mechanisms One of the key principles of communication between all stakeholders involved in the DELI project at the local level in Rotterdam is that it allows for a two-way dialogue and real engagement with stakeholders. For eample, in order to ensure that messages are being received, in addition to the well functioning networks that are already in place, formal and informal internal communication structures will be installed. Credibility and consistency of messages In order to build trust with stakeholders and dispel rumours and incorrect assumptions, there will be specific attention for the consistency and accuracy of content, the tone of voice and the frequency of all communications. 5.1 CONSISTENCY AND FREQUENCY OF MESSAGES 5.1.1 THE PROJECT NARRATIVE The DELI project is about realizing the potential of the diversity among local entrepreneurs and enhancing the inclusion of migrant entrepreneurs in the local economy. To that end the project will draw up three sets of quality standards, namely for supporting entrepreneurship, promoting supplier diversity and including social clauses in public procurement. In ten cities across Europe local partners will be assisted in meeting those standards by selfassessment, setting targets, echange of good practice and benchmarking. DELI is a joint project of the Council of Europe and the European Commission and is carried out in co-operation with the Migration Policy Group. The ten partner cities are Bucharest, Cartagena, Dublin, Geto, Lisbon, London Lewisham, Munich, Reggio Emilia, Rotterdam, and Vienna. 6
5.2. COMMUNICATION MESSAGES In Rotterdam we are not afraid of facing challenges. Rotterdammers are encouraged to take ownership of their own life and to actively contribute to society by capitalizing on their skills and talents, migrant and non-migrants alike. Education and employment are important pathways to social inclusion, and all Rotterdam citizens are entitled to equal access to these services. Our recently elected political board promotes the typical Rotterdam entrepreneurial spirit and calls upon people to be pro-active, creative and headstrong at times. Together, we build the city; businesses, civil society organisations and individual citizens all have a role to play in this. The city government should facilitate this by being gutsy and having an innovative eperimental mindset. The content of our communication messages will focus on the various elements that can be distracted from this contet. For the DELI-project to be successful, it is essential to choose the right angle that acknowledges the different interest of all stakeholders involved. Given the fact that Rotterdam is facing a change in political leadership at the moment, the focus and perspective of the communication messages directed at the political leadership will be tailored to fit the objectives of the DELI project, while simultaneously aligning with the political discourse and policy priorities that will be developed in the coming months. Possible perspectives include: - diversity and inclusive entrepreneurship policies - fostering active labour-market inclusion - equal access to private and public procurement - competitive advantage of supplier diversity Acknowledging the short duration of the DELI-project, the local project team will deliver a concrete work plan for the communication messages before the end of the 3 rd quarter of 2014. In the meantime, the various perspectives mentioned above provide sufficient room to operate and allow Rotterdam to develop targeted communication messages that will appeal to the different internal and eternal partners. 5.3 VISIBILITY As part of the DELI project the DELI team will make use of the specific visibility standards, logos, and templates to identify DELI communication vehicles provided by the Council of Europe and Migration Policy Group. These standards will support various communications activities including, but not limited to: News releases PowerPoint and keynote presentations Memorandums Printed newsletters Online communications (websites, blogs, e-newsletters, etc.) Communication and outreach collateral materials (e.g., posters, brochures, flyers, etc.) 7
6. COMMUNICATION TOOLS & ACTIVITIES The Rotterdam DELI project group will use structured communication tools and activities to inform stakeholders with specific types of information. The four primary types of interaction to be used are: Diversity and Economy Round Tables Personal interactions and working (small) groups meetings Printed material Online communications 6.1 DIVERSITY AND ECONOMY ROUND TABLES Diversity and Economy Round Tables are milestones events that will be used as main outreach and communication actions to promote the project outputs (QSM and self-assessment tools). Rotterdam has longstanding eperience with involving civil society organizations, businesses, municipal services and citizens through round table discussions and will build on this eperience. The first roundtable discussions on diversity and equality will be held on 9 and 10 October 2014 in Rotterdam. These discussions will focus on the DELI Quality Management Standards (QMS) and on the online self-assessment tool, which the city municipalities and other key local stakeholders will fill in, following the first roundtable session. The tool will measure the progress of the participating city municipalities on support mechanism for migrant enterprise and supplier diversity programmes to promote equality in public procurement. MPG will eplain how to use the QMS and corresponding online self-assessment tool and the scoring process. The second roundtables will take place towards the end of the first quarter of 2015 and will share the results of the self-assessment tool and formulate future steps based on the good practice highlighted during the assessment process. All of the organisations which took part in the first roundtable discussions will be invited to the second to provide feedback on the process and help create the future steps in the two areas we are looking at namely, support mechanisms for migrant enterprise and supplier diversity programmes to promote equality in public procurement. 6.2 PERSONAL INTERACTIONS AND WORKING GROUPS MEETINGS The Project Manager and Platform Coordinator will have continued personal interaction with the internal partners (administration) to answer questions about specific activities and gain a better understanding of the project benefits. Working group meetings with separate groups of stakeholders (migrant entrepreneurs, business, administration) provide the opportunity to engage partners throughout the project process. Key messages will focus on DELI progress and how it intends impacting migrant entrepreneurs, business and administration. 8
6.3 PRINTED MATERIALS The following types of printed materials will be used: Press releases Press conferences Leaflets, brochures and newsletters Briefing and reports (to inform leadership and eternal partners) 6.4 ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS Online communications methods are outlined below: DELI website hosted on the Council of Europe website: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/culture/deli/default_en.asp Local DELI pages (municipal website and local partners websites) Electronic news-letters (to receive information on a regular basis from coordination team and the cities). At the central level, the electronic news-letters will be published whenever relevant and useful news are available on the following web sources: ICC Newsletter: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/culture/cities/newsletter/newsletter31/newsletter31_e n.asp CoE Migration Co-ordination Newsletter: http://www.coe.int/t/democracy/migration/ressources/newsletter_mc_fr.asp CoE online agenda (week in brief): http://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/the-week-in-brief Additionally to that, information will be disseminated on social media sources as following: ICC Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/migrationpolicygroup#!/iccities/photos_stream 9
CoE Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/councilofeurope CoE podcasts and audio recording: http://www.humanrightseurope.org/2014/ MPG Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/migrationpolicygroup MPG Twitter: https://twitter.com/migpolgroup MPG youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/thempgtube Local partners Twitter accounts 10
7. Timeline Below an estimated timeline for the Rotterdam DELI communications and outreach activities is provided. Phase 1: Eploration 1-1-2014 to 1-6-2014 In this phase, all local stakeholders have been approached to discuss their participation in the project. The focus has been on highlighting the interest of the wide variety of parties involved and ensuring their buy-in. In this phase, communication has been done through personal contact and the outcomes have been kept internally. Phase 2: Sensitizing the outside world 1-6-2014 to 1-1-2015 With the Local Partnership Platform in place and the buy-in of a number of key stakeholders guaranteed, the net phase will focus on sensitizing the outside world. This include all relevant parties that are not a member of the core DELI group in Rotterdam. We will make use of our platform members networks already in place by using websites, social media and printed materials. An important milestone during this phase is the organization of the first round tables. Phase 3: Early successes 1-1-2015 to 1-7-2015 After the first round tables and working towards the finalization of the project, the focus of the communication activities will be redirected more outwards, involving the general public and local media. This involves the use of a digital newsletter, press releases, featured articles in local media and an increased activity in the social media sphere. Phase 4: Celebrating results 1-7-2015 to 1-10-2015 After the project is completed, Rotterdam will communicate the outcomes to internal and eternal stakeholders and their networks, the political and administrative leadership specifically, and the general public by making use of the eisting communication infrastructure. (newsletter, press releases, featured articles in local media, mailing lists, website, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) 11