U-LEAD with Europe Programme launched the Network for sharing experiences, Creating a Plan for Communication of Changes in the Municipality. 48 municipalities from all over Ukraine have already been selected to join the initiative, and their representatives will undergo comprehensive training. An introductory seminar was held on the basis of the Regional Office in the Lviv oblast to discuss further steps.
“Communication is one of the pillars of successful implementation of plans. This is an important but difficult direction for local self-government. Our Network is the help we are offering. We have good partners and strong internal expertise. The participants will undergo training, learn practical models, develop their communication plans and share experience,” said Mykhailo Moroz, Head of the Western Regional Hub of U-LEAD.
According to Halyna Khrushchak, Head of the Regional Office in the Lviv oblast, the training programme is aimed at developing individual communication plans to accompany the implementation of the changes planned in the participating community for 2023 or the following years. To implement the new initiative, U-LEAD partnered up with Internews-Ukraine NGO.
Participants of the Network will attend 3 seminars and 4 workshops, which will introduce the general communication concepts and approaches to establishing internal and external communication. Each municipality will receive individual consultations.
At the first seminar, Models of Communication Strategies, the participating municipalities learned the key elements of these strategies, goals and objectives. Milena Komar, Communications Specialist of Internews-Ukraine, worked with the municipalities. According to her, municipalities should first understand the steps to developing a communication strategy and then proceed directly to its development, taking into account the needs of the target audience and a number of other factors.
“In many years of U-LEAD’s work, this might be the first time that we approach this topic in such a broad and systematic way. We will help municipalities improve their communication and, if necessary, create conditions for the development of strategic documents,” added Halyna Khrushchak.