Communication / M&E

(Robin, Jaap and Ewen)

Summary:

• Stronger link between Comms and M&E (learning / conversation / collective sense making focused);
• Important process documentation to tease out signals, patterns from the work undertaken (to understand change processes and others) together with a group on a regular basis;
• Regularly inviting other stakeholders to do the collective sense-making;
• More compelling communication tools / a range of media (continue with artefacts) to feel comfortable with it (but also curiosity to try new things out);
• Ongoing growing of an audience;
• Continued / strengthened use of social media (blogging but also filtering and amplifying);
• Strong information management and training around comms channels to encourage;
• Strong participatory facilitation – use some things we know about rich pictures to concisely communicate the different strands of work.
• Gardener of communication --> Walk our talk.

Comments:

• Michael: Have thematic coverage every month to build up the series of resources. If you get the right conversation right, you can really make your piece of work interesting to fund (that is your leveraging strategy). Combining your knowledge etc. is a process;
• Hannah: It has to be encouraged, managed etc.

Rough notes: 

What we like from the current programme?

• - Openness to undertake different innovative pieces of work;
• - The blogs (The Giraffe, encourage ‘project blogs’, the process diary) to encourage reflections from all members;
• - A lot of experimentation with different platforms;
• - Art displays and other innovative comms forms, artefacts etc.

What could we have improved?

• - M&E: contribution analysis – has IKM allowed the whole to become greater than the sum of the parts?
• - Evaluation approach?
• - Blogs: better communicated what the purpose of blogging was, training and encouraging use of the blogs (reading, commenting, editing/peer-reviewing, contributing);
• - Not very compelling graphics / layouts:
• - Videos were not re-used adequately;
• - Generally, not enough intent, not strong enough information management (tagging, re-using content, when will your listeners find out your content and reuse it);
• - Decentralising comms and using embedded ongoing social tools – better timing now;
• - Use a ‘salesperson’ that acts as facilitator/journalist to record signals and own learning journey and mirror content? Can IKM2 not 'hire' a fact-finding-travelling-salesperson daily blogging  process documentation!!!
• - Communication is dialogue – where does that dialogue lead to collective sense-making / learning / M&E?
• - Conversations are built around people (positive deviants) not around organisations and perhaps we should try to recruit somebody to take care of process doc.
• - Regular sense-making moments to help the young documentation officer + others + another layer of discipline/facilitation (e.g. rich pictures etc.) to distil rich learning points etc.
• - Go to donors etc. to put the programme on the table  are you willing to finance the process documentation;
• - Facilitation to improve to make sense of the key insights;
• - Finding (light?) ways to help newcomers find out what the programme is about?
• - Ask people constantly the 2-3 events that were crucial to them (link to comms and M&E)  what is your understanding of the programme, of the process?
• - Timeline is necessary to stimulate a discussion around the programme;