Information and promotion activities THE PROGRAMME HANDBOOK NO. 7
European Union
Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland - Belarus - Ukraine 2007-2013
Information and promotion activities THE PROGRAMME HANDBOOK NO. 7
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Photograph on cover: Shutterstock.com
INTRODUCTION AND CONTENT This brochure presents examples of implemented activities, major communication tools and future challenges. The structure of the brochure follows Programme implementation stages and incorporated processes: »» Programme awareness building and launch of calls for proposals »» Contracting and launch of projects »» Monitoring and sharing projects’ results »» Capitalisation on the programme’s results
Target groups and their aims vary over the periods listed, thus the programme’s communication plans shall be adjusted on an annual basis. The Programme’s message is a journey rather than a destination. The Programme introduces project implementation rules, invites to funding opportunities, but it is the applicant and then the beneficiary who shall put life and logic into that framework. Communication channels keep this system effective, integrating the programme’s stakeholders, implementing partners and finally end users around the joint idea, common priority and local needs linked to global challenges. The uniqueness of the Programme is that partners from completely different economic systems can achieve joint results thanks to equal treatment when applying for funds as one team, regardless of all the differences. Andrzej Słodki Information Officer, Joint Technical Secretariat, Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2007-2013
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Communication regardless of different flags Photograph: Joint Technical Secretariat
MAJOR GOALS The communication system has many roles to play. Sometimes different implementation stages go in parallel and the information and promotional activities constitute a matrix serving different goals over the same period.
To provide information to potential applicants
To support communication among partners and to build long-lasting Partnership To ensure internal communication for efficient programme implementation
To ensure visibility and transparency of use of EU funding
GOALS
To provide advice to beneficiaries
To share programme results and encourage others to follow best practices
To provide information to programme stakeholders
To receive feedback from the public and beneficiaries
INFORMATION AND PROMOTION PROCESS Programme awareness building and launch of calls for proposals
Monitoring and sharing projects’ results
Contracting and launch of projects
Programme implementation
Capitalisation on the programme’s results
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PROGRAMME AWARENESS BUILDING AND LAUNCH OF CALLS FOR PROPOSALS Awareness raising can cover a huge range of activities: anything that involves people’s understanding, learning or doing something new; visioning the future; working out how to change something in their lives, or talking to someone else about what they’ve done – all are part of the process of raising awareness about our Programme.
more than 50 advertisements about the Calls for Proposals in local newspapers
3 Partners Search Forums with more than 800 participants
64 seminars and trainings for potential applicants and beneficiaries with more than 3000 participants
22 550 hard copies of guidelines and other information publications distributed among potential applicants
3/800
64/3000
22 550
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Programme Opening Conference, 27 of January 2010, Lviv, Ukraine. Photograph: Joint Technical Secretariat
Nevertheless, the general aim of information and promotional activities pursued during this process is to raise the level of public awareness of the EU Contribution by »» informing about the financial support provided for a project, »» informing about the benefits arising out of the support, »» promoting the eligible area – JTS conceptualized and distributed maps of the area Letting the public know about the possibilities for applying for funding and about what is achieved with the investment from the grants are key to transparency and accountability.
Information meeting for Polish partners from projects approved within 1st Call for Proposals, 23rd of May 2011, Lublin, Poland Photograph: Joint Technical Secretariat
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PROGRAMME WEBSITE AS ONE OF THE MAIN COMMUNICATION TOOL THE WEBSITE PROVIDES:
Programme documents
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Information about Calls for proposals
News from projects
News for beneficiaries
Programme news
Launching of the Programme website:
Total number of visitors:
127 161,
with more than
Total number of views in the 47 months of the page operating:
Tthe language of our page users:
1 303 524 = 915 views per day!
new visitors each year
31st of July 2010
01 ● PL ● RU ● UKR ● ENG ● OTHER
The application documents were always uploaded on the website along with Q&A section to explain the instructions and rules of procedures.
The website also offers ‘information board’ application – potential partners could upload their project concepts and contact details and other interested parties from different countries, which facilitated the partner search process.
CONTRACTING AND LAUNCH OF PROJECTS
Communication and visibility are key aspects of the management of EC External Cooperation programmes. In all actions, communication and visibility activities should be properly planned. As a general rule, the main aspects to be highlighted should reflect the partnership with the EU and the impact/achievements of the action, rather than the way it is implemented.
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As a part of our work, we help in organising a project’s communication and information strategies in a good and efficient way.
NUMBER OF INFORMATION MEETINGS AND TRAININGS
Andrzej SĹ‚odki, JTS Information Officer during one of events organised by the JTS on communication issues. Photograph: Joint Technical Secretariat
Moreover, we provide workshops and trainings, where participants have the possibility to learn how to use and implement visibility rules of the EU funded projects. During such events we present examples of well-executed promotional materials.
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Moreover, we had a welcome pack for each of the projects: a stand with promotional postcards promoting the eligible regions and a photo frame to hang the picture of the project team.
Example of the stand with promotional postcards Photograph: Joint Technical Secretariat
Production and distribution of the first book of projects was a classical but also long-term step – we could present the first portfolio of our projects, tangible results of the Programme, in the form of a book.
Photograph: Joint Technical Secretariat
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MONITORING AND SHARING PROJECTS’ RESULTS, REPORTING ON THE PROGRAMME PROGRESS Monitoring is an essential part of the JTS information and promotion policy. The JTS staff members performing the monitoring visit verify selected elements of project implementation, including promotional events, conferences, workshops, seminars, action workgroup meetings etc.
EXAMPLES OF THE PROGRAMME VISUALISATION
Photograph: Society of Jesus Monastic Home in Stara Wieś
Photograph: Lviv Branch Office of the Joint Technical Secretariat
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Furthermore, delivery of the main message about projects results is an important goal of our work too.
Within our Programme we are informing about project results in three different forms: »» As it has been done to date, via direct communications (workshops, trainings, etc.) with primary and key stakeholders including national, local and regional authorities and local population while maintaining the main focal areas of the Programme.
Project “Creation of Polish-Ukrainian Center of Breeding and Promotion of Hucul Horse” Photograph: Experimental Division of the Institute of Zootechnics – The State Research Institute Odrzechowa
Project “Improvement of crossborder region attractiveness through the introduction of ethno-cultural resources into the tourist activities. A trip to the ethnic fairytale.” Photograph: Grodno Yanka Kupala State University
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 Publicity/public information outreach including press media conference upon major initiatives/milestones of the projects, press releases, media interviews, photo opportunities, newspaper and other features.
First Forum of Journalists, 15th of December, 2010, Lviv , Ukraine Photograph: Joint Technical Secretariat
Second Forum of Journalists, 14th of September 2012, Belovezhskaya Puscha, Belarus Photograph: Brest Branch Office of Joint Technical Secretariat
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»» Web-based communications including setting up a website, email distribution lists for Newsletters and various research papers, reports and studies. For instance, for more effective communication and reporting, we are using our Programme magazine
Summer 2011
‘The Crossborderer’.
3/100
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3 Cross-border Journalists Forums with more than 100 participated journalists, cooperation with more than 40 regional and national newspapers
314 newsletter subscribers
8 issues of ‘The Crossborderer’ – the programme’s magazine
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PROGRAMME ANNUAL CONFERENCES – THE PINNACLES OF THE CROSS-BORDER COMMUNICATION Starting from 2010, the Programme has already organised 5 conferences. Each event played a different role, depending on the implementation phase of the Programme. Each time the conference rooms were full. The opening conference took place in Lviv on the 27th of January 2010 to increase the awareness of the Programme and invite the regions to take part in the first call for proposals.
In 2011, Poland took over the presidency of the EU from Hungary and it was an opportunity to organise in Mukachevo a joint conference with the HungarySlovakia-Romania-Ukraine ENPI CBC Programme. The event named “Time for championships of cross-border cooperation in Eastern Europe” focused on financing possibilities in this part of the continent.
Annual Programme Conference in Mukachevo, Ukraine, 30th June-1st July 2011
“The art of cooperation” conference took part in Kazimierz Dolny (Lubelskie) on the 15th of November 2012 and it was the first opportunity to present contracted projects. Partners from both sides of the border had just started to raise the level of the real cooperation and symbolically they could participate together in the climbing wall competition.
Annual Programme Conference in Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, 15th November 2012
Photographs: Joint Technical Secretariat
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The conference came back to Lviv on the 28th of November 2013. The event named “Cross-border capitalisation” was based on panel discussions, and projects exchanged experience within five thematic zones. In addition external experts analysed all the project groups and shared practical advice on how to increase their effectiveness.
5/850 5 Programme annual conferences organised with about 850 participants
Annual Programme Conference in Lviv, Ukraine, 28th November 2013
Finally, in Arłamów, on the 21st of August 2014, at the border between the Western and Eastern Carpathians, the “Cooperation is on the Climb” conference was an opportunity to present the current structure of the contracted and concluded projects. Above all, the participants could for the first time visit locations of the projects and witness example results.
Annual Programme Conference in Arłamów, Poland, 21st August 2014
Photographs: Joint Technical Secretariat
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CAPITALISATION ON THE PROGRAMME’S RESULTS
THE PROCESS OF CAPITALISATION AIMS:
»» to cast a critical and analytical eye over past and current programme and project experiences in order to gain insight and improve practices; »» to contribute to the shaping of future action and strategies both at programme and policy level; »» to make programme and project achievements more visible.
Programme Conference “The Cross-border Capitalisation”, 28th of November, 2013, Lviv, Ukraine Photograph: Joint Technical Secretariat
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The main goal of this process is to develop the capitalisation and sharing of good practice, and favour networking activities between the projects implemented under each Call. What we are doing:
»» Sharing experiences based notably on the results of cross-border projects for the previous period; »» Networking activities which enlarge the projects partnerships already implemented under one of the Calls, or which enable applicants to collaborate in order to exchange and share the obtained results for the benefit of the whole area; »» Sharing good practice at the level of local economic, social and cultural development policies in terms of governance, method, tools, etc.
EUROPEAN COOPERATION DAY
EUROPEAN COOPERATION DAY Sharing borders, growing closer
Our JTS team actively takes part in European Cooperation Day organised by INTERACT each year since 2012. It is a Europe-wide campaign with the aim of highlighting the results of European Territorial Cooperation and neighbouring programmes and projects. Obviously, it is a great chance to promote our Programme too!
European Cooperation Day 2014, Pinsk, Belarus Photograph: Joint Technical Secretariat
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The JTS organised and took part in 4 events within European Cooperation Day.
European Cooperation Day 2012, Lviv, Ukraine Photograph: Joint Technical Secretariat ď ź European Cooperation Day 2013, Lviv Region, Ukraine
Photograph: Joint Technical Secretariat ď‚€ European Cooperation Day 2013, Brest, Belarus.
Photograph: Brest Branch Office of Joint Technical Secretariat
Moreover, we took part in more than 11 significant international events, promoting the Programme and its results!
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Joint Technical Secretariat 39a Domaniewska St., 02-672 Warsaw, Poland tel: +48 22 378 31 00 e-mail: pbu@cpe.gov.pl
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Branch Office of the Joint Technical Secretariat in Lviv 5 Tyktora St., 79007 Lviv, Ukraine tel./fax: +380 322 61 02 59 e-mail: lviv@pl-by-ua.eu
Branch Office of the Joint Technical Secretariat in Brest 46 Sovetskaya St., 224005 Brest, Belarus tel: +375 162 53 15 83 e-mail: brest@pl-by-ua.eu
The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the Joint Technical Secretariat of the Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland - Belarus - Ukraine 2007-2013 and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.