IIED's Communications Learning Week (2017)

In February 2017, delegates from Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Bangladesh arrived in London to meet with communications colleagues from IIED in the latest of the institute's week-long learning weeks, aimed at sharing knowledge and providing all participants with a greater understanding of global communications issues. Here's what happened in 2015...

The first day focused on communication challenges and opportunities in the participants' countries and examined how to put together a communications strategy...

Among the early session was a snakes and ladders game, devised by IIED communications director Liz Carlile to highlight common opportunities and pitfalls when planning communications strategies

It wasn't just communications staff taking part in the week; IIED director Andrew Norton was among those to share his views and ask questions of the participants, and the learning even continued at lunch

The afternoon began with a focus on identifying and mapping audiences. Here, Sophia Masuka, the communication and advocacy coordinator of the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum, shares the results of an exercise

At the end of the first day, Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, chief executive officer at Conservation Through Public Health, was a guest speaker at a biodiversity seminar titled 'Rethinking conservation and development at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda'. The seminar examined the diverse issues with local populations of people and wildlife in and around the park, and a summary of the event is available.

Policymakers, who they are and how to influence them, were at the heart of the second day's activities, which covered the media, good writing, digital communications and video

Day three began with a focus on failure - or rather what we can learn when things don't go entirely to plan...

The learning continued in the evening with a guided tour around London

On day three, the focus shifted to social media, and the networks, platforms and digital tools that foster engagement and dialogue, and participants shared how they used digital communications to get their message across, including repurposing and re-using content to make the most of it

At the end of the four days, it was time to reflect on the valuable lessons learned - and to socialise. The friendships generated will last well beyond this week

Learn more about IIED's annual Communications Learning Week, and how the institute works in partnership in more than 60 countries