Strengthening communication in
N/S research partnerships for development

Date and venue: August 12�14, 2009 - Initute of Continuing Education (ICE) Conference Hall, Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Morogoro, Tanzania

Your research can have an impact on a large number of stakeholders, but to reach these, you have to be strategic on how and when to address them!

This was one of the main messages from the workshop that DDRN convened in Tanzania to promote effective communication during the implementation of three new research projects. The projects look at peri-urban livestock, production of dried fruits and vegetables, and climate change in the Mount Kilimanjaro region. The projects will be carried out in partnership with Danish universities and were granted funding by Danida in 2008.

Over 30 researchers and external stakeholders attended the workshop that was planned and carried out with assistance from SUA and from resource persons from Euforic and CABI-Africa. Danish Water Forum also attendend the workshop and supported the participation of one of the Danish researchers involved.

The event was designed to cover the formulation of a framework communications strategy for each project and to elaborate some example communications products. The workshop also included a session on how to use the internet to disseminate and access research results.

The workshop began with an analysis of the various stakeholders of research projects and the aims of communicating with them. The goal of communication can be to change the behaviour of stakeholders, to raise awareness about specific issues, to encourage dialogue, or to collect needs. To reach such goals you need to be clear: What is it you want to achieve with your research communication? Who do you want to address? What is your message for them?

This first module of the workshop was followed by presentation sessions that drew on case studies of messages and channels for different communities and actors. In a variety of hands-on exercises participants worked on different products and media. A specific session on writing press releases was supported by a meeting with local journalists from the Tanzanian newspapers “Business Week” and “The Citizen”.

The workshop culminated in a presentation session entitled “The SuperProjects” in which the participating research projects made presentations based on their press releases and communications plans, illustrating the different impact of various styles of presentation. The Peri-ubran Livestock project illustrated a selection of target audiences and the messages and channels they would use to reach these audiences. The Dried Fruits project proved to be popular with samples of the product available for the audience to taste. The Climate Change study on Kilimanjaro was enhanced by spectacular images.

Below you can see a brief interview carried out after the workshop with Prof. M.M.A. Mtambo, Sokoine University of Agriculture, who led the local preparations of the workshop. If you want to learn more about the workshop, pelase read the documents and presentation that are available at the bottom of this page.

Concept note and programme [pdf, 102 kB]
List of participants
Workshop and evaluation report, by Marianne Forti, DDRN, February 2010 [pdf, 406kB].

Presentations:
Brief presentation of Danish Research Networks and introduction to programme of workshop, by Anne Sørensen and Marianne Forti, DDRN
Brief presentations of research projects:
• Development of Enterprise in Solar Drying of Fruits and Vegetables for Employment Creation, by Dr. Anna Temu, SUA, Faculty of Agriculture
• Opportunities and challenges in peri-urban livestock farming in Tanzania, by Prof. M.M.A. Mtambo, SUA, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
• Monitoring the Environment of Mount Kilimanjaro region and its association with Climatic Changes, by Dr. Clavery Tungaraza, Faculty of Science
Improvement of livelihoods of the rural poor through education on health, management and marketing of free range local chickens, by Prof. A.P. Muhairwa, SUA, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Accelerated Uptake and Impact of CPP Research Outputs in Kenya, by Martin Kimani, Cabi Africa
Effective communication - Overview and exercise, by Chris Addison, Euforic
Messages and press releases, by Chris Addison, Euforic
Recap of Day 2 and Introduction to Web 2.0, by Chris Addison, Euforic
Internet sources and last group work, by Chris Addison, Euforic