Communication strategy: objectives

There are multiple reasons for communication by NIPN but clear objectives of communication for NIPN need to be defined.

These objectives may change according to the phase in which NIPN finds itself: the launch of the platform, the establishment of the Multisectoral Advisory Committee, the consultation with sectors to formulate priority policy-relevant questions, the dissemination of key lessons learnt from NIPN analyses, etc.

For instance in the set-up phase of NIPN, it is extremely important to raise awareness about the goal, structure and way of working of NIPN, and to advocate with stakeholders for their participation. Also it is important to create visibility for the platform, its actors as well as its donors.

At a more advanced stage, when the NIPN team has started to implement certain activities it is important to engage stakeholders in those activities, for instance to validate priority policy-relevant questions or to share a first output (such as a NIPN dashboard) to establish the platform’s credibility.

It is also essential to communicate about the outputs of the NIPN processes or the results of NIPN analyses.

There are also different objectives for external communication (to stakeholders of NIPN) and internal communication (within the NIPN team), see below table, and for giving visibility to the NIPN versus communicating specific information, see below link.