{"id":1459,"date":"2013-07-05T13:37:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-05T18:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/articles\/\/"},"modified":"2016-01-21T13:40:43","modified_gmt":"2016-01-21T18:40:43","slug":"supporting-think-tanks-series-lessons-from-ttis-policy-engagement-and-communications-program-in-francophone-west-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/articles\/supporting-think-tanks-series-lessons-from-ttis-policy-engagement-and-communications-program-in-francophone-west-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting think tanks series: Lessons from TTI\u2019s Policy Engagement and Communications program in Francophone West Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Editor’s note: This blog post has been written by Julie LaFrance, Senior Program Specialist of the\u00a0Think Tank Initiative<\/a>, and Valerie Traore, Executive Director of\u00a0NIYEL<\/a>. It is an additional think piece written as a contribution to the<\/em>\u00a0series focusing on supporting think tanks<\/a>\u00a0initially planned for the evaluation of two pilots for the Indonesian Knowledge Sector Initiative.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Background<\/h2>\n

In December 2012, the Think Tank Initiative launched a\u00a0Policy Engagement and Communications (PEC)\u00a0<\/a>capacity building program for partner institutions in francophone West Africa. The PEC Program is based on a\u00a01-year mentorship model that allows for highly engaged support<\/a>, as well as constant learning across the participating think tanks. It is targeted at the staff responsible for the communications function within the institution and enables TTI-funded institutions to customize their own capacity development with the support and ongoing input of a mentor. \u00a0To act as mentors for the institutions TTI selected\u00a0NIYEL<\/a>, a Dakar-based campaign agency with a solid network of expert analysts, strategists, communicators and campaigners through a highly competitive process.<\/p>\n

This think piece focuses on interim lessons from the first six months of the program.<\/p>\n

PEC Approach<\/h2>\n

The PEC Program emphasizes peer learning between TTI-funded institutions where common synergies have been identified. This model aims to encourage a learning-by-doing approach where think tanks enhance policy engagement and communications by sharing best practices with peers, adjusting and innovating to suit the specific context. Although the program strives for a balance between individualized institutional support and group-focused support, the appropriate ratio of support is based on the needs and interest of TTI-funded think tanks in each region.<\/p>\n

What actually happened?<\/h2>\n

The PEC Program in Francophone West Africa started with an inception workshop in Dakar to develop a common understanding of the PEC program by the TTI-funded institutions, their role, and NIYEL\u2019s role\u00a0 and to start developing a workplan with each institution that clearly layed out immediate next steps (in the next three months) as well as how they would interact with NIYEL.<\/p>\n

The inception workshop focused on each institution setting key objectives for three dimensions: 1) Internal Communications; 2) External Positioning of the Institution; and; 3) Policy Change.\u00a0 For each of these dimensions, the think tanks developed key objectives, targets, strategies and an action plan for the first three months of delivering on the objectives. As the sessions were facilitated by the mentors the institutions would engage with over the coming 12-months, they began to identify ways of working that would be the most appropriate for each institution-mentor relationship including the frequency, level of engagement and support. This ranged from daily, weekly or monthly engagement via telephone, skype to regular face-to-face meetings and involvement by mentors in strategic planning, rebranding and positioning of the think tank to more direct focus on communications and dissemination activities such as revamping websites, designing and packaging communication outputs on key research findings or for key events.<\/p>\n

After the inception workshop, all participating communications staff and executive directors returned to their think tanks to get institutional buy-in and begin the process of implementing their workplans for the first 3 months.<\/p>\n

At the inception workshop, the institutions identified a common need for increased capacity in influencing public policy and crafting effective policy briefs. This led to a training on policy influence in early April, 2013 bringing together the TTI-funded institutions with the following expected outputs:<\/p>\n