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Communication Theme (Component 5)

Introduction
Interreg III is a Community initiative which aims to stimulate interregional cooperation in the EU between 2000 - 2006. It is financed under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF/ FEDER).

This phase of the INTERREG initiative is designed to strengthen economic and social cohesion throughout the EU, by fostering the balanced development of the continent through cross-border, trans-national and interregional cooperation. Strand C (Interregional cooperation), aims to improve the effectiveness of regional development policies and instruments through large-scale information exchange and sharing of experience (networks).

Part funded by the EU Interreg IIIC Programme, Union des Terres de Rivieres (U.TdR) is an ambitious networking project of 24 partners across 10 EU Member States. Each country has its own language and distinct culture, so good communications is a key cross-cutting theme.

The partners, who comprise municipalities, development agencies, universities and non governmental organisations (NGO’s) have come together to share experience and knowledge on the impacts of society and land use on water. Using the EU Water Framework Directive and the Ecosystem Approach as key common points of reference, U.TdR partners seek to develop and implement sustainable environmental and economic measures for the benefit of all EU citizens.

Association of Rivers Trusts (ART) Leader Component 5
The communications component is led by Association of Rivers Trusts (ART), a national environmental NGO covering England and Wales , whose staff have wide experience of working in European projects. Although communications is a cross-cutting theme involving all partners, key responsibilities are shared between the Component 5 leader (ART) and the U.TdR secretariat, based in South West France. In addition other Component 5 partners include, Obcianske Zdruzenie Sosna, an NGO based in Kosice, Slovakia, responsible for the project’s website, Ajuntament de Tortosa, Cataluna, responsible for running the “University of Water” conference in 2005 and Rakoczifalva Nagykozseg Onkormanyzata, Hungary, responsible for the closing “University of Water” conference in September 2006. Key outputs include:

  • The development of the Rivers Trust movement and sustainable networks
  • Establishment and development of electronic communication (Information Technology)
  • “Fact-finding” pro-forma study to establish IT equipment available, “hardware”, “software”, speed/ capacity and user ability and establish “common working” protocols
  • Partners database of contacts and activities
  • Production of project publications including electronic newsletters, brochures and reports
  • Communications support at meetings
  • Creation of common PowerPoint presentations and other media
  • The establishment & development of the U.TdR website by Sosna ( Slovakia ) and the U.TdR secretariat, www.terresderivieres.eu
  • Establishment of European “decision makers and “opinion formers” database for dissemination of project findings and contribution to policy
  • The opening “ University of Water ” in Tortosa (Rio Ebro - Espana)
  • The closing “ University of Water ” Rakoczifalva (River Tisza - Hungary )

Language

French is the official language of the project but English is also widely spoken. There are also a number of partners from Spain and Portugal, so wherever possible Spanish translation has been included to give most partners the chance to communicate in their “second” language of choice if not their first. It has been a bonus that the U.TdR secretariat has French, Spanish and English speaking personnel.

Communications Tools

  • Although IT development is to be encouraged, it is important that communications technology is based on the pace of the “slowest” to avoid exclusion.
  • E-mail, telephone and face to face meetings have proven the most successful combination of forms of communication.
  • The use of electronic language translation software can be very helpful at minimum cost.
  • Where possible the use of pictures and graphics are preferable to text. E.g. “before & after” photographs, maps, graphs and charts.
  • Field visits where issues, practical work and activities may be studied at first hand are preferable to presentations.
  • Demonstration is a powerful communication tool to aid technology and information transfer.
  • Video conferencing has not proven practicable during the Project, though technical advances will assist in future. Technically, video conferencing is considered of limited use beyond small groups and routine business for people who know and trust each other. Networking relationships inevitably take time to develop and are initially best conducted as physical meetings and field visits, where business, culture and social events interact. This has been particularly evident with such a diverse group as the 24 partners from 10 countries of the U.TdR project coming together for the first time.
  • Email has proven to be the most popular and prime means of communication. There are some disadvantages, in that the transfer of large files, like presentations and photographs, can be problematic where broadband connections are not available or the Internet Service Provider limits the volume of traffic per address. Likewise, there is a risk that information - only circulars can create “overload” and tend to obscure those messages requiring action. However, all partners have access to, and routinely use, email. It is easy to use, cost effective, unlimited in terms of group members and multiple contact points, simultaneous and not time dependent, which is useful across Europe with 2 time zones.
  • For reference and publicity purposes, ART has encouraged partners to use the Project website www.terresderivieres.eu as the prime repository of reports and for dissemination of information across the partnership and beyond. With the flexibility of direct downloads from the Project website or hyperlinks to Partners’ own websites, the Internet is considered to be particularly relevant and beneficial to the Project’s networking aims.

Publicity

Political & Media Briefings

Political and media briefings, with associated press releases, need to be managed carefully. It can be counterproductive to create a high profile at the beginning of a Project when outputs are by definition unrealised, particularly for a pan-European networking project where there is limited local interest.

Press and media interviews have been accordingly mainly linked to the two principal events in the Project; namely the University of Water conferences in Tortosa, Spain in 2005 and Rakoczifalva , Hungary in 2006 where local press and radio interviews were given.

In addition, ART took advantage of a meeting with Members of the European Parliament in Brussels in June 2005 in connection with conservation of salmon in Ireland , to publicise the collaboration between the partners of the U.TdR project on the wider environmental and cultural exchange based around water and the support given by the Interreg IIIC programme in particular.

ART Director in Brussels ART Chairman briefing MEPs in Brussels

A Press Release is planned for early-March, after the end of the Project, to report on the achievements of the Project and to encourage further development of U.TdR and a continued pan-EU approach to issues related to water and the Water Framework Directive.

One of the difficulties in disseminating information generally, particularly on a European scale, is to target those media contacts and politicians who are most interested in the water environment. A centrally generated database of relevant media and political contacts was considered to be a cost effective benefit to the partners both during and after the Project, and provide the platform for ongoing publicity.

Accordingly, ART commissioned the preparation of a media contacts database, which includes Members of the European Parliament by country, European Newsletters/Journals, Press contacts for European Parliament Committees, European Commission Press & Communication contacts, the Council of the EU and the European Commissioners. The full database is available by clicking here (File size: 265kb - File format: Excel)

Logos, Slides and Presentations
One of the simplest, but effective, ways in which to publicise the Project and EU funding support is to include the logos on literature and slides as widely as practicable. ART has therefore been careful to ensure that the U.TdR logo and the Interreg IIIC logo has appeared on every report commissioned under the Project, all Seminars run by ART during the Project period, PR slides, the printed A2 Project Chart, and the website.

U.TdR logo set UK World Wetlands Day Presentation

In addition, throughout the Project, when ART has been requested to give a presentation on its activities, it has sought to give prominence to U.TdR and the funding support of the Project by Interreg IIIC (notwithstanding that the event has fallen outside of a general financial claim in respect of the Project). Including its own Seminars, but excluding all U.TdR partner hosted events other than its own Steering Group meeting in Newquay, Cornwall in June 2006, ART has given 67 different presentations during the Project period.

Three events, respectively in the early and latter parts of the Project are noted for publicity and communication purposes. The first is the presentation given to an audience of over 120 at the UK World Wetlands Day National Conference in London on 1 February 2005 . The full presentation is available as a download by clicking on the following link UK World Wetlands Day: Feb 2005 (File size: 12,561kb - File format: Adobe PDF) . The second is the presentation given at the University of Water Conference in Rakoczifalva in September 2006, which can be downloaded in full by clicking on the following link U.TdR partners & Component 5: Sep 2006 (File size: 1,117kb - File format: Adobe PDF). In addition, wide publicity was given to U.TdR and Interreg IIIC at the International Salmonid Conference hosted by ART in Newcastle in October 2006, where the logos were included on the sponsors’ page. The slide shown below was used as a backdrop for the two days of presentations at the Conference, which attracted over 200 delegates from around the world.

Overall, with published articles as well as visual presentations, ART has identified about 15,000 people who have been informed of the U.TdR project and Interreg IIIC funding. The main article was contained in the ACA Yearbook 2005, which has a circulation list of over 12,000, a copy of which is available for download by clicking on the following link ACA Yearbook 2005 article (File size: 1,502kb - File format: Adobe PDF).

Newsletters
All ART’s members and most of its other contacts have access to the Internet and are on e-mail. Accordingly ART has chosen to use an ad-hoc electronic newsletter approach to general communication to its own database. It is cost effective, instantaneous, avoids printing constraints and, provided file size is restrained, easy to deliver.

During the project period, ART has produced 10 e-Newsletters, with circulation rising from about 300 on the first (e-News No 3 winter 2004) to over 600 on the last (e-News No 12 winter 2006). All newsletters are circulated to U.TdR, leaders of the other project components and other partners of our communication component, and all e-newsletters contain the Interreg IIIC and Union des Terres de Rivieres logos for ongoing publicity recognition.

ART has devoted 3 of the above newsletters to special features on the U.TdR project and partnership; namely e-News No 5 spring 2005, which introduced the project, e-News No 7 summer 2005, which provided an update on the early plans and work of the partnership, and e-News No 12, which covered steering group meetings and the second University of Water conference in Rakoczifalva, Hungary.

All of these e-Newsletters are available as downloads via the News section of our website, with an invitation to subscribe, and it is pleasing to report a small but increasing number of people in Continental Europe who are asking to be added (free of charge) to the e-Newsletter circulation list.

Display Banners
In order to promote U.TdR and Interreg IIIC with ART’s rivers trust members in a tangible form, and to leave a legacy of the Project across its rivers trust members, ART decided to produce 10 display banners for use initially at the International Salmonid Conference in Newcastle in October 2006 (see photos below). These were subsequently presented to each rivers trust for future event publicity purposes, and similar display banners were prepared for ART itself.

International Salmonid Conference display banners
Click on the banner images below to open an enlarged version in a new window

   

Experiences and Results
The ability to pull together 24 partners in 10 countries, with a wide representation from municipalities to universities to NGO’s was a formidable task.

It has been to the great credit of Richard Fenollo, Director - U.TdR, and his insatiable enthusiasm, that the partners have increasingly understood and accepted that they each have much to give to, and learn from, the other partners, in terms of culture, good practice and technical expertise. It has been particularly noticeable that during the second year of the Project, the partners have been much keener to organise events, incorporating technical presentations and field visits.

Indeed, ART was delighted to host a Steering Group meeting at Newquay, Cornwall in June 2006, including visits to the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Show and the Eden Project. Cornwall has suffered in the past from rural deprivation and its low per capita GDP qualified it to be granted EU Objective 1 status. The delegates were able to experience how the support of the EU is making a real benefit to the area. The Royal Cornwall Agricultural Show has grown from a narrow agricultural beginning to promote a huge range of local crafts and local businesses. The Eden Project was a Millenium Project that has achieved international status and become one of the top tourist attractions in England , with its huge biomes and presentation of plants and the role they have in our lives. To “complete” the local cultural experience, the meeting was based at the Headland Hotel, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean , and so brought together the maritime natural heritage and the agricultural, horticultural and tourism economies that represent the mainstays of Cornwall ’s rural economy. ART gave a presentation at the meeting of Component 5 and the U.TdR network, which can be downloaded by clicking on the following link U.TdR: Component 5 (File size: 444kb - File format: Adobe PDF) and its local rivers trust member Westcountry Rivers Trust gave a presentation on its objectives as a role model for charitable trusts in England & Wales, which can be downloaded by clicking on the following link Westcountry Rivers Trust (File size: 1,000kb - File format: Adobe PDF).

It is pleasing to report that U.TdR at the end of the Project is a much stronger and more widely represented organisation as a direct result of the developing friendships and relationships of the partners. It provides the nucleus of a network that can continue to grow and develop through future collaborative projects and information exchange on an EU scale.

A summary of the experiences and results was presented at Expo Rome in November 2006 and the presentation can be downloaded by clicking on the following link U.TdR Experiences & Results: Nov 2006 (File size: 2,036kb - File format: Adobe PDF).