Stakeholders adopt UNDP Communication Plan

Earlier Reports

Media Task Electoral Commission on Authentic Electoral Act

Media owners, editors commend Nigeria’s general elections

UNDP challenges Nigerian media on reconciliation

UNDP reels out score card on Nigeria’s 2011 elections

Stakeholders adopt UNDP Communication Plan
Qasim Akinreti, Abuja

Stakeholders from the media, civil societies and key officials of the UNDP Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) Project have adopted the Communications Strategy for deepening democracy and good governance in Nigeria.

Rising from a one day meeting at the UN House in Abuja, the participants agreed that the communication strategy document will greatly enhanced the growth of democracy in Nigeria ahead of the 2015 elections.

This communication plan is coming on the heels of the success recorded in the April polls, adjudged free, fair and credible by the international community, Civil Societies organisations, local and international observer groups.

In her welcome address to the participants, the Communication Advisor, Toyin Gabriel said the organisation had assembled the best brains in the media, academia and civil society groups to brainstorm and perfect the communication strategy document.

To underscore the importance of the communication document, a communication consultant, Tunde Ojo,  of Touch stone Brand strategy and communication outfit, as well as  Kola Kusemiju, a media communication expert, justified the need for branding  and the importance of the communication strategy to Nigeria’s democratic growth.

For Tunde Ojo branding the communication stratergy will sell the democratic values of the UNDP DGD Project in all ramifications.

According to Kusemiju, the development of the DGD Project communication and visibility plan went through six critical participatory processes including, literature review of international best practices on strengthening democratic process documents review, review of the UNDP-funded baseline reports on communication challenges facing citizenship engagement process in Nigeria’s democracy, review of the UNDP Communication Documents, interviews and interaction sessions with DGD Project donors and key stakeholders in Nigeria.

Other processes are preparation and submission of a draft DGD Communication and Visibility Plan and Validation of the draft communication and visibility plan.

 Sequel to this, participants were divided into three groups namely, Goal, Communication objectives and audience segmentation, core messages and communication channels and monitoring and evaluating the success of DGD communication, to distill the document and added  inputs as well as recommendations   on the media plan before adopting the communication strategy.

The work plan

The development of a Communication and Visibility Plan/Strategy is a major activity in the DGD Project Work Plan. The work plan highlights several harmonized sets of activities that are intended to build the capacity of INEC, democratic institutions including the judiciary and political parties, civil society organizations, and media to contribute to free, fair and credible 2011 elections.

The communication and visibility plan includes a work plan for implementing the proposed activities including their outcomes, outputs and timelines.

Both Munmi Cole of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and Professor Akinfeleye agreed that the document was a good begining for deepening democracy in Nigeria.

The Value Added

The overall goal of the communication and visibility plan is to increase the information and knowledge of different audiences including stakeholders on the DGD Project and the contributions of the donors in deepening democracy in Nigeria in both the short- and long-terms, The plan promotes common understanding on the goal and objectives of the DGD Project while building stronger linkages, synergy, co-ordination and networking between the project’s external donors, the Nigerian core stakeholders and the Nigerian populace.

Collaboration

The Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) Project is a joint initiative of the European Union (EU), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and UNDP.  

Getting it Right

The project aims at being a driving force in consolidating and embedding democracy in Nigeria over a five year period (2010-2015). For the 2011 elections, the DGD project provided technical and financial support to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the National Assembly, the Judiciary, political parties, civil society organizations and the media.

The objectives of the DGD Project are pursued through six distinct and inter-related programming components called “pillars”, Strengthening of National Assembly (NASS) ,Strengthening of Political Parties ,Improvement of the Electoral Process ,Increased Capacity and Performance of Civil Society ,Reinforcing the role of the media  and Empowerment of Women.

The DGD Project implementation is based on the development context that an effective system of democratic governance requires representative, equitable, inclusive (across gender and other categories), transparent and publicly accountable institutions, conduct of credible and transparent elections, an independent judiciary competent in addressing electoral disputes swiftly and justly, a dynamic civil society which is constructively engaged in the political process, a vibrant, responsible media which can promote democratic debates and discourse, a genuine commitment to redress the significant gender disparities that continued to mark Nigerian society in key political, social and economic spheres.

The Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) is a five-year (2010-2015) deepening democracy project in Nigeria.

Williams