This document provides an overview of communications and stakeholder engagement for municipal disaster recovery. It discusses the role of effective communication and stakeholder engagement in reducing emotional impact and increasing resilience during recovery. The document also outlines components of a communications and stakeholder engagement plan including guidance, principles, objectives, methods, tools, and information requirements. Participants provided advice and opinions on municipal communications training, stakeholder engagement context, key messaging processes, community engagement methods, and identifying vulnerable populations. Prioritizing these aspects will help frame the municipal recovery plan and contingency plan. Further consultation and feedback is recommended.
2. โข PDR Contingency Plan & DSRP allow the community to see
itself reflected in key decisions and actions
โข Effective communications and stakeholder engagement (CSE)
helps reduce the emotional turbulence caused by a disaster
and increases personal resilience
โข Community needs to be able to participate in recovery
โข Public participation and collaboration is key
INTRODUCTION
3. To facilitate a deeper understanding of CSE in support of
disaster recovery within the municipal context.
This guide will provide an improved knowledge of CSE
and reveal how CSE supports the PDR Contingency Plan
by gaining mutual understanding, leveraging the power of
partnerships, and enabling beneficial dialogue.
INTENT
4. DESIRED OUTCOMES
โข Understand the role and risks to CSE
โข Understand how to conduct a CSE needs assessment
โข Understand public participation best practices
โข Understand risk communications goals and best practices
โข Understand how to manage CSE and develop a CSE plan
9. THE ROLE OF CSE
โข CSE supports the broader recovery strategy, supporting municipal
governance and fulfilling the governmentโs obligation to consult
and inform the public
โข Effective CSE will promote recovery, provide situational
awareness, and mitigate the disasterโs emotional impact
โข Pre-and-post event recovery planning requires a common
understanding of recovery needs and plans, and sharing of
information to achieve awareness
10. THE IMPORTANCE OF CSE
โข CSE is an iterative process that organizes information for
socializing the municipal recovery work using verbal, written,
and electronic means
โข Incorporates feedback to constantly improve decision-making
and the municipalityโs recovery efforts
โข Informs, consults and gathers information, analyzes feedback,
and disseminates relevant information during disaster recovery
11. THE IMPORTANCE OF CSE
โข CSE should be
integrated within the
cycle of municipal
recovery efforts
13. COMMUNICATIONS
โข Communications need to be โrelevant, clear, and targetedโ (Australian
Red Cross)
โข Effective communications help achieve mutual understanding and
overcome information asymmetry
โข Communications approach needs to be focused, collaborative, timely,
accurate, and responsive
โข Approach needs to advance recovery planning, aid in recovery, and
improve a communityโs social well-being
14. GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR
COMMUNICATIONS
โข Be First
โข Be Correct
โข Be Clear
These principles are useful in both pre-event and post-event planning:
โข Be Complete
โข Be Considerate
โข Promote Action
15. โข Engagement is an active process of sharing and listening
โข Implies both parties are communicating and incorporating
feedback into their perspectives
โข Ignoring feedback from stakeholders risks alienation and
generates friction between the parties
โข Although not necessary to act on all feedback, it is
recommended to acknowledge the differing perspectives
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
16. โข Stakeholders want to communicate with those responsible
for planning and leading disaster recovery to hold them
accountable to address their needs
โข Stakeholder engagement seeks to understand the needs,
wants, and interests of stakeholders to provide a fact-based
context and scoping for recovery activities
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
17. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
4 Cs of
Engagement
CREATE
Opportunities for
stakeholders to be
heard and indicate their
preferences on options
presented
COLLABORATE
to get shared visions
and plans, identify
themes, and get
feedback
COLLECT
information to get
feedback and integrate
it into decision making
CLOSE
the loop in a timely
manner to show how
decisions incorporated
input and solicited
guidance
19. RECOVERY CSE OBJECTIVES
โข To maintain an effective and ongoing
dialogue with the community by both
informing and listening
โข To consult with community
stakeholders in recovery policy
development, planning and project
delivery
โข To involve the community in matters
that directly affect them in a specific
location or in the delivery of municipal
services
โข To collaborate with and empower the
community to deliver select services
on behalf of the municipality
โข Ensure the community understands
how their input has influenced
municipal decision-making
โข To continue to develop and improve
the municipalityโs community CSE
capacity
24. INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS
1) What communications training does the municipality currently perform
(including IAP2)?
2) What is the current municipal context for stakeholder engagement? Public
participation?
3) What is the current KM development process?
4) What forms of community CSE methods are used (town halls, social media,
and print)?
5) Has the community defined and mapped the vulnerable population and the
isolated elements of community?
26. IR #1 โ MUNICIPAL COMMUNICATIONS TRAINING
โข IR #1: What communications
training does the municipality
currently perform (including IAP2)?
โข Review: POL-04-100-02
(Communications Policy)
โข Advice & Opinions:
Method: Plenary Discussion Use ToHR Policy; Handout
Link
27. IR #2 โ MUNICIPAL STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
โข IR #2: What is the current municipal
context for stakeholder
engagement? Public participation?
How does it relate to disaster risk
reduction?
โข Review: LEGSERV-POL-102-00
(Community Engagement)
โข Advice & Opinions:
Method: Plenary Discussion Use ToHR Policy; Handout
Link
28. IR #3 โ KEY MESSAGING
โข IR #3: What is the current Key
Messaging development process?
โข Review: POL-04-100-02
(Communications Policy)
โข Advice & Opinions:
Method: Plenary Discussion Use ToHR Policy
Link
29. IR #4 โ COMMUNITY CSE METHODS
โข IR #4: What forms of community
CSE methods are used (such as town
halls, social media, print)?
โข Review: POL-04-100-02
(Communications Policy)
โข Advice & Opinions:
Method: Plenary Discussion Use ToHR Policy
Link
30. IR #5 โ VULNERABLE AND ISOLATED POPULATION
โข IR #5: Has the community defined and mapped the vulnerable population
and the isolated elements of community? Define these groups. Determine
how to consider the vulnerable in pre-disaster planning. What engagement
should be considered?
โข Advice & Opinions:
Method: Plenary Discussion
31. SUMMARY
โข Prior to the writing the PDR Contingency Plan, it is important for
the municipality to frame the aforementioned aspects of disaster
recovery
โข Participantsโ advice and considerations to inform the development
of the communityโs PDR Contingency Plan
โข Further consultation and feedback will be sought as necessary
Intent. The intent of this municipal recovery guide is to facilitate a deeper understanding of CSE in support of disaster recovery within the municipal context. This module will provide an improved knowledge of CSE planning and activities. It will reveal how CSE supports the PDR Contingency Plan by gaining mutual understanding, leveraging the power of partnerships, and enabling beneficial dialogue, and demonstrate how to do so.
Desired Outcomes. The following are the desired outcomes for Guide #5:
Understand the role and risks to CSE
Understand how to conduct a CSE needs assessment
Understand public participation best practices
Understand the goals and best practices associated with risk communication
Understand how to manage CSE
Understand how to develop a CSE plan
CSE plays a supporting role to a broader overarching recovery strategy, supporting municipal governance and fulfilling the natural human desire to be consulted and informed. Effective CSE will promote the long-view required in municipal disaster recovery, provide situational awareness for all stakeholders, and mitigate the emotional impact of the disaster on the affected community. This is achieved by both sharing and receiving information in support of recovery decision-making and collaboration.
CSE can be viewed as an iterative process that organizes information for socializing the municipal recovery work using verbal, written, and electronic means
This involves a series of events that incorporates feedback to constantly improve the effectiveness of decision-making and the municipalityโs recovery efforts
Possible CSE integration into municipal recovery efforts as a simplified cycle supporting recovery efforts.
The PDR Contingency Plan and the DSRP must be disseminated to be effective. This doesnโt happen without deliberate effort. Effective communications help achieve mutual understanding and overcome the heightened information challenges present after a disaster, such as bias, misinformation, psychosocial, and economic impacts.
The approach to communications should advance recovery planning, aid in the delivery of comprehensive recovery efforts, and improve the social well-being of a municipality.
The communications approach needs to be focused, collaborative, timely, accurate, responsive, anticipate points of friction, help manage issues of concern, and assist in identifying opportunities; all while ensuring factual information is available.
By engaging, we refer to an active process of sharing and listening. This implies that both parties are communicating and incorporating feedback into their perspectives. By ignoring feedback from stakeholders, risks alienation and generating friction between the parties. Although it is not necessary to act on all feedback, it is recommended to acknowledge the differing perspectives.
TWO MONOLOGUES DO NOT MAKE A DIALOGUE
JEFF DALY
Stakeholders want to communicate with those responsible for planning and leading disaster recovery. They wish to hold them accountable to address their needs.
Stakeholders need to be supported, consulted, and informed throughout the entire process of recovery. Stakeholder engagement seeks to understand the needs, wants, and interests of stakeholders to provide a fact-based context and scoping for recovery activities.
Think of engagement as two-way communications, informing decision-making and gaining momentum for recovery action to occur. It can be framed as the four Cs of engagement as illustrated in this slide.
It is important to create a CSE plan with pre-existing mechanisms for coordination and consistent communications with all organizations and individuals before a crisis happens. This enables community driven initiatives, manages expectations, and better prepares municipal representatives.
The CSE plan supports the develop of a communityโs PDR Contingency Plan. It should be noted that the CSE linkages are not newly created solely for recovery but extend back through the response phase and originate in the municipality pre-disaster.
Establishing an effective pre-disaster CSE plan will provide the optimum basis for growth and augmentation during recovery operations.
Development of recovery CSE objectives requires analysis of the information that has been gathered from earlier recovery planning and knowledge of the community requirements for information. Remember that the conduct of CSE is not an end to a means but rather a supporting effort to make the PDR Contingency Plan more effective. Recovery CSE enables community participation.
Some examples of recovery CSE objectives include:
To maintain an effective and ongoing dialogue with the community by both informing and listening
To consult with community stakeholders in recovery policy development, planning and project delivery
To involve the community in matters that directly affect them in a specific location or in the delivery of municipal services
To collaborate with and empower the community to deliver select services on behalf of the municipality
Ensure the community understands how their input has influenced municipal decision-making
To continue to develop and improve the municipalityโs community CSE capacity (Emergency Management Victoria, p. 6)
ย
It is important to create a CSE plan with pre-existing mechanisms for coordination and consistent communications with all organizations and individuals before a crisis happens. This enables community driven initiatives, manages expectations, and better prepares municipal representatives.
As reflected in Guide #5, various CSE tools have been provided to support Recovery CSE. Some of these include:
Communications Needs Assessment
Recovery CSE Mapping Tool
Stakeholder Engagement Synchronization Matrix
Stakeholder Engagement Flowchart
CSE Plan - Template
In addition to providing an overview of the learnings from this guide, the intent is to extract the community representativeโs advice and opinions that supports the developing of the community specific, pre-disaster recovery plan. This session is designed to draw advice or opinions for the following information requirements:
What communications training does the municipality currently perform? Including IAP2
What is the current municipal context for stakeholder engagement? Public participation?
What is the current KM development process?
What forms of community CSE methods are used? Such as Town Halls, social media, and print.
Has the community defined and mapped the vulnerable population and the isolated elements of community?
