Nairobi+Mar+2013+Comms+Meeting

Nairobi communications meeting 27 March 2013 Notes (revised 28 Mar)

1 Shirley Tarawali (DIPP) 2 Susan MacMillan (PA head) 3 Paul Karaimu (PA, corporate comms writer) 4 Muthoni Njiru (PA, corporate comms officer; KMIS, graphics head) 5 Nancy Moss (PA, assistant) 6 Angeline Nekesa (KMIS, KS officer) 7 Tezira Lore (Communications Specialist, ILRI Food Safety and Zoonoses program) 8 Jane Gitau (ILRI/CRP embedded comms officer) 9 Evelyn Katingi (ILRI/CRP embedded comms officer) 10 Ethel Makila (BecA-ILRI Hub embedded comms staff) 11 Albert Mwangi (Bio-Innovate embedded comms staff)
 * Present**

A number of colleagues working in various capacities on communication issues in the institute have raised the challenges of responding to multiple requests for support, especially given the new institutional structure where the comms support to programs and related reporting requirements have not been fully clarified. A key aim of this informal, Nairobi focused discussion (a smallish subset of all ILRI communications staff) was therefore to understand the present arrangements and clarify interim arrangements for embedded comms staff. The intention would be to share the results of the discussions with the institute’s research leaders so as to ensure appropriate reporting, and to identify gaps in support to programs, CRPs and regions which will need to be addressed. A more comprehensive discussion with Addis based KMIS and other communications staff will also be held on the afternoon of Monday 13th May.
 * Context and Agenda**

The objectives of this were to determine (for the embedded staff in Nairobi): 1 How each comms staff is now mapped to programs/CRPs/regions. 2 What different skill sets do the different comms officers offer 3 What interim issues can we solve (and how we might move from interim to permanent solutions)

A number of initial comments included: The BecA-ILRI Hub has unique communications needs similar to those of ILRI as an institute. As such, it requires an embedded, dedicated communications person. But the BecA-ILRI Hub communications staff will work with the communications staff working in areas of overlap, such as where ILRI Biosciences researchers are partners/leading a project funded through the BecA-ILRI Hub.

In terms of considering the diversity of many tasks that comms officers undertake options could be to organize according to:


 * First-level obligations of each comms officer to the program/CRP they work for (activities they undertake to do themselves and form the bulk of daily work)
 * Second-level tasks that perhaps can be managed by others or centrally

For everyone, keeping track of research outputs at program level will be very important. Come October, the program leaders will be required to prepare reports of their publications for reporting to the Board meeting in Nov; we need to be sure who is accountable for which program's outputs. It may also be appropriate to add a KRA for each embedded comms officer that would involve supporting corporate communications in some way.

The opportunity (things still in flux) presented to develop a communications strategy for ILRI as a whole, so as to see how each component serves the larger strategy was recognized. This could be an important part of the discussion in May. [Note: ILRI has 3 strategic objectives: Improve practice, influence decision-makers and develop capacity. And ILRI will use 5 CSFs to monitor its progress towards each of these 3 objectives, and communications is part of each ‘critical success factor’.]

Among activities that we have kept centralized, and probably should continue to keep centralized, are the following:
 * CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS WORK**

News releases (PA) Media campaigns (PA) Annual corporate products (PA) Corporate designs (PA) Multimedia products (PA and KMIS) Graphics services (KMIS) Information services (KMIS) Publishing service (KMIS) Web development services (KMIS) Knowledge management services (KMIS) Facilitation (KMIS)

All communications work at ILRI used to be conducted centrally, but some six years ago we started to experiment with themes hiring staff to do theme-focused communications work (first Markets hired Tezira Lore, then the People, Livestock and Environment Theme hired Jane Gitau, then our Biotechnology Theme and Livestock and Fish via KMIS hired Evelyn Katingi). Last year we had a visiting AYAD knowledge sharing officer focus on Asia. Purvi Mehta-Bhatt is looking to hire a communications staff for South Asia. And so on.

Embedding communications staff within themes and regions seems to have generally worked well, with most of our new programs / CRPs /regions now wanting similar communications attention, and the recognition that it may not be possible for one individual in a program/CRP/region to cover all the different comms dimensions, but that they might equally like to provide their “best/special” skills to support the institute beyond the particular program/CRP/region.

Below is a list of some major work areas now being done FREQUENTLY (several times a week) by our 5 Nbi-based communications staff embedded in work of programs/CRPs/regions (for completeness, this list will need to be expanded with more tasks and to include other people).
 * EMBEDDED COMMUNICATIONS WORK**


 * || ** Tezira ** || ** Jane ** || ** Evelyn ** || ** Ethel ** || ** Albert ** ||
 * ** Manage web content ** || ü || ü || ü || ü || ü ||
 * ** Respond to reader feedback ** || ü || ü ||  || ü || ü ||
 * ** Edit/ proofread ** || ü || ü ||  || ü || ü ||
 * ** Blog ** || ü ||  ||   || ü || ü ||
 * ** Create posters ** || ü ||  ||   || ü || ü ||
 * ** Photos and upload ** ||  ||   || ü ||   || ü ||
 * ** Draft policy briefs ** ||  || ü ||   ||   || ü ||
 * ** Engage partners, donors.. ** ||  ||   ||   || ü || ü ||
 * ** Develop comms capacity ** ||  ||   ||   || ü || ü ||
 * ** Organize visits ** ||  ||   ||   || ü || ü ||
 * ** Yammer other internal comms ** || ü ||  || ü ||   ||   ||
 * ** Curate content ** || ü ||  || ü ||   ||   ||
 * ** Manage contact lists ** ||  || ü ||   ||   || ü ||
 * ** Track research outputs ** || ü ||  || ü ||   ||   ||
 * ** Document meetings ** ||  || ü || ü ||   ||   ||
 * ** Plan events ** ||  ||   ||   ||   || ü ||
 * ** Facilitate meetings ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||

Each comms officer reviewed their current portfolio of these tasks, the programs, CRPs and regions they support. Each also highlighted their preferred skill sets, and those tasks that were more challenging. These are summarized below and in the table. Below is a list of: > the programs each comms staff is embedded in or works for > the skills each communications officer is particularly strong in (and could be used more widely), with any gaps noted > what each comms staff would prefer to give away to someone else to do
 * SKILL SETS**

Works now for programs on: 1 Food Safety and Zoonoses (Delia Grace) 2 Policy, Trade and Value Chains (Derek Baker) 3 Livelihoods, Gender and Impact (Kathy Colverson)
 * Tezira**

Skill set: Web content management, blogging, social media, technical writing & editing (particularly in food science), proofreading, rapporteuring/note taking

Would like to give away: ReSAKSS work

Works now for programs on: 1 Animal Science for Sustainable Productivity (Iain Wright) 2 Livestock Systems and the Environment / Drylands CRP 1.1 (John McIntire, interim/Polly Ericksen) 3 Genebank (Alexandra Jorge) 4 Water, Land and Ecosystems CRP 5 (An Notenbaert) in that order of her time spent on these.
 * Jane**

Skill set: Writing, editing; blogging; drafting policy briefs; wiki work. //Gap noted:// Photography.

Would like to do more of: 1 Engagement with partners 2 Engagement with media 3 Training and capacity development in communications

Would like to give away: Documentation (Mahider, Slideshare, etc.)

Works now for programs on: 1 Livestock and Fish CRP 3.7 (Tom Randolph) 2 Animal Bioscience work within Livestock and Fish (Steve Kemp) in that order of time spent on these.
 * Evelyn**

Skill set: Information management, content management, knowledge sharing //Gaps noted:// 1 Blogging about some bioscience projects; could be filled by assistance from Paul and Jane 2 Mahider and related work in Animal Bioscience.

Would like to give away: Documentation (Mahider, Slideshare, etc.)

Works now for: BecA-ILRI Hub (Appolinaire Djikeng)
 * Ethel**

Skill set: Writing, editing, partner/donor engagement, communications training //Gap noted:// Mahider-type work

Would like to give away: 1 Documentation (Mahider, Slideshare, etc.) 2 Photography

Works now for: Bio-Innovate (Seyoum Leta)
 * Albert**

Skill set: Writing, photography, design, web content management, events planning, videography

Would like to give away: 1 Documentation (Mahider, Slideshare, etc.) 2 Facilitation


 * || ** Tezira ** || ** Jane ** || ** Evelyn ** || ** Ethel ** || ** Albert ** ||
 * ** ASSP ** ||  || ü ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** FSZ ** || ü (70%) ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** LSE ** ||  || ü ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** LGI ** || ü (20%) ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** PTVC ** || ü (10%) ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** BecA-ILRI ** ||  ||   ||   || ü ||   ||
 * ** Bioinnovate ** ||  ||   ||   ||   || ü ||
 * ** VP ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** AnBioS ** ||  ||   || ü ||   ||   ||
 * ** FFBioS ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** CRP3.7 ** || ( ü ) gender ||  || ü ||   ||   ||
 * ** CRP1.1 ** ||  || ( ü ) ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** CRP1.2 ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** CRP2 ** || ( ü ) ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** CRP4 ** || ( ü ) ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** CRP5 ** ||  || ( ü ) ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** CRP7 ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Genebank ** ||  || ( ü ) ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** W.Africa ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** S.Africa ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** S.Asia ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** SE Asia ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||

ü =main focus of activity; ( ü ) = support “indirectly” because of the main focus of work in the programs supported.

Only 1 of the 17 possible frequently done (i.e., several times a week) activities of ILRI’s 5 embedded comms staff is shared by all of them (that is, ‘manage web content’). 1 activity listed is done by none of them (facilitation). 1 activity is done by just 1 staff (plan events, meetings). And 9 activities are done by only 2 of the 5 staff. This demonstrates both that there is a lot of diversity in our communications work at ILRI and that our various program/CRPs/regions have very different communications needs. As might be expected, Ethel and Albert share 8 frequent activities (and do 3 activities that none of the others do: engage partners and other stakeholders, develop communications capacity, and organize visit and tours).
 * What jumps out from the above list?**

As the embedded comms people seek to do less of Mahider and output documentation, it needs to be clear who will be responsible for the outputs of specific programs. E.g. if Jane was previously handling outputs for PLE and now wants to give this up, then it needs to be clear who will be tracking and documenting outputs for LSE and ASSP (ex-PLE teams). Else, things will fall through the cracks. Ditto for BT. That's the reason why for 2013 Tezira plans to maintain the documentation for FSZ, LGI & PTVC as well as other activities that don't fall in these three programs but were part of MGL theme (e.g. imGoats -- which now falls in ASSP) even though her principal program (interim) is FSZ.

While the individuals indicated some of their preferences, we need to be careful to ensure that all the tasks that are ‘needed’ get done, by the most appropriate people. So we would only want to adjust TORs and JDs after we have a more complete view of the global needs across ILRI.

The table and discussion summaries above highlight a number of areas that are underserved or not served at all be the present comms capacity. These are summarized below.
 * AREAS UNDERSERVED BY COMMUNICATIONS**

Those that Jane may or may not be responsible for covering (it’s not completely clear right now): 1.1(drylands) 1.2(humidtropics) 5 (water, land and ecosystems) 7 (climate change) And is the Genebank fully covered by Jane?
 * 4 CRPs**

1 Livestock Systems and the Environment (Jane?) (John McIntire, interim) 2 Vaccine Platform (Evelyn?) (Vish Nene) 3 Animal Bioscience (projects not in CRP 3.7) ? (Steve Kemp) 4 Feed and Forages Bioscience (Suzanne Bertrand, interim)
 * Programs**

None of the regions have clear dedicated comms support. Whilst not indicated on the table, some comms support to regions is achieved by virtue of the progams and CRPs supported. But there is no one with a responsibility for addressing the breadth of needs for each region.
 * Regions**

Given the allocation of time percentages across the comms officers, it is proposed that reporting at least until early June should be as below. This should not preclude the (smaller percentage) of support currently being provided to other programs/CRPs as indicated above. However it also highlights where there needs to be attention to addressing the gaps.
 * Proposal for interim**

Tezira: FSZ - Delia Evelyn: Peter with Tom as second supervisor (unchanged) Jane: ASSP - Iain Ethel and Albert unchanged

Shirley to share these notes with institute and research leaders for comment and to confirm interim reporting arrangements.
 * Next steps**

Susan/Peter to complete an initial ‘comms’ needs and available expertise mapping across ILRI (this was already started).

This and any other inputs, to feed into a meeting of KMIS, PA, Comms people suggested for Monday 13 May. This would produce a more global vision for the comms function across all of ILRI, including a plan of action for consideration by Institute and research leaders.