Communications plan

Introduction
The aim of the communications plan is to:
 * Ensure all Partners are in agreement with the ways of working for programme comms
 * Ensure cohesive and consistent messaging about the Project by all Partners at any time
 * Identify and maximise opportunities to raise the profile of the programme externally
 * Establish ways of gathering assets across Partners to support both the comms strategy and as evidence for the programme evaluation Whilst each partner is responsible for the promotion of their specific contribution to the project, SCVO can support with messaging relating specifically to Project Board, Reference Group and governance arrangements as needed.

Communicating project outputs
All the core partners for this project are committed to:
 * Opening up the way we will communicate this project
 * Ensuring cohesive and consistent messaging about the project by all partners at any time
 * Identifying and maximising opportunities to raise the profile of the programme
 * Sharing ideas and assets across partners to make our approach to communications as effective as possible

Draft press release message

 * SCVO/WCVA/NIEL/Involve together with a consortia of partners from the UK home nations has been awarded a grant of £500k to take forward the Open Government Pioneers project. The UK and devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have committed to making the way they run their administrations more open and transparent.  To make best use of this opportunity, the pioneers project will over two years bring to citizens a range of tools, techniques and peer support to scrutinise, participate and challenge their governments to serve their citizens better.  The project is formally linked to the International Open Government Partnership, where citizens and civil society have been given an equal say in the commitments made by 70 countries to govern more openly, a key agenda of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Key messages

 * Open Government Pioneers is an exciting and unique collaborative project developed by SCVO, Northern Ireland Environment Link, Involve UK and Wales Council for Voluntary Action in collaboration with and with support from the Big Lottery Fund UK.
 * The ‘test and learn’ initiative is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and aims to open up the process through which government works towards the Sustainable Development Goals
 * At the heart of the Open Government Pioneers initiative is growing the movement of people and organisations that want to actively participate in their governments at Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland levels.
 * The focus for the project is securing government actions and commitments at the devolved UK nation level, using the Sustainable Development Goals as a shared framework for progress and strengthening the role of civil society as a key stakeholder, and conduit for citizens, in open governance reform and sustainable development
 * We will be using a mix of seminars, webinars, meetups, online digital platforms and crowdsourcing policy analysis to achieve these aims. It is a new and innovative approach which will encourage and support new digital ways for people to come together openly in order to secure change from their governments.
 * There is a strong international dimension to this project, as the project aims to build on the global Pioneer status that Scotland has been given as part of the international Open Government Partnership.
 * The project will make the most of the opportunity that an Open Government agenda provides to secure progress within the UK home nations towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
 * On a practical level, the project will build bring together and skill up people who want to participate more directly in their government in the UK home nations. It will support the sharing of learning and practical ways of using open government approaches with people from other countries. And it will ensure that participation by citizens has a real influence on government policy at the UK devolved nation level.
 * Each of the partners will be delivering individual and specific contributions to the project using dedicated coordinators and development staff. The project has developed a clear governance and management structure to ensure success and shared learning.

Communication protocols
Website and general information

The Wiki - The https://opengovpioneers.miraheze.org Wiki will provide the primary information site for the project, and will be an interactive resource for the project's overall development. This is a collaborative site maintained by SCVO under a Creative Commons CCL licence.

The Open Government UK Forums and Website - will provide the primary blog, news and article archive for the project. It will also host the forums used by the partners to develop the civil society networks in all the UK home nations. This resource is managed and maintained by Involve UK.

Additional digital platforms will be developed / or engaged during the course of the Project. This will likely include; crowdsourcing websites, ideation websites, e-petition websites, webinar hosting sites and platforms to support collaborative letters / reports.

Social Media

All Partners are asked to regularly promote Open Government Pioneers activity on their respective social media channels. On Twitter the agreed hashtag is #OpenGovPioneers

Media enquiries

Final copy for high profile announcements should be sent to all partners for information and comment at least two working days before issued to media

In the event of press enquiries or other stakeholder interest calls should be directed as follows:

Project specific enquiries

Enquiries related to each Partner’s specific project should be directed to and handled by the relevant comms or project manager within that partner organisation. Each partner should then subsequently enter these details onto the Shared Project Management System and record this for overall evaluation, directing to the Project Coordinator, SCVO (if required).

General enquiries

General enquiries should be directed to the Project Director (SCVO)

Sensitive issues

In case of any sensitive issues, media enquiries should be directed to the Chair of the Project Board and the Project Director who will respond and alert all partners.

Public speaking and presentations at events

Event presentations - Presentations at stakeholder events offer a significant opportunity to promote the project and position the importance of deploying open approaches to civil society engagement in opening up government.

The Chair of the Project Board, Project Director and Delivery Group members will respond to and seek speaking slots for members to talk about Project and these will be shared with the Project's networks.


 * With sufficient notice (minimum 3 – 5 working days) a standard PPT slide or key bullet points can be provided by SCVO on the latest news from across the project.
 * When talking about Project in their own specific public speaking opportunities all Partners should record this within Shared Project management system. BLF enquiries  Enquiries regarding the investment by the Big Lottery Fund should be directed to: TBC  See also the BLF comms protocol - TBC  Marketing  Launch, activities and timeline

Branding arrangements

About the Core Partners

Key contacts / spokespeople