In this issue of Panorama we reveal the formal and informal (i.e. behind the scenes) topics of the second plenary meeting of the EU communicators who are part of the Inform EU network.
At the start of the new funding period 2021-2027, the network of cohesion communication officers expanded considerably. The Common Provision Regulation gave the Commission a mandate to create a single network which includes eight funding programmes, plus the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), a temporary instrument for post-pandemic recovery. With the COVID-19 pandemic finally under control, the members of this extended family finally got the opportunity to meet in person and exchange best practices.
Getting personal
‘Sharing the human stories behind every euro in funding spent to improve lives is the essence of an EU communicator’s role’, Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, said in his welcome message.
This year, with the launch of partnership agreements and the start of a new generation of operational programmes, and the RRF, the role of EU communicators is even more crucial.
Being able to meet in person is essential for communicators. Because the network already has around 1 200 members from all over the old continent, coordination online remains vital, but nothing can replace face-to-face encounters.
The organisers anticipated widespread appetite for this event but found the participants’ enthusiasm to exceed their expectations.
In addition to the plenary and fund-specific meetings, participants had ample opportunity to draw inspiration from other communicators. One format that was tested for the first time was the ‘Country mixer’, where communication officers from different countries and working on different funds were randomly put together to informally discuss communication activities for youth.
‘It felt like an Erasmus+ for professionals,’ one of the participants commented in an anonymous evaluation.
It was the opportunity to build relationships, engage in dialogue and exchange best practices that created value for the participants.
Izabela Łokić, from Poland, stated: ‘The Inform EU plenary meeting offered a unique opportunity to exchange experiences, learn good practices about policy communication. It allowed me to meet colleagues from all EU countries and discuss topics in the field of EU information and communication, which have a positive impact on everyone’s’ daily work’.
‘I could really see the added value of being part of such an established network of communicators’ said Csilla Volgyi from DG Home. ‘This is a visibility opportunity for our funding initiatives that also allows to acquire a new strategic outlook on communication’.
Daniela Grech, national communication coordinator in Malta and co-organiser, said that the event ‘provided a unique opportunity to showcase projects implemented through EU funds to colleagues from all over Europe and also to young people as part of the EU in My School Campaign’.
‘It was a source of pride to be able to welcome so many communicators of EU funds to our country and learn how to better communicate the immense and overarching impact of EU funding (and EU membership in general) to the citizens.’
Communicating with youth
The pandemic had severely affected the education, employment and mental health of young people. As a result, and because 2022 is the European Year of Youth, it is more important than ever for the EU to let young people know about the opportunities it makes available to them.
‘Our network, and all the communication officers, have an important role, not only to promote, but also to create opportunities for youth,’ said Maja Schussler for Commission's Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy.
Know your audience
If they hope to connect with youth, communicators need to find out what matters to their audience. According to the latest Eurobarometer, youth want greater participation in the EU. Their primary concerns are peace and stability, climate, education and training, and eradicating poverty and inequality.
The 2022 European Year of Youth inspired Inform EU workshops in Malta. Four young journalists, alumni of the Youth for Regions programme, held a workshop on ‘How to reach young audiences in 2022’.
It allowed participants to brush up on their ‘netiquette’ to engage young audiences and singled out effective European Commission Instagram accounts. The advice to communication officers, to always put themselves in their target audience’s shoes and answer the question ‘what’s in it for me?’, was among the many meaningful takeaways of the session.
Youth Involvement
The Inform EU plenary meeting was not only about reaching out to youth in the communication of EU funding opportunities. It was also a way to showcase youth-engagement projects, such as the At the School of Open Cohesion.
Inform EU allowed the winners of the 2020-2021 edition, the teams Arqueòlegs dertosencs (Archaeologists from Dertos) from Spain and Isidor’s Investigators from Croatia, to show how they monitored EU-funded initiatives in their countries.
The latter discussed their involvement in civic monitoring of the ‘Reconstruction of Pejačević Castles’ project. Eighteen pupils from Našice High School researched and monitored this project.
The pupils said this allowed them to develop new skills and engage with an important topic for their town, Našice. Moreover, it gave them the chance to understand how cohesion policy reduces differences between regions and how EU membership benefits their native Croatia.
Engagement: a basic right
An exchange of views between public administrations and young people is not always easy due to the lack of awareness of each other’s problems and an absence of shared practices for working together.
‘Dialogue brings more value than filling out forms and ticking boxes,’ said Fons Janssen, national coordinator for Climate Pact in the Netherlands, Interreg Youth Manifesto.
He added that all the social innovation he had seen from the European Commission had come from young professionals working there – they should be allowed to develop innovative communication projects. The behaviour of the next generation in civil society and political systems is changing and they know how to adapt to this.
‘Take engagement as a basic right. It’s a basic right of young people to be engaged in civil society and for you to proactively inform them,’ Fons said to applauses from the audience.
The Inform EU Regional Funds meeting focused on ‘Cheap but effective communication’, presenting six initiatives, projects and a competition that effectively combined digital and real-world interaction and good practices. Such as the Interreg SLAM competition, the road trip video diary in Slovenia in 2021 and the My voivodeship Podlaskie 2030 essay-writing competition.
New format welcome
Attendees in Malta said they appreciated the new extended format, as it provided a uniform and simplified overview of EU funding opportunities and how to communicate them.
It was the first such meeting for Aleksandra Gierat, a communicator from Poland. ‘Such networking opportunities are crucial for our work,’ she said.
‘I met inspiring people, broadened my vision on communicating cohesion policy, learned a lot about youth involvement, and got ideas for promoting EU funds, which I hope to implement. Hopefully it will make a permanent change to our activities and we will always consider interaction with youth in the following years. I left Malta a better communication officer.’
