Training on Communications for CSOs

The Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy will be organising two days communications training July 28 – 29, 2016 at BCMD Media Lab (Bhutan YDF Complex).

Synopsis:

Civil society organisations serve a community of constituents, and although we all believe we do good work, the question remains – are we explaining our work adequately? Is our good work understood and reaching people who matter? A common fallacy amongst CSOs is the belief that everyone is our audience and should hear our messages and stories. But should this be so?

The stories we tell of our organisations enable us to connect meaningfully with our members’ supporters and the public. Today, there several new channels of communication and many more are coming online. How can we effectively use social media and websites to reach our audience and tell our stories to further our work. How do we define our audience and develop an effective communication plan?

Join us for an introduction to Communicating for a Cause. Gain insights into new media tools and pick up some essential skills in preparation for our final communications plan in part 1 of our workshop. This will be followed by another one day workshop in August to prepare our communication plan for CSOs.

Highlights of what the two day training:

 Effectively using technology to communicate our work, engage volunteers and raise support – Instagram, Facebook, and websites.

 Photography – the best way to use pictures and video to tell your story.

  Code of Ethics in using photos, videos and stories relating to people in disadvantaged positions. Create a code of ethics for our own use.

 The use of cell phones as a tool for gathering and posting media.

Resource person:  Mr Vairam Gopalakrishnan, director, Mediacom Services, is a media production specialist and trainer. Mr Gopalakrishnan also directs communications efforts for a Singaporean NGO.

The training is designed for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and we would appreciate if the CSOs could nominate their Communication Officers or a relevant person to attend the two days training in this first part of the workshop. We will conduct part 2 of the workshop – planning to communicate a civil society cause in August, a date to be announced soon.

Participants should plan on attending both the workshops that will result in them developing a communications plan for their own CSOs and some hands on skills for creating media messages.

We will be taking in the first 25 participants who register with us. Interested participants may contact Kesang Dhendup Choden at 327903 or email kesangd@bcmd.bt.