On 18 July 2022, a communication and advocacy training session was organized as part of The Restoration Initiative (TRI).

TRI unites three Global Environment Facility (GEF) agencies: the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Ten Asian and African countries are conducting TRI projects under the same programme approach to overcome existing barriers to forest and landscape restoration, and restore degraded landscapes at scale, in support of the Bonn Challenge.

The training session targeted project representatives and communication focal points, and aimed to strengthen communication and advocacy capacities and skills in order to achieve each country’s project goals and better share their project achievements with the public.

It provided simple tools and techniques for planning and implementing communications strategies; enabled participants to identify the most suitable target audiences for the expected outcomes, with relevant messaging and clear requests; and guided participants on developing optimized channel strategies to reach key audiences.

The online workshop was held in English and was attended by participants from Cameroon, China, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Pakistan, Sao Tome and Principe and the United Republic of Tanzania. Each of these countries is conducting a TRI project backed by one of the GEF agencies, and each has achieved specific goals in recent years, as described in the newly launched annual report entitled The Restoration Initiative: 2021 Year in Review.

In breakout groups by country, the participants finetuned their communication strategies by answering three key questions on what to communicate, to what audience and with which objectives. They were introduced to different tools and strategies to better engage with audiences, and prevent and overcome barriers. Each group of participants applied these tools and strategies to their implementation contexts, and presented their findings to the overall group. As a result, discussions were enriched by feedback loops among the participants, who shared experiences, goals and challenges.

The communication and advocacy training workshop was particularly important for showcasing TRI’s progress at the country level. It allowed countries not only to highlight achievements, but also to better communicate with national and international partners. It also provided key tools to identify the barriers that slow down communication with stakeholders, as well as strategies to overcome these and improve engagement.

The training session also included tips and techniques on digital strategies for social media communication, and presented the golden rules for organizing and promoting side events. These are key outputs for sharing achievements at both the national and international level while allowing the many voices behind the initiative to be heard.

A follow-up satisfaction survey on the training session showed that most participants were keen to participate in more workshops to keep expanding their knowledge in communication and advocacy. FAO, UNEP and IUCN will thus continue to organize further capacity-building training for TRI partners and the wider restoration community.

A similar training session in French is planned in the near future.

Lucia Rivera Lima (FAO) and Giorgio Millesimi (FAO)