The Sound of Silence – Building capacities of organisations for effective communication Erasmus Project

Project Title

The Sound of Silence – Building capacities of organisations for effective communication

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Capacity Building for youth in ACP countries, Latin America and Asia

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Home and justice affairs (human rights & rule of law)

Project Summary

The proposal of “The Sound of Silence – Building capacities of organisations for effective communication” was born from the practical experience of Maghweb during last years that made the organisation work toward a clear direction: thinking about communication as an essential tool, an extra resource to both social action and empowerment of those categories with a high risk of social exclusion. Due to statistical data and reality facts, Maghweb has the strong certainty that communication must be professional, focused on beneficiaries and with specific languages and tools; communication can enhance social action, drop down barriers and add value to local work. Moreover, Maghweb believes that communication techniques can be used also in the No-Profit world, in order to make it more concrete and near to beneficiaries’ needs.

The project aimed to give specific help to those NGOs that work with young women, victims of violence. Maghweb has conducted an analysis (through questionnaires and interviews) of the needs of Corporación Amiga Joven (Colombia) and Jeevanrekha Parishad (India), the two partner organisations. The results show the economic and logistic difficulties that NGOs face when they need to reach their target groups, their beneficiaries, stakeholders and sponsors. The biggest problem in communication is the lack of competences of internal staff, the lack of resources for external communicators and the sensitive topic, thus the difficulties to safely communicate with the beneficiaries. The project aimed at the capacity building of organisations through the competence development of their staff.

General objective: Capacity building of organisations who work with young women (who are or not victims of violence) for strengthening their ability to fulfill their mission over time, thereby enhancing the organisations’ ability to have a positive impact on lives and communities

Specific objectives:

-Fostering cooperation and exchange of good practices in the field of youth between Programme Countries and Partner Countries from different regions of the world, specifically between organisations working with young women (who are or not victims of violence)

-Improving organisations’ capacity in communication through the competence development of their staff

-Creating an international network of organisations who work with young women for the strengthened advocacy of their mission and for the increased visibility of their activities

Youth workers involved in the project improved their abilities due to the knowledge of the newest and most effective communication techniques, for women, NGOs & the community. Professional and personal abilities were developed to improve the quality of work with disadvantaged people. The project increased the partners’ network, sharing results of the project and promoting the participation of other youth workers/NGO staff in the online training.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 76352 Eur

Project Coordinator

ASSOCIAZIONE DI PROMOZIONE SOCIALE MAGHWEB & Country: IT

Project Partners

• CORPORACION AMIGA JOVEN
• JEEVAN REKHA PARISHAD