PPIAF

Outreach and communication programs can be among the most important management tools in implementing sustainable infrastructure reform. Two-way communication programs that engage stakeholders—ensuring that they are heard as well as informed—are critical to build support for change.

Successful reform is not just about commercial, financial, and regulatory solutions. When governments make strategic communications part of their reform program, they are more likely to win public buy-in and support for new policies.

PPIAF supports a range of outreach and communication tools in all its activities, to improve transparency and help governments communicate their objectives for reform. These tools include stakeholder workshops, public opinion research, education and awareness programs, strategic communication campaigns, and educational meetings and conferences.

Global and Regional Knowledge Development

To share international experiences around strategic communications, PPIAF organized a two-day workshop in Bangkok in 2006 for South Asian policy makers and practitioners. Participants all supported early and ongoing consultation with stakeholders as key to the success of infrastructure reforms and projects.

PPIAF also includes sections on outreach and communication activities in its global toolkits.   

Technical Assistance

• In Malawi PPIAF is supporting opinion research to help the government strengthen its outreach and stakeholder consultations around reform in the water sector.
• In India PPIAF support to the Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS), a grassroots consumer protection NGO, is helping to develop a comprehensive plan to educate stakeholder groups about issues of regulation and competition. The aim is to help them better understand the process of reform and ensure that it incorporates their concerns.
• In the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia PPIAF assistance is helping the government develop a stakeholder consultation program to aid in evaluating options for reform, including public-private partnerships.