Modification of unsustainable practices is a medium and long term-challenge that projects often take on. In these cases, it is crucial that the actions are accompanied by strategic communication that promotes the appropriation of positive social changes.

In other words, it is important to create a communication process that informs, sensitizes, and persuades the target audience about a specific phenomenon and its solutions.

To achieve this, communication must be viewed as an activity that accompanies actions at all times. One of the most important challenges is the sustainability and coherence of campaigns, due to the limited human, economic and technical resources of the projects.

Therefore, it is important to consider:

• The allocation of a specific budget for communication within the framework of the project, as well as the appointment of a specialized technical team.
• The creation of an action plan to achieve the communication objectives.

In short, a communication plan with an assigned budget from the start helps define objectives and identify and characterize the target audiences. It also allows the elaboration of lines of discourse, the identification of tactical actions and the generation of success indicators.

Strategic communication checklist

Before creating an action plan, it is important to answer the following questions:

• What is the purpose of communication?
• Who is the audience?
• What is the main message we want to convey?
• What field or context will we work in?
• What channels are available?
• What human, financial and material resources are available?
• What are the indicators of success?

This will make it possible to generate an internal diagnosis that will in turn guide our plan throughout its various phases. In other words, it will serve as a compass to trigger a more complex process.