SOCIAL NETWORKS – TRAINING AND MENTORING PROGRAMME FOR PRs IN LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT UNITS

Social networks have many advantages that can be used to communicate public administration reform. This modern digital medium has become indispensable in communication with different target groups. When it comes to public administration, there are many topics that can be communicated on the networks such as: sharing information, presentation of activities, contact with citizens, support to the local community and many others. All the above requires a certain range of skills and practical knowledge to achieve the proper communication effects.

EU-funded project team for PAR Visibility and Communication has developed the "Social Networks - Training and Mentoring Programme" for PR employees in local self-government units and it is being implemented with the support of SCTM organization. The whole project has 4 main phases: Research, Training, Mentoring Sessions, and Competition. The activities started in May and will last until the end of 2022. The main concept of the programme is to train PR employees at the local level to work on social networks through live training events, online mentoring sessions, and to motivate them further through the competition of cities and municipalities, in which they will have the opportunity to win the main award for the best presentation, thus exploiting the full potential of this programme.

In the first phase, online research was conducted to create the content of the programme and emphasize the specific needs of the participants. In the second phase, during June and July, five two-day training sessions were held at the SKIP Center. The content of the training included theory, individual and group exercises, discussions on good and bad practices, recommendations, and practical advice. The third phase started in August with online mentoring sessions where participants were offered additional information, recommendations and opportunity to actively ask questions about social networks. The final phase of the competition is scheduled to begin at the end of September.

Participants’ comments and evaluations of the programme and lecturers have been excellent. Practical use of the presented theoretical knowledge in combination with a multitude of examples from daily posts on social media clearly stands out among the comments.