Strategic Communications for USAID’s Global Environmental Management Support
Environment and Climate Resiliency
Period of Performance: September 2013 – March 2019
The goal of our communications efforts under Global Environmental Management Support (GEMS) it to aid U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Environmental Officers (EOs) as they engage with colleagues and wider international development audiences to help shift the perception of environmental compliance (EC) to a value-added process that can improve USAID projects and their outcomes. The target audience is USAID Washington and Mission based staff and a secondary audience of USAID program implementing partners (IPs).
Strategic communications can play an important role in changing perceptions, increasing EC buy-in and improving USAID projects efficiency and effectiveness. To ensure our communications were designed to reach target audiences, the GEMS Team undertook a number of research and consultative activities, including working with and surveying USAID Bureau Environmental Officers to assess the current perceptions of the EC process among Agency staff; conducting a series of stakeholder interviews and surveys with Regional Environmental Advisors and Mission Environmental Officers; and undertaking a review of existing EC communications tools utilized by EOs, Agreement Officer Representatives/Contracting Officer Representatives, program officers and IPs.
The goal of our strategic communications work is to increase awareness of USAID’s environmental procedures and identify pathways to improving the narrative and perception of those procedures within USAID.