Source: Kolomyia City Council
PLEDDG Project jointly with Kolomyia local government is developing a Media Relations Guide. The idea behind this guide is to enhance communication between the Kolomyia City Council (its elected officials and management team in particular) and the general public and media representatives within the framework of a wider PR development strategy.
Kolomyia and Ivano-Frankivsk are the only Ukrainian cities that are set to develop such a strategy in cooperation with PLEDDG Project.
Today PLEDDG representatives met with Kolomyia Mayor to discuss communication tools and channels between the local government and its constituency. PLEDDG experts were impressed by the work the local government had done to ensure an open dialogue with the public. The city’s ongoing communication projects include the city council’s website, a newsletter, social media platforms, face-to-face meetings, call-in shows, “Open City” platform, Mayor’s personal response to messages on social media platforms, introduction of an online petition system, Prozorro system etc.
There were two round table discussions during the day: the first round-table discussion gathered elected officials and city managers responsible for communication, and the second round table brought together media representatives, bloggers, journalists, and public activists. The objective of such get-togethers was to facilitate an open dialogue with the public. Following the round-table discussions, Kolomyia city council will start developing a media relations guide.
The central focus of the discussion was on professional interaction with journalists, responding to comments by elected officials as part of their duties, searching for ways of overcoming a crisis. The main objective of the meeting was to learn and analyze the business conditions in Kolomyia. There will be a training course offered to city council members and employees, which will be based on the results of the round table discussions. The training course will be organized by PLEDDG Project.
According to Deputy Mayor Oleh Dyachuk, Mayor’s team is ready to commit to open and transparent communication with media and the public.