AUDMP Information and Networking Strategy 3. Identification of a Range of Potential Users In this kind of analysis, it is essential to pay special attention to who the users are and what exactly they are likely to be doing with the data they have, where and when A project of this type involves people from a wide range of institutions and backgrounds. A detailed listing is included in the Annexes. Initial review suggests the following broad groupings of user needs. Further analysis may of course lead to further disaggregation. 3.1 Project Co-Ordinators And Country Level Project Managers These participants are responsible for overall strategy, and for keeping track of activity and operational and financial performance of groups involved, keep activity to timetable, track the politics involved, solicit and develop feedback loops, track what important and relevant activity is going on outside the project framework, and keep aware of funding and other resource mobilization opportunities. 3.2 Technicians And Scientists Members of this group have a range of technical and scientific information requirements (geophysicists, structural engineers, architects, GIS specialists, lifeline managers) There are likely to be further sub-groupings. For example in earthquake areas, these will include a seismology group, a soils group, and structures groups covering general building survey, and various types of critical facilities 3.3 Promoters These participants are involved in promoting and encouraging take up and diffusion of mitigation activity. They will need to be kept informed of opportunities, and provided with promotional information needed for "solution marketing . The will also benefit lessons learned during earlier project activity. It can be helpful to further distinguish somewhat between three broad groupings: Communications technicians - those who produce the media, Prescribers, who research and define the approach Facilitators, who act as the liaison persons or mediators with the influencers and targets. This group will probably include League of Cities members, community leaders, activist coalitions, and convinced politicians. Obviously, a facilitator may also be playing a substantial technical or management role in the project: much depends on individual personality. Facilitators with particular skills may be needed for the fairly specialist media relations role, and the more elevated ambassadorial or representational role. Each of these roles has somewhat different information needs, and may require different information products to disseminate. 3.4 Influencers and Decision-Makers To be effective, promotional activity needs to be focused on key decision makers, usually mayors, or other key political players such as utility chief executives, administrators of major hospitals, and school board chiefs. It may often be that a small number of people usually controls most of a large cities infrastructure developments. Clearly it is most important is to get mitigation onto the agendas of these key decision-makers. Some may have to be reached through other groups of "influencers" (or gatekeepers, or opinion leaders), either narrowly within a closely knit political milieu, or more widely through action coalitions or media generated public pressure (examples - mayors as targets, business leaders as influencers) 3.5 "Strategists" People in this group are involved in detailed planning for specific programmes of urban mitigation within both a national and local political framework, and a local technical framework (with the political element often dominant). Examples include city finance officers, city engineers, lifeline planners, and mitigation action committees. Each mitigation audience needs a different product, depending on the focus, which may, for example, be planning, public works, water, electricity, and telecommunications. Some clear sub-groups will probably emerge, although the key is to have multidisciplinary and multisectoral discussions: Insurance group Planning/Land use group Lifelines group Education/Professional support/Informal sector support group GIS systems may start to become a focus for analysis and a major mechanism for data storage for the mitigation strategy groups, and their application is likely to need input of specialised technical and educational resources to ensure that all participants can use the results effectively. 3.6 Other Potential Stakeholders At Country Level These may consist of national decision makers, insurance company staff, members of the banking and investment community, and industry leaders. Most will be relatively passive participants, unless given convincing reasons for more active involvement. A challenge will be to convert members of these groups to sympathetic influencers, or to bring at least some into the system as active promoters. 3.7 Stakeholders Outside The Domain Of The Project n requirements of stakeholders outside the main project cities, will be well-packaged information about findings and lessons, and adequate guidance on replication. To a substantial extent, a key strategy of the project will be to ensure that interested stakeholders are brought together in task groups at city level. This should result in a substantial degree of blurring of the categories above. The networking process will add new roles: educators, and local information support for the network members. Next Page