a.
PR/Marketing resources
b.
Building an iEARN management team and business plan
c. Working with partners
a. PR/Marketing resources
The two main issues when developing iEARN in your country are making
people aware of iEARN and make it clear what you do.
Branding - Use of iEARN brands
Building on the iEARN International brand can help you establish
a presence more quickly. For example iEARN UK adapted the logo to
form theirs.
iEARN
Pakistan use the following ideas to maximise the iEARN brand:-
-iEARN Banners ( we loan or give banners to schools if they are
having even a little bit of iEARN related event)
-iEARN logos and website on pencils, pens, writing pads and all
office stationary like files folders
- Tote bags with iEARN logos and web address for sale or given at
the iEARN workshops.
-Flyers, brohures and posters -T Shirts and Caps, our students wear
them in all iEARN or school based iEARN events, or while they out
on fields as community volunteers.
Preparing
your website
Your website is your shop front; it needs to be easy to navigate
and well laid out. A small but clear website is much more effective
than a large site that is difficult to keep up to date. Using a
content management package such as Joomla
will allow you to share the work of building and maintaining the
site without having to have a team of web designers. Once it is
set up anyone who can use Word can add content to the site.
You will need to include information about your organisation, what
you do, how to join etc. You can also use the website to celebrate
what your young people are doing and achieving.
When you approach people to work with as partners or for funding
your website is the first place they will look for information and
to get an impression of the type of organisation you are. An up
to date, well presented site will demonstrate your organisation
and efficiency.
Suggestions on how to write Press Releases for the media
Letting people know what you are doing is really important. Press
releases can be used to keep iEARN in the public eye. Not all press
releases will lead to a story in the media but some will and the
more you issue the more chance there is of getting FREE publicity.
Keep the press release simple - one press release for each story
even if that means putting out 2 or 3 in a day and not more than
one page. Include information about your organisation in every press
release; this can be a standard paragraph or two at the end of the
page. Make sure you include contact details.
Sample
brochures for promoting iEARN in your country
iEARN International Poster
iearnposter.pdf (1.5mb)
iearnposter.tif (10mb)
iEARN International Brochure
iEARN Brochure Front (pdf 368kb)
iEARN Brochure Back (pdf 467kb)
iEARN USA send out a welcome pack which includes brochures
and information sheets
PowerPoint presentation usable as a general promotion of
iEARN
This PowerPoint gives an overview of iEARN
and can easily be adapted to meet your audience.
Participating in local and national Conferences
It is also important to attend as many conferences and events as
possible to publicise iEARN. This can be expensive both in time
and travel costs but it will help to establish your presence. Even
attending as a delegate will help to make contacts and establish
iEARN's name. Where possible give a presentation that explains who
you are and what you do. The PowerPoint above can be adapted to
suit your organisation and audience. Choose examples that will appeal
to your audience - if you have teachers of young children in the
audience the Teddy Bear Project always goes down well.
Organising a national iEARN conference
As soon as possible hold a national or regional conference. Inviting
influential people from education, local businesses and the government
will raise your profile, even if they don't attend. The programme
might include an explanation of what iEARN does in your country
and how it is organised as well as how to get involved in iEARN
International. These examples can be adapted to suit your organisation
and audience. Facts and figures, history of iEARN, etc that coordinators
can use when preparing promotion materials for iEARN in their country/region
are included in the iEARN PowerPoint
Sample
Agenda
Sample PowerPoint to publices the country
iEARN
iEARN PowerPoint with facts and figures
about iEARN
Organising iEARN Training
Organising an iEARN training workshop is an excellent way to involve
teachers. iEARN Pakistan have had a great deal of success in running
this sort of training. To see how they do it follow the link below
iEARN Training
For a case study which explains how iEARN Brazil developed their
profile click here
b. Building an iEARN management team and business
plan
Your
management team will need either experience or training. If possible
start with a team that has previous management experience and use
them to develop a stronger, wider team. The more people you can
involve in the management the greater the range of skills you have
to call on. To start with the will probably have to be volunteers.
Developing
a business plan with clear goals and targets and a financial plan
will strengthen the chances of being able to build partnerships
with commercial companies and obtaining sponsorship. If your team
doesn't have the skills to do this at first try to find a friend
who will help to get this right. A good business plan makes you
look more professional and this makes you more attractive as a partner.
c.
Working with partners
If you can find the right partners they can help you to grow and
become established. The main thing to ensure is that the partner
is really interested in working with iEARN and isn't just interested
in using the contacts. You will be approached by organisations who
have other motives - be sure to have detailed and challenging discussions
to check out their true intentions.
Have
a look at the case study which shows how iEARN Ukraine developed
a partnership with Intel
Putting it in writing: iEARN Memorandum of Understanding
Guidelines and Template
Any reputable partner will want to formalise the relationship by
putting it in writing. The standard way to do this is to have a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). iEARN has a standard
template that you can use and amend to fit your circumstances
Being
a good partner: working in partnership with other iEARN
countries
iEARN is a federation of organisations in many countries, in many
ways it acts like a family. iEARNs work together to run projects,
to find partner schools and just to support each other. You will
find help and support on the coordinators'
forum. Having somebody responsible for answering questions and
working with people from other iEARN groups will help to ensure
that you are a "good" family member.
Working
with regional iEARN networks
More and more regional iEARN networks are being set up. These will
help you to work together with your nearest neigbours. You will
find your region in the list on the forums - and watch out for regional
conferences too.
