On 12 October, within the framework of the Ministry of Welfare’s project “Development of Professional and Modern Social Work", the workshop “Knowledge-based communication in practice with policy makers / politicians: target audience – municipalities” took place in Riga. Under the guidance of the workshop leader Anna Broka from Riga Stradiņš University, the participants – community social workers from several municipalities of Latvia – learnt how to convince local government deputies and leaders of the need to support the goals and plans of community social work in their municipality, using specific communication tools. Impact planning, prioritization, the 4 R approach to communication, the KISS method, infographics, stories, concise messages on social networks – this content was enjoyed and practically tested by the participants during the workshop.
During the workshop, participants also had the opportunity to practice communicating with policy makers through practical role-playing games, to formulate their messages in a persuasive, concise and evidence-based way, and to practice telling stories from their professional experience that would reach the hearts of politicians. “If numbers that convince politicians of the economic efficiency of a solution to a problem proposed by a social worker can speak to a politician’s mind, then human stories open hearts”, says Liesma Ose, Senior Expert of the project “Development of Professional and Modern Social Work”, about the importance of the workshop content. The participants’ desire to learn more and their heartfelt thanks to the workshop leader also showed that the aim of the workshop had been achieved.
Agnese Bidermane, the project manager of the project “Development of Professional and Modern Social Work”, acknowledged that the content of the workshop was modern and fully met the intended goal. She believes that such skills development sessions are useful for any social work practitioner in municipal or state institutions whose work involves communication with policy makers.
The workshop was organized in the framework of the European Union Cohesion Policy Programme 2021-2027 under the European Social Fund Plus Action 4.3.5.4 project “Development of Professional and Modern Social Work”.
The goal of the project “Development of Professional and Modern Social Work” is to improve the quality of social work as a profession and as a branch of human science and to facilitate access to social services that meet people’s current needs by investing in the professional development of social work professionals and improving the quality of social work studies.
