Communication Strategy
Lake Rukwa Basin Water Board
June 2014
Executive Summary
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In order to support the objectives of the Lake Rukwa Basin Water Board (LRBWB) in reaching its
objectives set in the business plan 2014/15 – 2019/20, a communication strategy was developed. In the
financial years 2014/15 and 2015/16, the Lake Rukwa Basin Water Board will focus on following
communication objectives: (1) Increasing the awareness to register for surface water permits, (2)
Improving the visibility of the work of the Basin Water Board, (3) Tackle the (un)-willingness to pay, (4)
Strengthening the internal communication, (5) Increasing the awareness on borehole registration, (6)
Increase the information exchange on effects of climate-change on water resources in the basin. Hereby
the strategy is in line the requirements of the Open Government Partnership. Due to the different media
access settings and the transport infrastructure, it is recommended to divide the basins into three
strategic zones, in which different implementation strategies should be pursued. The implementation
will be coordinated by the Public Relations and Customer Services unit and executed through the yearly
work plan. The total expenditure for the strategy will be 98,748,000 Tsh for two years of which
57,940,000 Tsh will be covered by the Lake Rukwa Basin Water Board and 40,808,000 by development
partners. In the first year, the LRBWB has to disemburse 38,888,000 Tsh, while their expenses in the
second year will be 12,223,000 Tsh.
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Outline
1. Introduction/Current situation
page 2
2. Overall Objectives of the BWB
page 2
3. Communication Landscape of the Basin
page 3
4. Methodology
page 4
5. Evaluation Plan
page 5
6. Communication Objectives
page 6
Annex 1: Overall Budget
Annex 2: Internal Information Flow
Annex 3: Assessment of the Communication Capacity
Annex 4: Audience Characteristics
1. Introduction/Current Situation
The Lake Rukwa Basin Water Board (LRBWB) is a decentralized institution of the Tanzanian
Ministry of Water (MoW) whose main aim is to assess, protect and equitably allocate water
resources to different water users of Lake Rukwa and its tributaries. It directly involves water
users and government institutions from different sectors in the participatory management of
water resources through its board and by forming water user associations. Its activities and the
roles of stakeholders are guided by the Integrated Water Resources Management and
Development Plan.
The communication activities are coordinated by the Public Relations and Customer Service Unit
of the Lake Rukwa Basin Water Office, which acts as the Secretariat of the Board. In conducting
its activities, the Public Relations and Customer Service Unit works in close collaboration with
other units of the Lake Rukwa Basin Water Office.
Currently, the LRBWB conducts communication and awareness raising activities in an
uncoordinated and selective way. Stakeholders and water users are not systematically
approached (please refer to Annex 3 for a detailed analysis of the communication capacity). This
situation leads to a lack of understanding by the stakeholders of their roles, responsibilities, and
opportunities to participate in managing water resources.
2. Overall Objectives of the Lake Rukwa Basin Water Board
The communication strategy aims to support the LRBWB in reaching its objectives as stated in
the Business Plan. They are stated as follows:
A. To insure Basin Integrated Water Resources Management and Development (IWRMD) plan
is implemented and project plans are prepared and executed.
B. To insure that Water Resource monitoring network (surface water, ground water and water
quality) is constructed, rehabilitated, operated and maintained for data collection and
accurate for water resources assessment.
C. To insure that data on climate change in the basin are collected, the national climate change
strategy on basin level and adequate adaptation measures implemented
D. To insure that all water resource in the Basin are identified, conserved and protected
E. To facilitate formation and management of Water Users Associations and Catchment/Subcatchment Committee, and provision of facilities which the basin considers necessary or
desirable
F. To ensure equitable allocation of water resources in the basin and ensure that a water
register is up to date.
G. To insure that funding is available to implement the business plan
H. To prepare and implement a communication strategy addressing key issues of stakeholders
and raising awareness on selected topics.
I. To ensure the Basin Water Board increase its performance and mainstreams gender and
HIV/AIDS issues in its activities
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At the same time, this communication strategy is directly part of the business plan, as objective
H deals with the development and the implementation of a communication strategy.
3. Communication Landscape of the Lake Rukwa Basin
The Lake Rukwa Basin is characterized by a diverse communication landscape with huge
difference in media access between urban and rural areas. Furthermore, differences in media
access exists between the highland area and the Ufipa plateau on the one hand, and the
miombo and Lake Zone on the other hand.
Radio is the most constantly source of information available. 83% in the basin receive their
information from the radio, 50% exclusively from the radio. Most radio stations are based in
Mbeya Town (Mbeya FM, Highlands FM, Generation FM, Baraka FM, Ushindi FM, Bomba FM),
where also some of the larger national FM stations have boosters (Rock FM, Kiss FM, Clouds FM
etc.). Outside Mbeya, few FM stations can be found (Ilasi FM in Vwava, Chemchemi FM in
Sumbawanga, Mpanda FM in Mpanda and Nkasi FM in Namnyere). Moreover, national stations
with strong boosters, such Radio Free Africa or TBC FM can be recepted in rural areas. While in
Rukwa and Katavi region, national stations like TBC and Free Africa have been the most popular,
in Mbeyaregion, urban stations like Clouds FM and local FM stations like Mbeya FM, Highlands
FM and Bomba FM attract many listeners.
Newspaper distribution is limited to urban areas along the main roads. Only 21% of the basin
population read newspapers. In 2013 Nipashe, Mwananchi and Ijumaa have been the most
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popular papers in the basin. Satellite TV can be viewed both in private households and bars in
urban and peri-urban centres. Internet is mostly accessed by mobile phones and mobile internet
modems. 3G Internet services were available in Mbeya, Sumbawanga and Mpanda. The mobile
phone network covers a whole area, although in some remote places in Chunya, Mlele and
Sikongo districts no signal can be received.
Due to the different media access settings and the transport infrastructure, it is recommended
to divide the basins into three strategic zones, in which different implementation strategies
should be pursued. Zone A with a high and diverse media landscape consist of the highland zone
Mbeya DC and TC, Mbozi and Southern Chunya. Zone B encompasses the Ufipa Plateau with its
peri-urban centres, while Zone C covers the remote northern part of the basin.
4. Methodology
In the preparation of the communication strategy, different methods were used to assess the media
landscape, communication capacity and audiences in the basin. First, the media landscape was
assessed by information interviews with media professionals and basin stakeholders as well as
reception checks between May 19th and 30th. Moreover, information from recent audience and
communication studies from market and media research institutes was added. The self-assessment
of the communication capacity by the Public Relations and Customer Relations unit is supplemented
by a SWOT analysis by the LRBWB management team. On June 19th and 20th a planning workshop
with members of the LRWBWB management team was conducted. The participants identified core
communication objectives and identified target audiences. Due to funding and time constraints, the
audience analysis was done in-house during the workshop. In a third step, the participants shared
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their ideas on the strategies and key messages. Based on the media landscape assessment and the
workshop a task force with members form Public Relations and Customer Services unit, Awareness
Raising Section and Water Resources Planning and Research section developed this document.
5. Responsibilities in Implementation and Evaluation
The Preparation of the communication strategy is among the objectives in LRBWB business plan.
The activities of this communication strategy will be implemented by both internal and external
stakeholders. Internal stakeholders will comprise the different section units in the LRBWB while the
external stakeholders will comprise different audiences as identified in the stakeholder
characteristics. The Public Relations and Customer Services unit of the LRBWB will coordinate the
implementation. The strategy will be implemented through the annual work plan of the LRBWB.
The communication strategy specifies the activities of the long-term strategic documents such as
the Lake Rukwa Basin business plan. Activities of the communication strategy partly fall under the
Capacity Development Plan. As indicated in chapter 6, these activities will be budgeted for in the
respective capacity areas of the Capacity Development Strategy.
This implementation of this strategy will be funded by Lake Rukwa Basin Water Board. To provide
for a reliable funding, most of the activities will be funded out of the own revenues of the LRBWB.
Specific aspects of the communication strategy will be funded by the MoW through WSDP II or by
donor contributions. However, these additional sources of funding will be specified in plans for the
respective activities. For further information on the budget, please refer to annex 1.
Evaluation is not simply a way to fulfill reporting requirements but it is a means to increase
management effectiveness, therefore the evaluation part of this strategy will be done by Lake
Rukwa Basin Water Board staff. The evaluation and the monitoring if this strategy will be
coordinated by the Basin Water Officer of LRBWB, who will be supported by the Public Relations and
Customer Services unit. Its monitoring is embedded in the monitoring of the business plan, in
particular of the objective H “To prepare and implement a communication strategy addressing key
issues of stakeholders and raising awareness on selected topics.”.
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5. Communication Objectives
Objective 1: Increasing the awareness to register for surface water permits
Specific Objectives:
 To convince 50 irrigation groups/mining companies to register for water permits until June 2016 through awareness raising
 To increase the number of irrigation projects, in which the advice of LRBWB is sought to 20 until December 2016
Target Audiences
Primary Audiences:
Secondary Audiences:
 Irrigator groups
 Individuals practicing irrigation
 District Agriculture Engineers
 Village Executive Officer/Ward Executive Officer
 Heads and staff of planning office of the Zonal Irrigation Unit
Strategy:
Communicating the relation between the water permits and the service the LRBWB is offering. Changing the attitude towards registering
for water permits by putting emphasis on successful examples, in particular on the water conflict mediation role of the basin.
Key Messages
 A water permits gives you an ownership of your water. It legalizes your water claim
 Water permits help to solve your water conflicts
 The LRBWB provides water for your activities
 Water is a gift from God. It is our obligation to protect it and pay for it
 Without an assessment by the LRBWB, the water access for your irrigation project cannot be guaranteed
Implementation Measures
Measure
Indicator
Evaluated by
Costs
in TSH
Radio-Campaign
Call-In Radio Discussion with Guests in
Zone A (10 Shows)
Announcements and re-distribution by
Sub-Office in Zone B
Announcements in Zone C
Football tournaments between upstream and
downstream communities during Maji Week
50 new water permits
until June 2016
Water register
8,100,000.00
Participation of
people in the
Documented by
photos etc.
Timeline
2014/1015
2015/1016
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
6,000,000.00
6
(Zone A and C). (2 times)
Sending representatives of the LRBWB to radio
shows (Zone A)
tournament
LRBWB
representatives are
participating in 12
radio shows.
Meetings with to District Agricultural Officers
The LRBWB
and Zonal Irrigation Units (one in every district) participates in 20
(all zones)
irrigation project
planning processes.
Link to the Lake Rukwa BWB Objectives and Capacity Development
recordings
450,000.00
Meeting reports
1,750,000.00
Particularly relates to the Lake Rukwa BWB Business Plan Objective:
 Objective F: “to ensure equitable allocation of water resources in the basin and ensure that a water register is up to date”.
Objective 2: Improve the visibility of the Basin Water Boards’ work.
Specific Objectives:
 Increase the number of participation in Regional Coordination Committee District Coordination Committee meetings until Dec 2015
 Regular provision of information material to the Regional Commissioners, District Commissioners and Members of Parliament
 Distribute regular information material to ten (10) UWSAs until June, 2015
Target Audiences
Primary Audiences:
Secondary Audiences:
 Managing Directors of water utilities
 Administration of Katavi National Park
 Management of mining companies
 Agriculture & irrigation departments of the districts
councils
 Large-scale irrigators (both management and irrigation committees)
 Regional Commissioners, District Commissioners, District Executive
Officers
Strategy:
Increase the standing and image of the LRBWB in the regional and local political arena by improving the regular information distribution to
major stakeholders.
Key Messages
 The LRBWB’s input in development planning is needed to avoid water shortage and the failure of projects
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 The LRBWB is the only institution who can assess the impact of projects on water resources
 Water resources management is under the mandate of the LRBWB, not the UWSA’s or the environmental officer
Implementation Measures
Measure
Initial information visits to target audiences (34)
Preparation and distribution of semi-annual
leaflets with hydrological analysis for one part
of the basin (e.g. the districts in one sub-basin).
Indicator
Visits conducted
24 brochures
prepared and copies
distributed to DCs,
DWEs and DEDs
Preparation and distribution of media kits and
20 radio, print or
regular media releases (all zones)
online articles on
Invitation of Journalists to LRBWB activities (all LRBWB activities every
year
zones)
Regular Homepage Update and Information
Increase of the
emails to target audiences (all zones) (as part of number of visitors to
OGP)
the homepage by 30%
Regular participation in quarterly meetings of
At least 9
DWEs (12 p.a.)
participations in
quarterly meetings of
DWEs
Preparation of give-aways for target groups
Give-aways are
(calendars, LRBWB notebooks
produced and
distributed to the
target groups
Link to the Lake Rukwa BWB Objectives and Capacity Development
Evaluated by
Costs
in TSH
Activity reports
Yearly inventory
5,900,000.00
1,000,000.00
media inventory
1,610,000.00
Timeline
2014/1015
2015/1016
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
3,600,000.00
Homepage
access statistics
Meeting notes
and number of
participations
2,300,000.00
Yearly inventory
1,500,000.00
Particularly relates to the Lake Rukwa BWB Business Plan Objective:
 Objective A: “to insure Basin Integrated Water Resources Management and Development (IWRMD) plan is implemented and project
plans are prepared and executed”
It will be supported by following measures from the Capacity Development Plan:
 Capacity Area 8: “To assign and train a staff member to collect information and regularly update the webpage”
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Objective 3: Tackle the (un)-willingness to pay
Specific Objectives:
 To reduce the amount o unpaid water bills until the end of financial year 2014/15 by 15% through awareness raising
Target Audiences
Primary Audiences:
Secondary Audiences:
 Management committees of COWSO
 Village Executive Officer
 Large scale farmers (coffee, maize, fish ponds)
 District/Town/Municipal Water Engineers
 Businessmen (company owners)
Strategy:
Link the services to the costs for water permits. Set the costs into relation to other customer’s expenses (electricity, land, labour etc.).
Key Messages
 Water fees are relatively cheap compared to other thing
 We protect your water access
 When you pay, we can ensure the water for your activities
 A water permit eases the access to loans
 A water permit allows you to participate in the management of water
Implementation Measure
Measure
Indicator
Evaluated by
Develop a mechanism for a fast-reply on
complaints (planning workshop, complaint desk
etc.) (pilot zone A, later zone B,C) (8) (as part of
OGP) – will be implemented through the
Capacity Development Plan
Level of customer
satisfaction increased
to baseline by 20%
Baseline study and Will be
follow-up
budgeted for
in the
Capacity
Development
Plan
0
Preparation of tailor-made information
packages (pilot zone A, later B,C)
Regular Information visits to target audiences
(pilot zone A, alter B,C)
Costs
in TSH
Timeline
2014/1015
2015/1016
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
1,650,000.00
9
Establishment of a client service charter (as
part of OGP)
Publishing basin expenditure and revenue in
the basin website
Client service charter
in place
Quarterly update of
expenditure and
revenue
Link to the Lake Rukwa BWB Objectives and Capacity Development
Document
released
Screenshot
0
0
Particularly relates to the Lake Rukwa BWB Business Plan Objective:
 Objective G: “ to insure that funding is available to implement the business plan”
It will be supported by following measures from the Capacity Development Plan:
 Capacity Area 5C: “Develop a tool for collecting customer needs and expectation.”
 Capacity Area 6: “Involving the media to perform dialogue with the communities.”
Objective 4: Strengthening the internal communication
Specific Objectives:
 The output of information material is increased by 60%
 Lake Rukwa Basin BWB email addresses are used by all staff members
 An internal communication policy is in place and implemented
Target Audiences
Primary Audiences:
 Staff of LRBWB
Strategy:
Secondary Audiences:
 Board members of Lake Rukwa Basin
Improve the communication and information exchange between LRBWB sections and units in order to improve the external information
output of the LRBWB.
Implementation Measures
Measure
Indicator
Evaluated by
Reviewing the staff and management team
meetings (preparation, frequency, follow-up)
Review Meeting
conducted
Proceedings
distributed to staff
Costs
in TSH
Timeline
2014/1015
2015/1016
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
10
Establishing regular email exchange
Establish a Local Area Network
Training on the use of
lakerukwa-addresses
conducted.
Meetings are also
announced via email.
LAN in place
Meeting
proceedings
More than one
person ins
accessing the
database regularly
400,000.00
Link to the Lake Rukwa BWB Objectives and Capacity Development
Particularly relates to the Lake Rukwa BWB Business Plan Objective:
 Objective I: “to ensure the Basin Water Board increase its performance and mainstreams gender and HIV/AIDS issues in its activities.”
It will be supported by following measures from the Capacity Development Plan:
 Capacity Area 1C: “improvement of communication and relations between Employees by in-house workshops on organizational
development”
 Capacity Area 4B: “Provide training on record management and computer application skills (particularly Sumbawanga Sub-Office)”
 Capacity Area 4B: “Recruit IT person (on part time basis) for managing knowledge and information in the Board (use of open sources
web based systems)”
 Capacity Area 4B: “Designate focal person for organising and coordinating internal and external communication regarding WR data
and information”
Objective 5: Increase the awareness of register boreholes
Specific Objectives:
 To convince 100 COWSOs, mining companies and private borehole owners by June 2015 to old and new bore holes follow registration
procedures through awareness raising measures
 The number of information visits of drilling companies to inform about drilling activities is increased as a result of awareness raising
Target Audiences
Primary Audiences:
Secondary Audiences:
 Individual borehole owners
 District Water Engineers
 Management committees of COWSO
 Water Managers from UWSAs
 Commercial Borehole Owners
 Regional Water Advisor
 Large-scale drilling companies
 Water User Associations, Water User Groups
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 Individual borehole drillers
Strategy:
Promote the positive aspects of a registration. Communicate the registration procedure to borehole owners in order to move from a
reactive to a proactive registration.
Key Messages:
 With a permit, no one can cut off your water and your borehole will not be polluted
 Borehole registration is not complicated
 If you know how to register, no one can cheat you
Implementation Measures
Measure
Indicator
Evaluated by
Costs
in TSH
Radio Campaign
Call-In combined with short formats in
Zone A
Announcements and short formats in
Zone B and C
Posters to announce radio show and smsservice (Zone A)
Development of an USSD-service (all Zones)
100 new borehole
registrations until
June 2015
Water register
8,100,000.00
USSD system is used
by more than 200
customers
USSD access
statistics
800,000.00
Participation in Nanenane exhibition
100 people visited the
stand
Face-to-Face meetings and provision of
District water
information materials to the intermediaries
engineers are sending
(DWE, RWE, drilling companies, individual
people to the LRBWB
drillers) (13 ) (all zones)
for registration.
Drilling Companies
come to the office to
inform about drilling
activities
Link to the Lake Rukwa BWB Objectives and Capacity Development
Timeline
2014/1015
2015/1016
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
4,000,000.00
Entries in the
visitors book
Notes of
borehole
registration talks.
5,000,000.00
3,500,000.00
Particularly relates to the Lake Rukwa BWB Business Plan Objective:
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
Objective F: “to ensure equitable allocation of water resources in the basin and ensure that a water register is up to date”.
Objective 6: Increase the information exchange on effects of climate change on water resources in the basin
Specific Objectives:
 A climate-change basin dialogue forum meets at least six times until June 2016
 At least three examples of water-related adaptive practices are discussed in the forum until June 2016
Target Audiences
Primary Audiences:
Secondary Audiences:
 District Water Engineers
 Water Managers from UWSAs
 District Executive Directors
 Regional Water Advisor
 District Agriculture Engineers
 Water User Associations, Water User Groups
 Heads and staff of planning office of the Zonal Irrigation Unit
 Village Executive Officer
Strategy:
Break down the global phenomena to locally experienced effects (not talking about climate change but about the effects of changing
weather. Focusing on adaptation methods and practices. Fostering the exchange between different sectors and areas in the basin
Key Messages:
 Climate change has a direct impact on water resources
 Negative effects of climate change can be dealt with, if we react early enough
 Adequate adaptive practices already exist and are used, we just have to share them
Implementation Measures
Measure
Indicator
Evaluated by
Costs
in TSH
Information needs assessment on Climate
Change related issues in the basin.
Assessment
conducted until
October 2014
Assessment
report
3,115,000.00
Timeline
2014/1015
2015/1016
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
13
Establishment of a Climate Change Basin Forum
Kick-off Workshop
Workshop
21.150.000
successfully held until proceedings
March 2015; Basin
Forum meets at least
6 times until June
2016
Participative Information Campaign on CC
At least three waterWorkshop
25.578.000
adaptation in the basin
related adaptive
proceedings
practices are
discussed in the forum
until June 2016
Link to the Lake Rukwa BWB Objectives and Capacity Development
Particularly relates to the Lake Rukwa BWB Business Plan Objective:
 Objective C: “To ensure that data on climate change in the basin are collected, the national climate change strategy on basin level and
adequate adaptation measures implemented”
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