First, build your own active outreach strategy, in order to establish and foster mutual understanding, promote participation and involvement and influence behaviours, attitudes and actions, and to reach out to people who are not using any of the services provided by your center to inform and educate them about your services.
Outreach efforts result in developing a liaison between your center and the community; in improving community awareness, trust and accurate understanding of your mission, program and successes; in increasing collaboration and communication with community members, stakeholders and key partners, and in sharing resources and exchanging ideas to increase program quality and attendance. Most importantly, when conducted consistently, outreach can stimulate behavioural change and the implementation of risk/harm reduction modalities among the targeted groups.
Second, clearly identify the people you are trying to reach. One size does not fit all. Tailor your outreach strategy, message and your materials according to your target audience. Create partnerships to reach target groups. Study the potential target group, identify their needs and their context, and develop a strategy according to them. Think from the clients/ communities perspective and include information about your services that may be helpful to hear/read. Enlist key community leaders to be your ambassadors. Make stakeholders and learners part of the whole process, and develop it with them, not for them. Outreach = Material + Personal Contact in multiple ways and multiple times, build trust and become a familiar face. Be a conversationalist and not a preacher. Create a system and schedule for providing outreach. Take your outreach to social media/social network. Consider where you have done outreach and think about who is missing, track who is coming and adjust your strategy as needed.
Third, collaborate with stakeholders relevant to target groups, who are closer to their 'reality' and environment is crucial so that strategies to reach them and learning programmes reflect their real needs and stay relevant as much as possible.
Bear in mind to include learners in the design, development, and evaluation phases of the outreach strategy and learning programme as the best way to ensure that it reflects their real needs and keep them engaged in learning in the long term.
Finally, identifying the learners’ needs, the challenges they face, as well as the barriers that prevent them from participating in educational processes, is very crucial to your outreach strategy. Developing a strategy by also trying to solve their problems and offer them suitable options is the best way to bring them closer. Well-developed outreach strategies should include the most difficult to reach and the ones that are at a higher risk of marginalization and social exclusion.
Within the ETF Creating New Learning Initiative, the Partnership for innovation in adult teaching and learning piloted in partnership with DVV International innovative approaches to adult learning. As part of this initiative, the importance of outreach was at focus.
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