In March and April of this year, PiDC Alliance members participated in interviews with MAREP staff regarding their informational needs as partners in the Alliance. This article outlines the key issues which emerged from those interviews, and how the PiDC team plans to address these needs as we move forward.
Key Findings:
Partners have indicated the following needs and expectations as members of the Alliance:
- Receive regular progress reports on the project; avoid paper communication
- Have access to a partner blog/website to receive information and updates
- Ensure that new audiences beyond project partners will have access to PiDC tools and resources
- Have occasional face-to-face contact in the form of meetings or partner conferences
- Ensure that Culture Change Coalition members have the resources needed to initiate and sustain culture change
- Use online scheduling tools for meetings and events
Our Strategies:
The PiDC team plans to address partner needs in the following ways:
- The PiDC team will create and circulate a quarterly newsletter which shares key updates
- The PiDC team is currently developing a website to be launched January 2012 that will include both a partner-only area and a public area for information and resource sharing
- Culture Change Coalition members currently meet on a monthly basis and research management team members meet twice a year (the next meeting is upcoming in November 2011)
- We hope to initiate an annual conference for all Culture Change Coalition members and PiDC Alliance partners
- The PiDC continues to develop evaluation tools, informational resources, and training packages related to the Authentic Partnership approach, appreciative inquiry, the culture change process, and the CARE profiles tool