Plan of Communication

After concluding the event, it is important to go back and reevaluate the stakeholders in my project. I went back to my mission statement and listed out my stakeholders. This helped me analyze where the stakeholders truly lie on the map considering the values that are important to my project. On the last post is my map, and here I will explain how I plan to effectively communicate with my stakeholders depending on the needs of the project and what each stakeholder possesses over my project (power and interest). 

Encourage and influence

Miss Amy: She is the CAS coordinator so she has full power and interest over my project. She needs to be informed about the decisions and actions throughout the project because she needs to know what we are doing and needs to grade us as well. Also, she usually participates in the events. I communicate with her in person at school, during CAS class every week, through email, and I copy her on all the emails I send that are related to my project. Related to the mission statement, she is most interested in the ethical part because she has to make sure that my project follows the guidelines, but also the values that portray my project to help the environment.

Sarah: She was the most important stakeholder for my event because she helped me coordinate the collaboration with ConnectOcean. She has high power and interest because she has helped us learn more about the mangrove so we are able to teach others about it and raise awareness. She has high power and interest because she needs to help us make sure we’re taking the right decisions to help the environment. I communicate with her via email, phone, and meetings. I talked to her a lot during the planning of our event because there was a lot of logistics to figure out, but I will continue reaching out to her when I need her help to continue the project.

Ernst: He is also a really important stakeholder because through him, I connected with ConnectOcean and started developing initial plans for the community event, that he also attended and helped me with. He is also interested in the wellbeing of the environment so our project is important to him. I communicate with him through emails and meetings as well. I have been reaching out to Sarah more, because Ernst is usually busier or out of the country working on ConnectOcean projects, but I can reach out to him when I need it. I will be reaching out to him more often because he is sponsoring me for one of their programs and will help me get certified to dive!

Keep satisfied

Sio: He is part of the ConnectOcean team that has helped the project, so he has high power because he has a lot of knowledge that can help and influence us. He has usually been one of the guides of our events, so he has high power, but I have never really directly communicated with him to plan for anything, I usually talk to Sarah or Ernst, but I know he can support us if we need it. 

Keep informed

Avellanas Community: After all, I am working in our mangrove so they obviously are interested in my project because it directly affects them. Some of them even like to participate in the events. I communicate with them by talking with them, or my dad informs them because he is usually talking to neighbors more often but I can reach out to them when they become necessary for the project. 

My parents: They have a lot of interest in my project because the mangrove is their home too so they want to help as well. They sometimes don’t get the point of my project and try to pressure me to doing something that I don’t want to because it’s not my plan and they don’t understand my plan. They have low power because it’s my project, not theirs. I inform them about my project by talking, but again, they have different visions than I so I don’t involve them in the decision making processes or anything like that. They can help me if I talk to them and tell them specifically what to do, and they are always there to support me even if they’re annoying and think they know everything about my project or tell me what to do even if that’s not their job at all in this case. 

La Paz Community: They are interested in my project because it’s how I’m working to help the environment and during events they can help out too, but they can also get inspired by my project to help in their own ways. I can communicate with the school community by announcing at morning meetings, sending it out on the Wednesday newsletter email, posting on the school’s Facebook, etc. I can give them updates on my project, but mainly I only announce to the whole school when there is an event coming up so they can be interested in participating.

Monitor

Felipe: Although he’s supposed to be my partner in CAS, we face many challenges when trying to work together because I eventually end up doing the majority of the workload. I don’t find him as interested in the project as I am, which makes sense because I grew up in this mangrove and it’s my home, so I have a way stronger connection than he does. Although he should have more power, I usually make all of the decisions and he doesn’t always take initiative to work on specific details or help out, so I decided he doesn’t have much power. Also, I am the main leader for this project because the mangrove is like literally my mangrove so it would make sense he doesn’t have as much power. I communicate with him through text or in person if I need to, but I am usually more independent.

MINAE, Municipalidad or Gobierno: Although these figures/institutions of authority should possess higher power over me, I decided to move them down because if they aren’t doing anything to help the mangroves, then I will do it myself and if they have a problem with that they can come talk to me because I truly believe that by helping plant and cleaning it is the only way to keep it clean and help it restore. I know there are usually a lot of regulations when intervening with the environment but I have considered the majority of the ethical concerns and I think actually planting is going to have a much more positive effect than simply discussing about making a change. I don’t communicate with them, but if it were necessary, for example to get a law approved or determine to what extent we can intervene in the mangrove, I could reach out to them via phone call.

Overall, there are many stakeholders; some much more interested and powerful than others, but this was important so I could visualize how I will need to incorporate these people on the next steps of the project.