Considerations List
On this page:
Examples of Partners
There are many potential partners that can help with designing, pre-testing, implementing and evaluating FCAs. Some possibilities include:
- Local business involvement - Recruit local businesses to participate, including fish markets; signs with FCA information can be used in these settings
- Religious figures - Messages disseminated by minister, priest, or other religious figure could be seen as more powerful, because they come from someone who is trusted
- Community leader involvement - Educate community leaders, impact could be similar to clergy
- Community organizations – could partner with hospitals to hold health fairs, or ethnic organizations
- Local government officials
- Health officials
- Local partners that have an interest in community health, local fish consumption, or the water body
- Partners that already communicate with the local population on other community issues are important to the process
Nine Elements to a Successful Partnership
- Provide clarity of purpose
- Entrust ownership
- Identify the right people with whom to work
- Develop and maintain a level of trust
- Define roles and working arrangements
- Communicate openly
- Provide adequate information using a variety of methods
- Demonstrate appreciation
- Give feedback
Lessons Learned about Partnering
These lessons learned are based on research (PDF) (pages 11-36).
- Local liaison is critical
- Understanding local issues, networks, and communication patterns is essential
- No one model works everywhere even if the waters are shared, the city is the same, and the environmental issues are similar
- Be flexible, take time to visit, listen, and learn
- Offer alternatives that are real and safe
Working with Partners to Design the Evaluation
Agencies can work with their partners and target audiences to determine the extent to which it is useful to focus evaluation on:
- Particular “products” (e.g., number of pamphlets distributed, numbers of health fairs visited)
- Outcomes indicating awareness (e.g., awareness of advisories’ content and recommendations)
- Behavioral outcomes (e.g., extent to which consumption levels are reduced so that they fall within recommendations)
- Extent to which species consumed changes from less safe to safer species
- Extent to which the target audience has increased knowledge of contamination and its sources or, for a more tailored message, the extent to which preparation methods change so that exposure to contaminants is avoided
- Improved trust and enhanced relationships among agencies and affected communities and tribes, improved health in the affected group