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191 4. Identifying Stakeholders In the earlier part of this chapter, we discussed the importance of identifying the various audiences/stakeholders, both internal and external, local and international. In this section of your communication strategy, you should provide a detailed description of the main audiences as well as potential audiences. The strategy may need to outline what which audiences would be interested in parts of your strategy and activities. This will make it easier to prioritise work related to communications. For example, various aspects of CAPOLSA’s activity to produce early grade reading materials in the local languages could be of interest to different stakeholders. If CAPOLSA identifies MOGE, CDC, publishers, local writers and book stores as audiences then they would tailor their communication strategy to these audiences. Therefore, a) MOGE and CDC would be interested in the quality of the books, languages in which the books are produced and distribution of the books to schools around Zambia. b) Maiden and McMillian publishers would be interesting in the publishing of the books. c) Local writers would be interested in the production and editing of the stories. d) The book stores would be interested in selling the end product. Some interests might overlap for the difference audiences. As an organization you would focus your communication on specific activities to specific audiences. However, if you were to have a dissemination about activities related to the books, you would provide that information to all the stakeholders. Another way of prioritising your audiences or stakeholders could be done through a process known as ‘mapping’. This will involve choosing criteria important to your organisation and then ranking your different audiences against those criteria. This will help you determine which stakeholders are the most important and focus your communication on those select few. Some simple examples of mapping stakeholders include looking at their influence on policy and resources and their interest in your organisation. 5. Messages As mentioned earlier in this chapter, different messages should be tailored to different audiences. Start with the audiences that are the highest priority. However, it is important that there is continuity throughout the messages to the different stakeholders. It is important that all of your stakeholders understand what kind of organisation you are, so your messaging needs must always link back to your key organisational objectives and values.