Create your PRACT! toolkit

Imprint Vice-President for PR and Communication Amine Youcef Ali PRC Capacity Building Development Assistant Kevin Fransen PRACT Toolkit Small Working Group Daniel Zeymer v. Metnitz - AMSA Austria Ghina Fahd - LeMSIC Lebanon Iman Attackpour - IMSA-Iran Jasmin Vanessa Molina de León - IFMSAGuatamala Kartikeya Ohja - MSAI India Mohamed Adem Agabna - MedSIN Sudan Ragheda Gamal - MedSIN Sudan

Layout: Daniel Zeymer v. Metnitz - AMSA Austria Cover: Iman Attackpour - IMSA-Iran

Contents www.ifmsa.org

Introduction

4

Reference to the CB IOGs and PRC CB regulations

5

Step-by-step guide to organise a PRACT workshop with timeline

6

Timelines

7

Workshop Approval

8

Mandatory Competencies and objectives

9

Optional Competencies and objectives

10

Trainer/Facilitator selection

12

Participant selection

14

Graduation Process

16

Follow Up

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19 A template for a PRACT proposal with the elements required by the PRC CB regulations

Appendix 1

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Introduction Introduction Introduction

Amine Youcef Ali VP for Public Relations & Communication

Dearest IFMSA members and PRC enthusiasts, IFMSA is one of the biggest organizations in the world, encompassing 141 National Member Organizations from 131 countries and representing 1.3 million medical students worldwide.

Despite these huge numbers, visibility and promotion of the never ending IFMSA activities has not always been a priority within IFMSA until the last few years.

And with the ever growing world of social media and the evolution of online platforms, it has become a necessity for IFMSA to establish sustainable regulations and methods to stand out and to strengthen its presence between other stakeholders. And as NMOs are the backbone of our federation, with this necessity came another necessity, which is to train NMOs in doing the same thing, to bridge the gap between IFMSA and its leadership in terms of PRC, in order to achieve continuous progress.

From the popular sPRead it, to the overarching Speak Up, our federation has known multiple PRC workshops in the past that achieved great objectives and that introduced our members to the world of PRC. This term, we decided to take one step further by creating the PRACT, the Public Relations Advocacy and Communication Training. A holistic Public Relations and Communication workshop that was a result of a combination of the past workshops, as well as the creation of competencies and sessions based on NMOs ‘ needs.

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But this wasn’t enough to standardise such workshops and to increase their accessibility within NMOs. This is why we created the first ever PRC Capacity Building Regulations that were adopted in the past CB Plenary in MM21, with clear guidelines and instructions for NMOs to host the PRACT! These regulations define the necessary requirements to host this workshop, as well as competencies, sessions and objectives. This will make the PRACT sustainable, standardised and guaranteeing the same quality sessions being delivered to everyone everywhere!

This toolkit is meant to bring you closer to these regulations, to explain the fundamentals of hosting a PRACT, and will provide you with some tips and templates to create the best experience for everyone involved! I hope that you will find this toolkit useful, and if you have any questions outside of it, you can always reach out to the PRC IT that will be more than happy to answer them.

I can not end this opening note without first thanking Kevin, the PRC CB DA 20/21 who has done a tremendous job this year in PRC related capacity building, and that has created many tools and opportunities for NMOs. And second, the amazing small working group members that have been the driving force behind the creation of this toolkit: Daniel, Ghina, Iman, Kartikeya, Mohammed, Ragheda and Vanessa.

Warmest Regards, Amine Youcef Ali, Vice-President for Public Relations and Communication 2020/2021

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Reference to the CB IOGs and PRC CB regulations

IFMSA Internal Operating Guidelines When a session is being hosted by IFMSA itself it should abide by the IFMSA Capacity Building Internal Operating Guidelines to ensure the quality that is to be expected by IFMSA standards. Therefore this manual will be in line with the Internal Operating Guidelines of IFMSA. If the manual contradicts the Internal Operating Guidelines, the Internal Operating Guidelines should be followed and a notice should be put out to the VPPRC. To follow the Internal Operating Guidelines you can contact the CB IT for the most recent version.

PRC Capacity Building regulations Because this manual is a tool to more easily set up a PRACT workshop, the manual should also abide by the PRC Capacity Building regulations.

These state the requirements that should be met in order to receive a certificate of completion. The full PRC Capacity Building regulations can be found here.

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Step-by-step guide to organise a PRACT workshop with timeline Start of Planning Problem Statement: With PRC becoming more relevant by the day, especially with the rise of more digital communication and less physical gatherings, the demand from NMOs to spread their message is increasing every year.

The rise of new social media platforms and the ever developing strategies to attract the attention of every user has made PRC an increasingly difficult and complex area of expertise. Therefore a well structured and comprehensive workshop will give participants the basic tools and knowledge to tackle these challenges to spread their messages more effectively.

Aims Workshops bearing the name PRACT or are centered around PRC aims to: Create a basic understanding of PRC related topics Develop soft skills related to PRC Develop the content creation skills of the participants Develop and preserve the knowledge and skills after the event

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Timelines

1. Offline Workshops OC contacts PRC DA with a final proposal at least 10 weeks before the proposed date of workshop.

The PRC IT will communicate within 2 weeks of submission for any comments or suggestions for developing the workshop.

Workshop must be submitted after the amendment 8 weeks before the date of workshop Workshop will be approved 7 weeks before the workshop List of trainers and facilitators must be submitted to PRC DA 7 weeks before the workshop List of trainers and facilitators will be approved 6 weeks before the workshop

2. Online Workshops OC contacts PRC DA with a final proposal at least 6 weeks before the proposed date of workshop.

The PRC IT will communicate within 2 weeks of submission for any comments or suggestions for developing the workshop.

Workshop must be submitted after the amendment 4 weeks before the date of workshop Workshop will be approved 3 weeks before the workshop List of trainers and facilitators must be submitted to PRC DA at least 3 weeks before the workshop List of trainers and facilitators will be approved 2 weeks before the workshop

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Workshop Approval Workshop approval is key to make it an IFMSA certified workshop.

Workshops proposals must be reviewed by the PRC DA and approved by both the VPPRC and PRC DA. In case of an absent PRC DA, the task of reviewing and approving the workshop is taken upon the VPPRC or delegated to a PRC IT member by the VPPRC. Workshop proposals must contain the following elements: Date and location of the workshop Coordinator(s) of the workshop Name of the workshop, if the name deviates from PRACT, a reason must be given General description of the workshop Competencies including goals, objectives and indicators of success Graduation assignment Target audience Methodology used Preparation timeline including: Action points & Requests for the The Public Relations and Communication International Team or Capacity Building International Team Follow-up plan and assessment Be aware that we have included templates for the proposal so that you do not miss any of the mentioned points.

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Mandatory Competencies and objectives There are four main competencies which the participants have to learn within the workshop. The following competencies and objectives must the incorporated to the workshop: Public relations and marketing knowledge The participants are knowledgeable about the different aspects regarding Public Relations The Participants are knowledgeable about branding, marketing and Corporate Identity The participants are able to create a marketing strategy on their own.

Communication guidelines The participants will be able to understand the rules and guidelines about a corporate identity The Participants are able to properly apply copyrights regulations to their own publications Online communication Participants are knowledgeable about different means of communication Participants are knowledgeable about social media usage and understand the different applications of different platforms Content creation Participants will be well aware of some rules of designing and will be competent enough about some basic apps and softwares of designing.

Participants will practice creating content aligned to the application of use The points mentioned might first sound a bit technical but we have provided you many ideas later in the manual that you can check out to see how participants can succeed with these goals.

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Optional Competencies and objectives With the optional competencies and objectives you have the chance to make your workshop stand out, to focus more on a specific part of PRACT and to also have people join who might be already familiar with a lot of the mandatory objectives.

The following competencies and objectives are optional to be incorporated in the workshop Campaigning Participants are knowledgeable about the fundamental elements of campaigning Participants are able to create and develop their own campaign.

Advocacy Participants are knowledgeable of the different ways to advocate Participants are able to use different online platforms to advocate for topics that are in the interests of IFMSA Standing Committee related PRC skills Participants are knowledgeable about the differences between Standing Committees and how that translates to PRC Participants are able to apply their knowledge for a specific Standing Committee PRC development The Participants are aware about the positions that should be included in a PRC team in order to have an effective team.

Participants are able to set selection criteria for the PRC team.

Participants can create developing strategies in relation to the workflow and PRC team members.

Filming Participants are knowledgeable about the fundamentals of filming Participants are able to apply their knowledge filming to create their own video.

Participants are able to edit videos using different editing software.

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Merchandising Participants are knowledgeable about the different aspects of merchandising and how to apply them Participants are able to strategize and anticipate on their target audience to maximize the use of merchandise

The workshop also might include other competencies and objectives that can be incorporated with approval of the VPPRC.

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Trainer/Facilitator selection Facilitators for the workshop are selected using the following procedure Facilitators must be selected by an open call from the workshop coordinator A second call can be opened when the first call yielded not enough facilitators that met the criteria.

Facilitators are selected based upon the following criteria: 1. Motivation 2. PRC related experiences 3. Experience distribution regarding PRC workshops. Efforts will be made to find a balance between experienced and less experienced facilitators 4. Availability within the workshop’s period 5. Other criteria can be added with approval of the VPPRC and VPCB 6. Facilitator selection will be reviewed and approved by the PRC DA and VPPRC

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Trainer selection Open the Call for trainers

Selection of the trainers (If needed) (The OC will have to do the preliminary screening and then forward the names of the selected trainers to the PRC IT).

List of trainers sent to the VPPRC and PRC DA (The number of Trainers selected after the preliminary screening by the OC should be twice the number of the trainers required to deliver the sessions. This list will be sent to the PRC IT. The PRC IT, will further screen the applications and select the trainers for the workshop)

Final approved list of trainers (sent by the PRC IT)

Online

10

6

9

5

8

4

7

3

4

2

weeks before the workshop

Open a 2nd call for the trainers if the required number of trainers are not selected.

Offline

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Participant selection Participants for the workshop are selected using the following procedure a. Participants must be selected by an open call from the workshop coordinator b. A second call can be opened when the first call yielded not enough participants that met the criteria. c. Participants are selected based upon the following criteria 1. Motivation 2. PRC related experiences 3. Expectation regarding the workshop 4. Follow-up plans 5. Applicants with a PRC position in their NMOs will be given a slight priority since they are the ones on the frontline to directly apply the knowledge gained from the workshop.

6. Other criteria can be added with approval of the VPPRC and VPCB d. Participant selection will be reviewed by the PRC DA, workshop coordinator and facilitators e. Participant selection will be approved by the PRC DA and VPPRC f. The workshop coordinator is allowed to set a quota based upon gender and region to have an equal distribution of participants for the workshop. This quota should not result in a selection of significantly lower quality of the participant.

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Online

Open the call for Participants (1st call)

6

4

Open 2nd call for participants

5

3

Share the final list of participants with the PRC IT

4

2

weeks before the workshop

Offline

Participant selection

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Graduation Process Beside attending at least 80% of the PRC CB workshops, graduation process also includes these assignments below 1. Participants have to give at least 1 hour session of PRC related workshops concerning the subjects taught in the IFMSA PRC CB workshops. PRC DA is responsible for evaluating this session and giving feedback to participants as part of their graduation process.

2. Filling out the Post and Pre test of the workshops.

Once steps are done, participants can share their portfolio with the representative PRC DA in order to request their certificate.

Tips for creating a graduation assignment The PRC Capacity Building regulations intentionally leaves room for the form of a graduation assignment. Because of the variety of PRACT, the form of the graduation can also vary a lot. However to give grip on coming up with a graduation assignment the following tips can be followed to help with the development of it.

Try to determine the overall theme/goal of the PRACT you are organizing Look at the amount of available time to spend on the graduation assignment Use real life examples for the assignment, for example, let them create a campaign for a relevant topic of make them create a post for an upcoming event See if it can be incorporated into other parts of the event the session is part of.

Contact the PRC DA for feedback on your graduation assignment

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Follow Up

Post workshop evaluation It must be sent within 1 month of the workshop's completion, and aims to assess the overall learning outcomes as well as the workshop experience itself.

6-month Support and Evaluation Form Participants must be contacted in order to follow up on the skills and knowledge gained about Public Relations and Communication, and the development of PR plans, campaigns, and other related materials and PRC DA is tasked with sharing the certificate of completion.

Sharing Hand out Material The sessions must be shared with the participants, in addition to resources such as programs, videos and tutorials within one month of the workshop’s completion.

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Assignment Report Participants must give back the report of their assignment to PRC DA within 2 months of workshop’s completion.

6-month Support and Evaluation Form : Participants must be contacted in order to follow up on the skills and knowledge gained about Public Relations and Communication, and the development of PR plans, campaigns, and other related materials and PRC DA is tasked with sharing the certificate of completion.

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A template for a PRACT proposal with the elements required by the PRC CB regulations This Proposal is based on PR Advocacy & Communications Training.

Communication can spread information between an individual or an organization and the public to share a point of view that is relevant to discuss.

About the structure of this proposal, the specific date, and everything you have to know before you start Can be found here.

Is a complete guide that can help you about the topics you have to include, how to handle better your time using deadlines to send the final document and a contact for specific doubts you could find with your SWG.

Overview of the competencies and objectives In this part you will have an overview of all competencies that can be in the PRACT workshop, these competencies are made up according to the NMOs needs assessment, review the competencies from the last IFMSA PRC workshops, and all inputs from the IFMSA’s CB IT. These competencies overview will help you to organize a successful PRACT workshop.

You can found the overview of the competencies and objectives here.

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Templates of the mandatory competencies and objectives To maintain the quality of the PRACT workshop, you will find a template for the mandatory competencies objectives that should be SMART to will help you reach the full outcome from each competency.

Note: The goals and objectives of the mandatory competencies mentioned in the overview are the base of the PRACT workshop, so you must ensure all of them are in the PRACT workshop proposal and the way of delivering these competencies (Description part in the template) will be according to the trainers and participant’s preassessment.

You can found the templates of the mandatory competencies here.

Templates of the optional competencies and objectives For the optional competencies, goals and objectives can be changeable according to your NMO PRC situation, members’ needs and your inputs as PRACT workshop organizer.

Note: The goals and objectives of the optional competencies mentioned in the overview are made to guide you in your writing process of the PRACT workshop proposal and they can be changeable.

Also the way of delivering these competencies (Description part in the template) will be according to the trainers and participant’s preassessment.

You can found the templates of the optional competencies here here.

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Template form for facilitator selections Note that this form only contains mandatory fields which can be added to accordingly, any additions or modifications can be made according to need. You ensure that any other parts added to the forms are directly related and based on the workshop’s goals. Also mandatory fields are not to be removed. Lastly, here is an example for other points that can be added such as ( asking about soft skills training, what ideas they have to improve on the workshops...etc).

Facilitator selection template can be found here.

Template form for participant selections Note that this form only contains mandatory fields which can be added to accordingly, any additions or modifications can be made according to need. You should ensure that any other parts added to the forms are directly related and based on the workshop’s goals. Also mandatory fields are not to be removed. Lastly, here is an example for other points that can be added such as ( asking about soft skills training, how they can benefit their NMOs with this workshop...etc).

Participants selection template can be found here.

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Appendix 1 Color coded table

Before project date

Offline

10 weeks before the Project Contacting PRC RA with final proposal PRC IT will give comments and suggestions 8 weeks before the Project Submission of the workshop Approval of the workshop Submission of List of trainers and facilitators 6 weeks before the Project Approval of trainers list by PRC IT

Online

6 weeks before the Project Contacting PRC RA with final proposal PRC IT will give comments and suggestions 4 weeks before the Project Submission of the workshop Approval of the workshop Submission of List of trainers and facilitators

After project date

2 weeks before the Project Approval of trainers list by PRC IT

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1 months after the Project Sharing the material of the workshop Workshop evaluation 2 month after the Project Assignment report to PRC DA 6 month after the Project Support and 6-Month evaluation form