Tasks, actions and deliverables

Task A. Project management and reporting to the EU Commission

The aim of Task A is to ensure the correct coordination, management and execution of the project, to promote a smooth, regular and efficient communication between the partners from the different countries involved, and to guarantee the fulfilment of all the tasks and objectives in accordance to the established schedule. It will also ensure the monitoring and evaluation of the actions, ensuring the correct and transparent financial execution of the project budget, and facilitating the communication of the project’s progress to the European Commission. The partners will be advised when needed by CTFC to make sure that EU rules are fully understood and respected.

• Action A1.1 Project organizational set-up and management
  
• Action A1.2. Project Monitoring and Evaluation
  

Task B. Capitalization actions on wildfire risk communication in the Mediterranean

The main objective of Task B is the capitalisation of all knowledge on fire risk perception and communication, including both the existing ones and those generated during the project. This capitalisation exercise aims at identifying what already exists, the projects implemented, lessons learned and will allow to improve existing predefined tools by incorporating lessons learned. The existing knowledge and lessons learned regarding fire risk communication to eFIRECOM target audience (compiled in Tasks C to E) will be presented in an international workshop (action 2.1). Furthermore, the knowledge during the project will be capitalised through 3 main final outputs focused on improving the efficiency of communicating on the risk of fires adapted to the Mediterranean region addressed to the general public (action 2.2), media professionals and fire risk managers (action 2.3) and policy-makers (action 2.4). All these outputs will be distributed and disseminated among the network of experts and institutions of the project (action 6.3) and through the website in a free-access way.

• A2.1. International workshop on risk culture and wildfire risk communication
• A2.2. Edition of a booklet on myths and facts about wildfires in the Mediterranean region
• A2.3. Edition of a booklet with operational recommendations to enhance citizens’ involvement in wildfire risk management through communication actions
• A2.4. Edition of a policy brief on communication challenges to promote a fire risk culture for more resilient societies

Task C. Specific fire risk communication tools for community and municipalities (C&M)

The way how people perceive their own risk to wildfires is the key factor motivating the adoption of preventive measures. This is the general principle behind all technical tasks devoted to develop specific communication tools for different target audience (tasks C-D).

The objective of task C is the development of specific communication tools addressed to citizens of urban interface forest areas and local authorities, in order to improve their perception and knowledge of the exposure to wildfires, to contribute to risk mitigation and to encourage social-responsibility as a way for reducing the fire risk and improving the ability of social response to any emergency.

In order to improve the individual and collective responsibility from the community point of view, participatory analysis involving public and private stakeholders will be developed. Local public actors play a key role due to their proximity with the citizens and being the representative body of public policies. This task will be implemented separately in Algeria and Tunisia and jointly in France-Spain.

• Action A3.1. State of the art on fire risk communication to communities and municipalities
• Action A3.2. Development of communication programmes and tools for and with communities and municipalities

Task D. Specific fire risk communication tools for children, young people and their teachers (CY&T)

This task aims at developing innovative teaching programmes as well as didactic materials for children, young people and their teachers, to promote an efficient fire risk communication for more resilient societies. These materials will improve and complete existing ones. They will effectively contribute to unlock the huge potential of children and teens, who are really open to learning and are the most affected by changing environments, and will make a real contribution to the improvement of fire prevention, both in peri-urban areas where fires are a recent phenomenon, and in contexts where fire is still used as an environmental management tool. These two situations will be treated differently. Children are highly vulnerable to disasters, partially due to their particular stage of physiological and social development. Powerful forces of nature such as wildfires can have serious immediate and long-term impacts on human health, properties and livelihoods, which can have devastating consequences for children and their futures. In fact, children, and especially the youngest, are less prepared to deal with deprivation and stress due to their particular physical, social and psychological characteristics. However, children and young people can strongly contribute to the adaptation, enhanced resistance and resilience of Mediterranean landscapes and of the human societies inhabiting them. This task will prepare youth to better adapt to their quickly changing environment, relying on their strong capacity to contribute to changing attitudes, which has been largely overlooked. It will provide children with a better understanding of the risks they face from forest fires and the measures that can be taken at the community level to minimize those risks. Participatory policy and programming where children are actively engaged in decision-making, planning and accountability processes for prevention will be to be actively promoted.

This task will be implemented separately in Algeria and Tunisia and jointly in France-Spain.

• Action A4.1. State of the art on fire risk communication to children, youth and teachers
• Action A4.2. Development of communication programmes and tools for and with children, youth and teachers

Task E. Specific fire risk communication tools for journalists and media (J&M)

This task aim at developing specific communication tools for fire risk management targeting journalists and media to improve news coverage of the phenomenon of forest fires and to enhance the educational role of the news. The media play a crucial role in improving the social understanding of this phenomenon. However, the complexity of managing fire risk along with the usual seasonality in the media during the summer campaign affect the quality of the information. We will consider the need and possibility to inform during emergency periods as well as outside the summer season, and will also account for the different social and regional contexts of the partner countries on the use and management of fire risk.

This task will be implemented separately in Algeria and Tunisia and jointly in France-Spain.

• Action A5.1. State of the art on fire risk communication amongst journalists and media
• A5.2. Development of communication programmes and tools for and with journalists and media

Task F. Publicity, communication and dissemination

This task aims to ensure the efficient, coherent and broad communication and dissemination of the project’s objectives and results, and to raise awareness of fire risk in urban and rural areas, at the local, regional, national, European and international scales. The communication efforts will be addressed to a broad variety of publics, in order to maximize the impacts of the project. Communication actions will also enhance networking activities, synergies and will generate new collaborations and cross-border projects in Europe and between EU and non-EU countries.

• Action A6.1. Elaboration of eFIRECOM Communication Plan
  
• Action A6.2. Project dissemination (objectives, methods, results, etc.)
• Action A6.3. Creation and maintenance of the project website
• Action A5.4 Information and publicity actions at EU and international level.
• Action A6.5. Creation of a consultancy and dissemination panel for networking and outreach
• Action A6.6. Edition of the layman’s report