Draft:
Networking is a central soft skill needed for successfully implementing INSPIRED-led projects. Facilitators need to identify and connect, from the project's edge to edge, with the relevant stakeholders to leverage Participatory Policy Assessments' and Roadmaps' for Reform outreach impact.
In order to maximize every stakeholder's engagement, practitionners might use INSPIRED's guide section "who is involved", and start at first mapping keys interlocutors in each category. This better be done collectively, to include overall mapping strength of the initial active participants. Stakeholders' involvement in the Roadmap's design should, if possible, start at the very beginning to ensure ownership and commitment of all throughout the process.
Networking comes into play when making efforts to build chains of communication and trust between stakeholders. This is therefore about developing, and helping the development of, inter-personal relations between stakeholders, and beyond. The aim of the exercise being to reach a large audience with leverage abilities, stakeholders must be given themselves the means to consolidate the network's outreach abilities. This implies working on building synergies between Medias, CSOs, Public Administrations, Academia, be it within the Dialogue Host or informally.
During the monitoring and implementation phase, the constituted informal strength of the network should mobilize its connexion to keep on awareness up, and following-up Reform's implementation. Passive and active networking conducted throughout the project should be able to access those who matter more in the Reform's success, thereby leading to enhanced and more effective democratic channels of policy development. Stakeholder's mapping needs frequent updates to address quickly relevant persons in charge of unlocking outcomes and mitigate political risks.