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Dissemination and exploitation of results

What do dissemination and exploitation mean?

Dissemination refers to a process of sharing the results of initiatives to potential users and key actors (e.g volunteers, volunteer-involving-organisations, adult learners, trainers). This means spreading the word about the project successes and outcomes as far as possible. At the beginning of the project, a dissemination plan is designed so that there is a better chance of the results being successfully shared. The dissemination plan should propose answers for the following questions: why, what, how, when, to whom and where dissemination of the results will take place. It should include online and offline  actions for  both during and after the funding period.

Exploitation refers to a planned process of:
(a) transferring the successful results of the programmes & initiatives to decision-makers and other key stakeholders  (eg volunteer-involving-organisations volunteer centres, civil society organisations, regional & national platforms for volunteering,  education and training providers, municipalities, regional and national governments (b) convincing individual end-users to adopt and/or apply the results of programmes and initiatives.

This means maximising the potential of the funded activities, so that the outcomes are used beyond the lifetime of the project.

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/coordinators_day_communication_dissemination_exploitation.pdf

What is the difference between communication and dissemination?

Communication is a broader concept. It includes all information, promotion activities and visibility actions about a given project / initiative. The dissemination and exploitation of the project outcomes start as soon as they become available, while communication about the projects should start once the project proposal is approved. It is very important to set the communication & dissemination strategy right from the beginning and involve all partners and their different spheres of influence and networks in order to reach the biggest and most varied target audience possible!

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/coordinators_day_communication_dissemination_exploitation.pdf