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Head of Press and Public Information Office gives lecture on crisis communications at “NATO Strategic Communications Course”

28 November 2022

On 28 November, the Head of EULEX’s Press and Public Information Office and Spokesperson, Ioanna Lachana, gave a lecture on the topic “Strategic Communication for Crisis Management Missions of International Organizations: EULEX Kosovo”, as part of the NATO-accredited “NATO Strategic Communications Course”, which took place from 21 November to 2 December at the Hellenic Multinational Peace Support Operations Training Center in Kilkis, Greece, bringing together 40 participants from NATO member countries and partner countries.

In her lecture, Lachana said that every organization is vulnerable to crises, stressing the importance of including the Spokesperson in the crisis management team. She elaborated on the three phases of crisis management, namely pre-crisis, crisis response, and post-crisis, highlighting the importance of transparent communication and active listening. Through concrete “what to do” and “what to avoid” crisis communication examples, Lachana explained to the participants what they should avoid and what they should do before, during and after a crisis in order to protect the integrity and the reputation of the organization and to minimize the impact of the crisis. The lecture also focused on how disinformation can negatively impact the efforts of an organization to handle a crisis, as well as the topic of reputational management. Lastly, Lachana touched upon the topic of communicating in a crisis environment drawing on her experience in EULEX.