Small-Town Regeneration Insights #4
Let’s be honest: people don’t buy into what they don’t understand. And no one trusts a process they’ve only heard about second-hand.
That’s why Step 3 of Phase 1 in the Small-Town Regeneration (STR) Strategy is dedicated to building a strong, intentional communication plan. This step isn’t just about getting the word out. It’s about earning credibility, shaping expectations, and inviting participation. At its heart, this is where regeneration shifts from being a programme on paper to something people can see, hear, and connect with.
Start With Clarity: What Are We Saying, And Why?
A good communication plan doesn’t flood people with information. It meets them where they are, with language, channels, and messaging that makes sense to them.
The STR Town-Based Implementation Guidelines encourage each town to define two or three core messages. These might focus on:
- What regeneration means for the local economy.
- Who’s involved and how residents can participate.
- When and where STR activities will be taking place.
In Piketberg, the STR was introduced at the Calendula Dinner, a long-table community meal held right in the street that connects two parts of the town. Every year, residents come together to share food, stories, and space in a way that dissolves distance, literally and socially. It was the ideal moment to begin the STR conversation: informal, familiar, and deeply rooted in local culture. By meeting people where they already were, at their own table, the message of regeneration felt less like a programme and more like a shared possibility.
This isn’t one-size-fits-all. Messaging should be tailored. What resonates with a high school student won’t resonate the same way with an emerging farmer or a pensioner. That’s where stakeholder mapping comes in to help shape language and priorities for each audience.
Meet People Where They Already Are
One of the most useful prompts is deceptively simple: Where do people gather? Not in theory, in your actual town.
Think hair salons, taxi ranks, school sports fields, and Saturday markets. Think ward committee meetings, faith gatherings, the back room at the spaza shop, or the bulletin board outside the post office, if you are lucky to have one still.
The STR Town-Based Guidelines encourage towns to use both soft-launch and hard-launch approaches:
- A soft launch might mean popping up at a festival or running a booth at a community day, as was done at the Calendula Dinner.
- A hard launch could be a public event, a mayoral message, or a town-wide campaign.
- The point is to start low-risk, with high visibility. Build curiosity before you expect commitment.
📌 “People are more likely to join the journey if they’ve already seen the signs along the way.”
It’s Not Just What You Say, It’s Who Says It
Trust is local. And often, the messenger matters more than the message. In the STR journey, each Municipal and Community Task Team member is also a messenger. Their role includes reaching out through their own networks, whether that’s other councillors, youth leaders, teachers, or local entrepreneurs. Stakeholder mapping helps identify who is trusted in different spaces. Maybe it’s a well-known pastor. Maybe it’s the school principal or the woman who runs the daycare centre. The STR Town-Based Implementation Guidelines suggest being deliberate about this. Who delivers the message often determines whether it lands.
Check If It’s Working
Too often, we assume our message is getting through. But regeneration includes a simple accountability measure: asking people how they heard about it.
This can be done through a quick set of questions at any event or engagement:
- How did you hear about this?
- What neighbourhood do you live in?
- Is this your first time engaging with the STR process?
These answers tell you what’s working and what’s not. They also help refine outreach before the next phase begins.
Build Awareness Before You Ask For Action
By the end of Phase 1, the goal isn’t just visibility. It’s credibility. The more people know about the process, the more they trust that it’s real and that it might be worth investing their time, energy, or voice.
That’s what happened in Piketberg during the STR pilot. The Municipal Task Team hosted business leaders to share the regeneration plans. The mayor followed with a video message that circulated via WhatsApp, social media, and even the local municipality’s foyer TVs. It was informal, intentional, and wide-reaching. And it worked.
Regeneration Begins With The First Conversation
People don’t come to the table because we tell them to. They come when they feel seen. When they hear something that resonates. When someone they trust says, “You should know about this.”
That’s why communication isn’t a side activity in the regeneration journey. It’s the foundation for everything that follows.
For More Information
STR Implementing Agent: CITEPLAN (Pty) Ltd | Technical Manager: Istell Orton-Nightingale at istell@citeplan.net or Communication Contact: Eriva Nanyonjo at eriva@citeplan.net
Project Sponsor: Department of Cooperative Governance | Project Manager: Prabin Govender at prabing@cogta.gov.za or Communication Contact: Moferefere Moloi at mofereferem@cogta.gov.za
