JA PreventNCD has reached 3,000 followers on LinkedIn, and we are pleased to mark the occasion by reflecting on something that is essential to the project’s visibility and impact: partner communication.
JA PreventNCD brings together 25 countries and more than 100 partner organisations across Europe, all working towards a shared goal of strengthening the prevention of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and other non-communicable diseases. In a project of this scale, communication does not depend only on official channels. It also depends on a wider ecosystem of partners, collaborators, and stakeholders who help carry important messages further.
Why partner communication matters
For JA PreventNCD, this is especially important because the project does not rely on advertising budgets to promote its work. Unlike commercial actors, Joint Actions are not built around paid campaigns to extend reach. Instead, visibility grows through organic efforts: partners sharing project updates, institutions reposting key messages, experts engaging with content, and stakeholders helping bring relevant outputs to new audiences.
As Sólveig Karlsdóttir, leader of the dissemination and communication work in JA PreventNCD, from the Directorate of Health, Iceland, explains:
“Reaching 3,000 followers is a welcome milestone, but the visibility of JA PreventNCD depends on much more than our official channels. It depends on partners and stakeholders helping to share the work, the results, and the key messages of the project through their own trusted networks.”
This collective effort is not secondary to the work. It is part of how the work creates value.
Why localisation and accessible communication matter
Partner communication is also especially important in a multilingual European project. The JA PreventNCD website is available in English, while the project itself spans 25 countries, most of which do not have English as an official language. This means that local sharing and localisation are not simply helpful, they are highly valuable to the success of the project.
When partners adapt and share messages in their own languages, they help make the project’s work more accessible, more relevant, and more likely to reach the right audiences. This may include public health professionals, institutions, policymakers, civil society actors, and communities at national, regional, or local level. It also creates an opportunity to connect European-level collaboration with the real work being done by partners in their own countries.
Localisation is not only about translation. It is also about communicating in ways that are clear, accessible, and meaningful for different audiences. In a project working across many countries and contexts, this is especially important. Messages are more likely to have impact when they are adapted to local realities and expressed in language that is easy to understand and engage with.
As Anita Thorolvsen Munch, co-leader of dissemination and communication in JA PreventNCD, from the Directorate of Health, Norway, notes:
“In a multilingual project like JA PreventNCD, localisation is essential. But it is not only a question of language. It is also about making communication clear, accessible, and relevant to different audiences. When partners adapt and share messages in their own languages and contexts, they help make the project’s work easier to understand and more likely to reach the people it is intended for.”
A shared effort across Europe
This is one of the major strengths of a Joint Action. Each partner organisation has its own networks, communication channels, and audiences. When these networks are activated, the reach of the project becomes broader, stronger, and more credible. Messages do not remain only within project structures. They travel further through trusted voices and established local contexts.
For JA PreventNCD, this can take many forms. It can mean following and engaging with the project’s official social media channels. It can mean reposting content, quoting key messages, tagging the project in relevant posts, or using project materials in national communication efforts. It can also mean adding information about the project and each organisation’s role to institutional websites, or highlighting national contributions and related activities in local languages.
This is also where communication becomes reciprocal. When partners share their work and connect it to JA PreventNCD, the project can in turn help amplify that content through its own channels. In this way, communication helps raise the visibility of both the Joint Action as a whole and the important contributions being made by individual partners across Europe.
As we celebrate this LinkedIn milestone, we would like to sincerely thank everyone who has followed, shared, reposted, commented, contributed content, and helped strengthen the visibility of JA PreventNCD so far.
Three thousand followers is a welcome milestone, but more importantly, it is a reminder that meaningful visibility is built together.