Eurocarers is the European network representing informal carers and their organisations, irrespective of their age or the particular health and care need of the person they are caring for. As a member of Eurocarers, CIRCLE was invited to join a new network of communications professionals, an initiative created by Eurocarers’ Senior Communications Officer, Olivier Jacqmain.
The inaugural meeting of the network took place in Brussels at the offices of Eurocarers. Blessed by unusually warm and sunny weather for Brussels in April, I arrived at their office excited (and slightly sun-kissed) after a long walk through the city, after arriving the day before the meeting. Olivier issued the attendees a warm reception to compliment the climate, and we launched straight into a meet and greet to learn more about each other and our organisations over coffee.
Eurocarers’ members sent delegates from Slovakia, Italy, Scotland, Greece, Belgium, Sweden and England (me!) to discuss best practice, learn from experts in our field, and to build plans together for European Carers Day 2025, which takes place every year on 6th October.
Sharing successes
We were each asked to prepare a presentation which demonstrated a communications success story from our institutions, sharing our methods and reflections. My talk was based around a recent collaboration between the Centre for Care and Kinship, and our joint publication, ‘Valuing Kinship Care in England’, which highlights the substantial economic value provided by kinship carers in England. I was lucky enough to work with Kinship’s substantial communications team on the publication launch campaign. My talk explored the benefits of working as part of a large team, and how a communications professional must usually wear multiple hats when working solo, acting as an expert in more than one profession (Social Media Manager & Officer, Videographer, Graphic Designer, Animator, Website Manager, Copywriter, to name but a few roles).
The experts
After our presentations (which all set the tone for the meeting very well- all of us agreed we are pulled in many directions!) and to round off day one, we heard from the first of Olivier’s invited speakers; Marine Verlaine from Brussels-based organisation, Clicktrust. Marine presented a masterclass on developing Google and Meta Ads, guiding us through the dos and do nots of building a paid-for advertising campaign. After a busy day, Olivier invited us all to dinner at a local food hall, Wolf Food Market, a former bank building repurposed for serving delicious cuisine from all around the world - I would highly recommend this for anyone visiting Brussels!
At the beginning of day 2, we heard from Lorenzo Piemonte, Senior Communications Manager of the International Diabetes Federation and leader of World Diabetes Day (WDD), a United Nations-recognised day of celebration. Lorenzo explained how his team rebranded WDD and led its campaigns in recent years, exhibiting lessons and strategies used in planning and a worldwide campaign, giving us all plenty to think about and put into practice in our own campaigns.
Working together
In the final session of the meeting, Olivier facilitated a discussion around the theme of this year’s European Carers Day, exploring potential angles we could use to promote the event to our audiences and networks, ultimately aiming to celebrate informal, or unpaid, carers. I can’t share much right now unfortunately, but all attendees left the meeting with ideas buzzing around our heads, looking forward to working with Eurocarers to spread the word about this important day of recognition for unpaid carers.
A meeting of communications professionals on an international scale, learning from each other, working together towards a common goal, was much needed it seems, so a huge “thank you” on behalf of CIRCLE and the Centre for Care to Olivier and Eurocarers for organising such a fruitful gathering. I look forward to working with this network as we share ideas across the continent.