São Paulo, June 13, 2023. Organizations generally employ large amounts of financial and human resources to inform the target audience, whether consumers of products and/or services, about what they produce and to whom their tangible or intangible goods are aimed. The motto “it pays to advertise” expresses in a brief and precise way the concept that the resources used in publicity are largely rewarded.
Less effort – and resources – however, is devoted to inward-facing disclosure. What the other departments do is often completely unknown to all those who are not part of it, or with whom they should not, for some reason, interact occasionally or systematically.
A characteristic that distinguishes the Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information (BIREME) is its repeated efforts to promote a culture of knowledge and access to information for learning and continuous improvement of its professionals.
BIREME's most recent intra-institutional communication vehicle developed by the Center's Administration is the Newsletter "Fique por Dentro (FpD)", launched in mid-2020. Due to the covid-19 pandemic and the consequent adoption of the telework regime, personnel were suddenly isolated of their respective work teams and restricted to meet virtually.
“Fique por Dentro” was conceived to be a brief and objective information channel, sent by email to all Center’s employees at the beginning of the week, i.e., on Mondays at around 8 am. All editions are available for consultation on the newsletter's portal, including verification links so that the reader can, if they wish, obtain more information on the subject.
The content, informed through the institutional agendas that also support the Center's communication channels[1], includes notes from the WHO and the Organization's HQ, from PAHO country Offices and from other UN Agencies, news about the pandemic and other public health emergencies, information on vaccines, institutional strengthening activities, organizational learning, technical cooperation activities, product and service launches, health calendar dates, events and training, programs and projects, announcements from management and human resources, GIBs, and PIBs , among others.
Silvia de Valentin, Administrator of BIREME, responsible for creating and sending, with the support of an intra-institutional team, each of the 140 editions of the newsletter – so far – points out that “the newsletter helps everyone to gain information and knowledge and, moreover, feel represented and included in the main activities of the week, which contributes to the organization of activities and to the understanding of how the individual contribution becomes the whole that is BIREME”.
“This is yet another mechanism available at BIREME that aims at balancing access to information for both the internal and external public, therefore, which cooperates with the commitment and motivation of the staff and with the development of skills at the individual, collective, intra and inter-institutional levels”, concludes Silvia.
[1] BIREME's official communication channels include the BIREME Bulletin, the institutional website in the PAHO system, the Intranet, and social networks.
