Workshop Summary: Communicating on a shoestring - get your message out in tough economic times
With so many free social media and online tools, which are the best for development and humanitarian organizations? The workshop “Communicating on a shoestring: get your message out in tough economic times,” brought together a panel of communicators creating and using tools for development, humanitarian, and international advocacy.
The panel kicked off with Wendy Hanamura, the Vice President and General Manager for LinkTV. Hanamura stressed the importance of storytelling through video. Powerful images and engaging commentary not only keep the the attention of website visitors, they create feeling for the viewers around the issue. ViewChange.org, Hanamura’s website, showcases short and long-form uplifting documentaries on development issues. Hanamura offered help to organizations unable to send film teams to the field, suggesting that by collaborating, footage and content could be pulled together to share a common story.
Lisa Anderson of the Thomson Reuters Foundation and editor of Trustlaw Women, showed communicators how to use new and old Trust.org websites on a broad set of issues. A new project called the Emergency Information Services, dispatches Reuters reporters to gather important emergency information in natural disasters, when countries do not already have this infrastructure in place. Messages are then distributed via SMS text, flyers and shortwave radio, alerting citizens on how to get safe water, find working hospitals and safe shelter. Trustlaw.org, centers articles, blog posts and multimedia information on women’s legal issues. An offshoot of the site allows organizations to get pro-bono legal help in countries around the world. Anderson stressed the mission of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, saying “information is aid, too.”
Renée Appert, Senior Manager of U.S. Marketing, and Garth Moore, Deputy Director of U.S. New Media, from the ONE campaign presented their recent “Why Bother” campaign. The campaign was launched to increase awareness and funding for vaccines in developing countries. Appert advocated for simple, direct messages that tell a story, moving from wordy policy messages to the anticipated end result. ONE’s “Why Bother” campaign message was simply, “Save 4 million Children’s Lives in 5 years.”
The memorable message allowed ONE to leverage free mainstream social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and to recruit a dedicated cohort of Mom bloggers to raise awareness about the GAVI funding issues. The end result? More than surpassing the amount of funding required to save those 4 million lives.
