Children
Child rights action with informed and engaged societies
Children
After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
Time to read
2 minutes
Print
a- a+
Published 23 years ago
Last updated 1 year ago
Read so far

The Challenge (from Is it Possible to Tell People About Child Sexual Abuse in One Minute?)

0 comments
Date
Summary
A Unique Communication Campaign on Child Rights


"In 1998, the Government of Bangladesh, with the assistance of UNICEF, commissioned Thompson Social, the leading social communication agency in the South Asian region, to design and execute a three year-long multi-media Child Rights Campaign[1]. The campaign strategy emphasised the role that ordinary people can play in securing children's rights. Rather than reiterating the situation as it is, the focus was on the situation as it could be. The entire effort was to visibilise children and their concerns, and to project them as proactive subjects who have the right to a life of dignity, and an environment of opportunity and security. The campaign was developed around specific predefined themes such as child labor and violence against children. It comprised an extensive mix of television commercials, radio spots, press inserts, advocacy (for influencers) and interactive (for children) print material, posters, and a training film. The campaign was intended to be a unique and creative trigger for a child rights' movement in the country. Communication material was designed to elicit the response, "I never thought about child rights this way before! Perhaps I too can do something." Every effort was made to ensure that the creative material was sensitive, innovative, positive, upbeat energetic and responsive to the socio-cultural milieu. All material was developed on the basis of scientific social communication principles and field tested for comprehensibility, appeal and effectiveness. Multiple audiences were addressed at two distinct levels: mass media for the urban, educated middle class - to raise the platform of general awareness, and advocacy and mobilisation of key social actors and influencers such as NGOs, the media, and where possible, children."



Simply put, the answer to the question in the title is, "Yes." One of the biggest challenges that we faced when preparing creative material for a national communication campaign on child rights (see box) for the Government of Bangladesh, was the development of a one-minute television commercial on the subject of child sexual abuse. The Child Rights Campaign, which received technical and financial assistance from UNICEF, dealt among other things, with the issue of violence against children; child sexual abuse Child Sexual Abuse(CSA) was recognised as being one of its grossest forms. The client's brief was straightforward. In general the television commercial Television Commercial(TVC) was to help "break the silence" surrounding the subject and in particular it was to provide accurate information in order to alert and convince viewers that not only did such abuse occur, but that children could and should be protected from it - such protection, it was to be emphasised, was their right.


In this article we share our fears and concerns in addressing this task as well as how we rose to the challenge. We describe the detail and rigor that was required to do a job that matched up to our uncompromising professional standards and how in the process we evolved as social communicators. To our knowledge no communication agency before us had been recruited to execute such a task - least of all in South Asia. There was no road map; there were no signposts. We did have access to extensive literature on CSA - but this was largely from and about Western countries. We also had the invaluable insights of Bangladeshi experts who worked directly with victims and survivors - but they were involved mainly in interpersonal counseling. As far as developing a spot for television was concerned, we were on our own. We had to "feel our way" through deep and frightening forests of information. Many strands of thought and much past experience had to be marshaled to design and produce the TVC. What finally emerged as a seemingly simple product was based on a significant amount of analysis and soul-searching. We gained many insights in the process - insights that we hope will enrich the efforts of those who are faced with similar, daunting communication challenges.