Making Human Rights Campaigns Effective While Limiting Unintended Consequences Lessons from Recent Research
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Making Human Rights Campaigns Effective While Limiting Unintended Consequences Lessons from Recent Research Research and Innovation Grants Working Papers Series September 22, 2017 Making Human Rights Campaigns Effective While Limiting Unintended Consequences Lessons from Recent Research Research and Innovation Grants Working Papers Series Elizabeth Heger Boyle Cosette D. Creamer Amy Hill Cosimini Yagmur Karakaya Suzy McElrath Florencia Montal j. Siguru Wahutu University of Minnesota September 22, 2017 Disclaimer: This report is made possible with support from the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the sole responsibility of the University of Minnesota and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID; the United States government; or the Democracy Fellows and Grants Program implementer, IIE. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYM LIST ........................................................................................................................................ II PREFACE ................................................................................................................................................ III EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................... 1 SECTION I: GENERAL DESIGN STEPS FOR EFFECTIVE AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS ........................................................ 4 A. Campaign Design Steps .................................................................................................................... 4 SECTION II: LESSONS LEARNED FROM GENERAL AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS ............................................................ 6 A. Articulate and Design Specific Campaign Goals .............................................................................. 6 B. Target and Pre-Test on Limited and Homogenous Populations ...................................................... 7 C. Social Psychological Considerations in Message Design .................................................................. 8 D. Summary and Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 11 SECTION III: USING FRAMES AND STRATEGIES THAT WORK IN LOCAL POLITICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS ............... 12 A. Frame Functions ............................................................................................................................. 13 B. Rights-Based Approaches versus Rights-Framed Approaches ....................................................... 14 C. Sensitive to Local Contexts ............................................................................................................. 15 D. Human Rights Mobilization in Repressive States ........................................................................... 18 E. Credible Communicators ................................................................................................................ 19 F. Targeted Individuals are Embedded in Social Relations and Practices .......................................... 20 G. Message Design: Language and Vernacularization ....................................................................... 21 H. Summary and Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 21 SECTION IV: CAMPAIGN CHANNELS AND MEDIA ........................................................................................... 22 A. Mass/Traditional Media ................................................................................................................ 23 B. Laws Inform Media Frames ............................................................................................................ 23 C. The Internet .................................................................................................................................... 23 D. Social Media ................................................................................................................................... 24 E. Entertainment ................................................................................................................................ 25 F. Multi-Faceted Media Approach ..................................................................................................... 25 G. Media Partnerships ........................................................................................................................ 26 H. Summary and Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 26 SECTION V: UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS ............................................................ 27 A. Unintended vs. Unexpected Consequences .................................................................................... 28 B. Key Dimensions Producing Variation in Effects .............................................................................. 28 C. Types of Unintended Consequences ............................................................................................... 29 D. Summary and Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 35 SECTION VI: CASE STUDIES ....................................................................................................................... 35 A. Framing the ABC Campaign in Botswana and Uganda ................................................................. 36 B. Somali Anti-Piracy Awareness Campaign ...................................................................................... 38 C. Exercise: Designing a Campaign Against Female Genital Cutting ................................................. 39 APPENDIX A: LITERATURE REVIEW METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................... 41 APPENDIX B: REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 42 i ACRONYM LIST ABC Abstinence, Being faithful, using Condoms (Botswana and Uganda) BRAC Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (Bangladesh) DRG Center USAID’s Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance EUNAVFOR Somalia European Union Naval operation for combatting piracy in Somalia (Somalia) FGC Female Genital Cutting GNP Gross National Product IIE Institute of International Education INGO International Non-Governmental Organization LGBTQ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer MSM Men who have Sex with Men NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NGO Non-Governmental Organization PSA Public Service Announcement RBA Rights-Based Approach RESPP Red Equal Sign Profile Picture Campaign RFA Rights-Framed Approach SMO Social Movement Organization TAC Treatment Action Campaign (South Africa) UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime USAID United States Agency for International Development WHO World Health Organization ii PREFACE In 2016, USAID’s Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance launched its Learning Agenda—a set of research questions designed to address the issues that confront staff in USAID field offices working on the intersection of development and democracy, human rights, and governance. This literature review, commissioned by USAID and the Institute of International Education, addresses research questions focused on human rights awareness campaigns: ▪ What are the consequences of human rights awareness campaigns? ▪ What makes a human rights awareness campaign successful? ▪ Why do many campaigns fail? ▪ What are the unintended negative consequences of both successful and failed campaigns? ▪ How do local norms and other cultural factors constrain or enable the translation of campaigns from one context to another? The resulting literature review, conducted by graduate students and faculty at the University of Minnesota, will help to inform USAID’s strategic planning, project design, and in-service training efforts in the democracy, human rights, and governance sector. For more information about USAID’s work in this sector and the role of academic research within it, please see https://www.usaid.gov/who-we- are/organization/bureaus/bureau-democracy-conflict-and-humanitarian-assistance/center. iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This literature review investigates the effects and effectiveness of human rights awareness campaigns. The authors differentiate carefully between effectiveness and effects. “Effectiveness” refers to the degree to which a campaign reaches its intended goal(s) among the target population. “Effects” encompass effectiveness, but also includes the broader set of consequences—unintended and unexpected, perhaps negative—that result from carrying out a campaign. Jointly authored by scholars from a range of disciplines, this report synthesizes scholarship bearing on these questions from diverse research traditions and assesses the interdisciplinary state of knowledge regarding the effects, both intended and unintended, of human rights awareness campaigns and the characteristics that make such awareness campaigns effective. This review is divided into five sections: 1. A broad overview of the steps involved in designing an effective awareness campaign. 2. A review of research on campaigns generally, drawn from a broad range of fields, such as marketing, communications, public health, and political science.