{"id":3503,"date":"2022-04-29T22:08:06","date_gmt":"2022-04-30T01:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redecomua.org.br\/?p=3503"},"modified":"2023-09-15T01:19:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T04:19:42","slug":"desafios-e-oportunidades-da-comunicacao-por-direitos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/desafios-e-oportunidades-da-comunicacao-por-direitos\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenges and opportunities for rights communication"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Renata Saavedra<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Among the great challenges that the field of philanthropy and civil society organizations (CSOs) faces, communicating causes and the work carried out by the third sector is certainly one of the biggest.<\/span><\/p>\n

In search NGOs and CSOs<\/u><\/a>, almost 70% of those surveyed could not name a single social organization in their neighborhood or city. 50% of Brazilian internet users declare that they know little about the subject and 18% have never heard about it. In the same sense, research Donation Brazil<\/u><\/a> indicates that \u201cbetter communication from NGOs can be decisive\u201d, as 43% of the people interviewed would donate if they knew for sure how the money was spent and 32% if they knew more about NGOs and their activities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The understanding that communication is a central part of the solutions that CSOs seek to build and strengthen, whatever their area of activity, is relatively recent. In general, CSOs invest little in communication and do not practice it in a strategic and transversal way in promoting their causes. Search<\/u><\/a> da Nossa Causa reinforced this finding: in 50% organizations the communication area is made up of just one person. O GIFE has also highlighted<\/u><\/a> the \u201cneed for greater communication efforts on the role, performance and contribution of the social investment and philanthropy sector to society\u201d (see also the technical note Elements of Cause Communication<\/u><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Evidence-based communication: potential partnerships for more strategic action<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Given this challenge, I carried out exploratory research on the field of evidence-based communication and committed to the defense of human rights in Brazil and Colombia, which indicated that there is still a lot of noise and many bridges to be built even within the field of communication through rights.<\/span><\/p>\n

The research proposal, carried out in 2021, was to map companies, agencies and\/or communication specialists that partner with human rights organizations in the development of evidence-based messages. When we say \u201cevidence-based\u201d, we are referring to communication actions that integrate research, testing or evaluation to more effectively understand and influence the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of specific audiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Brazilian rights communication ecosystem has been developing and diversifying mainly in the last decade, but it still has many gaps and weaknesses. It is not common to find communication professionals working with evidence-based communication \u2013 with solid techniques and methodologies \u2013 and with proximity and familiarity with human rights issues. \u201cI find it very difficult to find my peers,\u201d said one of the interviewees, who has worked in human rights communication for over 20 years. \u201cThe majority of communicators who work in CSOs have the profile of executors, not strategists, and do not have sufficient resources to develop strategic and evidence-based actions,\u201d said another.<\/span><\/p>\n

The interviews showed that there is a general understanding that doing research is expensive and time-consuming, and that the third sector in general and CSOs in particular do not usually have the necessary resources. Evidence-based communication is associated with a corporate practice in the advertising market, which only companies or large foundations can afford.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no such budget. Except for very large exceptional projects, what I do is diagnosis and benchmarking, evaluating what is strongest in the organization, comparing it with others \u2013 it is the day-to-day research that is available to social organizations. This story of doing market research is still utopian\u201d, said one of the interviewees.<\/span><\/p>\n

To invest in evidence-based research and communication, the most common way is through networks and with the support of international foundations. There is a consensus that we need to expand information on data-driven research and communication: \u201cThis is still a new topic in the third sector. The first topic is to provide information, then develop training to work with research. And this has to be collectively constructed knowledge\u201d, said another interviewee.<\/span><\/p>\n

Briefly, I list below the main challenges and opportunities raised:<\/span><\/p>\n

Challenges <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Resistance to\/lack of a data-based evaluation culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Understanding that research is a typically corporate and expensive practice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Belief that the message should be for everyone \u2013 difficulty in segmenting audiences and working in partnership with other organizations, each focusing on a different audience.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Lack of access to technologies and tools \u2013 there is often knowledge and materials available that are not accessed as they could be. Some examples are the monitoring of digital debates by Green Lintern<\/u><\/a>, and data visualization tools for those without designers and programmers on staff provided by Datasketch<\/u><\/a>. \u201cIt makes no sense for organizations to have constant or sporadic consultants for research or evidence-based communications, they need to have autonomy and have the tools\u201d, says the founder of Datasketch.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Difficulty in communication between the social sector and communication and research agencies that provide services to CSOs \u2013 these indicate \u201cactivist vision and difficulty in being more pragmatic and rational than emotional\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Low investment in communication.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opportunities<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Despite the challenges, there is a consensus that, in general, in Latin America, research is increasing and there is more awareness that data is important to measure and evaluate. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Emergence of transnational organizations that are developing regional initiatives and research, such as Bridges<\/u><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 There is a growing scene made up of non-profit communication, advocacy and mobilization organizations. More common in Colombia than in Brazil, these hybrid organizations provide services to other CSOs (and sometimes to companies), but they also develop their own projects \u2013 related to social research, strategic communication, big data research and analysis, narrative strategies, political innovation etc. These are organizations that combine experience in evidence-based communication with involvement and understanding of human rights causes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 ESG Trends: the private sector has been seeking greater alignment with the communication of causes \u2013 there is an expansion of the discussion on diversity and inclusion in companies, and greater demand from consumers for positioning and coherence.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Multiplication of communication agencies created or repositioned to serve the third sector, which has invested more in communication.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Creation of networks of cause communicators: the fact that NGOs and CSOs incorporate communicators and journalists into their teams has also resulted in the creation of networks of third sector communicators, such as Narrative Network<\/u><\/a> and Rede Cardume.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The research, which carried out a preliminary mapping, focused on organizations that provide services to other CSOs but also develop their own projects, and which are listed this document<\/u><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, it also highlighted the need to understand rights communication as an ecosystem that brings together different strategic actors<\/strong>, which relate to each other to a greater or lesser extent, and who can and should work together, as their resources and roles complement each other: research agencies, networks of rights communicators, community media, etc. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are many resources and knowledge that can be shared, such as audience segmentation research<\/u><\/a> produced by Bridges<\/em> as strategic input for social organizations that work for rights. Monitoring and analysis of the digital debate also needs to circulate more, as it allows us to have a general perspective of digital conversations, showing who are the macro actors who are really influencing, what is the proportion of the impact of each organization and campaign, and how we can come together and organize to increase our collective impact. <\/span><\/p>\n

Monica Roa<\/u><\/a> talks about the desire to see human rights organizations acting as the best band of Jazz<\/em>: playing excellent music without a conductor or score, inspiring diverse audiences to follow our beat by working in a harmonious, strategic and responsive way. The path involves building collective strategies, so that we can divide tasks and focuses, guaranteeing the autonomy of each organization. <\/span><\/p>\n

Strengthening evidence-based communication in the region requires considering the ecosystem as a whole, and multiplying and enhancing partnerships and collective actions between these different actors.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Renata Saavedra<\/strong><\/u><\/a> is a journalist and researcher focusing on human rights, feminist philanthropy and social justice. PhD in Communication and Culture (UFRJ), Master in History (UNIRIO), specialist in Gender and Sexuality (UERJ). Collaborates with social organizations that work for equity and strengthening civil society and democracy. Write in renatacompartilha.medium.com<\/u><\/a>.<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Renata Saavedra<\/p>\n

Among the great challenges that the field of philanthropy and civil society organizations (CSOs) faces, communicating causes and the work carried out by the third sector is certainly one of the biggest.<\/p>\n

In the NGOs and CSOs survey, almost 70% of those surveyed could not name a single social organization in their neighborhood or city. 50% of Brazilian internet users declare that they know little about the subject and 18% have never heard about it. In the same sense, the Doa\u00e7\u00e3o Brasil survey indicates that \u201cbetter communication from NGOs can be decisive\u201d, since 43% of the people interviewed would donate if they knew with certainty how the money is spent and 32% if they knew more about NGOs and their activities.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-producao-de-conhecimento","category-transforma-recomenda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}