10:00 - 11:15 (CET)

Participants will learn from justice sector case studies, movements in other sectors, and communications experts how to better understand, practice, and deploy the wide range of communications tools and techniques available to achieve their messaging goals.

As Myanmar emerges from decades of isolation and military rule, MyJustice has provoked a broad-based public conversation about what justice means and where it can be found. Using data about justice needs and perceptions, people joined in Myanmar’s largest campaign using social and mass media to challenge injustice. The MyJustice campaign sought to use a wide variety of communication tools that would access and engage the population. This resulted in the “Let’s Talk” campaign, which used mass media, social media, and community events to espouse a positive message and advocate for fairness and equality for everyone, especially ethnic minorities, the Muslim population, and the LGBT community. Participants were taught how strategic communications can complement community-based solutions to promote access to justice in a politically informed and adaptive way.

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Those born after 1980 have much to gain or lose from SDG16 and can play a key role in the movement for justice. This session highlighted lessons learned in a new initiative to engage this “Cohort 2030,” working with educational institutions and city governments as critical partners. The session highlighted three pillars to harnessing Cohort 2030: identifying and elevating the next generation of young civil society leaders and social entrepreneurs; growing the next generation of human rights and development experts; and closing Cohort 2030 data gaps and activating cities as partners in achieving the SDGs. During the session, pilot survey findings on the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of youth on access to justice, reducing violence and corruption, and combating human trafficking were shared—important data for successfully messaging the 16+ Agenda and making the case that not only do these issues matter but the voices of youth are critical.

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Hope-Based Communications is a simple, practical tool anyone can use to reframe the messages they are using to make the case for their cause and change public attitudes. Sharing examples of values-based messaging from Amnesty International, other movements and the worlds of business and politics, this session introduced the concepts of narrative and framing along with findings from neuroscience and cognitive linguistics that show why these tools are crucial to winning debates and shifting what is considered “common sense." Hope-based Communications can be explained through five steps, which require five shifts in the way organizations communicate:

            1. Against -> For: Highlight what we stand for, not what we oppose;

            2. Fear-> Hope: Change messaging from triggering fear, to inspiring hope;

            3. Victims -> Heroes: Emphasize support for heroes, not pity for victims;

            4. Threat -> Opportunity: Create opportunities, drop threats;

            5. Problem -> Solution: Talk about solutions, not problems;

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This session focused on storytelling, narrative, and solutions-based approaches to thinking about cultural change. Narrative frames such as public narrative, the theory of narrative arc in social movements, and audience theory were introduced and applied as tools to real-life case studies, with a focus on the environment and how the story of climate change has evolved over time. The session highlighted the importance of storytelling in binding people together to create common roots and in illustrating how to create positive change. Participants practiced their own stories and strategies applying narrative tools during small group interactive breakouts.

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Creative communications strategies can play a critical role in building public support and engaging key policy-makers to advance reforms needed to increase access to justice. In this working session the United States of Peace shared how they used documentary filmmaking in order to improve their communication, and highlight their work and processes, through the example of a project in Burkina Faso with police and the community. The World Justice Project showcased its work in Mexico around using statistics and storytelling to combat torture. The positive aspects of documentary filmmaking proved to powerful empathy-building tools and useful in generating conversations around the subject.

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