Download Conducting an Effective Communication Campaign for Population

CONDUCTING AN EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN FOR
POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS IN
PAKISTAN:
Tools, Challenges and Recommendations
Dr. Ahlam Tariq
Fatima Jinnah Women University,
The Mall, Rawalpindi.
PLANNING PROCESS OF AN
EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN ON A
NATIONAL LEVEL
Discussing the Stages
STAGE 1
Identification of Objectives
Stage 1: Identification of Objectives
• Specify the Kind of message intended and result
desired
• Identify the intended audience
• State the time period involved
STAGE 2
Analysis
Stage 2: Analysis- Message
1. How familiar is the audience with the
intended message
2. How easy is it to understand
3. To what extend does it agree or disaree
with current held values
Stage 2: Analysis - Situation
1. What are problems that people see in cooperating with
the census volunteers
2. What effort have already been made to develop
acceptance of the census in a give population
3. Where the results of those efforts
Stage 2: Analysis - Audience
1. How will the audiences be divided into manageable
subsets so the message reaches and affects most if
not all of them
2. For each subset the following questions need to be
asked
• What are the major characteristics of these expected
population (Education, Language, rural/urban, financial
resources )
• What is the location and inhabitancy of the population
• How much they know about census and how cooperative
you expect them to be
• What are their sources of information and entertainment
STAGE 3
Devising the Media Campaign
Stage 3- Devising the media Campaign
• Availability of Funds
• Choosing the Methods
Stage 3- Devising the media Campaign
• The National Campaign
• A national Campaign in various Languages to be
disseminated Via the following communication channels
1.
2.
3.
4.
Radio
Television
Newspaper
Social media
Stage 3- Devising the media Campaign
• Interpersonal Communication
• For hard to reach or challenging areas
• Identifying Opinion Leaders in Specific Communities
• To identify the problems these communities have with the census
• To identify the resistance leaders of these communities
• To practice Diplomatic skills and to disseminate the advantages of
census to these communities
• To open dialogue with these communities
• To understand their perspective
• To arrange for feedback form these communities
Stage 3- Devising the media Campaign
• Timing the Campaign
• The Educational Campaign relating to the Census on a
national level will be conducted on a closer date as
compared to the interpersonal communication conducted
in the more challenging areas.
• To maximize the retention and reminders the campaigns
becomes more concentrated closer to the census dates
• However the call for volunteers and training campaigns
would star t much earlier
• The website and the social media campaign may also be
prepared way before hand
Stage 3- Devising the media Campaign
• Devising the Messages
• The messages devised must be clear and concise
• Easy to understand
• Also longer detailed information about how the census
process will happen is also required as a part of the
campaign
• But smaller messages disseminating information in bits
and parts are also suggested
Stage 3- Devising the media Campaign
• Testing the message
• It maybe a good idea to test the effectiveness and clarity
of messages in a given subset of a population to make
sure your message is getting across.
Stage 3- Devising the media Campaign
• Disseminating the message
• Involving people
• Pacing the campaign
• Evaluating the campaign
Challenges
• Smaller development messages are easier to disseminate
• However in Pakistan a current case study is relevant
• National Emergency Action plan for Polio Eradication
2014 is an important case in point
Challenges
• Assumptions of communication
1. Societies are immanent in Nature, therefore by
correctly identifying these immanent factors we
can formulate policies that could bring change
in these societies
2. Communication If correctly used can bring
about change
3. People have similar characteristics and they will
respond to messages in a predictable manner