Digital Publication Strategy and Tactics

Human rights framework

Goals

Amnesty International works towards universal human rights. We are a global movement of over 3 million people committed to defending those who are denied justice or freedom.

Goals for the branch are set by Management and the Strategy Unit in coordination with International Secretariat. These broad goals are set out in a number of documents, including the Branch Plan and the Integrated Strategic Plan. DigitalComs contributes to the creation of these goals by providing feedback, context, and intelligence.

DigitalComs find the best ways to achieve these goals using communications strategies and tactics. Sometimes interpretation, clarification, or re-framing of goals is needed.

We then use measurement and evaluation techniques to see how well we have achieved our goals.

Strategies

People and organizations use the words “strategies” and “tactics” in different ways. Understanding what they are and how they are connected is important to the success of your work.

To achieve a goal, you need a strategy. To carry out your strategy, you need tactics. Tactics are the specific actions that help you fulfill your strategy so you can achieve your goals.

Use of the Strategic Effectiveness Method for human rights is encouraged:

  1. Identify the problem. What do you want to change? What human rights violation would you like to address?
  2. Build a common vision in order to determine goals. What do you want to be different in the future? What is inspiring you in your work? How will you know you are successful?
  3. Define the context. How do you evaluate your situation? What individuals and groups are connected to this problem? How do the individuals and groups relate and interact with each other? What are their goals?
  4. Explore and select the tactics to help you achieve your goal. What is your focus? Which tactics can have the greatest impact?
  5. Develop a plan of action. How are you going to put the tactics together in a plan so you can achieve your goal?

Tactics

Our practice builds on strategic and tactical thinking from several sources:

  • Little Yellow Book, from an Amnesty International

  • New Tactics for human rights

  • 10 Tactics

    1. mobilize people
    2. witness and record
    3. visualize your message
    4. amplify personal stories
    5. just add humour
    6. manage your contacts
    7. use complex data
    8. use collective intelligence
    9. let people ask the questions
    10. investigate and expose
  • 10 Tactics Remixed

  • 10 Tactics Unstitched

Tactical goals:

  1. Public & civil society organization engagement
  2. Media engagement
  3. Engagement by key actors; allies; second governments; diplomats; IGOs
  4. Key target decision makers’ attitudes and engagement with our positions
  5. Introduction, amendment, repeal of laws policies & standards
  6. Actual implementation of laws policies & standards
  7. Accountability towards implementation
  8. People able to claim rights
  9. People able to enjoy rights

Content Focus

Maintaining relevant critical content is an ongoing struggle. To focus our efforts, we look for three key elements in content: relevance to the Critical Pathways, social/political and news significance, and importance to the movement.

Critical pathways

Amnesty International’s Integrated Strategic Plan outlines the parameters of our human rights work. Two other pieces map how we achieve the human rights goals of the Plan: the 12 Critical Pathways (which define the thematic areas of human rights focus), and the identification of country priorities.

  1. Armed Conflict
  2. Death Penalty
  3. Criminal Justice
  4. Ending Discrimination
  5. Freedom of Expression
  6. International Justice
  7. Corporate Accountability
  8. Maternal health and Sexual and Reproductive Rights (SRR)
  9. People on the Move
  10. Security and Human Rights
  11. Slums
  12. Control Arms
  13. Indigenous peoples (priority for Canada)

Current events

Part of being relevant is responding to “news pegs.” A news peg is a subject that reflects “the rhythms and accents of the news cycle, events beyond your control that are of societal significance and coincide with when the public tunes in to find information.”

We take a proactive approach to identifying news pegs on the horizon and incorporating them into our publishing schedule. A weekly “What Up?” meeting helps set priorities for the next seven days, and we respond to issues as they arise. This is done in coordination with media-relations staff.

The Movement

Amnesty International Canada is part of a global movement. We are responsible to our membership, aware of emerging human rights situations, and charged with delivering of Amnesty International’s global campaigns. DigitalComs plays a key role in facilitating International membership, solidarity, and activism

Outcomes

Measurement

We A/B test our content as much as possible. We seek feedback from our internal clients, the target population for our work, and key stakeholders. We also set measurement parameters for our work before we begin.

Evaluation

Working in a human rights framework means measuring our success against real-world outcomes, some of which are hard to measure. Nonetheless, our tactical goals all lead to the universal adoption and protection of human rights. We measure the success of our digital programs for the role they play in achieving our tactical goals.

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