Social activism and campaigning
The second day of the international activity involved diving into the topic of social campaigning and becoming aware of existing social campaigns. A tangible result of the work plan as a whole will be a manual which will include key information about how to create social campaigns. At the end of the day participants got to know a bit about the aims of the manual and how they can co-create it.
The first session was about social activism - in groups, participants had to research specific social campaigns and discover more about the activists behind the campaigns - what skills and attitudes they have and what it takes to be an activist?
The second session of the day was about campaigning, what is it and what is not. Participants were presented some relevant topics they could start from (Europe cooperation, inclusion of refugees, cultural diversity, women’s equality, recognition of volunteering, youth issues, human rights awareness), based on the focus of the organisations they come from. The group brainstormed what a campaign might mean and their ideas came together to define social campaigns as “work in an organised and active way towards a a social goal”. The next step was to understand more in-depth the process behind campaigning - in mixed-country groups, participants discussed a model of campaigning and extracted the key steps. The final result was agreeing on the stages of creating a successful campaign.
After lunch, participants worked again in groups and they received an example of blended campaign and the specific actions implemented online and offline. It was a discovery & inspiration session where participants researched blended campaigns (e.g., Movember, No Hate campaign, Ice bucket challenge), were regrouped and then shared the main ideas behind the campaign and interesting actions that were taken as part of the campaign. The session wrapped up with a plenary presentation where trainers highlighted the key points to bear in mind when making a blended campaign. Participants raised critical points about what is behind the social media posts and what is the real impact of online campaigns.
Towards the end of the afternoon, participants started to think about the structure of the manual and what it needs to include to support the implementation of a successful blended social campaign. They worked in group to make a start in creating the very first draft structure of the manual. The evening we relaxed in the sauna and playing board games.
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