USING DIGITAL PLATFORMS FOR GREATER IMPACT
COVID-19, GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND FAMILY PLANNING CAMPAIGN
The rise of digital platforms has created an invaluable opportunity to reach consumers with relevant messages and create measurable behavior change.
One of the three years operational priorities for PSI Ethiopia is the utilization of digital platforms and the development of digital tools to better serve consumers.
Since April 2021 the Owning Their Future (OTF) program worked in partnership with two advertising agencies to design a campaign addressing COVID-19 prevention, Vaccine confidence, prevention of GBV, and FP promotion.
INSPIRING BEHAVIOUR CHANGE FOR COVID-19 PREVENTION
COVID-19 case numbers have been spiking all across the globe. Ethiopia was no exception. However, the population was complacent due to being bombarded by the same type of messaging which led to messaging fatigue. Furthermore, most of the communication materials had motion graphics and animations which the population did not relate to PSI Ethiopia in
The three campaigns we ran reached a total of 6.1 million people across Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, Twitter, and YouTube with 1.5 million views and 16,000 new Facebook followers.
Collaboration with Bean & Zeleman developed a campaign that would inject shock factors as well as use the human element to create relevance. Dubbed #AlittlePrecautionForAnEasyTomorrow we shot real-life stories of people and how COVID-19 has affected their lives. This way, audiences would understand the severity of the situation by seeing people like them having gone through a rough time. We explored different formats of content to engage with the audience including video and static images. During this campaign, short video content of 1 minute was performed exceptionally, especially videos that were produced in the local language to showcase real-life testimonies which made the videos relevant to the target audience.
The image below is from one of our best-performing videos that reached over 2.9 million people. The video depicts a story of a couple talking about their personal account about the effects COVID-19 has had in their lives and how despite the pandemic they were able to get health services. Overall, we produced a total of 13 videos highlighting the different aspects of dealing with COVID-19. The short videos sparked
engagement as this was one of the very few times someone shared their truth about the virus with the masses on social media. Beyond educating the audience about the campaign, these short videos highlighted the stigma among the people and the psychological pressure it creates. The campaign ran for about 2 months reaching over 5 million people across 5 different platforms Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, Twitter and YouTube.
We also collaborated with a variety of influencers including Linkup Addis https://linkupaddis.com/ (an online magazine that highlights current topics) and Amanuel Sileshi (a world-class photographer and storyteller whose works have been featured in Agence France-Press and many more).
There is a great gender imbalance to internet access and campaign participation with only 2.5 million women present on social media of the 7.4 million users. Our campaign reached 2.2 million women across all platforms.
Beyond the main campaign objectives, we also highlighted different health and societal issues that were receiving less attention because of the panic that COVID-19 had created. Partnering with Marie Stopes International, PSI Ethiopia’s OTF program launched a second campaign on Gender-Based Violence and Family Planning.
BREAKING THE SILENCE ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
The Gender-Based Violence (GBV) campaign dubbed #BreakTheSilence began on July 12th and was focused on creating awareness and a call-to-action informing people to visit the Marie Stopes centre or call 8044 for GBV related support.
GBV remains one of the most prevalent issues in Ethiopia resulting in adverse psychological and physical outcomes such as stress, anxiety, depression, unsafe abortion, unwanted pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections. To engage with our audience, the narrative we used included four 30 second videos of women sharing the different issues that were raised with a personalized tone. The campaign also included static images of the women literally showing the action of breaking the silence by removing a tape that was covering their mouths. Regardless, of the short amount of time the campaign ran (2 weeks), it performed well across the different platforms.
We were able to spread the message with the help of different tools with a direct call to action informing the major audience to visit the Marie Stopes website or to call their hotline 8044 for advise and information on the Family Planning issues.
The image below is from one of the best performing video across all platforms as it reached over 1.2 million people. In the 3 weeks that the campaign ran, we reached over 2 million people out of 6.8 million people across the platform.
This video depicts a different woman calling out to break the silence on GBV and closes with a call to action to use the 8044 hotlines for any kind of GBV support.
TAKE A MINUTE AND TALK ABOUT FAMILY PLANNING
For the final phase of the campaign which was Family Planning campaign, we opted to use a mixed media approach by merging short message and audio-visual formats including gifs and static images. Through different mediums, we were able to educate the audience to alleviate the
misconceptions associated with Family Planning in society. The narrative we developed had a supportive and informative tone where we encouraged men to support their partners and encourage open discussion about family planning. We were able to spread the message with the help of different tools with a direct call to action informing the major audience to visit the Marie Stopes website or to call their hotline 8044 for advice and information on the Family Planning issues. This was the best performing post which reached over 800k people. The total reach achieved was over 1.2 million.
The three campaigns reached a total of 6.1 million people across Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, Twitter, and YouTube with 1.5 million total views, and as a spillover effect, PSI Ethiopia’s Facebook page earned 16,000 new followers.
Based on our observation from these campaigns, in Ethiopia, there is a great gender imbalance between internet access and campaign participation. Only 2.5 million women are present on social media of the 7.4 million total users in Ethiopia. Our campaign reached 2.2 million women across all platforms. This gave us an 88% reach impact to women on social media platforms which is quite commendable given the fact that women are greatly affected by these issues. Ethiopia has a population of over 112 million people, 7.4 million of which are on social media which is about 6.6% of the total population. The campaign's total reach was 6.1 million which is about 5.4% of the total population. Also considering that we had about 66 million impressions across all platforms, we can conclude that this was a very successful awareness and engagement campaign that stood out from what had been done before.
PSI Ethiopia will continue to use digital platforms for social behavior change communication in the multiple health areas that the organization is working on.
