strategy​

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Strategy: A plan of action to achieve a specific goal. It involves different actions or tactics in different places and times.

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communications​

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Communication: The broadcasting or exchange of information, knowledge, or ideas through speech, writing, non-verbal cues, electronic or traditional media and large-scale societal conversations. Communication is the glue that holds strategy together and propels it forward in the real world. Strategies that treat communications as an afterthought often fail. Simply broadcasting information, especially alarming or controversial content, can exacerbate denial and polarization.

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Framing: The choices we make in how to present ideas (consciously or unconsciously) that shape how people think, feel and act, usually geared towards long term shifts.​ We frame ideas using the following building blocks:

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• Narrative: A big idea that helps you understand the world - like the bootstraps narrative of making your own success through hard work. A narrative contains types of characters, plots, places - like the Hero’s Journey. Narratives are made up of stories.

• Story: A specific account of events or ideas. A story contains particular characters, plots and places - like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. Stories are made up of messages.

• Message: An idea, talking point, phrase or hashtag that suits the political moment, usually geared towards a short term attitude/behavior change.

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Strategic Communications: An intentionally designed program of communications designed to advance progress toward a defined goal. To achieve this purpose, strategies weave together approaches from a variety of communications disciplines including but not limited to: public relations, media engagement, influencer and digital marketing, advertising, issue campaigns, cyberadvocacy, and more. Effective strategic communications begins with effectively understanding the target audience, and typically involves engaging that audience with your knowledge or ideas to inspire a shift in understanding, action, or decisions. To do this:

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• Identify and listen to the appropriate target audience.

• Craft and exchange tailored, values-based information through the most effective messenger, relevant channels, at the right time, in a repeated process. 

• Design and deliver strategies and tactics from the most relevant communications disciplines, including public and media relations, influencer and digital marketing, and social and audience research.

 

Narrative change work attempts to influence the narratives that shape laws, societies and norms and how they are implemented.

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systems​

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Systems: Arrangements of tangible elements (e.g. people and institutions) and intangible elements (values and norms) working together towards a common goal, like in a natural ecosystem, a government or the human body.

Linear strategic thinking assumes a direct cause-and-effect relationship between elements. The classic approach involves:

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• Defining the problem

• Setting a S.M.A.R.T. goal

• Identifying a target decision maker and/or audience

• Outlining a strategy with objectives

• Defining and executing tactics and plans

 

Linear thinking can work in ordered, less complex situations with few actors, but it often fails when we are seeking society-wide systems change.

Systems thinking focuses on the relationships among a system's parts, not just the parts themselves. It is like seeing a forest and understanding how trees, soil, animals, and weather interact to form an interconnected system. In systems thinking, the whole is more than the sum of its parts, and the connections between parts are crucial.

 

Tackling problems as systems

Winning campaigns, programmes and projects require an effective narrative change strategy - with strategic communications and systems thinking at its heart. 

Use the tool in this chapter to practice applying a system lens to a common problem analysis approach, a Context Analysis or P.E.S.T.L.E. analysis. A Context Analysis includes factors like social norms and key audiences who are not always visible but do shape the system and status quo.**

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Footnote: **

To run a P.E.S.T.L.E. analysis, list out the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors that are or could be affecting the challenge or system that you’re facing. To run a Context Analysis, list out the social norms, narratives, emotions and audience identities as well as the P.E.S.T.L.E. factors above.
 

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The way many of us are taught to think about solving problems is most effective for simple challenges and controlled classroom exercises. Decades of mainstream education and socialization - rooted in ‘enlightenment thinking’ from Europe - have taught us to break the world down into manageable pieces and see issues in isolation from each other, addressing each challenge in turn. This common sense problem solving approach implicitly informs how adults in many of the world’s cultures and geographies address challenges they face in their working lives, be that setting government policy or defining a company's corporate strategy. 

 

While this might be the most effective approach for organizing a family to share household chores or friends to divide up buying groceries at the supermarket, it is rarely the right approach for making real world progress on solving bigger environmental and societal issues. The problem with this ‘common sense’ approach is that it tends to focus on treating the most visible symptoms, but not actually solving the root causes of what we see.

 

But when we look at the world through a systems lens, we see that everything is interconnected. Problems are connected to many elements within dynamic systems. If we just treat one symptom, the effects of our interventions often lead to unintended consequences elsewhere in the system.

 

Systems thinking shows us that everything is part of a larger whole and that the connections between all elements are critical. It helps us to be more effective.*

 

Real-world systems are often non-linear and complex, rather than being neatly organized into structured layers. So, where do we even begin? 

 

Diagrams like those below help us to initially understand the layers of a system. If you’re familiar with a P.E.S.T.L.E. (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental) Analysis of the issue you are facing, that’s a good place to start. The S.E.N.S.E. Methodology takes inspiration from the MobLab to adapt and extend a PESTLE analysis with a systems lens.  

 

Read through the story below as an example, and try using the tools to look at your challenges through a system lens.

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Footnote: *With thanks to MobLab (text adapted from MobLab presentation)

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Delhi citizens were frustrated. By the winter of 2015, decades of air pollution in Delhi had risen to their worst levels; among the worst in the world. Human activity and demand for goods had driven industrial pollution through crop burning, vehicle and infrastructural emissions. Together with inadequate government measures, this had big ecological impacts on Delhi and beyond. 

 

Campaigners saw how these layers of the system were interconnected, and how many different social groups were affected. They knew that bringing together Delhi’s different groups would be key to getting the government to change its policies, to improve air quality.

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Then they formed the Help Delhi Breathe campaign as a platform for people to share their concerns and mobilize actions. This was rooted in a wider national movement - the National Coalition for Clean Air. The Delhi campaign used social media and on-the-ground networks to spread awareness and engage people  in a different vision for the city and its communities.
 

Mobilizing interconnected communities:  

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The campaign connected with stakeholders who were all directly affected by the pollution: local groups, long-time activists and new participants. It used creative messaging to spread awareness and mobilize action. They targeted specific influential tech-savvy middle- and upper-class groups:

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• Mothers and Schools: Schools monitored air quality and communicated the dangers to families, making mothers key advocates for clean air. This group was hard for those in power to ignore.

• Entrepreneurs: Small business leaders and startups, like a company making stylish breathing masks, joined the campaign, promoting solutions and organizing events like Clean Air Fairs. This showed that those in industry, responsible for the root cause of pollution, wanted action.

• Expatriates: Foreigners living in Delhi, used to stricter environmental standards, voiced their concerns, drawing more attention to the issue. Many of these people had strong connections with industry and the government.

 

Direct actions for stakeholders to take and feel part of something bigger:

 

1. Events: 

   • To demonstrate diverse support across society: The first air pollution rally in January 2016, which mobilized hundreds and sparked media debate, leading to the government’s new transportation policy. 

   • To show business support: The campaign organized the Clean Air Fair which brought green businesses and local organizations together to  promote climate solutions.

2. Petitions gathering nearly 100,000 signatures each:

   • For air pollution displays - so all stakeholders could see the current air quality status.

   • For approval of Delhi’s Solar Policy - so people and businesses could hold the government to account.

 

Systemic approach to maintaining momentum: 

 

It takes time to build campaign architecture to influence the human and industrial layers of the system, and shift the thinking of decision-makers. Help Delhi Breathe sustained pressure and momentum by:

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1. Organizing and engaging communities: Smaller activities during less polluted seasons.

2. Partnering with grassroots groups to push for  renewable solutions, like residential solar power. 

3. Running digital and offline campaigns including polls, videos and social media content that reached millions.

 

Help Delhi Breathe influenced public discourse, engaged diverse community groups, and successfully pressured the government to recognize and address the air pollution crisis. The campaign engaged thousands of citizens and organizations, gained 50 media mentions and millions of social media views. It also trained 40 Solar Ambassadors, created 1,750 solar assessment leads, and supported nationwide coalitions for clean air, setting a foundation for ongoing environmental advocacy.

 

As a result, the government approved a new Solar Policy for Delhi, and the Health Minister committed to set up air quality displays so that the public could see the status of their air quality at any time. 

 

Read more: https://mobilisationlab.org/stories/help-delhi-breathe-clean-air-delhi/ and https://www.purpose.com/case_studies/help-delhi-breathe 

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