Getting our story covered by a major news outlet might feel like a win. But real change happens only if our audience’s own communities, groups, and networks adopt these changes first. 

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Communities, groups and networks are the currents that help people find belonging, identity and safety. They share information and develop ideas, which their members can then adopt or build on. To influence someone, we do not need them to fully agree with us. Instead, we may want them to react in ways that weaken their current stance or disrupt their control. When influential members of our networks disagree with us, it can make us reconsider our position.

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Every network shares values, priorities, and experiences among its members. To influence someone, we need to reach and activate the most trusted members of their networks. This also applies to communication between different networks.

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To influence a community, group or network around a target, we should:

1. Review: Identify the networks that the target is part of, such as their family or a government cabinet.

2. Risk and reward: Select the network with the strongest ties among its members. Consider:

   • Strong ties vs weak ties within a target’s network (e.g. family vs. government cabinet)

   • Social risk vs social reward for group members adopting new beliefs or behaviors

   • Strong vs weak ties between networks

3. Relationship: Identify the members of the network who have the closest relationship with the target. These members need to adopt and spread the new belief.

4. Reach: Make sure your story or message is delivered in places where the network and target will see it. Know when and where they will be looking.

5. Repetition: Repeat your message through stories, messages, and other means multiple times. Use trusted messengers (see Chapter 13) to help spread the message. Individuals might change their views or make decisions, but they might not stick to them if their community does not also change.

Remember to use all the chapters in this section to frame your message with the right values, target the right people, and trigger the mental shortcuts needed to achieve your goal.

 

Read more:

Lin, Nan: Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/social-capital/E1C3BB67419F498E5E41DC44FA16D5C0

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Women in Sudan faced severe repression under the regime of President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled from 1989 until his ousting in 2019. His government’s policies included morality laws that restricted women’s freedoms and authorized corporal punishment. The Khartoum State Public Order Law Act of 1996 had particular gendered impacts, with women being targeted by gender based violence and mobility restrictions - not only affecting their bodily autonomy but also their socioeconomic rights. When nationwide protests erupted in December 2018, sparked by economic grievances and fueled by broader demands for political change, the regime responded with brutal crackdowns, including violence and intimidation by state security officers.

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Civil society needed to organize and prevent further violence against demonstrators. The challenge was how to do so safely.

 

Women were key change catalysts, many of which came to be known symbolically as “Kandakat” after historic Nubian queens and queen mothers. They drove change at multiple levels - publicly and privately. For example, before the protests, many women in Sudan had used private Facebook groups for socializing and discussing their romantic lives . but in response to the crackdown a few of them began to use these platforms as a way to “dox” (expose) the men attacking protesters:

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1. Review: Women started sharing, on these Facebook groups, photos of men they had seen attacking protesters, asking on the groups if others knew their identities.

2. Risk and Reward: The social reward for the women involved was high. They could maintain anonymity while participating in activism, and their efforts could lead to tangible changes in the behavior of security officers. 

3. Relationship: When photos of officers were shared, group members quickly provided detailed information, often sourced from personal connections. This included names, addresses, and personal history, effectively leveraging the close ties within the community to gather intelligence.

4. Reach: The messages exposing security officers were disseminated through the private Facebook groups, which were accessible via Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) after the government blocked social media. The anonymity provided by these groups made it difficult for the regime to trace the organizers.

5. Repetition: The women consistently repeated their message through various posts and discussions within the groups. They shared stories of successful exposure of security officers, encouraged continuous vigilance, and used trusted members to spread the message further. This repetition helped reinforce the idea that the security officers were not invincible and that their actions had consequences within their own communities.

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The results were significant:

• The security officers, once confident in their anonymity, began to fear exposure. Reports surfaced of officers hiding their faces in public, and some were even chased out of their neighborhoods after being identified. 

• The momentum created by these actions contributed to the overall pressure on the regime, leading to widespread participation in the protests and the eventual downfall of Bashir's government in April 2019.

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Read more: 

• Ali, N.M. (2019) Sudanese women's groups on Facebook and# Civil_Disobedience: Nairat or Thairat?(Radiant or revolutionary?). https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/abs/sudanese-womens-groups-on-facebook-and-civildisobedience-nairat-or-thairatradiant-or-revolutionary/BC66DCA737353C5C6BB9154279E2A50A

• Sudanese women at the heart of the revolution: https://africanfeminism.com/sudanese-women-at-the-heart-the-revolution/

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In 2018, Pakistan’s parliament passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, a groundbreaking law that allows individuals to self-identify as transgender and have this identity recognized on official documents. The law also prohibits discrimination against transgender people, known as Khawaja Sira in Pakistan, and affirms their rights to participate fully in democratic life, including to vote and take part in public office.  Under this bill, the state is obligated to ensure their protection, through "Protection Centers and Safe Houses" — along with separate prisons or other places of confinement. 

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The Khawaja Sira community spent years building a broad coalition including members of the feminist movement, human rights lawyers and other community activists. They carefully considered different routes to build champions and trusted messengers across key elements of the state and societal system. This involved the five steps of engaging communities:

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1. Review: The campaign identified the key networks within Pakistan's societal and political landscape that could influence the passage of the bill. This included:

   • Parliamentarians

   • Faith leaders

   • Key media

   • The general public. 

2. Risk and Reward: Syed Naveed Qamar, a member of parliament, became a key champion, supported by several senators. As the campaign developed, the social reward for these parliamentarians was significant—they could be seen as defenders of human rights and equality. However, the social risk was also high, particularly in a conservative society where support for transgender rights could be seen as controversial.

3. Relationship: The campaign took time to build relationships early in the process, such as with faith leaders. Although there were some faith leaders who opposed the idea, the Council of Islamic Ideology, a constitutional body that advises parliament on laws offered their support, particularly in terms of its relationship to upholding rights set out within Sharia Law.

4. Reach: Activists focused on igniting dialogues in the media on the lived experience of the Khawaja Sira community and the multiple forms of discrimination they were facing. These dialogues brought attention to their historical and cultural significance in the region; as well as the urgent need to break stigma, discrimination and violence towards them and uphold their basic rights. 

5. Repetition: By building alliances with the feminist movement, parliamentarians, and faith leaders who would speak out themselves, the campaign was able to tap into a general public sentiment, since proven in research, that transgender persons should not be subject to such violence and discrimination.

 

What came next

• The Khawaja Sira co-designed the Bill, which Pakistan has now passed as an Act

• Although it will take some time to evaluate the impacts of the bill on the rights of the Khawaja Sira communities across Pakistan, there has certainly been greater visibility of their leadership in politics and institutions since. 

• In the 2024 general elections, 3,000 transgender voters were registered on the electoral roll and three transgender women independently contested.* 

• However, research shows that addressing the widespread marginalization and violence towards them is a much longer term challenge.** 

• Further, in 2023, the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan declared elements of the Transgender Persons Act incompatible with Islamic principles, and it is now subject to a public debate, where defense by members of different communities, including political, grassroots, faith leaders and media is key.***

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​Footnote:  *https://www.undp.org/pakistan/publications/journey-mapping-transgender-political-candidates **https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/geopolitical-insights/news/pakistan-elections-2024-widespread-exclusion-the-trans-community-3538386 *** https://tribune.com.pk/story/2378007/law-minister-defends-transgender-act ; https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/20/pakistan-trans-community-steps-out-of-shadows ​​

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