Lesson 4 - Respond wisely to the reality that the general public knows little about CSOs

 

Essence

A narrative change approach works well when targeting less informed sceptical audiences, as a starting point in emotionally engaging these audiences and slowly rebuilding their trust in CSOs and their work.


 
Insight

Time and time again, our experience in Europe and Central Asia has shown that the general public has vague or little understanding about the civil society sector and its role, but of course, this does vary from country to country. This may be less the case in contexts where civil society plays a key role in delivering core government services (such as education and healthcare), but it is often the case in contexts where civil society focuses largely on supporting vulnerable minority groups and doesn’t have any significant presence in the public arena1 . 
 
However, as outlined in the case from Kenya below, even if churches, community organisations, aid agencies and charities are the primary provider of services and infrastructure, there is little awareness that all of these types of organisations are CSOs. To quote a Kazakh campaigner after seeing opinion polling results and observing focus groups: the public “think the sector is either just charity for kids and vulnerable groups or grant eaters.”
 
Narrative change provides an opportunity is to respond wisely to this reality, as there are many pathways to get to the issue that don’t depend on issue knowledge as a prerequisite, and which can be used effectively to build public support and appreciation of the civil society sector. Starting by telling warm, authentic stories about CSOs that over time gain more presence in the public will begin to build a broader awareness of and more interest in the civil society sector.
 


Cases 

- Kazakhstan – In large-scale polling done in Kazakhstan by partners between 2020 and 2022, only 5% to 10% of the population said they had knowledge of or exposure to the work of civil society. This was surprising for the CSO partners running the #Azamatbol (#GoodCitizen) campaign. Their response to this insight was to adopt a value-based storytelling approach which has proven effective in engaging the public and shifting public attitudes on CSOs towards the positive by bringing the work of CSOs closer to people’s lives and issues they’re concerned about. The first-hand and personal accounts of the work and contribution of four different CSOs (an environmental campaigner, a community library, 2 support groups for people with disabilities) at the heart of this campaign were effective in achieving this goal.
 
- Kenya – Campaigners reported that people in small towns receiving most of their services (especially health care) from INGOs, charities and churches had no realisation that they are all CSOs. The response to this reality was to focus the public messaging on the potential loss of services and development aid, rather than assuming they could argue the importance of the sector to Kenya’s democracy. In addition, the campaigning coalition set a longer-term agenda for its members to commit as much as possible in their communities to explain their role as widely as possible to service providers and local partners. They also committed to put more time into being present in local community events, which gave many people a chance to understand who they are and to learn that they are a part of the CSO sector.
 
See the Advocacy Cases Section 6 for more details and background on the cases.
 


 
Action

  • Start where they are – There’s little point in being frustrated with the public for their lack of knowledge of the work of CSO and of the civil society sector more broadly. A key piece of advice we learned from seasoned UK campaigners is that it’s better to start where the audience are. Through storytelling about CSOs built on resonant values, shared concerns and aspirations, you can develop awareness and trust, which then can lead to more interest, knowledge and possibly even uptake of civic education programmes.

 

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