A toolkit to help campaigners ‘change the weather’ in the migration debate

The Reframing Migration Narratives Toolkit is a free online resource to help pro-migrant advocates develop emotionally smart, targeted messages and campaigns which can rebalance the migration debate in favour of inclusion and diversity. It was launched by ICPA online in November 2018.

The toolkit aims to support campaigners and activists in the challenging circumstance in which they find themselves – where they feel they are losing hearts and minds in the public debate on migration, while populist narratives gain ground and set the agenda of what is acceptable in policy terms. Instead of just responding to an anti-migrant agenda and getting stuck in that framing, the toolkit helps activists build positive, resonant narratives that engage challenging audiences. In doing so, it can help activists to ‘change the weather’, or put differently the context and framing, of the migration debate.

The methods described in the toolkit are firmly led from cases and experience of real world practice and grounded in established theory, drawing on multi-disciplinary literature from political communication, behavioural economics, cognitive linguistics, social psychology and negotiation. The toolkit shares the step by step process ICPA developed supporting campaigns in the Narrative Change Lab and international real-world cases of narrative change campaigning.

Using the toolkit, activists and campaigners will learn about engaging the so-called ‘movable middle’ and why we think this approach matters. In most European countries, this ‘middle’ is between 60% to 70% of the population who are not that involved, informed or engaged in the issue, but are susceptible to mainstream media agendas. They can be of course swayed by right-wing populist narratives, but are also be receptive to positive, solution-oriented messages. Winning them over can tip the balance in the public discussion. The toolkit focuses on communicating to the middle not because they are the only group worth speaking to, but because they are the group which progressives are currently struggling to reach.

There are different ways to use the toolkit:

• You may want to dive into our 12 core lessons, which act as keys to unlock this approach.
• Dipping into Campaign Cases can help with understanding narrative change in practice internationally and learning the practical lessons from the decisions each campaign made.
• The Reframing Guidelines can be used to work step by step through researching, understanding and personifying your audience; defining an appropriate narrative space which will reach the middle and is authentic to you as a campaigner; building out, testing and adapting messages, stories and slogans; and monitoring responses and engaging in dialogue with the middle as your campaign runs.
• If you have doubt or scepticism about narrative change and appealing to the middle, you can jump to the Toolkit FAQs and read our responses to the big questions.

Real world narrative change is not about magic words - it is hard graft. Several, carefully sequenced waves of campaigning are likely to be required when the goal is to reframe a public debate on a divisive issue. Indeed, with a view to realistic outcomes, the campaigning work needs to continue and get stronger and louder over a long period of time. Such an approach is often called strategic communications, and quoting Frank Sharry from America’s Voice, the idea is that you need to create “surround sound” and “volume and velocity” of your messaging to tip the balance of the debate. The Reframing Migration Narratives Toolkit is part of an important package of support which can help progressive campaigners turn up the volume on positive narratives to (re)balance the migration debate.