The Silent Humanitarian Crisis in Greece: Devising Strategies to Improve the Situation of Migrants in Greece workshop report panelinput panelinput Basic Communications Tips for Migrants’ Rights NGOs in Crisis-Hit Greece41 Developing Communications and Advocacy Strategies43 Mehran Khalili, Strategic Communications Expert, based in Greece Jan Brulc, Migrants’ Rights Network (MRN) Smart communications should be at the centre of all your activities – because communicating effectively, to the right audiences, is vital to helping you achieve your organisation’s goals. What’s more, because your opponents are practising it, so should you. There is a crucial need for NGOs to convey a clear message and outline of their mission to funders as well as to partners and supporters. As part of their communications plan to gain visibility and build a network of NGOs working on migrants’ rights, Migrants’ Rights Network (MRN) is currently coordinating a campaign entitled “One Day” in view of International Migrants Day on 18 December. As part of this campaign, MRN will be presenting “the Migrant Manifesto”44 produced by the Immigrant Movement International as a tool to raise awareness and present their message. The good news is that having a slick ‘communications machine’ doesn’t have to cost much. Follow these 10 tips to build it: Production (creating your stories 42) – should be done by the organisation 1. Be clear about your objective: Don’t take any communications action without relating it to a measureable, core objective of your organisation 2. Back up your story: The average journalist/reader is not an expert and is sceptical. Use authoritative facts and figures to persuade them. Drain out the drama; use neutral language. Let the facts tell the story; show, don’t tell. 3. Find a fresh angle: People are saturated with messages of suffering and are becoming immune. A positive approach to a story can get you heard, while drawing attention to the negative stories that you really want to push. 4. Use a unique format: Use info graphics, photography, video (even from a mobile phone) rather than text (which can’t go viral). You have the tools – use them. Surprise people. Migrants’ Rights Network is a PICUM member based in the United Kingdom which conducts research and projects, aimed at enabling migrants and groups working in support of migrants to engage with key legislative and policy issues. Key points of actions adopted by MRN to carry out its mission successfully have included: • Capacity building amongst grassroots organisations which are part of their network so they could share MRN’s message but most importantly develop their own • Developing communication channels by establishing lines of dialogue with journalists and links with migrant activists • Carrying out specific activities to target different audiences as the message and approach is tailored for each target audience Distribution (sending your stories out) – can be done by volunteers 5. Use today’s distribution tools: Get on Twitter and learn how to use it; it’s an activist hub for Greece, but also valuable for monitoring. Wordpress (blogs)/ and YouTube (video) are also important tools and easy to use. 6. Cultivate your contacts: Coffee is the best social media, and Greek activists represent a small community. Don’t sit behind a screen; get out there and build relationships – it is worth the investment. 7. Considering international media outreach: If your story is big enough, target international media to get on the Greek media’s agenda that way. … 43 Monitoring (checking how well your stories were received) – can be done by volunteers 8. Use today’s monitoring tools: Like Google News/Google Alerts/Twitter. 9. Learn the landscape: See who is writing about your issue, who the influencers are, and send your next announcements to them. 10. Check back on your objective – Did you achieve it? Feed your lessons learned back into your production. 41 42 26 44 Full presentation available at: http://prezi.com/kui2ushdkx5c/communications-and-advocacy-strategies-athens-2-dec-2012/ Migrant Manifesto, available at: http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/news/2012/migrant-manifesto-performed-musa-okwonga and translated text available at: http://immigrant-movement.us/wordpress/migrant-manifesto/ The presentation is available online at: https://speakerdeck.com/mkhalili/basic-communications-tips-for-migration-ngos-in-crisis-hit-greece By ‘stories’ we mean ‘whatever you want to say’, i.e. announcements, research papers, advocacy messages, etc. 27