Title: Developing Messages about Humanitarian and Development Assistance
1Developing Messages about Humanitarian and
Development Assistance
- Version Presented at 4/26/04 Meeting
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- Lake Snell Perry Associates
2Introduction
- Lake Snell Perry Associates reviewed polling
data and message testing studies occurring from
2002 to 2004. - The goal is to learn how to create effective
messages that can have broad appeal and that
motivate Americans to actively support
humanitarian and development assistance. - This presentation is largely based on research
with attentive Americans who are likely voters
not necessarily average Americans.
3Context
- Studies show that the economy and jobs are the
publics top concerns, while the War in Iraq and
terrorism/security are their leading global
concerns. - Americans feel less secure today. Women are
particularly effected. - Concern about Americas image in the world we
are perceived as a bully. - Believe the US should help poor countries, but
concerned about cost and effectiveness. - Perceive charitable organizations are most
effective at providing assistance.
4Reality Check
- Americans have a domestic focus economy, jobs
global issues other than Iraq and terrorism are
much less relevant. - There is a Take Care of Home First mentality
among the majority. - Most do not want the US to be the only global
leader prefer partnering with other countries. - Most think US government gives much more in
humanitarian and development assistance than it
actually does. - Many are not sure assistance has been successful.
They worry about corruption most doubt
assistance makes it to the people in need. - Growing wary of fundraising campaigns that play
on guilt. - Most feel they are too busy to get involved in
another cause.
5Also a Time of Opportunity
- Many trends are coming together. Many understand
the US cannot ignore what goes on in the world.
More Americans paying attention to global
issues. - Americans are worried about the US image problem.
Security concerns could provide an entry. - Also compelled by moral, compassionate, and
faith-based reasons to help developing countries
and people in need, particularly children. - Most also see that humanitarian/development
assistance serves our self-interest by making the
world more stable and self-sufficient, calming
resentments toward the US, improving global
health, and protecting the environment. - Many feel it is possible to make a difference on
many global issues most do not feel powerless.
6Messengers/Trusted Global Actors
- Public looks to a wide range of actors on global
issues - Several messengers are seen as credible.
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- Not all of these work for every audience and
every issue.
7Audiences for Messages
- Many studies show that the best audiences for
messages about humanitarian/ development
assistance and global health are
8Building Effective Messages
9Positive Language
Across message testing studies, many approaches
and concepts consistently work well. These are
- Noting that the US already has the know-how to
solve a problem and all we need to do is get it
to developing countries - Telling success stories
- Starting with a personal story and then quickly
expanding to show how assistance ultimately
benefited an entire community or even country - Helping individuals and communities help
themselves - Addressing root causes like poverty and hunger
- Focusing on people not dollars
- Quotes from credible sources (Colin Powell for
some, Jimmy Carter for others) - Talking about a mix of short-term and long-term
assistance (people understand some problems take
longer to address)
- Positive, hopeful language
- Focusing on children in a positive way
- US involved in partnerships/coalitions
- Using the word together
- Teaching basic skills
- Educating/raising awareness about a problem
- Action now to prevent a bigger problem later
- Acknowledging Americans as a caring and
compassionate people willing to help the worlds
poor - Using words likeeffective and accountable
- Facts from credible organizations (CDC, WHO, GAO,
UNICEF) - Tangible goals to assistance
10Negative Language
- Concepts that do not work well
- Using the term foreign aid or even just
foreign which makes it seem less relevant
better to say humanitarian and development
assistance. - Strongly asserting that the US has a moral duty
or obligation to help poor countries i.e.,
most Americans actually believe this is true but
they do not like seeing this statement in
messages (it seems scolding) - Explaining the US gives less assistance than
other countries (not believable) or implying the
US does not do its share (counterintuitive).
Indeed, there is no value in playing the numbers
game. People easily talk themselves out of their
concern or surprise at the low amount the US
dedicates to humanitarian and development
assistance. - Programs that appear to impose US values and
culture on developing countries Americans want
to be sensitive to cultural norms (e.g.,
reproductive health, girls/womens rights). - Using images of suffering children is perceived
to be manipulative, guilt-inducing. - Only asking for a financial donation better to
also mention other ways people can get involved. - Over idealistic or dramatic language such as
ending poverty which most Americans do not
believe is possible. - Trying to shame Americans implying they are
passive while people in developing countries
suffer and die does not work. The reason
Americans perceive themselves to be a generous
and caring people, not passive. Also, many
people are already doing something through their
churches, schools, and by making donations to
global causes.
11Message Construct
- The most effective messages tend to have these
components - Description of the problem with credible facts
that reflects peoples top values (e.g. helping
children, enhancing stability, improving health) - Solution to problem and US role in that
- Actions steps someone can take to help solve the
problem - Messages seem to get a positive bump if they
mention children, have a goal of
self-sufficiency, use education as the means to
solving the problem, show that NGOs are working
on this problem in coalitions or partnerships,
and identify a range of action steps for
individuals.
12Operational Values Education and
Self-Sufficiency
- If possible, messages regardless of topic
(e.g.,hunger and poverty, AIDS orphans, improving
health) should include elements of education and
self-sufficiency. - Messages about helping people in developing
countries help themselves always score better
because self-sufficiency is the desired goal of
all foreign assistance. It is the driving
American value when it comes to humanitarian and
development assistance. - Education that is culturally sensitive is how
Americans prefer to help poor countries sharing
our know how and technology with others. The
contrast is just giving money or food to
developing countries which most Americans do not
support (unless it is for disaster relief
purposes)
13Powerful Themes for Messages
- The following themes tend to get broad based
support and open the door to a range of
interventions both short-term and long-term
that the public will support - Helping children
- Reducing hunger
- Increasing global stability (thereby making the
US safer) - Reducing poverty
- Improving global health
- Improving education/schools
- Increasing self-sufficiency
14Other Top Themes
- These themes also score well in polls but may not
lead to such broad based support because they
are new and the public still needs to learn about
them the public tends to see them as more narrow
or requiring short-term interventions the public
prefers a broader scope to foreign assistance or
the public lacks urgency. - Disaster relief
- Improving the lives of women and girls
- Addressing AIDS in Africa
- Helping AIDS orphans
- Improving the environment
15Some Messages Need to be Targeted
- Some themes work well with targeted audiences but
put off others. These need to be treated
carefully, but can be effective in the proper
circumstances - Reproductive health (conservatives tend to have
problems due to abortion concerns) - Teaching job skills (some feel we will be
exporting jobs) - Refugee assistance (some backlash due to
immigration concerns) - Explicit references to preventing terrorism (many
find this link too tenuous they say that the
9/11 terrorists were wealthy and well-educated
and not the kinds of people that aid targets.
However, this may work on Capitol Hill.)
16Specific Insights into
- Enhancing Stability
- Helping Children
- Reducing Hunger
- Improving Global Health
17Humanitarian/Development Assistance Stability
- Studies show the publics top global concerns are
currently security related. It follows that
making the US safer is a top foreign policy goal. - Recent studies show that linking humanitarian
assistance to stability goals can make messages
more powerful. That is, they test better than
just straight development messages. - Of note, few messages we found only focus on
security and stability rather they tend to link
security to more traditional goals of assistance
(i.e., addressing hunger and poverty) - However, the majority is doubtful that
preventing terrorism can be achieved through
humanitarian assistance. Thus, we do not
recommend explicit references to terrorism in
messages. - It is also unclear that stability messages
motivate people to take action as much as goals
like improving childrens lives and
self-sufficiency.
Bottom-Line Increasing stability offers a
possibly potent framework for discussing
humanitarian assistance, especially if this
reference is subtle. However, the research is
not definitive. Needs more testing against other
powerful messages. Also, there are signs the
public has some doubts about whether this goal is
achievable.
18Helping Children
- Children tend to be the global group Americans
care about most. They are seen as innocent
victims who need our protection. - Many also believe if we invest in children now,
they are more likely to become self-sufficient
adults. - The challenge is that focusing on children can
appear manipulative. Many have become wary
because of old images of starving children,
flies in their eyes, Sally Struthers, and
requests for donations. These images may still
work for some in terms of child sponsorship and
donations, but may turn-off others from engaging
long-term.
Bottom-Line Messages about helping children get
support across all groups. These messages need
to be hopeful, simple, include facts, and avoid
overly dramatic language. Keep in mind there is
some skepticism due to past ads that were seen as
guilt-inducing.
19Reducing Hunger
- Hunger messages tend to score better than poverty
messages, although these two topics are often
linked in messages. It may work better to break
out these themes. - Addressing hunger consistently comes up near the
top of reasons why the US should be involved in
humanitarian and development assistance. - Poverty and hunger have recently been linked with
stability themes i.e., these are the root
causes of desperation and instability in the
world. Also often coupled with self-sufficiency
goals. - The challenge is that the public does not believe
it is possible to eliminate hunger it is not
believable. They will shut down when goals of
assistance seem unachievable. - Links to domestic hunger make messages even more
powerful i.e., that you are seeking to reduce
hunger here as well as in poor countries.
Bottom-Line It is possible to develop strong
messages about fighting hunger. This remains a
primary goal of humanitarian/development
assistance for the public. However, there are
challenges. These messages can seem old. Many
do not see that progress has been made. Also, do
not over promise in messages many do not
believe eliminating hunger is a realistic goal.
20Improving Global Health
- Health is a positive framework to discuss
humanitarian assistance global health is seen
as a value in and of itself. Improving the
health of children is particularly important
Americans do not like hearing the large number of
children who die from preventable diseases,
orphaned by AIDS, etc. - Vaccination programs, providing medications,
helping communities have clean water, and health
education programs are appealing. - Messages about fighting AIDS are powerful.
However, the public has limited understanding of
other infectious diseases such as malaria. It
takes a crisis like that seen with SARS to get
the public to attend to these issues. - The challenge is the public has big gaps in
knowledge. Also find infectious diseases like
SARS threatening can be challenging building
messages around these themes. Lastly, domestic
debate about healthcare and medications can
derail the message.
Bottom-Line A variety of global health messages
score well, although messages about childrens
health score best. Big gaps in knowledge media
coverage is episodic and fear based SARS, West
Nile, Mad Cow, etc. AIDS dominate public health
concerns. Public needs to learn more.
21Moving to Action
22Is It Possible to Move People to Act?
- This is a gap in the polling research there is
a need to show real action as a result of
messages and campaigns. - However, individual NGOs and others have
experienced success in using grassroots efforts
and other mobilizing techniques to prompt
Americans to take specific actions. This
presentation does not include those insights. - It is also important to note that calls to action
work best when targeted to an energized segment
of the population whether that is frequent
church goers or college students, it is best to
target. - Some studies reviewed show that messages can
increase the number of people who say they are
likely to take some action. - Likelihood to take action is closely tied to
efficacy can US assistance make a difference on
a global problem? Can an individual make a
difference? - Of note, many studies show a strong sense of
efficacy among Americans most feel that certain
kinds of assistance can be very effective
(disaster relief, basic education, teaching
skills).
23Is It Possible to Move People to Act?
- In the D.A.T.A. focus groups in April 2004
messages that challenged Americans to do more
and not stay on the sidelines while others
suffer fell flat. It is important to note that
many Americans may resist assertions that they
are passive. - Indeed, it is likely that many Americans already
help poor countries through their churches,
charitable donations, school projects, and other
efforts. They are doing something. - The challenge may be that they consider these
efforts to be personal, private, and
faith-related not political. There is a need
to link these private actions to the political
realm. They need to see that the problems are so
large they require a greater commitment by the
American government in addition to what
individuals are doing. - Thus, while Americans may have a strong sense of
personal efficacy when in comes to those private,
individual acts of charity, their sense of their
political efficacy on these issues may be
underdeveloped.
24Better Safer World
Better Safer World (Sep/Dec 2003) found on a
number of measures Des Moines respondents said
they were more likely to take action after an ad
campaign/grassroots efforts. This project did a
before poll in September and a poll after the ad
campaign/grassroots efforts in December.
Percent very likely to take action.
25Following are the detailed responses from that
pollNow I am going to read you a list of
actions that some people might take to help make
a difference in developing countries and for each
one please tell me how likely it is that you
would personally take that action.
Better Safer World
Post Survey change in Very Likely
- Urge Congress and other elected officials to
fully fund the President's initiative to combat
AIDS around the world. - Urge Presidential candidates to sign a pledge to
do more to fight world hunger. - Donate 25 to help drill a well to provide clean
drinking water and better health for a community
in a developing country. - Log on to a web site to learn what others are
doing and get ideas for what you and your family
can do in helping to build a better safer world.
- Sign a petition supporting efforts to fight world
hunger and poverty. - Make a personal contribution to an effective
non-governmental organization working to fight
poverty and hunger in developing countries
26Better Safer World
The poll found that not only were Des Moines
respondents more likely to take action, they were
also more likely to think actions matter. In
particular, there was an increase in their
feelings about the efficacy of contacting
Congress and the Presidential candidates.
Percent who think very likely action will help
people.
27Following are the detailed responses from that
pollNow I am going to read you a list of
actions that some people might take to help make
a difference in developing countries and for each
one please tell me how likely it is that this
action would help people in poor and developing
countries,- very likely, somewhat likely, not
very likely, or not at all likely
Better Safer World
Post Survey of Change
- Urge Presidential candidates to sign a pledge to
do more to fight world hunger. - Urge Congress and other elected officials to
fully fund the President's initiative to combat
AIDS around the world. - Make a personal contribution to an effective
non-governmental organization working to fight
poverty and hunger in developing countries - Donate 25 to help drill a well to provide clean
drinking water and better health for a community
in a developing country. - Sign a petition supporting efforts to fight world
hunger and poverty. - Log on to a web site to learn what others are
doing and get ideas for what you and your family
can do in helping to build a better safer world.
28In a three-month period the Better Safer World
website went from a brand new website to a site
averaging 630 page views a day and about 57
unique visitors per day. This is an indicator
that the public can be driven to a website on
humanitarian/development assistance through the
use of PR, advertising, news coverage, and on the
ground activities.
Better Safer World
- Page views
- Average of page views per day
- Average number of page views per unique visitor
- Total number of unique visitors
- Visitors with one visit
- Visitors with more than one visit
58,023 630 11 4,433 3,599 834
29Other Insights Into Action and Efficacy
- InterAction (Dec 2003) found that voters
acknowledge that some of their goals for foreign
assistance may not be achievable. While
preventing terrorism is their top foreign
assistance goal (80), they believe that foreign
assistance can be more effective achieving other
kinds of goals like disaster relief, teaching
basic skills, promoting education, and feeding
the hungry. - WGBH (Jan 2004) found that most people disagree
that the worlds health problems are too
difficult to solve (65 disagree). The survey
also found that 53 disagree that what they do in
their own life does not impact what happens to
other people around the world, while 45 agree
with this statement. - Better Safer World (Dec 2003) found that most
people disagree with the notion that there is
nothing they can do to help poor and developing
countries (70 disagree in pre-campaign poll 77
disagree in post-campaign poll) the ad campaign
and grassroots efforts actually increased the
sense of efficacy on these issues for Des Moines
residents.
30Challenges and Conflicts in the Data
31US Foreign Assistance Budget
- Here is what the polls say
- WGBH poll (Jan 2004) found that 73 are very much
in favor (25) or somewhat in favor (48) of the
US giving economic assistance to help other
countries (when that question was asked in 2000,
that number was only 55 -- there has been an 18
increase in favorability). -
- InterAction (Dec 2003) found that even after
hearing messages about the importance for
assistance, 51 support keeping humanitarian
assistance at the same levels, while 21 want to
increase it while 24 want to decrease it. - In the Peter Hart poll for CARE (Mar 2002), 41
believe the US spends too much money on foreign
assistance for problems overseas and to help
people in other countries, while 32 feel we
spend the right amount and 16 feel we spend too
little. - PIPA found (in 2001) that the publics desire to
decrease humanitarian and development assistance
over the past five years had decreased to a
minority position (40). These polls show strong
support for the principle of giving humanitarian
and development assistance but a continuation of
the publics overestimation of the budget causes
them to want to reduce it. - Better World Campaign (McInturff/Drake Aug 2002)
found that telling people the actual amount the
US gives in international assistance makes a big
difference in their attitudes about it. In their
survey, of those NOT told the actual foreign
assistance budget, 50 wanted to keep the budget
the same, 33 wanted to decrease it, and 13
wanted to increase it. However, of those TOLD
that the US gives less than 1 on international
assistance, 44 wanted to keep it the same, only
12 wanted to cut the budget, and now 37 wanted
to increase it. Thus, the number of those
calling for cuts in the budget decreases when
they learn the actual amount we give.
32US Foreign Assistance Budget
- The Peter Hart survey for CARE (Mar 2002) found
it was possible to create an effective message
for increasing the foreign assistance budget -
- In response, 79 say they support this proposed
increase in foreign assistance (40 strongly
support and 39 somewhat support) -
Last week President Bush announced a proposal
for the US to increase its support for developing
countries around the world by 10 billion dollars
over the next three years. The money would be
used for such things as improving education for
students, helping businesses find new markets for
goods, developing new ways to grow more food, and
fighting AIDS. This assistance would go only to
poor countries that adopt sound economic policies
and root out corruption in their countries.
33Fighting Terrorism
- Here is what the polls say
- March 17, 2004 Gallup poll found Terrorism is
fourth top issue facing the country today (after
economy, jobs, and War in Iraq) and continues to
be at the top of the national agenda. - InterAction (Dec 2003) found preventing
terrorism to be the top goal of foreign
assistance (selected by 80 of respondents).
However, fewer believe that humanitarian and
development assistance can succeed in achieving
this goal (64 feel the US can succeed with this
goal, far below other goals like assisting people
dealing with natural disasters, 85). - Peter Harts survey for CARE (Mar 2002) found
that 80 of voters agree with the statement,
Although poverty does not lead directly to
terrorist activities, when governments fail to
meet the most basic needs of their people, poor
nations can become havens for terrorists. - Greenberg/Public Opinion Strategies poll for
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (WorldView
2003) reports that 81 found the following
message to be convincing, Recent events prove
the need to work with other countries to combat
terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
34Conclusions
35Next Steps?
- Need to learn what messages break through the
clutter. - Need to delineate clear links between various
types of calls to action and the outcomes. - Need to broaden the discussion, use complementary
messages, and sustain communications (not
episodic). - Need to go beyond asking for donations and
pushing a legislative agenda (although both are
important) and invite Americans to take other
actions too. - Consider undertaking a coordinated campaign.