DEDAC: Designing Digital Advocacy Campaigns for Nonprofit Organisations

DEDAC

DIGITAL

ADVOCACY

CAMPAIGNS

for nonprofit organisations

Techniques and tools for youth workers

Presented by

DEDAC Consortium

Project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU

Grant Agreement no. 2020-1-IT03-KA105-018168

Acknowledgements

This handbook was developed in the scope of the "DeDAC:

Designing Digital Advocacy Campaigns" project, co-funded by the

Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union under the Grant

Agreement no. 2020-1-IT03-KA105-018168.

The DEDAC project was implemented by:

- Associazione Akira, Italy.

- Institute Perspectives, Bulgaria;

- ARVIS (AR Vocational and Investment

Solutions), Romania;

- Fundacja SMART, Poland;

- ProQvi, Sweden;

- Všį Inovacijų Biuras, Lithuania;

- Youth Empowerment Center, Greece.

Disclaimer

The content of this document does not reflect the official opinion of

the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views

expressed therein lies entirely with the author(s).

Contributors

Abariute Beatrice

Alexandru Alexandra-Maria

Andronic Tudor

Arnaudova Maya

Bartosinska Joanna

Bauder Tania

Cimpan Andrei

Di Gennaro Salvatore

Frostell Ameli

Gallo Gilberto

Georgiev Georgi

Koutsikakis Dimitrios

Kozeniauskaite Milda Kotryna

Kuytov Ahmed

Lykidou Eirini

Moraitou Aikaterini

Ordine Francesco

Ramanauskaite Ugne

Romanczak Karolina

Sawiki Krzysztof

Zhuoxu Jiang

© DEDAC Consortium, 2022.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0

International License. You are free to copy, share, adapt, use the material for noncommercial

purposes, as long as you meet the following conditions: Attribution:

You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if

changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way

that suggests that the Right to Remain endorses you or your use. NonCommercial:

You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 2

WHAT IS ADVOCACY? 4

SUCCESSFUL PRACTICES 5

Successful Practices from Italy 5

Successful Practices from Bulgaria 7

Successful Practices from Poland 12

Successful Practices from Greece 16

Successful Practices from Sweden 18

Successful Practices from Lithuania 19

Successful Practices from Romania 25

STRATEGIES AND TOOLS 32

Defining the problem 32

Understanding the needs of our target groups 33

Setting our goals 35

The message: the power of a story 37

A unique journey 37

SAMPLE CAMPAIGNS 40

DIGITAL ADVOCACY CAMPAIGNS FOR NONPROFIT ORGANISATIONS 1

INTRODUCTION

This publication aims at presenting the results of the

Erasmus+ project DeDAC - Designing Digital Advocacy

Campaigns, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the

European Union under the Grant Agreement no.2020-1-

IT03-KA105-018168. The project was implemented by

seven nonprofit organisations from Bulgaria, Greece, Italy,

Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Sweden: Akira, AR

Vocational and Investment Solutions (ARVIS), Fundacja na

rzecz edukacji - SMART, ProQvi, Institute Perspectives, Vsi

Inovaciju Biuras and Youth Empowerment Center.

DEDAC aimed to improve the quality of work of youth

organisations and youth workers, equipping them with the

skills and methods for their professional development in the

field of digital youth work and digital communication, in

particular, today more than ever needed to intercept young

people, transfer to them the common fundamental values of

our society and prevent their violent radicalisation. The

main activity has been a training course, in which youth

workers have been able to acquire new tools and skills and

share experiences, knowledge and good practices on digital

advocacy through non-formal education activities and indepth

thematic sessions with digital specialists.

The project's general objective was to provide youth

workers and nonprofit organisations with the knowledge,

skills, and abilities necessary to structure digital advocacy

campaigns to increase their opportunities to reach,

empower, and motivate young people.

The specific objectives of the project were the following:

• to improve the digital skills of youth workers to

strengthen their ability to bring positive changes within

their organisations and communities;

• to improve the quality of work of organisations and

youth workers, to intercept young people who are

difficult to reach and better respond to the needs of

individuals;


• to strengthen the potential and capacity of youth

organisations to use online activism as a tool to

empower young people;

• to provide practical knowledge and strategies to youth

workers on how to use the tools and the potential of

digital in youth work;

• to increase the international dimension of the

organisations involved.

The main activity of the project was a four-day training

course, held in Naples, Italy, in March 2022. The course

involved 21 participants from 7 European countries, such as

youth workers, youth leaders and youth project managers

of the involved organisations interested in developing new

digital practices, motivated to actively participate in training

activities, sharing experiences and learning from others, and

motivated and committed to participating for the entire

duration of the project, from preparation to implementation

and evaluation of the digital initiatives in the follow-up. The

training course combined non-formal educational activities

facilitated by an expert from the host organisation with indepth

thematic sessions with a digital specialist.

The project allowed participants to:

• increase knowledge of digital tools and strategies to be

used in their work with young people, with a humancentered

approach;

• enhance monitoring and evaluation skills of activities,

processes and initiatives;

• improve soft skills, such as problem-solving, creativity,

social and communication skills, team working.

The organisations involved were able to increase their

capacity to integrate online activism and digital advocacy

campaigns into their activities, broaden their range of action

in achieving their objectives and operate more effectively in

their awareness and information initiatives/activities.


WHAT IS

ADVOCACY?

Advocacy is a process or a way to bring about positive

change. Particularly, when we talk about advocacy we

refer to:

a process aimed at changing policies, but also

the practices and attitudes of people and

institutions or companies.

According to Barkhorn, Huttner and Blau, “access to

those who decide on the issue, a policy window, the ability to

elaborate and a dynamic and practical solution, an action plan

for the objectives, and a strong leader capable of governing are

needed. the campaign, widespread support from the reference

communities, a capacity for public mobilisation, a clear advocacy

plan shared among all the actors in the campaign 1 ”.

Therefore, Advocacy is about:

● Changing attitudes, behaviour and knowledge;

● Changing or shaping policy;

● Changing how people do things;

● Doing something bigger than just project work 2 .

1 Informing and inspiring leaders of social change, Stanford Social Innovation Review, spring 2013.

2 One Step Beyond: Advocacy handbook for young people and children, Kapell Alana, 2008.


SUCCESSFUL

PRACTICES

This chapter introduces the successful practices of digital

advocacy campaigns identified by the participants in the

training course.

Successful Practices from Italy

#Milionidipassi

#Milionidipassi was a campaign launched by Medici Senza

Frontiere (Doctors Without Borders) that brought to Italian

squares the story of the long journeys of people fleeing from

war zones.

"Through personal experience you really get a sense of what

these journeys mean. The intent of the campaign is to give

a human face to these stories, to put oneself in the shoes of

others. The effect was very strong, people took off their

visor with a different awareness", explained Annalaura

Anselmi, head of fundraising for the Italian section of the

humanitarian organisation active in almost 70 countries.

During #Milionidipassi, the volunteers of DWB collected

over 35,500 signatures in less than six months to support

migrants.

The campaign was born from the work of the photographer

Shannon Jensen who photographed the shoes of Sudanese

refugees on the run. Drawing inspiration from her work, the

campaign was linked to the story of millions of steps taken

by

• people fleeing from war, poverty and violence,

• humanitarian organizations that intervene everywhere

to help them, and

• public opinion of citizens who can intervene with their

support, and making their voices heard with a signature


or posting a photo of their shoes, thus making their

footsteps.

Website:

https://www.medicisenzafrontiere.it/partecipa/campagne/mi

lionidipassi-il-racconto-della-campagna/


Successful Practices from Bulgaria

Let’s clean Bulgaria in one day

The largest volunteer digital advocacy campaign in Bulgaria

started in 2011 under the name “Let’s clean Bulgaria in one

day". During specified days since 2011 young volunteers

coordinate the actions in the 28 districts of Bulgaria. The

information is initiated and disseminated through one of the

most watched TV channels and a Facebook page, which

contains photos, information and a map to mark the cleared

green areas.

The following year the motto was improved to "Let's clean

Bulgaria together" and continued to be run by bTV Media

Group, implementing regular announcements and

dissemination via social media. The events are defined as the

largest volunteer initiative in Bulgaria, which aims to build

public awareness on environmental issues and make Bulgaria

cleaner, greener and beautiful in the long run. The

emblematic campaign ranks Bulgaria a leader in Green policy

campaigns among the countries with the best volunteer

practices in environmental care in the world.

Based on the results achieved in the thousands of actions

for cleaning, upgrading and afforestation in 2019, the

initiative received global recognition for uniting the largest

number of volunteers per capita involved in the green idea

- 6.2%, among 180 countries participating in the great

cleansing of the planet World Clean Up Day.

In a pandemic situation, in 2020 and 2021 the initiative did

not focus on setting records within a single date, but

continues to call for good examples every day. In an

emergency period, bTV Media Group continued to

disseminate the ideas for pure waters, pure soil and pure air


to thousands of volunteers to take part in initiatives for

cleaning the environment.

As part of the global civic movement “Let's Do It, World”,

the initiative will continue to support the efforts of

volunteers and promote a variety of opportunities to

improve the living environment. The call to celebrate

September 19 - World Clean Up Day 2020 - was to hold

small individual and family campaigns to clean gardens and

favourite places for relaxation, to organise family picnics

with zero waste and volunteers to clean the spaces around

their homes and make them more attractive.

The campaign was organised by bTV Media Group and

advertised on the TV channel 3 time per day. The organisers

intercepted and engaged young people and children to unite

the efforts of all in cleaning their communities and re-create

open spaces for relaxation.

A mascot – “ZELENKO”, meaning Green guy, was used to

attract the attention of the general public. appeal to the

emotions of people of all ages and motivate them to become

part of the initiative. It appeared during the campaigns and

the children were very happy to take pictures with him.

The largest volunteer action for cleaning is 16 km of route

(Arabakonak - Bebresh Dam). Try to leave every place

cleaner than you found it! The Mascot was also used as a

logo of the campaigns combined with appealing messages.

In 2021 the initiative "Let's clean Bulgaria together" was

actually part of Institute Perspectives’ new social project

"The Good Example". The initiative started in May and

continued until September, dedicated to the World Day for

cleaning. The persistent information and images attracted

more people.


Facebook page where the photos and videos of the events

were uploaded:

https://www.facebook.com/daizchistim/

https://btvnovinite.bg/predavania/tazi-sutrin/pochisti-samgrupa-mladezhi-opakovaha-boklucite-ot-cjalpark.html?fbclid=IwAR2PuxJiGEXeu_NwN_kPg6exsHiJjtrY

d2AKDg7pA49el8ri6dzNkzAtk1s

There were organised school competitions – children

drawings depicting the environment. The adventures of the

beloved by young and old mascot Zelenko and his friends

from the interactive comics "Zelenko and Mission" The

Good Example inspired the young artists to prove that

creativity and good deeds can go hand in hand.

The fans of online communication had the opportunity to

get a new collection of original and fresh Viber stickers, in

which the main character is the beloved mascot of "The

Good Example" - Zelenko. The new 12 animated

illustrations can be downloaded for free until the end of the

year and are inspired by important topics such as care for

nature and water resources, beautification of favourite


recreation areas, planting trees, rescuing animals in distress,

road tolerance and more.

Since the beginning of "Let's Clean Bulgaria Together",

nearly 2,500,000 volunteers, armed with gloves and sacks,

have cleaned the country. According to the Ministry of

Ecology, they managed to collect 94,338 tons of waste,

which is equivalent to over 200 fully loaded Boeing 747

aircraft, and to remove over 18,800 dumps from the face of

Bulgaria.

There is a big change - the children who already notice

where and how others throw their waste; the adults who

educate them more and more purposefully in caring for

nature and the places where we live. "Let's clean Bulgaria

together" is an opportunity to set a good example - for all

of us, for children, for Bulgarian nature.

When the members of the Association Institute

Perspectives, Bulgaria participate in campaigns for cleaning

the environment they are inspired by the beauty and

richness of Bulgarian nature and believe that "green"

communications and good example are increasingly

important for society and can contribute both to clean

Bulgaria together and to lasting change in the attitude

towards the cause of a clean environment.

Youths from Institute Perspectives believe that by setting a

good example, the biggest volunteer action will exert

influence on adolescents and build a strong connection

between them and the environment, which will grow into a

social commitment to its protection and love for the

homeland.

The campaign united many different people and destinies in

one cause - to make their city a place where love and unity


are the driving force. Student exchanges and campaigns in

which young people participate provide a basis for

motivation and faith in youth societies, which are also

among the most active citizens in the event. The initiative

"Let's clean Bulgaria together" is and will continue to be a

key reason for public unification.

Association “Institute Perspectives” participated in the

events from 2011 by cleaning the banks of the river Danube,

motivating and engaging the youths to become digital

heralds of the campaign.

In 2021 the activities of “Let’s clean Bulgaria together” were

transformed into a three-day international event for

dissemination of the EU Green Deal and BAUHAUS ideas.

We got involved in the campaign via our Europe for citizens’

project Alternative Green Areas For Rural Europe

(AGARE). The aim of the event was to raise awareness

about the European Green Deal stressing the importance of

ecosystem services, social commitment of the members of

the local authority, European partnership and joint actions

for improving the EU integration policies and new

regulations for the implementation of the European Green

Deal.


Successful Practices from Poland

The Colours of Life

The Colours of Life is a project implemented by Fundacja

SMART. In this project the organisation seeks to make

young people aware of the importance of taking care of their

mental and physical health, increase their knowledge about

various diseases that affect youth and indicate how they can

take care of it and draw attention to the importance of the

aspect of tolerance of the sick person by the peer

environment.

The project’s goals are:

1. increasing awareness of the need to take care of your

own health

2. learning what it is and how to care for well-being

3. encouraging young people to take up physical activity

4. teach young people to be tolerant of people who are in

worse health.

The campaign is based on targeted communication regarding

one disease every month: month represents one disease and

each month is assigned one representative colour.


For example:

“Marzec” means “March” and this month is dedicated to

Down disease and the colour that represents this month is

rainbow. Additionally, socks are an attribute of this month.

This association aims at enabling young people to focus

throughout the month on familiarising themselves with the

topic about a given disease and can focus only on it to get to

know it well. Practising with colours also helps to stimulate

the imagination and associations and involve young people in

the project by, for example, wearing clothes in a given

colour.

The school where the project is carried out is also filled with

colours, posters, curiosities and slogans dedicated to a

specific disease in a given month. In a given month young

people has classes with specialists, for example: a

psychologist or dietitian. Young people take part in

workshops where they talk about diseases.


This information and every activity are posted on the

Foundation's website. Because we want to share our work

and we want it to reach as many young people as possible,

because it is a very important topic that young people often

ignore.

In addition to the website, the organisation uses Facebook

and Instagram to reach young people.


On Instagram and FB, in addition to current activities, every

Tuesday and Thursday the Foundation share interesting facts

about a given disease.

To make their campaign more successful, they combined

digital tools with the activation of young people, to interact

with them and involve them in the topic.

At the end of the month, young people have a small quiz

related to these interesting facts. In class, students use useful

applications to play a quiz. Thanks to this, young people

follow the Foundation’s social media throughout the month

to be up-to-date with interesting facts and knowledge about

a given disease.


Successful Practices from Greece

GIVMED

GIVMED is a non-governmental organisation founded in

2016. It aims to give vulnerable people access to medicine.

GIVMED is the linking ring between people that have

medicine that are not going to be used or medicine that is

going to expire and people in need.

GIVMED’s main idea was that much medicine would finally

go to the bin in Greece. At the same moment, some other

people cannot afford it. This phenomenon is

environmentally hazardous and financially unsustainable. So,

to solve this problem, they designed a digital platform to

present it to the society and raise awareness about it.

Moreover, through it someone can donate his medicine and

share his experience with others.

Why is GIVMED successful?

GIVMED has existed for 5 years and has accomplished to

collect 255.034 packages of medicine costing 2.535.160€

through 146 donation spots and give it to people who truly

need it.

What are the successful elements of this campaign?

1. The simplicity as well as the functionality of its digital

platform. Its webpage is simple, minimalistic,

describes what the problem is with references in

certain scientific research and numbers showing the


phenomenon gets bigger and bigger in

Greece(https://givmed.org/el/)

2. The digital platform hosts a section where donors

share their experience, opinions and emotions after

contributing to the project making more people to

act.

3. Everyone can donate their medicine by just one

click.

4. The campaign was boosted through a short moving

video transferring many messages, available at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOoojXfLhC0.

5. GIVMED’s logo is a heart-shaped icon making easily

understood is about an organisation helping people

and saving lives.

6. GIVMED’s webpage hosts a FAQ section with simple

and reasonable questions a visitor could have and

their answer below. This way, visitors have a clear

view of the importance of the project and their

contribution to it.

7. They also organise online meetings with other

organisations and NGOS in order to inform and

motivate more people to participate in the

campaign.


Successful Practices from Sweden

Greta Thunberg Case

Greta Thunberg’s activism began on 20 August 2018, when she

was attending the ninth grade of a school in Stockholm, Greta

decided not to go to school until the general election on 9

September 2018. The decision to do so came about in the face of

the exceptional heat waves and unprecedented forest fires that

hit her country over the summer. She wanted the Swedish

government to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as required by

the Paris Agreement on climate change and sat in front of the

Swedish parliament every day during school hours. Her slogan

was Skolstrejk för klimatet (School Climate Strike).

Even in the aftermath of the election, Greta continued to

demonstrate every Friday, thus launching the international

student movement Fridays for Future. She participated in the Rise

for Climate demonstration in front of the European Parliament in

Brussels and spoke at the demonstration organised by Extinction

Rebellion in London (31 October 2018). His Friday strike

attracted media attention in several nations and similar

demonstrations were organised in other countries, including the

Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Finland, Denmark and Australia. In

Australia thousands of students were inspired by her to go on

strike on Friday, ignoring the call of their prime minister Scott

Morrison, who told Parliament "what we want is learning in

schools and less activism".

On 25 January 2019, she gave a very tough speech at the World

Economic Forum in Davos, aimed at conveying the panic that

should be felt in the face of climate change. In the following

months, she spoke at other events in several European cities,

some of which received some media attention.

Greta Thunberg has inspired a large number of her peers in what

has been called the “Greta effect”. In response to her clear

stance, several politicians have recognised the need to focus on

climate change.


Successful Practices from Lithuania

BLUE YELLOW Lithuanian NGO

Prehistory of the Russian war in Ukraine

In the last few months in the world media, the Russian war

in Ukraine became the epicentre of discussions. Russia

before the beginning of the war was escalating its troops on

the Ukrainian border in Belarus, recalled its diplomats from

Kyiv, and launched the construction of hospitals in Luhansk

and Donetsk. V. Putin was preparing for the war months in

advance and proclaimed the ultimatum for the West to not

involve itself in any actions on behalf of Ukraine.

Why is Lithuania concerned?

Lithuania was affected more by the war in Ukraine than

other countries for several reasons:

1. Ukraine is a neighbour of Lithuania, separated only by

Belarus (see map below). As a result, e.g. In the event of

a nuclear war, Lithuania be in danger

2. Lithuania, like Ukraine, has common neighbours - Belarus

and Russia. For this reason, many see the same threat of

war in Lithuania (Putin's troops could also occupy

Lithuania from Belarus or the Kaliningrad region).

Lithuanians fear that with the fall of Ukraine, Lithuania

could become the next target, therefore Lithuanians are

interested in helping Ukraine.

3. Ukrainians that live in Lithuania are concerned

4. Back in history, Lithuania has also experienced Russian

aggression and Soviet Union occupation, therefore

Lithuanians can relate to what Ukrainians are

experiencing right now.

NGO “BLUE-YELLOW”

This organisation was founded in 2014 during the

occupation of Crimea. It has supported Ukraine’s armed

resistance since 2014. The organisation provides non-lethal

means to Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers, thus helping to


combat Russian aggression. BLUE-YELLOW organisation is

international, it employs people from Lithuania, Ukraine,

Sweden, Germany, the USA, Canada, Poland, and other

countries. Aid is provided to the soldiers, volunteers, and

territorial defence forces fighting for Ukraine’s freedom.

The raised money at the moment is used to buy helmets,

optics, NVD, tactical medicine, vehicles, bulletproof vests,

drones, and clothes. The name of this organisation is

symbolic - it is the colour of the Ukrainian flag.

Financial Support

There are several ways BLUE-YELLOW collects financial

support:

1. public support concerts (held in 2017, 2018, 2019),

during which approx. 340 thousand euros were

collected

2. one-time/monthly support by bank transfer or

cryptocurrencies;

3. business support (when the company allocates a part of

the profit/income to the organization).

Digital advocacy via Facebook

In order to reach more people and spread the message in a

more effective way, BLUE-YELLOW is actively using social

media tools, mainly Facebook.


Here the users can get all the relevant information on how

to donate money, clothes, technical equipment, and other

means of support to the people of Ukraine. The page has

both practical information for citizens who would like to

help and also video clips, interviews, and photos of the

current situation in Ukraine.

Official BLUE-YELLOW Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/blueyellowforukraine/

Digital advocacy via Instagram

On its Instagram channel, BLUE-YELLOW NGO spread the

most important information related to the war and

Lithuania's support for Ukraine. Here we can see where our

support goes. For example in the post below we can see a

Ukrainian war doctor with aid, which was bought from the

money collected by BLUE-YELLOW. We think that financial

transparency is one of the reasons, why people donate to

BLUE-YELLOW.


Official NGO BLUE-YELLOW Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/blue.yellow.ukraine.war/

BLUE-YELLOW support from other companies

It is the main NGO in Lithuania, which collects aid from

people. 10 million euros were collected in just one week!

As we already mentioned, not only people, but companies

donate money as well. They create new products for people


to buy and donate some money to BLUE-YELLOW from

the profit they received from these items.

Some examples are below:

• Slipper makers ŠLEPETIJA UAB make special slippers

with famous Ukrainian war phrases and all the profit from

these slippers donate to BLUE-YELLOW NGO

(https://slepetija.lt/en/home/118-slippers-made-of-naturalmaterials-ukraine-we-are-with-you.html).

• А famous bar +++ sell some special badges for 5 euro

and all the money from these badges will be for Ukrainian

war refugees, who fled to Lithuania:


Conclusions

Lithuanian NGO BLUE-YELLOW is a perfect example of a

successful and effective digital advocacy campaign. While

using social media tools, such as Facebook and Instagram,

this NGO has gathered a lot of support and mobilised

people, who want to help Ukrainians. Notably, the

organisation is spreading awareness and functioning both as

a fundraiser, as well as an information and support channel.

NGO BLUE-YELLOW’s success story shows that for

worthwhile digital advocacy it is essential to have a clear and

powerful message with short, practical information and

visuals.


Successful Practices from Romania

Taking in consideration that advocacy is and will be an

important component of keeping the democracy alive and

that one of advocacy’s scopes is the fact that the society

may ensure that the authorities are doing their job

accordingly, as best practices in digital advocacy from

Romania, we identified the following:

1. The activity of Declic Community 3

The Declic Community is created from hundreds of

thousands of ordinary people living in Romania or the

diaspora. Currently, 1.160.654 active members are

campaigning for a fairer society.

The Declic campaigns are driven by the values of their

members, not politics. Declic is, and will always remain, an

independent community. The members of Declic

Community are from the most diverse backgrounds, and

what brings them together is their common belief in

fairness, compassion, and courage.

Since its launch, it has become the strongest community of

citizens in Romania. They are concerned about the natural

and social environment, they are concerned about

education, health, human rights, and democratic values.

Also, it is worth mentioning the fact that Declic is also the

first platform for petitions, appeals to action and online

activism created exclusively for Romania.

On what concerns the digital practices that Declic

Community is using when conducting their campaigns, in the

first place it is worth mentioning the fact that they have a

very user-friendly website whereby any interested person is

able to find information about their activities and campaigns.

Analysing their activity, we were able to find that on the

3 Information provided by Declic Community on their website: https://www.declic.ro/despre-comunitatea-declic/


second place, they managed to implement a very interesting

newsletter-system where for every campaign that they

conduct, an email will be sent to the members of the

community and afterwards, who is interested in that

subject, will be able to participate in that specific campaign

by donating money for that specific campaign (usually they

need this for buying specific materials or for advertising the

matter), or by simply being there when they are needed.

Needless to say that Declic Community has in place very

well organised and managed accounts on social media

platforms where they also promote the activity of the

organisation.

On what concerns the petitions, any interested person may

use their website to initiate a petition on a matter that is of

interest. More specifically, it enables citizens, organisations

and initiative groups to launch and manage their own

campaigns, providing the necessary tools to maintain

contact with signatories and organise events. According to

their website, if one has an idea of how the city, the

community, or even the whole country needs to chance,

that is the place where they can find support for that specific

campaign.

In what follows, we are going to present 3 of Declic

Community’s campaigns, that they conducted by means of

the digital practices presented above.

1.1. “Roșia Montană: testul lui Ludovic Orban”

(In English, “Roșia Montană: Ludovic Orban’s test”) 4

In January 2020, Declic Community conducted this

campaign about the inclusion of Roșia Montană in the

UNESCO Heritage.

For ease of reference:

● Roșia Montană represents an important area of Romania

4 https://www.declic.ro/rosia-montana-testul-lui-ludovic-orban/


where we can find a lot of cultural and natural resources.

One of the most important facts about this area is the

possibility of mining gold. It became popular in the past,

when a partially-foreign company tried to start mining gold

in that area in a way that was very harmful for the

environment.

● Ludovic Orban is the former Prime Minister of Romania.

The campaign was about the fact that the Government,

through the Prime Minister was very close to the deadline

for submission of a letter confirming the reinitiation of the

procedure for inclusion of Roșia Montană in the UNESCO

Heritage, in order for this area of Romania to be protected.

The situation seemed like the Government was going to

miss the deadline for submission.

In order to raise awareness regarding this matter, they were

planning to broadcast on a very large building from the

centre of Bucharest a message directly addressed to the

Prime Minister saying “Ludovic Orban, are you going to

betray us”. In order for this to be possible, they advertised

the campaign and they conducted a fundraising via the

newsletter and social media.

1.2. Supporting for “The protest of the

magistrates” 5

This campaign was conducted when the Government of

Romania passed a law that had some significant impacts on

the justice system from Romania. Being directly affected, a

large number of magistrates (judges and prosecutors) from

Romania have decided to organise a protest whereby they

stopped in some ways a part of their activity (excluding

some important and urgent matters).

Declic Community supported this protest by promoting it

on its social media accounts. Also, they created a lot of

5 https://www.declic.ro/alaturi-de-magistrati/


advertising materials (flyers, Facebook covers, Facebook

stickers for profile pictures that everybody was able to use).

After conducting this campaign, a lot of individuals from

Romania decided to support the protest of the magistrates.

1.3. “Vrem o lege antiviol care să protejeze

copiii!” (in English, “We want an anti-rape law to

protect children!”) 6

Another campaign that Declic Community conducted

started from the fact that the legislation from Romania

regarding the protection against sexual acts with minors

(people under 18 years old) at some point, could be

interpreted in some ways that conducted in punishments

that were considered by the community to be clemently or

easy. In this way, there were some specific cases when some

sexual acts with minors that may have been considered rape

acts (due to the age of the minor and the impossibility to

express an adequate consent for the sexual act) were

punished in an inappropriate way.

The scope of this campaign was to force the Romanian

Parliament to pass a law pursuant to which any sexual act

conducted with minors under 16 of age to be considered

rape. In this way, the children will be more protected.

6 https://www.declic.ro/campaign/vrem-o-lege-anti-viol-care-sa-protejeze-copiii/


The main objective of this campaign was to organise a

protest in front of the Parliament’s building while the lawmakers

were debating this law. They organised this protest

also by fundraising, and with the respective funds they paid

an artist who created a statue which represents a female

child crying, who holds a toy in her hands and has hands of

male men on her feet and on the holder of the statue.

Declic advertised this campaign and conducted the

fundraising on social media and in their newsletter.

2. Ștefan Mandachi’s movement about highways

Taking in consideration that the 3 participants from

Romania at DeDAC Erasmus+ are from the same city of

Romania, they agreed to present a best practice in digital

advocacy found in a campaign conducted by one person

from their hometown.

In the northern region of Romania, the road infrastructure

has been missing for years and that’s a very frustrating thing

for drivers who want to get from one end of the country to

the other quickly and safely.

Ștefan Mandachi is a Romanian businessman, who owns a

hotel and restaurant chain.


This above-mentioned lack made him take the initiative and

he started an online information campaign about the

situation of Moldova on the Romanian road map. In 2019,

he built a symbolic metre of highway as a protest against the

Government.

What helped him win the support of thousands of people is

the online advertising. He probably had a solid advertising

team behind him, because he managed to conquer even the

international public with the advertisement he made. About

the situation in Romania international newspaper such as

BBC 7 and Euronews 8 wrote articles.

What did Ștefan Mandachi do?

First of all, a massive online campaign to make its goal visible

on social networks. Starting from its own Facebook and

Instagram page, the campaign continued with thousands of

informational posts and promotional videos. The campaign

quickly won the sympathy of Romanians who dreamed of

having highways not only in this region, but throughout the

country. To be clear, from the moment he started the

actions to promote the "Romania wants highways"

movement, Ştefan Mandachi declared that he does not do

politics, but he cannot fail to state that all those who are

guilty of the lack of highways in Romania are leading this

country.

7 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-

47582694.amp?fbclid=IwAR1XSeTVZC79hRSf3rL0MX35DsyuQUmR5u7rPFXwOvJFQQP_nY3YQ4i1Y50

8 https://www.euronews.com/amp/2019/03/15/romanian-businessman-builds-world-s-shortesthighway?fbclid=IwAR0bXEyjwJ_kA5a6mmsg1S9Hm214Pc5TtFArRXdiPI1kcLArgqILOzoqnvg


Secondly, he launched a 15-minutes protest in which the

whole country stopped working in solidarity with his cause.

People took a 15-minute break from work, restaurants

didn't serve for 15 minutes, cars and buses blocked traffic

for 15 minutes. Millions of Romanians shouted "ȘÎ EU"

(which is Romanian phrase for “mee too” but pronounced

with the specific accent that people who live in northern

region of Romania have) in solidarity with the alarm signal

sounded by Ştefan Mandachi regarding the lack of a modern

road infrastructure, but also the large number of accidents

that occur due to this situation. The whole protest had a

huge impact and the national and international press

exploded.


STRATEGIES AND

TOOLS

Defining the problem

Where to start for good basic planning?

The definition of the problem we want to solve, investigating

its causes and studying a possible resolution could be our

starting point.

How? Creating a real map of who could be our allies and

adversaries: map all the stakeholders

The identified problem and the possible resolution must be

placed in the context analysis (with particular attention to what

are the resistances towards the change we want to achieve).

Our steps:

1. Identify the problem;

2. Gather information;

3. Make a decision;

4. Plan;

5. Take action;

6. Evaluate.


Understanding the needs of our

target groups

To better understand the needs of our target groups,

segmentation is necessary.

Segmentation is done from the following point of views

● geographical (contexts, privileges and culture are assessed);

● socio-demographic (gender, age, profession, instruction,

income, religion);

● psychographic (personality, lifestyle, work, activities,

interests, opinions and choices);

● behavioural (habits, behaviours and repeating actions).

The segmentation system has been overcome and the empathy

map tool is now used.

The empathy map is a collaborative tool that enables a shared

exploration of user profiles. The map is a tool that induces

participants to empathise with a user's experience.

Empathy maps consist of 5 sections:

1. think and feel - in this section participants are asked to

describe what the protagonist thinks, feels and fears about

the object/service under analysis. The key question to be

answered here is "what really matters to him/her?";

2. listens - In this section participants are asked to describe

how the protagonist feels about the product/service. The

key questions here are: "What does his wife say to him?

What does his best friend say? What does the expert say?";

3. sees - In this section participants imagine what the

protagonist feels about the product/service.


The key questions here are "What does he/she see in the

product? What does he see about the product/service that

strikes him?";

4. says and does - In this section, participants imagine what the

protagonist says.

The key questions here are: "What are the main phases of the

protagonist? What are the first actions about the product?

What does he do at the beginning?";

5. values - in this section participants imagine what makes the

protagonist happy.

The data retrieved in the research phase with users can be

complex, heterogeneous and sometimes confusing, the canvas

offered by the empathy map helps to find a common thread on

which to work together.


Setting our goals

In order to define our goals, we need a set of tools that allow

us to analyse whether the goals are in line with the plan.

The first of the tools is the WOOP:

● Wish - Identify a goal you want to achieve;

● Outcome - Visualise yourself achieving your goal;

● Obstacle - Visualise the potential obstacles preventing you

from reaching your goal;

● Plan - Plan meticulous solutions in advance for any visual

obstacles that may appear.

Another widely used tool is the OKR:

OKR stands for Objective and Key Results and is one of the

most popular organisational methodologies.

The cool thing about OKRs is that they allow you to give a single

direction and create alignment on objectives and deliverables

without wasting months setting up super complicated

procedures.

OK, but what are OKRs?

OKRs are your post-it note on the wall, allowing you to answer

questions every day:

● What should I do?

● What should I focus on?

● How far am I from my goal?

Objectives are the goal, telling you where to go.

Each Objective (O) has 3-5 Key Result (KR), the metrics that

tell you if you are getting there.


Last tool but not least is SMART:

1. Specific - Contain well-defined core objectives;

2. Measurable - Having a quantifiable element that acts as an

indicator of success;

3. Assignable or Achievable - Have a person designated for a

realistic and achievable task or goal Must work within the

capabilities of an individual or group taking into account time,

resources and priorities;

4. Relevant - must be a priority and the results must have value,

useful in terms of cost / opportunity;

5. In relation to Time - Have a set deadline for each goal.


The message: the power of a story

The message of any campaign, in order to be understandable

and successful, must have a number of characteristics:

● User insight - is the situation from which the story starts;

● Value proposition – it is the solution to the problem or the

answer to the need;

● Reasons to believe - the credibility of the proposal.

Furthermore:

1. It must be short (at most 5/8 words);

2. It must be easy to remember;

3. It has to be unique;

4. It must be made up of simple words or common expressions;

5. It must aim straight at the target and be easily understood;

6. It must be original.

A unique journey

The customer journey is the process that characterises the

interaction between consumer and company. This "journey",

which starts with the need for a product/service, ends with the

purchase. The various stages of the journey, online and offline,

are called touchpoints.

Five key moments of the customer journey have been

theorised:

Acquisition: the consumer, according to this model, is aware

that he can find in a product the solution to his problem or the

answer to his need. The product is made by one or more

companies and the consumer has become aware of it through

different channels;

Activation: the product becomes familiar and therefore

recognisable in the wide range of products on offer;

Retention: This is the phase in which the consumer has to

choose between different brands, with product characteristics


and price playing an important role. In this phase the consumer

searches for information;

Goal: the company achieves the first of its two major

objectives: after a period, which may be more or less short, it

has managed to turn a need into a purchase;

Advocate: the second objective, the one after the sale, is to

make the consumer loyal to the brand. The key role is played

by after-sales services, such as customer care, but the

company's ability to generate interest with related products

should not be underestimated.

Touchpoints (the points of contact between the customer and

the company) are scattered throughout the customer's possible

journey, starting from when he discovers the product, service

or brand (through the web, the recommendation of a friend or

the sight of a sign, for example). Already at this stage, the

customer has an experience and compares it to his own needs

and desires which may even be better understood by him during

this first 'encounter'. His journey can continue in the countless

touchpoints of the product or service evaluation phase, the

purchase phase, the use phase and the service phase.

It is therefore necessary to be clear about certain aspects of

touchpoints:


1. Spaces of interaction with the site (chat, interactive

pages...)

2. Email marketing (newsletters, promotions...)

3. Paid advertising campaigns (Facebook campaigns, Google

Ads)

4. Third-party reviews and opinions

Once the online interaction points have been identified, it is

necessary to carry out a detailed analysis of each access point.

In particular, three questions can be identified to be answered

for each touchpoint:

1. Who interacts on the touchpoint? Regular users or new

visitors?

2. What kind of interaction is collected (be it requests,

complaints or appreciations)? How often?

3. At what point in the customer journey does the touchpoint

lead?

This pattern can also be repeated for offline user interactions:

what matters is to know how users interact with your business.

In this regard, it is useful to maintain analytics tools for each

point in the customer journey. Tracking tools are typically used

with the aim of monitoring and adapting your content.


SAMPLE

CAMPAIGNS

This chapter collects the sample advocacy campaigns

developed by the participants to DEDAC’s training course.

Three sample campaigns were developed:

• WANTED, addressing the right for women over their

bodies, as stipulated at the UN Conferences in Cairo

(1994) and Beijing (1995);

• HEALTCHARE VOLUNTEERS, addressing the growing

demand for volunteers in the health sector;

• SPEAK UP, aimed at enhancing social dialogue around

matters and arguments of racism.


PROJECT #1 – WANTED

Presented by:

Andrei Cimpan

Aikaterini Moraitou

Ameli Frostell

Milda Kotryna Kozeniauskaite

Krzysztof Sawicki

Georgi Georgiev

Problem addressed: the World Health Organization

(WHO) estimates that 400 women and girls dies everyday

in the world because of unsecure abortion. The right to free

abortion in medical secure way is crucial for women health

and liberation. The fact that all women should have the right

over their bodies was stipulated at the UN Conferences in

Cairo (1994) and Beijing (1995).

Taking this issue at a European level, the first problem that

should be addressed by means of this campaign is the fact

that even though we are in 21st century, there are still 6

European Countries where abortion is illegal (Monaca,

Vatican, Andorra, Poland, Liechtenstein and Malta).

Further on, it is worth mentioning that in the other

European countries, even though abortion is legal, the

women are experiencing deep pressure from the society,

family, or health care professionals when choosing to take

control over their bodies and future.

Stakeholders:

• Women

• Society

• Governments and law makers

• Medical institutions

• Religious institutions

Target group

• Young women (15-35 years old)


Goals

• Normalizing abortion by educating at least 100.000

women about their rights by means of social media

content.

• At least 5 influencer from each country to be

involved in the campaign.

• Over 500 clicks per day on the website.

Channels

• Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok;

• Google Ads.

Metrics

• Shares, clicks and views on social media/website.

Key messages

• Every child should be wanted.

• Every woman should be able to decide for herself.

• Women should say: “My body, my choice.”

• Other stakeholders should say: “Her body, her

choice.”

Actions

• Getting people engaged by means of this campaign

(through the social media content, the website and

the ads) in this cause.

• Creating the platform in all the countries to get

people engaged in this.

• Discussions with #prolife stakeholders about

#prochoice.


• Encouraging Governments and law makers to create

the safest conditions in order for women to be able

to make an independent choice and have a safe

outcome from this medical procedure.

Sample social media post

Hashtags

• #mybodymychoice

• #ilmiocorpolamiascelta

• #minkroppmittval

• #τοσώμαμουεπιλογήμου

• #corpulmeualegereamea

• #mojeciałomójwybór

• #manokūnasmanopasirinkimas

• #моетотяломойизбор


PROJECT #2 – HEALTHCARE VOLUNTEERS

Presented by:

Alexandra-Maria Alexandru

Maya Arnaudova

Dimitrios Koutsikakis

Ugne Ramanauskaite

Karolina Romanczak

Jiang Zhuoxu

Problem addressed: starting from 2019 with the start of

the first wave of global covid-19 pandemics many public

health care institutions faced the challenges of the lack of

facilities, staff and equipment to deal with the growing

number of patients. The failure of national strategies to cope

with emergency situations resulted in human resources

shortages in hospitals. We have observed the growing

demand for the volunteers that could support the risings

needs of the health sector.

Stakeholders

• Vulnerable people with medial conditions and over

60 years old

• Schools

• NGOs working with the youth

• Public health institutions

Target group

• Young people (18-30 years old)

• Students of Medicine

Empathy Map


Goals:

The goal of the program is to train and integrate the youth

to work in the health care sector. We aim to compose and

to implement the training course that prepares the

volunteers for the daily work at the hospitals and health

service institutions that are in need for workers.

Channels

• Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok;

• Google Ads.

Metrics

Informing the youth about the program

• Inform at least 10.000 youth by social media in 3

months;

• Organize at least 30 informative meetings in the

period of 3 months in high schools and universities.

Recruiting trainers and composing the training course

• Create 3-5 local committees to organize courses;

• Find 10 professors, teachers, health care workers

and trainers to conduct classes online and in practice

Implementing training courses

• Engage 200 youth/ students in an online course;

• Hold 5 training courses.

Key messages

• Every life counts, save one today.

Target’s journey


Social media post


PROJECT #3 – SPEAK UP

Presented by:

Joanna Bartosinska

Eirini Lykidou

Beatrice Abariute

Tudor Andronic

Tania Bauder

Problem addressed: social dialogue around matters and

arguments of racism.

Stakeholders

• People from middle and low class

• Public facilities (i.e., banks, hospitals, shopping

centers, schools, public transport actors)

Target group


Goals & Metrics

• Increase knowledge about social economy (75% of

people meeting the message should feel the raise of

their knowledge);

• raising the awareness about migration processes,

international relations, social local development and

circulation of resources in the society (75% of

people coming in contact with the campaign,

experience raise of awareness);

• lower the insecurity and uncertainty therefore fears

that follow lack of knowledge about effects of

migrations (50% of the encounters);

• change the opinion and/or attitudes from negative to

positive towards migration and integration (20%);

• people actively share information from the project

(25%);

• development of social dialogue remains constant

within 5 years.

*evaluation of effects will be done by surveys and deep interviews.

Key messages

Actions

• Postcards/flyers with characteristic pictures and

messages;


• Competition of short videos with topics/messages,

prize and praise;

• Youtube/Podcast of non-prestigious talks with

argumentations and discussions.

Social media post sample


DEDAC: Designing Digital Advocacy Campaigns for Nonprofit Organisations

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