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Peace messaging involves activities directed at the populace that encourage non-violence in and around the electoral process. It may be supported as part of a conflict or electoral early warning and early response system. This programmatic option lays out important considerations, ways of engaging youth and women, as well as sustainability measures amongst other things.
Distinct from civic or voter education, peace messaging involves activities directed at the populace that seek to shape public opinion towards peaceful conflict resolution and build social pressure against the use of violence in the electoral context and beyond. The desired goal is to build a sense of community and togetherness, which fosters the social strength and cohesion to counter hate speech, incitement of violence and recruitment by violent actors such as armed groups and militias.
Peace messaging may be broadly disseminated to the populace or targeted at selective demographics (e.g. youth) or geographic regions. This depends on the focus areas identified through previous activities related to analytics and assessment, such as conflict mapping, electoral observation and human rights monitoring. The previously collected data can help identify political, cultural and ethnic target groups as well as geographical hot spots for intensified peace messaging. These can then be addressed by peace messaging directly through the involvement of stakeholders such as local TV and radio stations and CSOs based in the target cities, villages or regions.
Peace messaging can take many forms from radio and television spots to street theater, sporting events, SMS broadcasts, cultural activities and celebrity endorsements. Local civil society, community and religious leaders and influencers at local level are seen to have an advantage in the development and delivery of messages to target communities. Nonetheless, buy-in and political will from the top to spread messages of peace is important to complement the work of local actors.
Three general factors should be considered in peace messaging: the range (that is, the audience of the message), the resonance (how messages are communicated and received most effectively to the audience) and frequency (how many times will the audience receive the message). The range and resonance are tightly interlinked and depend on strong message development and suitable delivery mechanisms. Frequency is often a key consideration seeking to ensure that the audience receives a select message at least three times to be reinforced and to have an impact on attitudes.
An assessment may point to the various actors that have a role to play in peace messaging. Journalists and the media in general are key stakeholders. They have an important role in shaping public opinion and thus bear a great responsibility for maintaining a balanced and conflict-sensitive style of reporting. By involving them in peace messaging campaigns, they can also play a more direct role in disseminating these messages throughout different channels, reaching broad audiences.
Apart from the media, peace messaging may also be undertaken and supported by numerous local stakeholders with an interest in promoting peaceful elections. These may include local community leaders and civil society organizations (CSOs) pursuing value-based agendas such as national or local NGOs focusing on issues related to peace, democracy, human rights and equality. In addition, peace-messaging campaigns can be supported by human rights Electoral Management Bodies and political parties with an interest in peaceful and orderly electoral processes.
To maximize the effectiveness of peace messaging, it is essential to tailor messages to the specific context of the target audience. This requires a thorough understanding of local dynamics, cultural nuances and the unique conflict drivers within each community. Here are key strategies to ensure context specificity:
Working with local actors:
Collaborating closely with local CSOs, community leaders, religious leaders and influencers is crucial for crafting messages that resonate with the community. These actors bring a deep understanding of local cultures, languages and societal issues, which enhances the relevance and credibility of peace messages.
Engage trusted local voices who can authentically convey messages and avoid perceptions of external influence, thereby increasing acceptance and impact.
Using conflict mapping and local context analysis:
Conduct comprehensive conflict mapping and assessments to identify key issues, political dynamics and hot spots for violence. This analysis should include cultural, ethnic and political factors to understand the root causes of tensions.
Use the findings to develop tailored messages that address specific grievances or misconceptions and focus on areas and demographics where peace messaging can have the most significant impact.
Contextualizing the message content and delivery:
Adapt the language, tone and delivery methods to align with local customs, values and communication styles. This might involve using local dialects, traditional symbols or culturally significant stories and analogies.
Different formats may be suitable depending on the community’s preferences. For instance, rural areas may prefer radio broadcasts or street theater, while urban centres might respond better to social media and SMS campaigns.
Feedback loops and continuous assessment:
Establish feedback mechanisms to gauge audience reactions and adapt the messaging strategy as needed. This might involve community consultations, surveys or focus groups to gather insights on how messages are perceived and what adjustments are necessary.
Regularly update messaging based on changing local dynamics, such as shifts in political alliances or emerging social tensions, to maintain relevance and responsiveness to the community’s evolving needs.
Youth can provide insights into how messages should be framed and shared to resonate with younger demographics. Peer-driven messages often have a greater influence within youth networks. Youth can play an active role in communicating peace messages to their peers, especially through social media or in youth-focused spaces like schools, sports clubs and community centres.
Integrate gender perspectives to address the specific roles, concerns and safety needs of women and men. This could include involving female messengers or male allies who advocate for gender inclusivity in peacebuilding.
Use diverse channels:
Engage with storytelling
Be transparent and adaptive
Facilitate a dual bottom-up and top-down approach:
An important consideration is a long-term approach that builds familiarity and trust in the message and its source, as a basis for more intensive campaigns during an electoral process. It is therefore important that peace messaging campaigns do not focus solely on the electoral period, but also throughout the whole democracy-strengthening cycle.
Key cost centres include assessment/expert costs, outreach and communication/dissemination, and capacity-building/training. Here is a breakdown of each:
– Conflict analysis and mapping: Hiring experts for conflict assessments, identifying hot spots and tailoring messages.
– Baseline surveys and monitoring and evaluation: Conducting surveys to set benchmarks and evaluating impact, involving data collection and reporting.
– Media production and advertising: Costs for creating and placing radio, TV and social-media ads, as well as printed materials.
– Event logistics: Expenses for organizing cultural events, including venue rentals, permits and participant logistics.
– Digital tools and printed materials: Platform fees for SMS/digital campaigns and printing costs for flyers, posters, etc.
– Workshops and local training: Training community leaders, media and youth on peace messaging, covering facilitator fees and materials.
– Media training: Specialized sessions for journalists on conflict-sensitive reporting.
– Ongoing support: Costs for follow-up sessions, mentorship and skill-building workshops to support trained peace messengers.
Effectiveness and results measurement
Peace messaging is likely to be more effective as part of a broader package of measures including activities based on dialogue and mediation. The impact of peace messaging can be difficult to assess. Pre-messaging metrics on attitudes and perceptions may be necessary as a baseline in order to accurately estimate the impact of peace messaging.
Need for targeted analytics
Targeted peace messaging should be linked to analytics such as conflict mapping to identify geographical hot spots and selecting the key audiences with respect to political, cultural or ethnic conflict lines.
Need for local ownership
Local CSOs are seen to have an advantage in the development and delivery of messages to target communities. It is thus indispensable to involve local actors in the dissemination of peace messages in order to ensure impact and credibility and to avoid the impression of foreign political influence or meddling in election campaigns.
Sumedh Rao – GSDRC Helpdesk Research Report: Sending Messages to Reduce Violent Conflict, 2014
Research for this helpdesk report did not find a specific body of literature focused on sending messages to change attitudes, norms and behaviour about violent conflict. Rather, there is a wide range of literature that covers interventions to address conflict, which include the sending of messages in one form or another, and often as part of a wider strategy. This report explores the substantial literature on such multi-faceted interventions so as to identify the influence and effectiveness of the message-sending component. Sending messages through media campaigns has been effective in other sectors, most notably in relation to health issues; however, although examples demonstrate that sending messages impacts attitudes, norms and behaviour, there is no conclusive evidence that by itself, it causes such changes. Sending messages is likely to only be effective in conjunction with a comprehensive approach involving a wider range of activities, such as dialogue or training.
Can pro-peace persuasion by religious or economic elites reduce religious extremism? Will such effects survive counterarguments by youth? This study uses an audio recording experiment to examine these questions in the context of religious extremism in northern India. Sunni and Shia young adult men were randomly assigned to listen to an audio message recorded by a real in-group cleric emphasizing norms discouraging violence or a real in-group shopkeeper emphasizing material considerations discouraging violence. Another treatment – listening to a counterargument to the peace message by an in-group member – tests counter messaging. Results indicate a surprising pattern: religious persuasion increases extremism for the Shia sample and reduces extremism for the Sunni sample. Although these effects do not reach statistical significance within each sample, the difference between sects in terms of the marginal effects of religious persuasion and the counterargument message are significant. The results support a novel logic involving group victimization consistent with experimental results and qualitative evidence.
United States Institute of Peace (USIP) – PeaceBrief: Media and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan, 2010
Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the Afghan media sector has experienced dramatic growth in all areas: television, radio, print, Internet and mobile phones. As such, the sector holds tremendous potential for making significant contributions to peacebuilding in the country. However, the media sector also confronts numerous challenges that impede its ability to realize this potential – which can only be addressed through the combined efforts and attention of international and domestic stakeholders alike. Among the most pressing challenges is resolving the tension between information operations and counterinsurgency, on the one hand, and developing a viable, credible media sector on the other. All too often efforts to counter extremist messages through expanded military and government access to the airwaves (via purchased air time and proliferating ‘radio-in-a-box’ broadcasts from military outposts) have had a negative impact on both media market economics and media credibility.
United States Institute of Peace (USIP) – Countering Extremist Messages in Pakistani Media
Pakistan’s media landscape continues to be fertile ground for those seeking to promote violent conflict. USIP will work with local Pakistani organizations on a comprehensive content analysis initiative to produce an assessment of media’s role in promoting extremist messaging and develop actionable next steps to counter extremism in local media. By working with local Pakistani organizations on a comprehensive content analysis initiative, USIP will produce a map of media outlets, with particular emphasis on vernacular media, and the extent to which they broadcast or publish extremist messages. Based on the results of the content analysis, USIP will work with media stakeholders to review the findings and develop actionable next steps to counter extremism in local media.
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