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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 which 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 data previously collected 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 dir
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 message be received by the audience). The range and resonance are tightly interlinked and depend on strong message development and suitable mechanisms of delivery. Frequency is often a key consideration seeking to ensure that the audience receives a select message at least three times to be reinforced and 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 pursuing value-based agendas such as national or local NGOs focussing on issues related to peace, democracy, human rights and equality. In addition, peace messaging campaigns can be supported by Electoral Management Bodies and political parties with an interest in peaceful and orderly electoral processes.
To maximize the effectiveness of peace messaging, it’s 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 civil society organizations, 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,
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 centers.
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 solely focus on the electoral period, but also throughout the whole democracy strengthening cycle.
Key cost centers include assessment/expert costs, outreach and communication/dissemination, and capacity building/training. Here’s a breakdown of each:
– Conflict Analysis & Mapping: Hiring experts for conflict assessments, identifying hot spots, and tailoring messages.
– Baseline Surveys & M&E: Conducting surveys to set benchmarks and evaluating impact, involving data collection and reporting.
– Media Production & 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 & Printed Materials: Platform fees for SMS/digital campaigns and printing costs for flyers, posters, etc.
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 civil society organizations 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
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, but though there are examples where sending messages impacts on 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
Example: 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 the role of the media 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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