The 11 Steps to Building Communities for Social Change

STEP 1: ANALYSE YOUR DIGITAL COUNTRY CONTEXT 

In this first step, you will collect relevant information to understand what is going on in the (digital) context of the country you want to work in. This can be done by doing desk research on existing information, by doing an online content analysis on relevant topics (e.g. news reports and statistics about the internet penetration), through surveys, focus groups discussions and other interviewing methods.  

STEP 2: DEFINE YOUR TOC  

A Theory of Change (ToC) is a methodology that comprehensively describes why and how the desired (social) change you want to contribute to is expected to happen. In this step, the ToC will be further explored, and you will learn how to create one. Starting by identifying your mission and vision, you will work towards a ToC ‘product’ which exists of the ToC narrative and a visualisation of the ToC.  

DECISION TREE  

The decision tree was developed to have a check-in moment before you get into the practicalities of building digital communities for social change. It gives you a moment to think: “What is the impact you want to achieve?” and, “Will a larger community increase your impact?” but also, “Is your target group accessible online?” and “Do you have the resources to invest?” These are all important questions you need to ask yourself before deciding to continue alongside the roadmap to use digital tools and channels to create social impact at scale.  

STEP 3: DEFINE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

After deciding that the usage of digital tools and channels will help you achieve the impact you want to make, you can start defining your target audience. In this step, you will have to define to whom your activities will be targeted at to be able to achieve the intended results. You will learn how to create a target audience map, how to create personas and how to develop a user journey to understand your target audience and their needs. 

STEP 4: BUILD YOUR TEAM AND PARTNERSHIPS

In the fourth step, you will identify what roles and responsibilities are needed to make up a good working team. The team must be inclusive and diverse, and careful recruitment strategies are explained to eliminate discrimination and to give everyone an equal opportunity to apply. Besides a good functioning team, it is important to assess potential partner organisations to collaborate with. You will understand what types of partnerships exists, why they are important and how you can establish successful partnerships. This step is especially important for the sustainability of your project. Engaging with existing local organisations in your context can provide a strong basis for the success of your project.  

STEP 5: SET-UP YOUR DIGITAL PLATFORMS

There are many different digital platforms and channels that you can work with to build your digital community. In this step you will learn the differences between medium, channels, social media and mobile channels. Furthermore, you will identify the digital channels that you can select to reach your target audience, taking your goals and capacity into account. As a final, but not unimportant point, you will identify what channels your competitors are using to improve your own channel strategy.  

STEP 6: DEVELOP YOUR STRATEGIES

There are many different strategies that you can consider developing for different purposes. You can also make use of already existing strategies; however, it is important that you contextualise your strategies to make them fit for purpose. In this step, you will focus on contextualising four different strategies: 1) Content strategy – to develop relevant and inclusive content, 2) Moderation strategy – to make sure that you engage people from different backgrounds into the conversation, 3) Advocacy strategy – to identify the most relevant advocacy topics, 4) Data strategy – to manage your data in accordance with the (ethical aspects of) data protection laws.  

STEP 7: ONLINE CIVIC SPACE

The platforms that you use to build a digital community, can grow to be an alternative civic space in a challenging media environment. The last two decades have seen an accelerating trend of ‘shrinking civic space’ in which states and non-state actors have curtailed citizens’ rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly through legislative and extra-legal measures. This step is an introductory chapter to what will be explained in 7.1 and 7.2: Inclusive digital media content and communities that are both essential for your platform to become an inclusive, alternative civic space for engagement.  

STEP 7.1: CREATE PLURALISTIC CONTENT

To create a space where people feel safe to contribute, it is essential to have content that supports this. In this step, you will continue to learn more about effectively reaching your target audience through inclusive and pluralistic content creation. You will be introduced to the persuasive storytelling approach and you will learn how to identify a micro target audience through a target audience mapping exercise.  

STEP 7.2: MODERATE & SUPPORT ENGAGEMENT

The next element of an inclusive, alternative civic space to function, is through engaging with the content. Different engagement techniques can support groups with different backgrounds (e.g. ethnic groups, gender identities, religious groups) to contribute to the discussion. In this step we introduce you to community moderation, which can lead to increased engagement on content, and with each other. You will learn how to moderate different comments, and how to deal with polarisation, and you will be introduced into measuring effective moderation. In this step you will also learn about other engagement techniques, such as SMART-targeting (presenting certain content to a specific targeted group first, for this group to lead the discussion) and other offline engagement techniques. Finally, this step is also an introduction into digital optimisation to support engagement.  

STEP 8: COLLECT INSIGHTS ON YOUTH NEEDS, BEHAVIOUR AND ASPIRATIONS

To make sure that your digital channels reflect the needs of the people you want to serve, to carry out effective campaigns, and to engage in lobby and advocacy activities on these needs, data needs to be collected. In this step, you will learn how to collect valuable information through different tactics, namely: social listening, social media analytics, surveys and focus group discussions. You will be able to select between different methods of collecting data and you will know how to visualise it. It is important to keep in mind that not all data can be accessed and spread. Therefore, you will also be introduced to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law, as well as the RNW Media Responsible Data Framework (RDF) which focuses more on the ethical aspects of data collection.  

STEP 9: ADVOCATE AND AMPLIFY YOUTH NEEDS

After collecting data on what the young people you have targeted need, you can work on strategies to advocate for those needs to amplify their voices. In this step you will learn what advocacy is, the tools that you can use to advocate, the 12 steps to build an advocacy strategy and many other tips and tricks to make your strategy work. You will also get acquainted with the concept of amplification. Amplifying young people’s needs can be done through traditional media, how to engage the traditional media and strategies for amplification.

STEP 10: REFER YOUNG PEOPLE TO SERVICES

When you know what certain needs of your target audience are, but you cannot meet the needs as an organisation, you can refer your audience to service providers. This step will guide you through the process of referring to services. You will know how to assess the need for referral, how to identify and refer to the relevant services, and you will look at conditions for effective collaboration with service providers. Finally, you will learn how to keep track of the successful referrals that you have done. It is important to monitor referrals to understand whether the services you are linking to have been accessed successfully by your target audience.  

STEP 11: EVALUATE

As a final step in the roadmap you need to evaluate. In this step, you will familiarise yourself with the PMEL (Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning) cycle to find out whether you have achieved your objectives. The PMEL cycle you will get acquainted with addressed a mix-method approach of combining quantitative and qualitative data and analysis methods from digital and non-digital sources. After this step, you have completed the roadmap!