Adapting Communication to a Dynamic Cultural Landscape

This 39-page document from the Bushmeat Crisis Task (BCTF) analyses 19 conservation organisations in Africa and Asia in order to look for promising educational and public awareness campaign (PAC) tools to help end the bushmeat crisis in Central Africa. Based on these case studies, the document makes recommendations for the development and implementation of a new public awareness campaign to address the bushmeat issue.

The cases presented here include a description of each organisation: geographic location, scope and scale of its goals, alliances, funding sources, projects, challenges, and, critical to this study, approaches to communication in educational and public awareness messages. As stated in the introduction to the case studies: "Successful public awareness campaigns build strong relationships with local people; are flexible and willing to adapt to the cultural environment; provide clear, concise and relevant messages; and function as a part of a greater development campaign, allowing individuals to turn awareness into action."

BCTF's mission, as stated here, is one of coordinating wildlife conservation efforts. The document's recommendations are written to support a decision-making process on mounting a PAC. In brief, they are:

• Limit an awareness campaign to one or two issues to keep messages simple. Several criteria should be used to determine which issues should be addressed by a PAC, for example, whether resolution of specific issues will result in
  tangible improvements in people’s lives. In this case, resolution should also stop the decline of animal populations in target areas.
• Establish realistic short-, intermediate- and long-term goals that are tangible and measurable. Though the long-term goal is ending the illegal commercial bushmeat trade, an intermediate goal might be reducing bushmeat consumption by 50% within the listening area of a local radio station. A short-term goal might include securing the endorsement of the campaign by a tribal leader.
• Choose a site that has particular significance, for example, a site of particular biological or cultural importance, to launch a PAC.
• Use short, relevant messages and, equally important, post the message in numerous ways, spoken and written, and in multiple languages where necessary.
• Work with government officials, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and local citizens; BCTF should seek out such collaborators in selected areas. According to the document: "A strong rapport with local citizens is critically important. The local citizens know the landscape, language, culture, and value systems and may be most effective in influencing the general population. The African people are the biggest asset in designing a campaign that will connect with people in a manner they understand."
• A local level public awareness campaign requires capacity building on two levels, within implementing organizations and within local communities. This may include developing specific talents, such as video, recording, and reporting expertise, or it may include developing broader skills, such as community motivation and media interaction.
• The document also recognises and enumerates the reasons for formal involvement of local, NGO, and governmental stakeholders in the development process.

As detailed in the document's conclusion, BCTF must first reconcile a PAC with its mission statement to achieve its organisational objectives. Second, it must commit and raise resources for PAC development and implementation. Third, the PAC should function as part of a larger development effort that offers protein and income alternatives, enabling audiences to act on their awareness of the issue. Fourth, BCTF should develop a PAC with direct, formalised involvement of stakeholders including partner NGOs, government representatives, community leaders, educators, journalists and media representatives, business representatives, and others.