ActionAid Bangladesh | 16 Days of Activism Case Study

Background

Violence against women, also known as gender-based violence is currently a huge problem globally; and an especially prevalent issue in Bangladesh. In order to address this issue, ActionAid Bangladesh & WebAble crafted a campaign in alignment with the international movement, “16 Days of Activism.”

Objectives

The objective was to demonstrate that small actions can be taken to confront and mitigate gender-based violence irrespective of an individual's social background or authority.?

Core Idea

The campaign showed how change can be brought only “if we take a step to stand up against sexual harassment in the right places, at the right time”. The focal point of this campaign was an audiovisual based on the concept “Change Begins With YOU”.

The core message we wanted to deliver was that every person can take a stand from his or her own position to create the social resistance that deters harassment of women.

Execution

The campaign was launched with teaser posts informing the audience about the global movement of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. We promoted Femitoon, which was a cartoon art exhibition by ActionAid in collaboration with young cartoonists to inspire critical thinking on gender-based violence.

We segmented our mass audience and promoted content separately for each category, based on geography and job title throughout Bangladesh and across all socioeconomic levels. The purpose was to dissuade predatory behavior and motivate positive action when someone witnesses harassment taking place around them. We also targeted parents aiming to encourage them to take a stand against sexual harassment to secure the future of their children.

The audiovisual portrayed women from three different backgrounds being sexually harassed in various situations i.e in an office, in a restaurant, and while working in a construction site. The video showed how simple actions by ordinary people witnessing the violence deterred the perpetrators. It was published on Facebook and Youtube, supported by other static creatives on Facebook.

Results

The 16 Days of Activism campaign video received 1.3M views, 44K reactions, and 13k+ shares on social media engaging audiences across Bangladesh. It effectively engaged the audience through the static and dynamic contents, as people positively responded to the messages delivered and expressed their resolve to take a stand against sexual harassment to protect those around them.