The Digital Edition
Welcome to issue #47?of Changing Stories - MAGENTA's monthly round-up of all that is interesting, inspiring and innovative from the world of Social and Behavioural Change?(SBC).
Read, think, share, and enjoy!
SBC For Safer Digital Spaces
When we talk about digital technology and SBC it's usually in the context of?enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of interventions and campaigns. Digital engagement, or the use of technology to connect and interact with people, supports an incredibly broad set of SBC objectives due to the flexibility of digital platforms and their touch points in almost every aspect of our lives. Digital technology can help to achieve engagement at scale, personalised messaging, rapid deployment of comms during emergencies, and generate real-time programme data to inform decision-making. Learn more in our MAGENTA Resource Box below.
Now SBC has an important contribution to offer the world of digital technology: helping to keep users safe. ?
Digital technology is a powerful tool for facilitating various forms of violence, increasing online and offline tensions, and spreading hate and misinformation. One of the most prominent forms is Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) which studies suggest is experienced by nearly 40% of women globally (UNFPA, 2021).
So, what can SBC do to help keep citizens safe online? The answer lies in understanding user behaviours.??
MAGENTA has been working on several exciting flagship projects to apply social and behavioural science to address issues around violence and tensions when using digital technology. By going beyond building awareness and providing information, our behavioural change approach to technology-facilitated violence goes straight to the root cause of the problem and provides crucial insights for interventions.?
In?the Kurdish Region of Iraq,?we're coming to the end of our highly successful program, in partnership with the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), to address TFGBV in the region. Combining a Strategic Communications Campaign, a Young Adult Empowerment Programme, and Local Capacity Building, this multi-faceted project has empowered local actors to reduce the occurrence of TFGBV in their communities. Learn more about our recent closure event (MAGENTA Impact Corner, below) or read our behavioural research study.?
Meanwhile, 13,000 kilometres away in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Estado de México, we're currently exploring the drivers behind two key behaviours linked to TFGBV: image-based abuse and monitoring and stalking. This project, also in partnership with DRL, is looking at ways digital tools can be used to mitigate online violence and change social norms around TFGBV.?
We are also excited to share UNDP Lebanon's recently released report on a study conducted by MAGENTA?to understand?how WhatsApp shapes social dynamics and conflicts in Lebanon.?Understanding users’ behaviours and the context in which messages are shared is a crucial step in countering the negative impacts of mis- and disinformation spread online. Read more below.
With our increasing use of technology and the rise of Generative AI, there is an urgent need to understand the behavioural drivers behind the use of digital technology to incite violence and hate. SBC can, and will, play an incredibly important role in understanding how we use these tools for both good and bad.?
Want to know more about SBC and digital technology??
What is Up on WhatsApp? UNDP Lebanon
WhatsApp is the most popular mobile messenger app in the world, with approximately two billion monthly active users globally.?Most of us use WhatsApp to communicate with friends, family, colleagues, and our communities. But what exactly are we sharing and talking about??
Last year, MAGENTA conducted a study on behalf of UNDP Lebanon?(as part of their Tensions Monitoring System) to understand how WhatsApp is being used in Lebanon, and how negative and false information shared on the platform contributes to tensions in the country.?
While WhatsApp is seen as a trustworthy tool for communication in the country,?the majority of messages sent on the app contain negative or incorrect information which can exacerbate negative sentiments and tensions.
The findings and recommendations of this study will inform future interventions aimed preventing tensions, fake news, and hate speech in Lebanon and other countries.??
Technology-facilitated gender-based violence in an era of generative AI UNESCO
Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)—deep-learning models that create voice, text, and image—are revolutionising the way people access information and produce, receive and interact with content. But while AI may save us time and effort on a range of daily and work-related tasks, there is a darker side to these technological innovations.? ?
Generative AI has amplified existing methods, and increased the potential avenues, for technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) faced by many communities online.?
UNESCO's recent report on TFGBV in the era of AI found that:?
MAGENTA Impact Corner
To highlight the achievements of our project addressing TFGBV in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, MAGENTA recently hosted a unique closing event with a dynamic blend of painting, storytelling, theatrical performances, and open discussions. ?
The main theme of the event was raising awareness of TFGBV through storytelling. Event participants were led through booths where they picked up bits and pieces of a journey, finally ending up at the refreshments booth where they showed their story cards and were presented with a tote bag.
Keep an eye on our socials to see a video of how the event unfolded!?
MAGENTA Resource Box
Each month we bring you inspiring, innovative, and practical resources from the world of SBC that you can apply to your own work, practice, or research.?
This month we're sharing the Principles for Digital Development, a set of guidelines?which help donors and implementing partners to integrate digital technology into development and humanitarian assistance programming.??
The Principles for Digital Development were first developed by USAID in 2014, but have recently been updated to reflect the rapidly changing digital landscape in which we live today.?
The refreshed principles
How do you use these principles to guide your development programming???
MAGENTA Academy
Enrol in MAGENTA Academy
Are you and your team?interested in learning more about SBC and how to apply its principles to your projects? The MAGENTA Academy is our training and capacity-building institute where we up-skill our partners on SBC theory and practice. Download our brochure to learn more.
Take a look at what people are saying:
I am leaving the SBC in a Day course feeling thankful, and illuminated but mostly with a lot of knowledge! - SBC in a Day participant, Mexico
This is the first time l've been part of a comprehensive SBC training. Great that it goes through the building blocks, the theoretical concepts but also clear practical exercises that help to clarify and apply this to the real world. - UNICEF Asia Pacific Region
SBC fun fact of the month!
Did you know? On average it takes 66 days for humans to form a habit (the actual time taken can range between 18 to 254 days, depending on the person). A landmark study by Lally et al. (2009) found that consistent daily repetition was the biggest factor?influencing whether a behaviour would become part of someone's automatic daily routine.?