Amnesty International - Across Europe
Reach beyond the Amnesty bubble and grow support for human rights among the moveable middle.
Turn audience insight into messaging that connects in challenging contexts.
Professionalize campaigning by implementing values-based communication strategies.
Julia Ivan & Galya Petrenko, Amnesty NL, Movement- & Capacity-Building Department, international team
Challenge and solutions
What challenges were you looking to address with Glocalities?
After 2020, as a result of self-reflection we realized that we are too much in our own opinion bubble. To mobilize more people, we needed to reach those who might be alienated or even antagonized by the "traditional Amnesty language" but who share most of our worries about equality and freedom.
What motivated you to consider Glocalities as your research partner?
Fundraisers at Amnesty Netherlands already recognised the value of audience data and partners in other countries were facing similar challenges in building majority support for human rights. Glocalities has tons of research experience in the field and a track record in assisting NGOs, so it was only natural that we decided to collaborate.
How did Glocalities support you in practice, and how did that help your organisation?
The team at Glocalities…
- Provided us with a detailed report on audience segments, allowing us a sharper understanding of people beyond our own bubble.
- Helped us look at our communications in a more systemic way. The insights made us aware of our blind spots, which is something we are trying to share with our colleagues internationally.
- Helped us step out of the role of the "self-righteous human rights warrior" role and become smarter, more pragmatic and strategic in the long term.
This cooperation increased our expertise on strategic communication: we now focus not only on human rights but on the societal context as well. Now we know better how our work is perceived from outside of the bubble and what we can do to change the perception.
“We had several pilot projects in different countries in Europe. All of these were successful despite the difficult contexts and gave inspiration to colleagues. These successes led us to not only publishing the toolbox but also to incorporating values-based communication into Amnesty Netherlands’ new strategic goals as of 2025, and to expand this approach in more countries, where we aim to engage with the moveable middle."
“We had several pilot projects in different countries in Europe. All of these were successful despite the difficult contexts and gave inspiration to colleagues. These successes led us to not only publishing the toolbox but also to incorporating values-based communication into Amnesty Netherlands’ new strategic goals as of 2025, and to expand this approach in more countries, where we aim to engage with the moveable middle."
What results did the projects lead to so far?
The projects helped us use values-based communications to support more successful human rights campaigning with partners in countries including Hungary, Poland and Serbia.
Results of the ongoing projects included:
- A digital NGO campaign in Serbia mobilized more than 575K people on social media platforms. Such engagement in human rights had never been seen earlier.
- Contributing to the high mobilization of young voters in Poland's 2023 general
elections- with turnout rising from 46.4% to 68.8% through "The Choice is Ours,“ - Producing a toolbox capturing key lessons, best practices and the Values Based Communications – method (VBC, see the diagram above).