Client case · Amnesty International Netherlands

Reaching Beyond the Amnesty Bubble with Values-Based Communication

Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 10 million people working towards a future in which everyone can enjoy human rights. United by shared humanity, the movement believes that everyone has the power to create positive change.

Client:

Amnesty International - Across Europe
Expertise:

Campaigns & Storytelling
Market:

Human Rights & Civil Society

Audience

Reach people beyond Amnesty’s existing audience
Approach

Develop messaging that connects in challenging contexts
Impact

Embed values-based communication in campaigning

The challenge

Reaching beyond the Amnesty bubble

After 2020, as a result of self-reflection Amnesty International realized that they were too much in their own opinion bubble. To mobilize more people, they needed to reach those who might be alienated or even antagonized by the "traditional Amnesty language" but who share most of their worries about equality and freedom.

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How can Amnesty reach the moveable middle and build broader support for human rights?

Our Approach

Using audience insights to strengthen communication

Understand audiences beyond the bubble

We provided a detailed report on audience segments, giving Amnesty a sharper understanding of people beyond its own bubble.
Identify communication blind spots

We helped Amnesty look at its communications in a more systemic way. The insights revealed Amnesty International's blind spots.
Increasing strategic communication

We helped Amnesty move beyond the role of the “self-righteous human rights warrior” and become smarter, more pragmatic and strategic in the long term. considering both human rights and the wider societal context.

The outcome

What the client gained

More than 575K people mobilized

A digital NGO campaign in Serbia mobilized more than 575K people through social media platforms. This level of engagement with human rights had not been seen there before.
Higher young-voter turnout

“The Choice is Ours” contributed to the high mobilization of young voters in Poland’s 2023 general election, where turnout rose from 46.4% to 68.8%.
A method ready to expand

We produced a toolbox containing key lessons, best practices and the Values Based Communications method.

575K+

People mobilized through a digital NGO campaign in Serbia

Values-based communication supported successful human rights campaigns in challenging European contexts.

The projects included mobilizing more than 575K people in Serbia and contributing to an increase in young-voter turnout in Poland from 46.4% to 68.8%.

Values-driven

46.4% young-voter turnout
Traditional

68.8% young-voter turnout in 2023

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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.

Julia Ivan and Galya Petrenko

Amnesty Netherlands, Movement & Capacity-Building Department, International Team

In short

From data to campaign decisions

We helped Amnesty understand audiences beyond its own bubble and apply values-based communication to human rights campaigning in countries including Hungary, Poland and Serbia. The results led to a practical toolbox, the inclusion of values-based communication in Amnesty Netherlands’ strategic goals and the expansion of the approach to more countries.

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