Global Development Campaigns Lab
Leveraging extensive research to launch innovative campaigns.
We partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on the Global Development Campaigns Lab, created to drive public engagement on global development issues.
Key Outcomes
Activated and mobilized an engaged network of over 2 million people across multiple regions.
Partnerships successfully achieved an average engagement of over 5 million people across multiple platforms and regions.
Previously untapped communities provided a combined reach of over 20 million individuals across various platforms.
Challenge
Public support for global development is declining in the Global North. Countries like the United Kingdom, France and Germany provide a significant amount of funding for global development — but without public support, it’s increasingly hard for governments to continue to provide these large budgets. The development sector is struggling to gain new supporters, as well as retain its engaged audiences.
Strategy
We sought to identify, test and grow high-potential initiatives to drive public engagement on global development issues in the UK, France and Germany. There were five core strategies: we designed and catalyzed action plans in collaboration with partners, developed a mechanism to identify and scale existing initiatives, created campaigns that rapidly trialled new issues and methods, responded to opportunities and unexpected moments to advance issues, and reached out to new audiences beyond traditional supporters.
Campaign
We deployed 11 campaigns over the course of 9 months to test the effectiveness of diverse campaign tactics and the value of the Lab model in driving participation, engagement and commitment from key audience groups. Campaigns included Le Fooding, which featured female entrepreneurs from the food industry to shift the needle on gender equality; Project Period to tackle period poverty; and Leeds Counts, which highlighted the positive impact local action can have on issues of international development.
Impact
We activated an engaged network of over 2 million people in partnership with micro-influencers, sector partners and traditional and non-traditional media. We also helped create interest in global development that garnered significant media attention and saw non-traditional partners such as film festivals distribute their own, similar content without our support, showing the reach and impact of our work. This helped strengthen the sector’s capacity and protect aid budgets that are under threat.
