Bio-diversity

LetsACT Sierra Leone will implement the SGP Environmental Communications Programme (ECP), comprising two main components: 1) A communications for behaviour change campaign across all SGP communities of practice in Sierra Leone; and 2) A Strategic Communications and Outreach Plan targeting key audiences, including policy makers and the general public to disseminate information about GEF SGP issues, activities and results. Using traditional communication tools as well as more innovative, scalable and cost-effective and proven Entertainment-Education (EE) and social marketing methodologies, the SGP ECP will both positively change behaviours and shift social norms with regard to biodiversity conservation, climate change, chemicals and natural resource management (NRM), and increase the branding, policy-level and general support for SGP Sierra Leone and its conservation goals. To achieve these objectives, LetsACT will implement an integrated, multi-pronged communications platform to create an informed and supportive constituency among both government/policy makers and target audiences generally, and within the priority sites. The programme will build local capacity, create and mobilize stakeholder communities, and effect positive knowledge, attitude and behaviour change among target audiences around community based adaptation, climate change mitigation, and conservation of biodiversity, chemicals and natural resource management within sustainable landscapes. The campaign will create a common social narrative that changes the way people think and act, reducing vulnerability to climate change and enhancing climate-smart systems and services across SGP communities of practice by increasing the resilience of social and natural systems, and enhancing key stakeholder support. Using EE and environmental communication (EC) methodologies as the core of an integrated multi-platform campaign to engage an audience in dialogue, increase knowledge and inspire attitude and behaviour change through parasocial behaviour modeling and development communications, the SGP ECP will: Create and mobilize local coalitions in each community, and build their capacity to address issues relating to the GEF focal areas among their constituents; Produce 40 episodes (two seasons of 20 episodes) of locally produced serial radio drama in 3 local languages (Mende, Krio and Themne) which will be broadcast across all SGP landscapes and to wider national audiences. This component is part of the plan to upscale this pilot SGP ECP in the subsequent years. Reinforce and contextualize the messages in the radio drama through 120 interactive radio magazine shows (also part of phase 2). This first phase will introduce interactive radio and TV magazine shows done in local languages, which will turn up the volume on the issues being addressed by the GEF SGP and generate personal communication amongst target audiences, allowing them to first consider and then validate the desired behaviour changes; Where appropriate, enlist further media platforms such as mobile phones and the web to promote the radio/TV programming, create additional vehicles for messaging and interpersonal communication and allow for innovative monitoring and evaluating strategies; Launch community mobilization campaigns, using social marketing methods and tools, which complement the agenda and issues being promoted on the radio/TV. These campaigns will focus on specific issues relevant to each community and target clear and measurable behaviour change outcomes. Raise awareness of GEF SGP and SGP-funded/supported objectives, the GEF SGP brand, activities and outcomes, and help to build a community of supportive policy makers and key constituents. The SGP ECP is designed to build capacity of local partners (NGOs, agencies, media partners etc) to adopt social change communications strategies, while providing a platform for partnership and advancing work through collaborative networks across sectors. In this way, through a coalition and capacity building process, LetsACT s approach will work to bring all SGP grantees and policy makers, as well as other local partners, to contribute to the design and implementation of the SGP knowledge management strategy/plan that supports all partner objectives and the overall SGP objectives in an integrated manner. Additionally, the strategic communications and outreach plan will build a robust and healthy community of informed and supportive policy makers and stakeholders, to help advance SGP conservation objectives.

Sierra Leone