The British Council and Rappler organized an event entitled “Communicating for Social Change” on March 24-27, 2012. The event was held at Discovery Suites in Pasig City. The objective of the event is to train young leaders who want to affect change and achieve great things not only for themselves, but for the wider public.
The event revolved around four topics: effective communications strategies; championing your cause; getting support and funding; and utilizing new media. SEDPI founders, Mr. Vincent Rapisura and Mr. Edwin Salonga, joined the impressive roster of speakers such as Maria Resa, Patricia Evangelista, John Silva, Chay Hofileña, Michael Josh Villanueva, and CNN reporter Steve Lunt.
Vincent and Edwin were tasked to deliver social marketing. Vincent explained that social marketing is about changing behaviors for the good of individuals, groups or the public. He provided a framework of analyzing stakeholders in organizations to determine what behaviors to change to achieve organizational objectives. The participants were divided into groups that allowed them to share the different stakeholders and dynamics behind these stakeholders. They were able to identify the challenges their stakeholders face and behavioral changes needed to address these challenges.
Edwin continued on the discussion and provided concrete examples on how to design social marketing campaigns. He provided strategies on how to get the community on board to support advocacies, campaigns and causes. After the session, the participants were able to design simple social marketing campaigns that they could implement in their organizations.