Repository of Practices

Primary GCM Objectives

GCM Guiding Principles*

*All practices are to uphold the ten guiding principles of the GCM. This practice particularly exemplifies these listed principles.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Dates

2021 - Present

Type of practice

Project/Programme

Latest content

Geographic Scope:

Global

Summary

It Takes A Community (ITAC) is an international, multi-stakeholder, social media communications campaign showcasing the positive impact that migration can have on communities, thus contributing to international efforts to promote social cohesion, combat xenophobia and discrimination of migrants, and promote managed migration. ITAC emerged from Canada’s co-leadership of the Global Forum on Migration and Development’s (GFMD) Working Group on Public Narratives on Migration, along with Ecuador and the GFMD Mayors Mechanism. ITAC was officially launched in March 2021 and is implemented by the International Organization for Migration.

The main beneficiaries of the ITAC are local communities, states, cities, businesses, civil society organizations, youth groups and migrants themselves. ITAC is fully online and involves sharing positive stories about migrants’ contributions to society. It provides engaging online content and customizable digital resources available on the campaign website: https://www.ittakesacommunity.org/. ITAC seeks to positively shift public opinion about migration and migrants by increasing public awareness of migrants’ contributions to and within their communities, engaging a multi-stakeholder community like the UN’s Major Group for Children and Youth, International Organization of Employers, the GFMD Mayoral Mechanism and local cities, and the GFMD Civil Society Mechanism, among other partners. With a relatively modest initial budget of $50,000 USD, ITAC generated 6.4 million social media impressions in 2021 and certain livestreamed discussions and events had a high degree of public engagement.

ITAC will continue in fall 2022 to spring 2023 with a larger budget ($267,821 USD) and more activities: a series of dynamic live-streamed virtual events for communication practitioners and the public; creation of a global network of “narrative changes” (i.e. recruitment of influencers) for better public engagement; activities focused on key geographic regions, like Central and South America.

Organizations

Main Implementing Organization(s)

International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Detailed Information

International Organization for Migration

Partner/Donor Organizations

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

Ecuador

Global Forum for Migration and Development's Mayoral Mechanism

Benefit and Impact

International migrants, whether moving across borders by choice, or individuals in forced displacement situations, can endure challenges in host communities like discrimination and xenophobia that stand in the way of their full integration in host communities. By promoting balanced public narratives on migration through sharing of stories online about how migrants and refugees contribute to their host communities enriching economies and societies, ITAC seeks to foster more welcoming host communities enabling migrants and refugees to thrive and enjoy basic rights while also enhancing social cohesion. This can help with stability for communities and individuals, and reduce pressure for onwards movement to other communities or countries.

Globally, narratives about migration continue to be highly polarized, with serious implications for migrants and communities. What makes ITAC unique is its participatory approach. People are far more likely to listen to those in their own networks – not government messaging. ITAC has leveraged social media platforms to engage the public through using the hashtag, sharing their own stories online or organizing live discussions. In 2021, youth, businesses, mayors and civil society have generated buzz online with their respective “takeovers” of ITAC through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok.

ITAC measured effectiveness by social media reach and engagement. From April to August 2021, for example, ITAC generated over 6.4 million social media impressions, 115+ pieces of content were created for the ITAC website (ittakesacommunity.org) and shared on social media. The campaign toolkit, which is available on the website for designing posts and videos, also reached over 10,000 people. As ITAC continues in 2022 and 2023, the IOM and ITAC co-chairs will continue to monitor effectiveness through these indicators and also to potentially expand assessment tools to include measurements in the variation of social media discourse over time.

Key Lessons

During the implementation of ITAC 2021, a number of challenges were identified. The campaign was overstretched, both from a resource perspective and in terms of the scope of activities it encompasses, and could benefit from a more focused approach. It relied heavily on in-kind support of the four take-over leads and IOM. Second, aspects of the campaign that have been less successful include the crowdsourcing of story submissions from individual members of the public, and the pledge function. Third, the campaign benefited from a great deal of engagement from stakeholder groups like youth, business, local governments and civil society, but national government participation remained low in 2021, even among those countries in the GFMD working group. Beyond social media engagement, it proved difficult to measure the campaign’s impact on “moving the needle” on public perceptions about migration.

Building on its lessons learned and success from 2021, ITAC co-chairs developed a 2022-2023 concept strategy to address the key challenges. First, ITAC will develop a promotion strategy and host virtual expert dialogues (journalists, communicators, researchers) to improve the quality of messages, find new ways of shaping online public perceptions, and attract wider interest from stakeholders, particularly among national governments. Second, ITAC 2022-2023 will involve ambassadors or influencers who can speak up and share ITAC messaging through their social media networks during public live chats to better reach and influence the public (e.g. around International Migrants Day in December 2022). While ITAC will remain global in scope, the 2022-2023 campaign will incorporate a number of activities and events targeted towards key geographic regions. Finally, ITAC co-chairs are also exploring the possibility of more in-depth monitoring and evaluation activities like measuring variation of social media discourse over time.

Recommendations(if the practice is to be replicated)

As a co-chair of ITAC since inception, Canada and the co-chairs seek support in building-up and extending ITAC. There are several ways the countries can support ITAC and more balanced narratives on migration globally:

• Use the #ItTakesACommunity hashtag and post content through national social media platforms about how migrants and refugees contribute positively or integrate successfully into communities in your country and submit these stories to the global campaign website to amplify your great work internationally.

• Promote ITAC to your country’s domestic audiences like local governments, business, civil society groups, or youth-led organizations, to help grow the campaign and engage more people in speaking up about the importance of creating inclusive communities. For example, Canada contributes to ITAC domestically through its Immigration Matters campaign, which aims to use stories supported by facts to show how communities across the country benefit from immigration.

Innovation

ITAC is a pioneering initiative. While most campaigns use traditional media sources to communicate on migration, ITAC is fully online and involves sharing positive stories about migrants’ contribution to society, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides engaging online content and customizable digital resources for use by governments, cities, businesses, civil society organization, youth groups and other partners, to share social media posts (e.g. videos, photos, quotes). ITAC does not have government branding; instead, the participatory approach is its strength.

Beyond public engagement, ITAC 2022-2023 will involve virtual expert dialogues among communication practitioners and the creation of an online global hub of resources and information about how to balance migration narratives. These activities and participants will represent a “community of practice” to share knowledge and expertise about “on the ground” realities/successes/failures of individual campaigns to better design and implement the global campaign.

Additional Resources

It Takes A Community

Videos

Date submitted:

02 April 2022

Disclaimer: The content of this practice reflects the views of the implementers and does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations, the United Nations Network on Migration, and its members.