Getting the message right takes more than a group of communication practitioners. You need to go to the experts: those to whom the message is intended.
When IOM X, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) innovative campaign to prevent human trafficking, develops videos, it conducts consultations with people from its target audience. For Prisana: An IOM X Drama, IOM X invited a group of young people to get together and talk about the fishing industry.
During the discussion, it emerged that all of the participants ate seafood almost every day. However, when asked if they knew where this seafood actually came from, nobody had an answer – except that the fish most likely came from the sea. Most of the participants thought the fishing industry was dominated by private family businesses, when in reality small-scale operations like this cannot satisfy our insatiable appetite for seafood.
The group was asked to think about what it is actually like to work on a boat. They recognized that this work is tough; they said fishermen have to work all the time, there is nothing to eat, wages are low, it is dangerous, they are likely to suffer accidents, they are separated from their families and can be cheated by their employers. One of the participants pointed out that fishermen are probably afraid of quarreling with the boat owner because he could easily harm them.
IOM X then asked the group if they thought that human trafficking happens in the fishing industry. Surprisingly, the answer was no.
To download the full impact assessment, click here