Towards a Safe and Secure Nation: The First Consultative Conference on Firearm Control, Ownership and Administration in Botswana, 13-15 May, 2003

Public awareness raising presentation by Saferworld
Mr Peter Cross

Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am speaking on behalf of Saferworld's director, Mr Paul Eavis, who unfortunately could not make it here today due to a prior commitment at a similar event taking place in Southeastern Europe. Paul has asked me to convey his apologies and to make a contribution to this important event on his behalf.

I am going to address the issue of public awareness raising and its role in developing and implementing a comprehensive plan to tackle the problem of small arms and light weapons. Public awareness raising campaigns aim to increase people's understanding of a particular issue, they provide information to the public and educate people about specific issues. In the field of small arms and light weapons control, public awareness raising is needed to inform and educate the broader public about the nature and extent of the SALW problem and how this problem impacts on their lives. Public awareness raising is also useful in informing the public about what is being done to address the problem and what they as individuals can do in this regard. Public awareness raising campaigns can assist governments to promote their work to tackle the SALW problem and to engage the public's participation in these efforts.

Public awareness raising campaigns can also have other positive spin-offs, for example, involving all stakeholders in a participative approach to designing a public awareness raising campaign can provide an opportunity to promote dialogue on small arms issues between people or groups who would not usually be able to come together on the issue.

When used as part of a comprehensive approach to tackling small arms and light weapons, it is important that the public awareness raising components are well coordinated with the variety of other strategies and activities to address the problem. All aspects of a comprehensive approach to tackling SALW can benefit from a focused and structured public awareness raising campaign, for example, to raise awareness about:

Arms amnesties or weapons collection and destruction programmes. Reviews of the legislation governing the control of firearms.
Negative effects that firearms can have on a community, for example, as a tool of violent crime, or highlighting the dangers associated with a firearm being accessed by children.
The role that the community can play in tackling the problem of small arms and light weapons.
How small arms impact negatively on development, including on the economy, trade, tourism and industry.
The impact of small arms on the environment, e.g. how illicit small arms and the misuse of legally held weapons can impact on Botswana's natural game resources.
The impact of small arms on personal and state security.

For instance, a government can use an awareness raising campaign to inform the public that a legislative review of firearms control legislation is underway. The campaign can solicit input from the broader public in order to identify gaps and shortfalls in the legislation and facilitate ownership of the legislation. It can also serve more practical purposes, informing the public how they can go about inputting into the process and where they should do so. Once the legislation has been reviewed, or a new legislation has been drafted, it is important that the public is informed about the new legislation. Public awareness raising campaigns informing about the contents of the new or amended legislation, and how this impacts on people's lives, are crucial if the legislation is going to be an effective tool in controlling legal firearms and in preventing the proliferation of illicit firearms.

Weapons collection and destruction programmes can become powerful engines for engaging the public positively and motivating them to become involved in addressing the SALW problem in their community. As an example of this, a weapons collection process was recently held in Nairobi, Kenya, and a public destruction event accompanied this to commemorate the third anniversary of the Nairobi Declaration. The Nairobi Declaration is a similar instrument to the SADC Protocol in that it brings the countries of Eastern Africa together to address the problem in their region. This public event initiated a sequence of events that stimulated its own public awareness frenzy around the issue of small arms and light weapons. The media took up the baton and highlighted the issue in numerous news media. The government responded by revitalising its efforts and renewing its commitments to tackle the problem of small arms.

Designing Public Awareness Raising Campaigns
Public awareness raising campaigns can be tricky to design and implement as they often need to promote messages to audiences who may not initially think they have a reason to be interested. Campaigns therefore need to be able to grab the attention of large numbers of people, they need to be well targeted and need to address the issues in a direct and simple manner. This could require a variety of popular approaches, using stories, pictures or simple and easily accessible slogans and "sound-bites" through the media, or the endorsement of famous people or community leaders, or working directly through communities with music and drama. One way to conduct public awareness raising campaigns is to train activists who themselves train others to spread the messages, or work through a key group such as a teachers' union or through a church, whose members themselves have a wide audience in their daily work.

There is no one size fits all approach to designing public awareness raising campaigns as each campaign will have its own objectives and will face unique challenges where different approaches will be more appropriate. There are, however, some principles that should apply to all campaigns:

Targeting the Right Audience (Who)
Different groups have very different impacts on the small arms situation the campaign is seeking to change. And all kinds of factors - such as geography, demographics (age, gender, education, etc.), attitudes and lifestyle - affect how different people will respond to the messages. The public isn't a single group with the same make-up and opinions; it includes, for example, women, men, children, politically active people, civil servants, businessmen, trade unionists and mothers. Public awareness raising campaigns should aim to say which specific audiences they will be targeting. (For example, targeting women through highlighting the danger posed to children by keeping a firearm in the house)
Simplicity and Effectiveness of the Message
Public awareness raising campaigns often have only a few seconds to capture someone's attention and to get the message across. This means the message must be clear and instantly recognisable. Sometimes this relies on shock tactics such as this billboard in the FRY.
Goal-setting
Every campaign has one key objective: communicating with an audience. This is true whether it is a group of schoolchildren, a journalist, a local community group or a potential donor who is being targeted. In all cases, the messages need to be delivered to them in relevant and effective ways. To do this, will require setting clear goals, identifying which audiences are being communicated with and why. For each specific audience, both the message and the ways of delivering it will be different. The identification of potential audiences should come during the planning of the campaign (Trident).
Timeliness of the message
The timing of a public awareness raising campaign can also be crucial. Timing can work both for or against a campaign. It is important to coordinate the public awareness raising campaign with other activities that are taking place, for example, a weapons collection programme could be turned into a public awareness raising event through a public destruction ceremony.
Cultural Sensitivities
For example, the Turkanas in Kenya and Karamojas in Uganda where firearms have become integral parts of their lives and condemning firearms outright from the start will effectively shutoff any further possibility of working with those communities.
Identifying the right entry point
What are the best ways to reach those audiences? Do they listen to radio, read newspapers, watch television? For example, soap operas have been used to address certain issues surrounding violence, conflict and the use of firearms on Brazilian television. There is a need to examine where the target audience gets their information, whom do they listen to and respect, and what has changed their opinions in the past? Examine what groups they are part of? For example, church, community groups, neighbourhood watch groups? For example, university groups in Serbia.
Understanding the issue at hand
For example, the example that Commissioner Moleboge sited regarding hunting rifles being used to protect livestock at cattle posts and being diverted through theft to criminal use. The issue is not the use of hunting rifles to protect livestock, but the responsible and safe storage of those firearms to prevent them from being diverted to criminal use.

Conclusion

Tackling the problem of small arms and light weapons without the understanding and support of the public that are affected by the problem is unlikely to be very successful. Public awareness raising campaigns that are coordinated with other efforts to tackle the problem and are well designed with a target audience in mind and a clear and succinct message can be crucial to the success of a comprehensive National Action Plan.

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