Rights in the loop – spotlighting human rights in the digital space

Aim of the project

The aim of the project “Rights in the loop – spotlighting human rights in the digital space” is to implement a public awareness-raising campaign that will start building a movement defending human rights compliance in the online space with specific focus for protecting civic freedoms – right of expression, association and assembly.

We will try to reach this aim by increasing the public sensitiveness about the participation in digital space and raising human rights concerns regarding using technologies and provoking thoughts, a forage for more information and reflection about the issues that need to be addressed in order to have a better, fairer technology in the future.

The expected results from our actions are: a) well-recognized campaign on the dangers that digital space can open for human right protection, b) build an audience that is engaged/reflective to the raised issue, c) provoke media interest for follow up discussion regarding the human rights compliance in digital space and finding the right balance between technological development and human rights protection which is an urgent matter.

 

Strategic activity 1: Design awareness raising campaign

Following science-based principles of what makes people care, we will build the campaign in a fun and hope-based way, that doesn't simply assign blame or aim to turn people anti-technology. At the heart of the campaign will be a set of powerful visuals, which will highlight a number human rights issues and concerns in the digital space, as well as lay out the safeguards that need to be addressed when creating new technologies. For additional creative spice, some visuals will be created with the help of AI, and others – by human designers. The visuals will be paired with our own powerful and slogans.

We will develop the campaign in collaboration with our partner organization Fine Acts – a global creative studio for social impact that supports CSOs in creative thinking, utilizing art and embracing play as a tool for social change.

 

Strategic activity 2: Reach out the message  

We will implement the designed campaign mainly in social media, but we will use traditional communication channels, as well. We will boost our communication and outreach effortsin three different ways.The first phase will be a vast social media campaign. We plan to engage like-minded audiences and raise the joint concern regarding human rights protection. In addition, we are planning atargeted offline presence: we will place visuals of the campaign on citylights and public displays in three of the largest Bulgarian cities. The third pillar of the campaign will be to target traditional media by provoking their interest inthe campaign. This will result in media coverage, incl.  interviews for presenting the campaign, and will be another opportunity for raising the awareness in a more complex way. 

 

Strategy 3: Mobilize further the movement

Once we open the channels for our campaign and attract supporters, we will use this opportunity to explore further the audience with information and stories that are important regarding the human rights compliance. The key message will be that as a society and individuals, no matter where we are, online or offline, we have to be sure that our personal rights are respected. Part of our communication strategy will be to continue building a group of supportive journalists and involving them by sharing success stories about technologies and human rights compliance.

 

Project duration: 9 months.

Project start date: 1 April 2023

Project end date: 31 December 2023

Grant Agreement: Engaging Central Europe – A Project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States

Funds for this grant come from the United States Agency for International Development, Cooperative Agreement number 7200AA22CA00025, Central Europe – Building Resilience in Civil Society (CEBRICS): 24,500.00 USD