Raising public awareness involves creating a specific messaging campaign about a particular issue. Awareness-raising can be an important part of developing community support for changes in the informal justice sector; it has been shown to change knowledge and attitudes about violence against women. Campaigns should focus on tangible issues that are most relevant to the lives of community members, and should help women and other community members better understand their rights or an action that they can take to claim their rights. Public awareness campaigns should prioritize the message that women have the right to be free from violence in all its forms. Messaging campaigns should be clear and simple, associated with a campaign logo or a consistent image, sustained over time, and should form part of a larger coordinated strategy. Awareness campaigns may include events, poster campaigns, websites, documentaries, newspaper articles, radio, TV, or theatre programmes – creative, innovative ways of sharing information with the community can increase the success of awareness raising efforts.
For more on Awareness Raising see that section in Programme Implementation. See also the full module on developing campaigns.