Newsletter December 2019

AwArtMali project

The AwArtMali project aims to contribute to the change of perceptions and behaviour of Malian people looking to irregular migration towards the EU as the only solution to their socio-economic problems. To achieve this goal, the project adopts a multi-stakeholder approach through a multi-channel awareness raising campaign and a range of training activities.

The communication campaign

The main element needed to achieve these goals is the direct contact with the local communities and operators. Following this path, the Italian partners (Farneto Teatro and Giusti Eventi) worked actively with the Malian communication agency Wabaria and the local NGO Le Tonus.

The product of this collaboration was a media campaign, that will develop along 7 months of activity (July 2019 – February 2020), and whose target group are young people between 18 and 40 yrs. The main objectives of media are: to inform Malians about the risks of irregular migration, to emphasize the dangers and consequences, to point out the existence of development opportunities in Mali and to reinforce the message against illegal migration.

The multichannel campaign is built on both traditional media (radio) and innovative media (blogs, apps); moreover, the messages transmitted and the approach adopted will be tailored to the audience concerned.

Why use the radio?

The radio is fundamental for the intensive and extensive diffusion of the message. The correct use of language and the construction of the spot with the support of radio animators are essential for its effectiveness; in fact, it was wanted to give a strong cultural imprint by transmitting the sketches also in the local Bambara language. This choice makes it possible to concretely reach the target groups, making them aware and informing them correctly about the migratory phenomenon. Once made, the commercials will be broadcast in Kati’s community, private, commercial and religious radios.

The radio instrument, and in particular the local radio, is a place often used to dramatize the everyday life problems, as a sort of stage. A tool particularly in line with the aims of AwArtMali a project that already contains in its name the objective of making information and awareness raising through artistic and cultural forms, especially theatre.

The radio spots

The 3/4-minute spots made are three in total, each focusing on a specific topic. The first concerns migratory risks and false information arriving at home. The scenario in which we enter is the return home of a migrant (Mamadi Cissoko), to whom during a celebration organized by his family, a childhood friend shows the interest of going to Europe. At this point, Mamadi tells the truth, confesses that it is not as easy as it seems and that there are many truths hidden from those who emigrate. He says that he has tried 7 times to get out of Mali, but he has often been sent back, but points out what he learned during a forum about the legal migration route, declaring that it is important to first get informed about visa procedures, travel costs, what must be respected in transit and arrival areas.

From this short sketch we have the following slogan:

Don’t believe everything you hear…

Get informed before you leave!

Ne croyez pas à tout ce qui se dit…Informez vous avant de prendre le départ!

 The second spot instead focuses on the opportunities in Mali, in order to inform and raise awareness on the development possibilities in their home country.

In the scenario there is always Mamadi talking to his childhood friend, who asks him if he will return to Mali. The answer of the protagonist is unexpected, in fact he says that he will stay because he has understood that there are opportunities also in his country, and he plans to start his own business.

From this sketch we have the following slogan:

Opportunities are closer that you might think.

The safer road is the one that does not take you far from home.

Les opportunités sont plus proches que vous ne le pensez.

La route sûr est celle qui ne vous emmène pas loin de chez vous.

A third and final spot, will be produced at the end of the campaign and it will report and synthesize all the feedback collected from the voice of the protagonists: suggestions collected during stakeholder consultation activities, contacts and relationships born with people during the course of the campaign and through its tools building a synthesis between risks, opportunities, new inputs and feedback to convey the TAMA 365 message in the most effective and direct way possible.