UNESCO in partnership with RNW Media Run Successful Cultural Awareness-raising Campaign by 70 Young Collaborators

In the context of protracted conflict in Yemen and in order to increase cultural heritage appreciation amongst Youth as a source of income and social cohesion, UNESCO, in partnership with RNW Media, implemented a media campaign, which included diverse educational contents using storytelling and factual data. This initiative is part of the EU-funded project Cash for Work that covers four historic cities in Yemen (Sanaa, Shibam, Zabid and Aden). The campaign included conducting a survey on youth perception of the preservation of cultural heritage, field interactive workshops, and a series of targeted content productions.

The success of the awareness-raising campaign depended on the participation of youth throughout the development and implementation phases. A total of 70 young collaborators engaged in designing the campaign and discriminating its content to their peers making the campaign an opportunity of collective efforts among Yemeni youth. The participants were able to receive financial incentives through cash transfers in accordance with the cash-for-work modality. 

According to RNW Media, Videos produced for the project, generated the highest engagement and reach, with over 800,000 views. Campaign content was published on Manasati30’s website and distributed via social media. On social media, supporting posts were published promoting the theme, 175 posts were published in total. Through diverse content, the project created public awareness about cultural heritage using storytelling and factual content. The campaign aimed at connecting young people from the 4 targeted regions to inspire them on using cultural heritage for income generation and raise their awareness of the need for its protection.

As a result of the success of the campaign, UNESCO and RNW Media are resuming the second phase of their collaboration in July 2020 with more targeted content to increase the appreciation of cultural heritage among young Yemenis.

  • 175 – Total Campaign Posts
  • 4 M – Total View
  • 14 K – Comments and Engagement

Cultural Heritage Survey
2,573 Yemenis participated in an online cultural survey on cultural heritage that lasted for fifteen days. The survey consisted of eight questions and addressed important issues of cultural heritage such as risks threatening cultural heritage, awareness-raising programmes, and the role of young people in the preservation of cultural heritage. The survey was published on all Manasati30 online channels, alongside the survey, the Manasati30 social media team published diverse content about heritage topics to engage people with survey and create discussions around cultural heritage topics.

Content Production
One of the success factors of the campaign was the diversity in the forms of its content including videos, cartoons, articles, and images. This diversity allowed for a high rate of engagement among the targeted young Yemenis allowing for the capture of the necessary information about their perception of cultural heritage as an income-generating industry at the same time reading their awareness about safeguarding cultural heritage.

Interactive Training Workshops
On Feb-22 and Feb-29, the campaign organized two interactive workshops in Aden and Shibam heritage sites for 32 influencers from Aden and Hadramout, all under the age of 30 years old. Both workshops were facilitated by heritage experts from the region and the coordinator of Manasati30 for logistics and monitoring featuring the cultural survey results, the risk facing cultural heritage, and visiting heritage sites to interact with intangible heritage such as food, dance, and music.
 
Turathna Video Series
The campaign produced five short videos (Turathna) to introduce the targeted regions of the UNESCO cultural heritage project to the audience. The video series reflected Sanaa, Aden, and Shibam. Due to the security situation, the video about Zabid was replaced with two episodes reflecting Dar Al-Hajr and Al-Mahweet. Videos were hosted by well-known Yemeni female travel vlogger Somaya Jamal, each video was a mini-documentary illustrating cultural heritage through a personal journey. The episodes mainly focused on providing information about the cities, their handicrafts, traditions, investments in cultural heritage, and calling for the preservation of cultural heritage.

  • 5 Episodes
  • 1.1 M Views
  • 7 K Shares

Related posts

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.