Communication strategy

One of War Child’s strategic objectives is to raise awareness on the situation of children in conflict-affected areas; tens of millions of children were living in active conflict areas in 2013. With the belief that a solid reputation and strong branding can positively influence our supporters and stakeholders, the communication department focused on positioning War Child as an internationally acknowledged expert on children affected by armed conflict in 2013. To that end, we concentrated on reinforcing War Child’s brand as a trustworthy organisation providing psychosocial support for children and young people directly affected by conflict. This focus is in line with the revisions made to War Child’s 2010-2015 strategy, which prioritises working close to the conflict rather than in post-conflict settings, with psychosocial support programming forming the basis of all our interventions.

In 2013 War Child communications focused on raising awareness about our work in response to emergency situations, such as the Syrian conflict, the chronic conflict in eastern DR Congo and our interventions in South Sudan. Our communication was mainly channelled through online platforms, including our websites and social media, which has the important advantage of allowing us to follow and measure our constituency’s responses. We can then use this information to better tailor our messages to meet the expectations and demands of our audience.

By telling the stories of children in our programmes through written testimonials and articles, filmed video clips, or by posting or tweeting children’s messages directly to our constituencies, we worked toward our strategic ambition to use participatory and creative communication means to increase our constituency’s engagement with our work and strengthen the reputation of the organisation in 2014. Storytelling is central to War Child’s approach to communicating the impact of conflict on children and War Child’s response to it. The participation of children and the use creative methods are key to our work in the field as well as in our communication.

Added to My report add to My report