Facebook has partnered with GBCHealth to amplify its #StrongerTogether awareness campaign in the West Sahel region.
The digital campaign, which is part of the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) initiative, led by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank, aimed to encourage uninterrupted education for girls during the COVID-19 pandemic and to stress the importance of safe distance education.
The campaign, which ran on the Facebook platform, reached more than 5.6 million people, generating more than 1.6 million engagements. Facebook has supported the development and promotion of the #StrongerTogether campaign on its platform. Additionally, as part of its Data For Good initiatives, Facebook conducted a post-campaign survey to test the effectiveness of the content in achieving campaign goals. The survey compared users exposed to ads and those not exposed and found that ads work best for women, especially in promoting the importance of distance learning to protect future success. girls. The gendered results of the campaign highlighted the possibility of developing content that resonates with men in the region in order to involve them in the campaign as supporters.
Laura McGorman, Data for Good Public Policy Manager, Facebook, said: “By tailoring content to unique audiences in the Sahel, our Insights for Impact program is helping nonprofits reach more families with the information. that they need to ensure continued education for girls during COVID-19. ”
Facebook is partnering with humanitarian organizations around the world to analyze trends in public messages on the Facebook platform and uses this information to fuel mobilization around social and humanitarian causes. The Sahel region, which stretches from Senegal east to Sudan, has some of the highest child marriage rates in the world (UNFPA). Due to COVID-19 containment measures and school closures, girls are even more at risk of being relegated to household chores or subjected to early marriage, making them less likely to return to school, compared to boys.
“Girls in the Sahel faced educational inequalities even before the COVID-19 pandemic, which further compromised access to education. By supporting distance learning and eventual return to learning in person, it may be possible to reduce the effect of the pandemic on girls’ continued education, and provide more promising opportunities in the future. The Facebook platform is an important tool that has the potential to ‘influencing the attitudes of parents and community leaders who have the power to transform girls’ lives, “said Lesley-Anne Long, President and CEO of GBCHealth.
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