LIVE GREEN CAMPAIGN

A Social Media Campaign Initiative of the Climate Change Division Social Responsibility Managers (SRM)

Project Report
October, 2012

BACKGROUND Prior to the recent events of ravaging floods across different communities in Nigeria, we could say environmental consciousness was at a very low level in the country. In addition to this observation, we also discovered that there was barely an awareness of the basic positive environmental practices such as separating household dirt. In order to address these issues, that climate change arm of Social Responsibility Managers (SRM), a local non-governmental organisation, decided to launch a campaign that will not only be informative but will be geared towards behavioral change.

ACTIVITIES
Campaign Messages We identified many of the diverse practices which indicate positive environmental culture that are practiced across the world but were yet to gain ground in Nigeria. Been aware of the local constraints, challenges and realities, we narrowed down the number of practices to seven that are practicable in the Nigerian environment and could be easily adopted by the average resident.

The final seven major practices selected are: Reduction of shopping bags Waste disposal Energy conservation Separation of household dirt Reduction of CO2 emission through cars Tree planting Use of renewable energy

Style of Language We knew the kind of people we wanted to reach with the messages, the average Nigerian who possessed at least a mobile device for accessing the internet. So, we decided that the messages had to be carved in simple, down to earth words that would be easily understood by anyone with minimum of basic education i.e. nine years of formal schooling. We also wanted the messages to be easily transferable through word of mouth.
Social Responsibility Managers (SRM); 7 Abubakar Sadiq Street, Works and Housing Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja;
+234 803 355 9820; +234 802 716 8450; titi.obisesan@gmail.com

Messages Based on the preset descriptions of what and how the messages would be, we developed the seven Live Green messages. Message 1 Live Green: Use less nylon bags while shopping. You can join your items together in one bag or take your own shopping bag to the market. Message 2 Live Green: Store and throw ALL dirt into a designated dustbin. Dont litter the roads, gutters or canals so we can all be safe from floods. Message 3 Live Green: Switch off all indoor and security lights during the day to conserve energy. Switch off all appliances when not in use. Message 4 Live Green: Separate all plastic, glass and tin containers into a different bin bag from household dirt so that it will be easy to use by recyclers. Message 5 Live Green: Leave your car at home - Arrange with friends who live around the same area and work in same area to share cars so as to reduce emission caused by cars. Message 6 Live Green: As much as is within your power, endeavor to plant a tree in your surrounding Message 7 Live Green: Buy green products (solar, wind, hydro or bio-diesel powered) where you can.

Broadcast Medium To communicate the developed messages to the public, we wanted to adopt a cost effective, yet qualitative medium that would afford us a measure of monitoring and evaluation. Using Facebook seemed our best choice and this was further strengthened by its position as the most visited website by Nigerians on the Alexa ranking.
Social Responsibility Managers (SRM); 7 Abubakar Sadiq Street, Works and Housing Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja;
+234 803 355 9820; +234 802 716 8450; titi.obisesan@gmail.com

We also decided we would prefer not to work in isolation but be able to use the project as an opportunity to collaborate with other non-state actors in the environment circle. So, we contacted one of our mentor organisations, Paradigm Initiative headed by Gbenga Sesan to help recommend ambassadors that would join us in broadcasting the messages. Eight ambassadors were selected based on their demonstrated dedication to social causes and number of connections to friends on Facebook and they were

Adewole Taiwo

Babatope Soremi

Bayo Olotu

Deolu Akinyemi

Esther Agbarakwe

Gbenga Sesan

Social Responsibility Managers (SRM); 7 Abubakar Sadiq Street, Works and Housing Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja;
+234 803 355 9820; +234 802 716 8450; titi.obisesan@gmail.com

Jide Adeyemi

Owojori John

Titilayo Soremi

Message Broadcast The ambassadors were informed of their role on the project which involved posting each message on their Facebook wall on a specific day of the week for a period of seven weeks so that Message 1 was posted by all ambassadors during week 1 of the project and this continued for all the messages. The broadcast of the messages began effectively on August 18, 2012 and ended on September 28, 2012. The number of likes and comments generated from all the ambassadors walls at the end of each week were monitored and it is presented below:

Likes Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Total 36 29 27 15 22 12 25 166

Comments 8 8 11 12 15 5 8 67

Social Responsibility Managers (SRM); 7 Abubakar Sadiq Street, Works and Housing Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja;
+234 803 355 9820; +234 802 716 8450; titi.obisesan@gmail.com

CONCLUSION Live Green campaign has proven that collaboration and social media can form the bedrock for success of non-profit initiatives. The show of enthusiasm and willingness to adapt to the new practices as depicted by various comments following broadcast of messages indicate an awakened consciousness of Nigerians to environmental issues.

Social Responsibility Managers (SRM); 7 Abubakar Sadiq Street, Works and Housing Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja;
+234 803 355 9820; +234 802 716 8450; titi.obisesan@gmail.com