Changing societal attitudes and values — communication for development

Studies confirm the need for greater emphasis on social change to translate social policies into effective and sustainable actions that make a real impact on children’s lives. Social beliefs inhibit the willingness and capacity of marginalized families to demand and access services and the creation of a more inclusive social environment. Social attitudes contribute in limiting information and access to services for Roma families, create barriers to inclusion of children with disability, promote the over-use of institutional care, curtail adolescents’ access to appropriate services, and contribute to family violence and its acceptance in the community. Discriminatory attitudes towards women, the poor, persons with disability influence the mind set of policy-makers, local authorities and professionals working with children, and slow the development and implementation of appropriate policies to reach these groups.

We communicate to change the way society understands and responds to children’s issues, ensuring that immediate changes in children’s lives are sustained and future generations of children will either not experience the same problems or will have them addressed in a better way. We use communication for development to create supportive social attitudes toward children and families and to include children’s issues on politicians’ agendas, promoting new approaches in child support and care, as well as promoting the responsibility of families, communities and state to provide for the child’s wellbeing. We share evidence about the situation of children and families, the change needed and how this change can be achieved and sustained. We have implemented a number of successful communication campaigns such as “Call future back home”, “Future is at home”, “The future starts in family”, “Partnerships for Every Child”, achieving considerable change in national polices for children and families.